Closed primary

1. Closed primary

2. a primary nominating election in which only declared party members can vote

3. Coattail effect

4. The effect of a strong candidate running for an office at the top of a ballot helping to attract voters to other candidate on the party’s ticket

5. Electoral coalition

6. an association of political parties or individuals which exists solely to stand in elections

7. General election

8. The regularly scheduled election at which voters make final selection of officeholders

9. Incumbent

10. The current holder of a political office

11. Negative ad

12. Ad to win an advantage by referring to negative aspects of an opponent or of a policy rather than emphasizing one's own positive attributes or preferred policies

13. Office-bloc ballot

14. A ballot listing all candidates for a given office under the name of that office; also called a “Massachusetts” ballot

15. Open primary

16. A party nominating election in which any qualified voter can take part

17. Party-column ballot

18. A ballot listing all candidates of a given party together under the name of that party; also called an “Indiana” ballot

19. Political action committee

20. The political extension of special interest groups which have a major stake in public policy

21. Position issue

22. An issue dividing the electorate on which rival parties adopt different policy positions to attract voters

23. Presidential primary

24. An election in which a party’s voters • 1. Choose State party organization’s delegates to their party’s national convention and/or • 2. Express a preference for their party’s presidential nomination

25. Primary election

26. An election prior to the general election in which voters select candidates who will run on each party’s ticket

27. Prospective voting

28. Voting for a candidate because one favors his or her ideas for addressing issues after the election

29. Public finance law

31. Realigning or critical periods

32. Periods during which a sharp, lasting shift occurs in the popular coalition supporting one or both parties. The issues that separate the two parties change, and so the kinds of voters supporting each party change.

33. Realignment

34. The shift in popular coalition supporting one or both parties. • Two kinds of realignment • When a major is so badly defeated that it disappears and a new party emerges • When both party continues but voters shift their support from one party to the other

35. Retrospective voting

36. Voting for or against the candidate or party in office because one likes or dislikes how things have gone in the recent past

37. Runoff primary

38. A primary in which the top two vote-getters in the first direct primary face one another

39. Split ticket voting

40. Voting for candidates of different political parties for different offices at the same election

41. Spots

42. Short television ads

43. Straight-ticket voting

44. The practice of voting for candidates of only one political party at an election

45. Theme

46. The theme of a campaign of presidential candidates • A simple, appealing that can be repeated over and over again • Ex: • Jimmy Carter (1976) – trust • Ronald Regan (1980) – competence • George Bush (1988) – stay on course • Bill Clinton (1992) – we need to change

47. Tone

48. The tone of a campaign of presidential candidates, can be either: • Positive (build-me-up) • Negative (attack-the-opponent)

49. Valence issue

50. An issue on which voters distinguish rival parties by the degree to which they associate each party or candidate with conditions, goals or symbols the electorate universally approves or disapproves of