Fall 2008
The Second Midterm will have 3 short IDs/questions drawn from the list below (some choice) and 2 essay questions (no choice)
The IDs are drawn from the Study Guide’s list of questions and terms. There will be 3 identifications (5 points each) You should identify the term (1 point), explain its significance (3 points), and give an example (1 point). Note that 60% of the points come from explaining the significance of the ID. Look to the list of questions in trying to figure out what the significance is.
Here are 4 sample answers to the ID, episodic versus thematic framing of news. All are about the same length, however, they vary from an F to an A+ in how many points they are worth. Note the 5 point answer is the shortest.
The 2 point answer
EF is when the media tells a story about poverty as the life of a individual
poor person, how they have a tough time paying for food, housing, etc and
how tough it is on the children. A TF frame is when the media shows poverty
in America using charts about the declining wages, unavailability of health
care, the lack of affordable housing.
The 3 point answer
EF is when the media tells a story about poverty as the life of a individual
poor person, how they have a tough time paying for food, housing, etc and
how tough it is on the children. A TF frame is when the media shows poverty
in America using charts about the declining wages, unavailability of health
care, the lack of affordable housing. Most news stories are EFs.
The 4 point answer
EF is when the media tells a story about poverty as the life of a individual
poor person, how they have a tough time paying for food, housing, etc and
how tough it is on the children. A TF frame is when the media shows poverty
in America using charts about the declining wages, unavailability of health
care, the lack of affordable housing. Most news stories are EFs because they
are more likely to attract viewers.
--the 5 point answer
The media can tell a story about poverty in an EF frame (a poor indiv) or
a TF frame (national trends with charts and graphs). The media is more likely
to do EF b/c they attract viewers, but citizens who see the EF about poor
person will think individual should work harder and that govt. is not responsible
for solving poverty.
Why rely on polls instead of elections to determine what people are thinking? How might polls improve the “efficiency of democracy”?
What are the most important characteristics of a good opinion poll?
What does the public believe the government should do about the crisis on Wall Street and the financial sector?
What is Nisbet’s view of the distinction between popular opinion and public opinion? What does he believe happens to democracies that follow public opinion? What evidence would support Nisbet’s contention that public is uninformed?
What is Page and Shapiro’s view of public opinion? What are collective policy preferences and why are they important? Why do Page and Shapiro believe the public is uninformed? What role do they believe public opinion should play in policy making?
Do the poll results about the public’s views on policy solutions to the Wall Street Bailout/Financial Crisis viewed in class better support Nisbet or Page and Shapiro’s view of public opinion?
Why did the American public believe that Saddam Hussein was behind the 9-11 attacks? What would Page and Shapiro say about George Bush and public opinion on Iraq and Terrorism?
Terms VO Key's definition of democracy, Holocaust poll question, question wording, priming effects, random selection, collective policy preferences, issue salience
Why are the media powerful?
Has the media become more or less biased over time?
What is the evidence for and against each of the following sources of bias in the media? ideological bias of reporters/editors; Profit bias of corporate owners; Personal or selection bias of reporters (media poor vs. real poor)
What is the primary source of news for Americans?
What makes a good news story? What are the implications of the selection principle important for politics? Why is the framing of a news story important for politics or policy?
How has the business model of the media shifted and what are the consequences of the shift for politics?
How has the increase in corporate ownership of the media influenced how it reports the news?
Will the internet revitalize democracy and increase the voice of citizens in political affairs? Why or why not? What are the potential advantages and disadvantages of this medium over traditional media sources like television?
Can the Internet improve our democratic system and remove the problems of media bias? How? In what ways could it threaten or undermine our democratic system?
Who has better ideas for improving the democratic potential of the Internet, Sunstein or McChesney?
What would each author say about the merger of Time Warner (the largest media corporation) with America Online (the largest internet provider)?
Terms
liberal media bias theory, individual versus systematic framing of news, “drama, color, and brevity”, Daily Me, unanticipated encounters, common experiences, group polarization, consumer sovereignty, Why large media firms dominate the Internet, ultra conservative vs. the moderate, media poor versus real poor, impact of media competition for viewers, spectacle stories, soft news
Why did 59% of Americans vote in the 2004 presidential election?
How can the cost-benefit model be used to explain who participate in politics and who doesn’t?
Who is more and less likely to vote in America by age, income, education, race, and economic status?
What is the demographic or socio-economic explanation of voting? What are some limitations of this analysis? (1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election, Europe, midterm elections)
Why has American turnout declined?
How did voter turnout in the 2004 presidential elections compare to turnout in other eras of American politics and to other countries?
What is the voter registration process and how does it affect voter turnout? What are the limits of the registration argument?
Would reform measures like same day voter registration, making election day a national holiday, mail in or E-Voting, increase voting rates significantly? Why or why not?
What role does voter mobilization play in voting? Why are so few Americans mobilized by parties or candidates to vote?
Why Americans say they don't vote?
Should we be concerned that only 59.6% of Americans voted in 200?
If you were named the new Voting Czar, what reforms would you advocate for increasing voter turnout?
Can any voting reform ever be politically neutral? Why or why not? What are the implications for various reform measures?
Terms
Voting rights Act of 1961, motor voter law, voter registration drives, same day voter registration in Ohio, eligible voting age population, individual motivations for voting, mobilization, psychic benefits of voting, social connectedness, 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election, change the rules- change the outcome, vote ID laws, felon disenfranchisement
What does the story of the Home School Legal Defense Association tell us about the role of interest groups in American democracy?
How do interest groups differ from political parties?
What is the appropriate role of interest groups in a democracy?
What is Madison’s view about interest groups/factions?
Why do pluralists favor a strong interest group system?
What is wrong with the pluralist description of American politics? Are all groups and individuals equally represented? How might the interest group system seem to over represent particular groups?
How does the collective action problem explain US Sugar policy?
Why is Big Sugar powerful? Who wins and loses from US Sugar policy?
How do interest groups attempt to achieve their political goals (inside and outside strategies)? What makes an interest group powerful?
What does the battle over prohibiting the sales of alcohol over the Internet, and specifically what groups are or are not involved, reveal about the accuracy of pluralist descriptions of American politics (from Moore, Grapes of Wrath)?
What would he say about the battle over prohibiting the sales of alcohol over the Internet?
What do Cigler and Loomis say about the emergence of hyperpolitics and its relevance for the debate over pluralism? Why do they think moneyed interests have become more powerful in the present era?
Terms
Home School Legal Defense Association, NRA, free rider problem, collective action problem, selective benefits, political entrepreneur, inside and outside strategies, grassroots lobbying, PACs, direct mail, iron triangles, subgovernment, issue networks, pluralism, Microsoft, material or selective benefits, the goals of interest groups, interest group responses to the permament campaign, the Boone Pickens plan
How do political parties enhance democracy?
What are the fundamental characteristics of the American party system?
Why is America a two party system?
Why do third parties emerge? Why do they die? How, if ever, do they improve our political system?
How have American parties changed over time?
Who killed political parties and how?
Why have elections become candidate centered as opposed to party centered? How have technological changes in how campaigns are conducted contributed to this phenomena?
How does our single member simple plurality electoral system explain why we have 2 political parties?
What are the ideological differences between the Democratic and Republican parties?
Demographically speaking, who votes Democrat, who votes Republican?
What are the trends in party identification, partisan, economic, and demographic trends in ideopolis counties and why do they portend a Democratic majority?
Why is the current Republican majority collapsing according to Judis and Texeira?
How do Judis and Texeira's theories about the emerging democratic majority explain Barack Obama's current lead in the polls?
Culture War
Is there a culture
war in America? In your answer, please analyze and explain:
a. Why do many believe there is a culture war in American?
b. Whether polling data indicates the existence of deep polarization?
c. Have electoral cleavages in the US shifted from moral to economic issues?
d. Why political elites are polarized?
e. Whether we can or should dispel the culture war in American politics?
Please use polling data and spatial models to support your arguments.
Purists, spatial models, Figure 2.1, what does deeply divided look like in
a spatial model, red state vs blue state policy and ideology differences;
abortion and homosexuality polling, where do voters place themselves ideologically;
where do they place the Democratic and Republican parties ideologically, differences
between activists and regular Americans, evidence of polarization and depolarization,
sources of elite polarizaton, evidence on whether electoral cleavages have
shifted Figure 7.4 and Figure 7.2, centralizing voters and polarizing elites,
Figure 9.4 and 9.5, expansion of government, rise of participatory government,
who is hijacking American Democracy according to Fiorina
I will randomly select TWO essay questions from this list. Please prepare your answers in advance making use of the readings and lecture notes to make a coherent argument that answers the question(s), keeping in mind your time will be short.
Some advice for
essay questions
1. You will be hard pressed to sufficiently answer all the questions during
the allotted time period. Your answers should be concise and avoid unnecessary
words and fluff (e.g. Congratulations on your victory Mr. Bush, it is
a great day for America blah blah . . ). You may also abbreviate
i.e. Pres, H of R, EC for electoral college, S.C. for Supreme Court
etc; just make sure it is relatively clear. I will not be able to guess
that SG stands for solicitor general.
2. Make a coherent argument in response to each question. Make sure
you answer each sub-question and relate it back to the larger argument.
3. Use the readings and authors names in your answer. (e.g. Nisbit argues
polls are ….)
4. Use specific examples to support your arguments. The ID terms
are a good place to start. “Interest groups use outsider strategies
to influence congress” is not as good an answer as “Interest groups use outsider
strategies to influence congress like GE’s Hudson River campaign.”
5. Make sure to define the concepts you use in your answers.
The negativity bias towards government is. . . .
You essay answers will be evaluated
based upon
1. the clarity of your argument
2. the use of the readings and lectures
3. the creative use of examples to support your points.
2. Your roommate is ranting again about the liberal media bias. Since she has yet to take Gov 101, it is your responsibility to set her straight. Please tell her:
3. Why does sugar cost so much, and what, if anything, can be done about
it? In your answer, make sure you address:
a. how pluralist theory explains public policy;
b. Madison’s views on interest groups/factions;
c. the collective action problem;
d. the emergence of hyperpolitics (Cigler and Loomis)
e. how interest groups attempt to influence public policy in the New American
Democracy
4. What role should public opinion play in shaping the U.S. government’s response
the fiscal crisis on Wall street? Your answer should use the results of the
different public opinion polls we discussed in class to support your arguments.
a. What does the public think the government should do?
b. Should policy makers listen to these poll results? Why or why not?
c. What would Nisbet say about these poll results?
d. What would Page and Shapiro say about these poll results?
5. It is Thanksgiving Dinner and your family is discussing the results of
the 2008 presidential election. Having zealously followed the election and
results in the media, they are convinced that there is a culture war in American
politics, with America hopelessly riven into Red and Blue America. Someone
turns to you and says, "Hey you go to one of those "New Ivies",
do you think there is a culture war in American politics? In your answer,
please analyze and explain:
a. Why do many believe there is a culture war in American?
b. Is there evidence of deep polarization on issues, particularly moral issues,
between Red American and Blue America?
c. Have electoral cleavages in the US shifted from moral to economic issues?
d. Why are moral issues more important now in American politics than in the
past?
e. Why political elites are polarized?
Make sure to provide spatial models and polling data to support your arguments.
6. How do Judis and Texeira's theories about the emerging democratic majority
explain Barack Obama's current lead in the polls? In your answer, make sure
you discuss:
a. Why the Republican coalition is collapsing?
b. Which groups are members of the emerging democratic majority?
Extra Credit
1. Who will win the presidential election and with how many electoral college
votes? (there are 538). Exact Answer wins.