Unit 4: Public Opinion and Political Behavior
AP Writing Prompt: September 30
Test: October 3
Objectives: This unit will cover Chapters 4-6 in your book. After reading these chapters you
should be able to do each of the following:
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Describe the United States’ own unique political culture.
Define the term political efficacy and describe recent trends in it.
Describe the basic properties of the main American political ideologies
Describe the characteristics of public opinion in American politics, as well as the typical
voting patterns of different demographic groups.
5. Understand the characteristics of public opinion polls
6. Understand how Americans participate in politics.
Vocabulary- Please have defined and ready for a quiz on September 26.
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Political culture
Political socialization
Political efficacy
Internal efficacy
External efficacy
Political tolerance
Political ideology
Orthodox
Progressive
Work ethic
Class consciousness
Gender gap
Poll
Push poll
Random sample
16. Liberal
17. Conservative
18. Sampling error
19. Libertarian
20. Populist
21. Political elite
22. Norm
23. Registered voters
24. Motor-voter law
25. Literacy test
26. Poll tax
27. Grandfather clause
28. White primary
29. Activists
Lanahan Readings:
1. The Phantom Public, by Walter Lippman
2. Public Opinion and American Democracy, by V.O. Key
There will be a 10-point quiz on the two readings (it will be very similar to the last one) on
September 27.
Textbook Readings:
1. Pages 77-87: by September 20
2. Pages 87-99: by September 21
3. Pages 103-111: by September 22
4. Pages 111-116: by September 26
5. Pages 116-125: by September 27
6. Pages 131-146: by September 29