Download Lesson 17-18 - TEACHER

Lesson 17 – Political Parties & 18 – Candidates, Media & Interest Groups
Main Topic
Topic 1 - Public Opinion
Topic 2 - Voter Turnout
Topic 3 - Propaganda &
Mass Media
Topic 4 - Political Party
Bullet Points
• It is the total of the opinions the majority of people hold about a particular
issue
• Many things influence our opinion, the first influence is usually family, then
friends and mass media
• Mass media is not always reliable, sometimes they portray things in their
preferred way to influence your opinion
• It is the responsibility of the citizen to questions how valid information is and
how reliable the source
• The 26th amendment allowed people to vote when they turn 18
• Voting is both a right and a responsibility, although it is not mandatory
• Social factors, such as the ones named below, influence the likelihood of a
particular group of people to vote
• Influencing factors are:
1. Socio-economic status: the status held in society by the person, for
example their work title and how much they earn. The more educated
people with higher end jobs tend to vote more than people that are
unemployed or not well educated
2. Family characteristics: for example, married persons tend to vote
more often than unmarried persons and people with children tend to
vote more than people who don’t have children
3. Personal Characteristics: African Americans tend to vote less than
whites, women started to vote at the same level and even more than
men since the feminist movements in the 1970s, younger people tend
to vote less than other people, Jews tend to vote more than any other
religious group
4. Community ties: those who are more involved with a community are
more likely to show up to vote than those who live more isolated
• Propaganda are techniques used to influence public opinion
• Revealed propaganda tells you that they are trying to influence you, while
concealed propaganda does not
• A way to measure public opinion is through a poll, which is a survey of a
sample of the population
• Propaganda techniques:
1. Testimonials: when someone explains their own experiences, “I
bought this car and it has been great.”
2. Bandwagon: “everyone is doing it, jump on the bandwagon”
3. Name-calling: give an unpleasant label to something, “He is opposed
to progress”
4. Glittering Generalities – when they use words that sound important
but don’t really mean much, “He is a strong American Patriot.”
5. Plain-folks appeal: when the advertiser stresses that they understand
and support the lives of everyday Americans, “He is a small town guy
just like you.”
• The amount of advertising that a mass media outlet can do is regulated by the
government since 1934, for example, it is mandatory that at the end of any
advertisement, there be 4 seconds where the candidate supporting the
advertisement identifies themselves
• The constitution doesn’t mention them
• The US has political parties to enable large numbers of people to accomplish
things through government
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Topic 5 – Two Party system
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An organization made up of citizens who think alike on public issues and work
to put their ideas into effect through government action
They are organized at the federal, state and local levels
All political parties have a leadership structure, the leader is usually called a
chairperson
In USA, political parties are voluntary, it is not mandatory to sign up
Political Parties nominate, or select candidates to run for office that favors
their ideas
At any one time, one political party dominates the government, an important
role of the party that is out of power is to act as a watchdog to the party who
is in power
Began during George Washington’s presidency, although he warned the nation
against political parties because he feared they would divide the new nation
However, if there was only one political party, the public wouldn’t be able to
choose and hold the government accountable (immigration example)
Today’s 2 major parties are Democratic & Republic, although it hasn’t always
been this way: (copy chart from page 287 – Evolution of American Political
Parties)
The US has a two party system, where there are two major political parties
Although there are only two major political parties, many other smaller parties
exist
Advantages:
1. if there were 3 major political parties, not any one of them would be
able to win the majority
2. There is a second strong party to take over government is voters so
desire
3. Voters have a choice
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Topic 6 – Third parties
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Topic 7 - Democratic Party
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Topic 8 – Republican Party
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Topic 9 – Organization of
Political Parties
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Topic 10 - Interest Groups
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Topic 11 - Campaigns and
Campaign Finance
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Disadvantage: if they disagree too much, it could lead to division and
weakness of the union
Small parties that form to compete with the Democratic & Republic parties
They usually loose major elections
They do serve the purpose of making people aware of special issues, which
later on become issues for the major parties
Some third parties are considered single issue, meaning that they formed only
to support one idea (such as the Prohibitionist Party in 1920)
Terms used to describe this party include “liberal,” and “left wing.”
Generally believe in a larger government with regulation of business and focus
on social services
Terms used to describe this party include “conservative,” and “right wing.”
Generally believe in smaller government with few regulations on business
They need to organize at the federal, state and local levels to raise money and
further their agenda
They are usually organized into committees to accomplish their tasks
1. National Committee:
a) largest party committee, headed by a chairperson
b) chairperson can be elected in 3 ways: state convention, state
voters or by a central committee
c) selects where the nominating convention is held to announce
the candidate for President and Vice President
2. State Central Committee: supervises party’s operation within the state
3. Local Committees: supervises the party’s operation at the county and
city level
To make voting easy, each city or county is divided into elections districts
called precincts
A precinct in a larger city may cover just a few blocks, while in the countryside,
it may be a large area
Group of people with a common interest who try to influence government
officials and policy
They vary in size, goals and budget; usually, the more money they have, the
larger influence they hold
They sometimes place advertisements in mass media in support of their
positions to influence public opinion
Different from a political party because their major focus is not to get
candidates elected
Examples are: business associations, teacher’s associations, labor unions, farm
organizations, older citizens’ groups, veterans’ organizations, and public
interest groups
Public interest groups are groups that promote ideas that benefit the larger
society rather than the members, such as a committee for clean water, or a
consumer protection group
Interest groups often hire lobbyists to lobby (or fight) on their behalf
Lobbyists are usually criticized because too much attention in government is
paid to the interests groups with the most money while segments of the
population that are poorer are never heard
Campaigns are formed by a group of people supporting a candidate’s race
People that form a campaign could be volunteers who helped promote the
message, treasurers who help keep track of the money, and others
The public and the government worries that too many donations to a
campaign from a particular person could corrupt the candidate in their favor
Because of this, campaign finance has been regulated in the United States
Campaigns must keep good and accurate records and make these records
public of all their donations and expenses
• In Florida, for example, any individual or company can only give up to $500 to
a candidate as a donation
• However, organizations called PACs (political action committees) can receive
unlimited donations but the candidate cannot be directly involved in the
process of advertising
VOCABULARY – Lessons 17 & 18
Group of people with general shared interests about government
American system has two major parties, Democratic & Republican
Small parties that form to compete with the Democratic & Republic Party
Set of basic ideas
The proposal of a candidate for an office
Meeting of political party leaders
A geographic area with a certain number of voters
Paper showing all the options during an election from where the voter chooses
A ballot that is sent in from a voter that is far away from their precinct
Ideas to influence your opinion in any way are propaganda
A candidate who is already in the office for which he is running
The general ideas shared by members of the same party
Agreement between two parties to work together to run a government
Includes newspapers, television, radio, films, books, magazines and other forms of
communication
Someone who surveys the population
Published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation
Someone hired by an interest group to further the group’s cause
Data regarding a group of people
Sometimes the press serves as a watchdog to uncover governmental corruption in
order to protect individuals from the federal government
Set of issues and ideas of a group of people
A group within a group
The total opinion of all the public participating in an election
Advertising paid by the interested party (bumper stickers, billboards, newspapers,
television and others)
Amount of money available to be spent on a specific task
Groups that collect voluntary donations from their members and use the money to
fund candidates and issues they favor
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Political Party
Two-party system
Third Party
Platform
Nomination
Caucus
Precinct
Ballot
Absentee Ballot
Propaganda
Incumbent
Ideology
Coalition
Mass Media
Pollster
Libel
Lobbyist
Demographics
Watchdog
Agenda
Faction
Public Opinion
Political Advertising
Budget
Political Action Committee
(PAC)