Unit 4: Campaigns,
Elections ,and the Media
A Unit Review
Juan Luna, Maddie Jones, and Emily Whitworth
1/9/15
Guided Questions to enter the Unit
What factors shape voter behavior?
- Religion, ethnicity, gender, age, and social class all shape
voter behavior.
Assess efforts to reform campaign strategy and finance. What
has provided the impetus for this movement?
- The costs of campaigning increased with the growth of the
television and the Watergate Scandal exposed large, illegal,
campaign, contributions. Congress also passed the Federal
Election Campaign Act in 1974.
What role does the media play in campaigns, elections, and
policymaking?
- In campaigns, media gets attention for the candidate. In
elections, media exposes errors, educates the public, and
helps spread peace. In policymaking, the media helps set
the agenda and inform those of the process.
Guided Questions Cont.
How do candidates and public officials groom their image,
and how does image impact elections?
-
The candidates and officials groom themselves to the point
that they appeal to the majority and minority of their
choosing to aid in elections. This can impact an election
when the unspoken minority is appealed to and can lead to
a political upset.
Describe the relationship between candidates for office and
the media.
- The relationship between the media and the candidate is a
crucial aspect to win any office because without their support
they can not get the exposure to all people possible, many
which would aid in winning a said position in office.
Guided Questions Cont.
How does the motivation and structure of media organizations
influence the nature of news coverage in America?
-
The motivation of the media is crucial in creating a profile for
the candidate either in a positive or negative light. This can
be accomplished by the media presenting inaccurate
information or twisting certain views and positions on issues ,
leaving them at a disadvantage.
How has the growth of the internet changed the media in
America?
- The growth of the internet has allowed the expansion of
information like presidential debates and campaigns to be
seen on websites like Youtube or Vimeo and discussed on
social media such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. People
now have access to political information 24/7.
More Guided Questions
What have been the historical advantages and disadvantages
of the Electoral College system?
- The electoral college prevents the system from winning solely
through highly populated areas. It gives each state their own
capability to make amendments. The system maintains the
division of powers. If the president was directly elected, he
could declare a national well-known mandate which would
undermine other branches of the government and could lead
to tyranny. It also maintains the two party system by getting rid
of third party minority groups. Some disadvantages are that
states in bigger “swing” areas obtain the majority of the
attention, the system discourages voter turnout, and it favors
the small, less populated states.
Vocabulary
• Plurality election: electoral process in which the candidate who
polls more votes than any other candidate is elected.
• Single-member district: an electoral district that returns one
officeholder to a body with multiple members such as a legislature.
• Horse-race journalism: election coverage by the mass media that
focuses on which candidate is ahead rather than on national
issues.
• 527 Group: a tax-exempt organization created for the purpose of
influencing the election or appointment of public officials.
• Closed Primary: only voters registered for the party which is holding
the primary may vote.
• Mass Media: diversified media techniques that are intended to
reach a large audience by mass communication.
More Vocabulary
• Campaign Strategy: a strategy to communicate a candidates
platform and raise funds in order to win an elected position.
• Caucus: a group within a legislative or decision-making body
seeking to represent a specific interest or influence a particular
area of policy.
• Presidential Primary: a direct election for the selection of state
delegates to a national party convention and the expression of
preference for a U.S presidential nominee.
• National Primary: a proposal by critics of the caucuses and
presidential primaries systems who would replace these electoral
methods with a nationwide primary held early in the election year.
• Regional Primaries: a proposal to replace caucuses and
presidential primaries with a series of primaries held in each
geographic region.
Vocabulary Cont.
• Soft money: political contributions earmarked for party-building
expenses at the grass-roots level.
• Referendum: a state-level method of direct legislation that gives
voters a chance to approve or disapprove legislation or a
constitutional amendment proposed by the state legislature.
• Superdelegate: national party leaders who automatically get a
delegate shot at the Democratic national party convention.
• Frontloading: the recent tendency of states to hold primaries early
in the calendar in order to capitalize on media attention.
• Selective Perception: the phenomenon that people often pay the
most attention to things they already agree with and interpret
them according to their own predisposition.
• Legitimacy: a characterization of elections by political scientists
meaning that they are almost universally accepted as fair and free
method of selecting political leaders.
More Vocabulary
• Initiative petition: a process permitted in some states whereby voters
may put proposed changes in the state constitution to a vote of
sufficient signatures are obtained.
•
Civic duty: the belief that in order to support democratic
government, a citizen should always vote.
• Mandate theory of elections: the idea that the winning candidate
has a mandate from the people to carry out his or her platforms and
politics.
• Retrospective voting: a theory of voting in which voters essentially
ask: “ what have you done for me lately?”
• Media Events: events purposely staged for the media that
nonetheless look spontaneous.
Vocabulary Cont.
• Press Conferences: meetings of public officials with reporters.
• Investigate Journalism: the uses of detective-like reporting to
unearth scandals, scams, and schemes, putting reporters in
adversarial relationships with political leaders.
• Media Chains: the process of the delivery of digital media by
electronic means from the provider to the consumer.
• Narrowcasting: as opposed to the traditional “broadcasting”, the
appeal to a narrow, particular audience by channels such as ESPN,
MTV, and C-SPAN, which focus on a narrow particular interest.
• Trial Balloons: an international news leak for the purpose of
assessing the political reaction.
• Sound Bites: short video clips of approximately fifteen seconds
which are typically all that is shown from a politicians speech or
activities on the nightly television news.
More Vocabulary
•
Sound Bites: short video clips of approximately fifteen seconds
which are typically all that is shown from a politicians speech or
activities on the nightly television news.
•
McGovern-Fraser Commission: a commission formed at the 1968
Democratic convention in response to demands for reform by
minority groups and others who sought better representation.
•
Federal Election Campaign Act: a law passed in 1974 for forming
campaign finances. The act created the Federal Election
Commission (FEC), provided public financing for presidential
primaries and general elections, limited campaign spending,
required disclosure, and attempted to limit contributions.
•
Motor Voter Act: passed in 1993, went into effect for the ‘96
election. It requires states to permit people to register to vote at the
same time they apply for their drivers license.
Quiz!
• Quick vocabulary quiz to see what you know!
http://quizlet.com/38986666/test?matching=on&mul
t_choice=on&promptwith=2&limit=20&cstoken=ovQgeBMAyZOvFKwQ1xQ
YfPXsmZgvFOAqu-X5QtoTT1E
Games to help review!
• Jeopardy Review Game
• http://www.bubbabrain.com/ap.php
- Select “Seniors”, then pick AP Government
then chose your review game for elections,
campaigns, and the media.
Helpful Videos
• Reviewing Political Parties and Campaigns
• Mass Media: a love/hate relationship