https://webcampus.unr.edu/webct/urw/lc4130011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.

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Organizations mostly sustain your beliefs

Factors shaping public attitudes

 Economic class- how you’re perceived in comparison to the rest of society.

 Education- how educated you are high school diploma generally are more
democratic. Except for in social issues in which case they tend to be more
republican
 Sectionalism-where are you from
 Race/ethnicity-reinforced more in the minorities culture rather than white
 Religion-what you’re religion is and how often you practice it
 Gender-
 Age- life cycle effects/generational effects i.e. 9/11, Vietnam War.

IDEOLOGY: an organized set of beliefs concerning social goals and the best
governmental arrangements for achieving them.

 Americans tend to be less ideological. We have lower voter rates

 Experience often pull Americans in multiple ways-
 Social change affects belief structures (aging, worldview changes, and
economic advancement.)

IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC OPINION:

 Gauge on america (what we believe and expect)

 Sets some parameters on debate and policy action
 issue publics- groups with particular interest or
 societal position- must be considered
 opinió n Readers can shape public attitudes

ELECTIONS
 Most direct form of linkage between bublic and government decision makers
 Occur on a regular cycle (calendar)
 Most occur at state and local level
 Highly “rule governed” to insure fairness
 Election law largely state law within Basic parameters of federal Rights.

ELEMENTS OF ELECTION LAW

 Most anyone over 18
 Must be registared
 States may set some rules on registration but federal law limits what states
can do.
Who is voted upon
 Primaries (select candidates, generally run by party)
 Closed primary (Only vote in party of you registration)
 Open primary (may vote in either party primary, but not both)
 Blanket (vote for either party by office)
 Run-off (few states:when a candidate fails to get 50% of vote, to 2 candidates
run again)
 General election (selects office Holders)
 Referendum (direct citizen vote on an existing law or law proponed by the
legislature)
 Initiative (direct citizen vote on citizen initiated legislation)
 Recall (remove office holder befote term by citizen vote) not to be confused
wth impeachment

ELECTORAL CALENDAR
 On year (elections held at the same time as presidencial)
 Off year (elections held in presidencial midterm)
 Odd year( elections held in odd numbered years)

Oct 18

FACTORS INFLUENCING LIKELIHOOD OF VOTING

 Age, Income, education-older, higher income, and higher educations tend to
vote more likely
 Strong party identification- if you’re a stronger republican/democrat you’re
more likely to vote
 Group membership
 Perveived closeness of the election
 Saliente of the election (well known candidates, issues, perceived
importance)

TURNOUT TRENDS
 Decline in turnout since 1950’s with ocasional spikes
 Low compared to other democracias
 Americans do get more involved at higher levels of participation, though (run
for office, work for campaigns)- we run for more because there’s more offices
to run for
 In nevada we have too many elections, vote on too many things, and vote on
tuesdays.

POLITICAL PARTIES
A Group of individuals with some ideological agreement who organize to win
elections, run government and make public policy.
  Group power
 Parties attempt to create broad coalitions (links to proximity voting)
 Are a key to understanding how government is organizad

ROLES OF PARTIES IN AMERICAN POLITICS

1. Provide/recruit candidates
2. Conduct elections
3. Educate the public
4. Organize goverment Founding fathers distrusted political parties, but
are necessary
5. Make public policy
6. Provide loyal opposition
7. Provide a “cue” for voters

CHARACTERISTICS OF AMERICAN PARTIES

Two parties

 Fairly stable coalitions

 Third parties rarely win and face structural barriers
 Single member districts, plurality vote winners

Highly decentralized

 Linked to emphasis on state elections

 Parties have different “meanings” in different states
 “National” party a collection of “state parts”

Semi-public, open organizations

 No formal test for entry

 Laws (state) often limit party attempts to discipline members

Loose coalitions, fairly non-ideological

Party organization

PARTY REGULATIONS
  Founding fathers generally distrusted parties and did not include them in the
constitution
 Parties quickly became part of how American politics worked
 Because fo the key public role, parties were a logical “target” for regulation
 Most regulations comes through state law

Items that are covered

 Access to ballot
 Membership
 Organization and required public meetings
 Duties and powers of officers (especially endorsement or non-
endorsement)
 Party finances

INTEREST GROUPS:
A Group of individuals with a common interest who attempt to influence
government policy.

Importance of interest groups

 Most Americans are either part of or benefit from interest group activity
 Interest groups are a longtime part of American politics
 Interest groups are a vital-yet biased-part of the political process
 Most Americans do not recognize that they are part of the interest group
system

Prevailing attitude about interest groups:

 They are a corrupting influence on American politics

 Interest groups buy elections and politicians

Tools of interest groups:

 Expertise
 Persuasion
Inside vs. outside strategy (inside) classic lobbying…. going from
office to office and lobbying persuading face to face…. (Outside) when
an interest group runs ads to try to persuade the community. If done
well the community will write their congressman. The mining group is
a great type of interest groups in the sense that they do their job well.
 Publicity
 Money- you don’t buy the vote, you buy the office…. pump tons of money into
the candidate that is their friend in order to get them elected. Not necessarily
buying off or bribing to get the vote
TYPES OF INTEREST GROUPS
 Economic/business- more of these due to the fact that most every major
businesses have a lobbyist
 Professional- associations, look at legislations and go to talk to legislatures
 Public-self proclaimed groups that represent a broad spectrum of issues, say
they’re non partisan…. known in PSC as P.I.G.’s often social and
environmental group
 Social and environmental-social groups are harder to find, because there is
no money…. environmental on the other hand have money.
 Single issue- very narrow range of interest i.e. Mothers against drunk
driving…. Generally harder to argue against and aren’t as successful as M.A.A.
because they’re uncompromising, they’re too stubborn. Often overstate their
position.

MEDIA: persuasive influence on politics

Where Americans get information about politics

65% from television (but now decreasing)
40% from newspapers (decreasing)

Increasingly from a mix of media, although basic reporting is still anchored in

traditional newspaper and television reporting.

All forms of media are commercial

 Must have viewers/readers

 Leads to an emphasis on personality, conflict and dramatic events
 Distorts risk and fear
 Good pictures (obviously an important criteria for TV)
 Limited story substance

Technology reinforces media shallowness

DESPITE KEY ROLE, LITTLE GOVERNMENTAL OVERSIGHT

 First amendment freedoms

 Equal time and free media are virtually non-existent

Basic political Roles

 Signaler Role: guide to public what is important, sets agenda. (Censoring
what they want to show) day to day news
 Agenda setting: again, shallow, often done in “themes” or “frames”. Usually
follows stories over some sort of time frame…. telling you what to think
about.
  Talent scout
 Handicaps the race
 Public defender (investigative)

How viewers respond: media Bias?

Market bias: action, bad news, and anti-incumbent

Bias screened by personal perceptions

 Selective exposure: what media we use, we chose what to listen to or watch

 Selective attention: which stories we pay attention to
 Selective perception: your interpretations of the events shown

Media influence is thus mediated by you partisan attitudes, opinions and personal
belief.

Sound bites: small quotes used by media to capture essence of a story. These are
also designed by candidates to be used by the media.

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Congress- article one and considered the most important, the founding fathers were
congressionalist

PRESIDENT

 Most recognized political actor (96%)

 Expected to be better than the people
 Expected to one of the people
 Expectations can lead to isolation- you can do something innocent and be
transcribed into something else

FORMAL POWERS AND DUTIES

 Outlined in article II of the constitution (fairly general)

 Command in Chief of the military
 Make treaties (with “advice” of Senate)
 Appoint ministers and judges (with “advise” of Senate)
 State of union (from “time to time”) doesn’t have to be a speech nor does it have
to be every year, covered by almost every news station possible, along with the
inauguration
 Recommend legislation
 Make sure that the laws are faithfully executed

MAJOR ROLES

 Chief of state- the most visible person in politics-helps people make sense of
politics, largely ceremonial.
 Chief of foreign policy- Americas spokesperson
 Commander in chief-can commit U.S. troops without a declaration of war
 Chief executive-expectations in this area far exceed actual power. Presidents
have limited time compared to bureaucrats
 Chief legislator- the president is expected to have a legislative and policy
agenda….
 Chief economic officer-expectations far exceed actual power
 Head of party-non-constitutional role

PRESIDENTIAL POWERS

FORMAL-in law every president has it

 Veto- congress passes a law and the president can block or deny it, then
congress can override the veto if they can get 2/3 votes on the same law,
veto’s are rarely used, and even more rarely overridden, the power of the
veto is in it’s threat. If a president doesn’t like one part of a law he must
either allow what he doesn’t like in it or veto the whole bill
 Executive orders- a statement by the president announcing a policy. I.e. the
justice department will no longer interfere with marijuana in CA, congress
can override the law, the order is only good while the president who made it
is in office
 Executive agreements- the president announcing a policy or practice
between the United States and another country. Has the force of
constitutional law, cannot break a law while doing either of these two also
only lasts as long as that presidents term.
 Appointments- has the power to appoint judges and other government at all
levels
 Budget preparation- president gets to present a budget to congress and
congress either approves or disapproves it.
 Commitment of troops

INFORMAL –every president uses them to some degree

 Use of media- how skilled you are when speaking to the media
  Personal bargaining skills- how skilled you are one on one bargaining
 Public support- if you’re popular you can get a lot done, if not, then it’s
almost impossible.

WHO BECOMES PRESIDENT

Formal Requirements:
 At least 35 years of age
 Native born U.S. citizen
 14 years residence (immediately prior to service)

Informal Characteristics
 White
 Male
 Anglo-Saxon (western European) heritage
 Religion (protestant)
 Educated (at least college grad)
 Prior economic or political success

GETTING ELECTED

Electoral college votes are key

Must get 270 electoral votes

General strategies include.

 Concentrating on large states
 Protecting your base
 Targeting the most time for contested states

Before the general election a different strategy

 Must go to the side and then the middle
 Must have money
 Must show that you can win in multiple sections of the country
 Ideally you win early

JUDICIARY

 The third branch- described in article 3

 Creates an independent supreme court
  Gives congress the power to create all “inferior courts” and establish their
jurisdiction
 Power of the judiciary often overstated
 Most cases are applications of law (and fact as most cases begin and end at
district court level)
 Power enhanced through “judicial review” (The ability of the federal
courts and especially the supreme court to interpret the constitution)
 Which supreme court established in the case Marbury v. Madison

The president is expected by people to do these things