Beauty contest: A preliminary vote usually taken early in
the electoral process within a party; it expresses a non-binding
preference for one or another of the party's candidates. This
preference is not linked to the selection of convention delegates.
Caucus: Literally, it means "a meeting," and it is one of the main mechanisms used by modern American political parties to nominate their candidate for president. In the presidential nomination process, it now denotes a meeting of local party activists at the precinct level who select, in an open forum, delegates to county meetings. These delegates in turn select delegates to state meetings; and these state-level conventions select delegates to the party's national convention. The purpose of this layered caucus system is to open political participation to as many people as possible, and to provide greater incentives to recruitment of fresh talent into party politics than merely voting in a primary election. From February to June of a presidential election year, the major political parties of every state conduct either caucuses or primary elections ("primaries"). By tradition, the rural, midwestern state of Iowa has the first set of caucuses in the nation (even before the first primary in New Hampshire), and so it has a big impact on the race, even though it is a small state with so few delegates. For more detail, see documents on The Nominating Process.
Conservative: In American politics, someone who is right-of-center politically. Of the two major parties, the Republicans are generally considered more conservative. In the United States, conservatives usually emphasize free-market economic principles and often prefer state and local governmental power to federal power. Traditionally, conservative support has come from business leaders. Candidates and voters commonly refer to themselves and others as conservative, moderate (or centrist), or liberal.
Convention: A meeting, at state or national level, of "delegates" from a political party. These delegates vote for the person they want their party to nominate for political office. The nominated candidate will then compete in the general election with the candidates of other parties, and against any independent candidates, not endorsed by a political party. In modern U.S. presidential politics, "convention" usually refers to the national conventions of the Democratic and Republican parties, held every four years, during the Summer before the general election (which is held in November). These conventions, which include delegates from all states of the Union, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories, formally nominate the presidential candidate. For more detail, see documents on The Nominating Process.
Delegate: An official representative selected by members of his or her party to a national or state political convention (see above). For more detail, see documents on The Nominating Process.
Electoral base: A politician's "electoral base" is considered to be the heart of his or her constituency, i.e., the groups of people who will usually vote for him or her whatever the prevailing political conditions at any given time, often out of party loyalty (contrast with swing voters), or some other combination of variables such as ethnicity, gender, religion, ideology, military service, geography, or positions on issues. In other countries, "electoral base" is often called the "vote bank."
Electoral College: The electoral college is the group of electors, chosen by voters throughout the U.S. on a state basis, on election day, who then meet and formally select the next president of the United States. The selection is by a majority of 270 votes out of the 538 electors. The electoral college system is mandated by the U.S. Constitution.
Get-Out-the-Vote ("GOTV")Operations: In the last few days of a campaign, particularly on election day, campaigns usually focus most of their resources on getting their electoral base (see above)out to the polls to vote. Such operations (abbreviated as "GOTV" by campaign managers)include television and radio broadcasted appeals, telephone banks of volunteers and campaign workers who call voters' homes, reminding them to vote, "soundtrucks" with amplified speakers that drive through neighborhoods of likely supporters, volunteer drivers who drive likely supporters (particularly the elderly or disabled) to the polls, "pollwatchers" who ensure the integrity of polling operations, and dissemination of campaign paraphernalia (such as buttons, balloons, brochures, flyers, banners, lawn signs, posters).
GOP: An abbreviated nickname for the Republican Party.
Independent: In U.S. politics, this term denotes a voter, who, when registering to vote, does not declare affiliation with the Republicans, Democrats, or other political parties or does not consider himself or herself to be a member of a political party. Likewise, the term can also refer to a candidate for office who is running on the basis of personal identity rather than party affiliation.
Liberal: In American politics, "liberals" tend to be people who are somewhat ideologically left-of-center. They tend to favor more power at the federal level and federal intervention to regulate economic issues and certain social issues, particularly social issues involving civil liberties, and the rights of minority groups. Of the two major parties, the Democrats are generally considered more liberal. Traditionally, the bases of liberal support have been among minorities, urban voters, labor unions and academics, though that is evolving as U.S. politics change. Candidates and voters commonly refer to themselves and others as conservative, moderate (or centrist), or liberal.
Midterm elections: This term refers to elections held in-between presidential elections -- that is, two years after the previous, and two years before the next, presidential elections. Each midterm election selects one-third of the 100 members of the U.S. Senate and all 435 members of the House of Representatives, as well as many state and local officials.
Persuasion activities: Campaigns frame or define a message that will appeal to the undecided voters, and convey that message through advertising (television, radio, and print), direct-mail to the voters' homes, door-to-door and street-corner campaigning by volunteers or campaign workers, personal appearances and speeches by the candidate, candidate appearances at debates, endorsements and testimonials, and favorable coverage in the news (referred to as "free media" because candidates did not have to buy advertising space or time. Campaigns generally do not waste resources attempting to persuade voters that comprise the opposition's electoral base. As for their own electoral base, campaigns generally target get-out-the-vote resources.
Platform: A formal statement of position on major political issues drafted by a candidate or a political party. In other countries, the "platform" may be called the party "manifesto." The major parties ratify their platforms at their national conventions. For more detail, see documents on The Nominating Process.
Plurality: A plurality of votes is a total vote received by a candidate greater than that received by any opponent but less than a 50 percent majority of the vote. In other words, if one candidate receives 30 percent of the vote, another candidate receives 30 percent of the vote, and a third candidate receives 40 percent, that third candidate has a plurality of the votes, and wins the election. Abraham Lincoln and Bill Clinton are examples of presidents who received a majority of the electoral vote, but only a plurality of the popular vote in a competitive three-way election contest.
Primary: A "closed" primary
is a system of selecting a party's candidate for office in an
intraparty election in which only registered members of that
party may vote. Most state primaries are closed. An
"open" primary is a system of selecting a party's
candidate for office in which voters registered with other
parties and "independent" voters (i.e., unaffiliated
with any party) may also vote. This kind of primary is
also known as a "cross-over" primary. The major political
parties in every state choose delegates for
their party's national nominating
"Reagan Democrats": Democrats who voted for Ronald Reagan
for president during the 1980s. It has become a generic term for
swing voters in the Democratic party.
Realignment: In U.S. politics, this term refers to
occasional historic shifts of public opinion and voter concerns
that either undermine or enhance one or another party's
traditional base of support. The term is generally applied to
national elections which clearly shift the majority and minority
status of the two U.S. major political parties, or which replace
one of the two major political parties with one that previously
had been a "third party." Realignment may
be based on many factors, such as the reaction to party positions
on a critical issue of national concern (as was the case with the
slavery issue in the 1860s), credit or blame for handling a
national crisis (such as the Great Depression of 1929,) or
substantial changes in the demographic make-up of the voting
populace.
Republican
Party ("GOP"): One of the two major U.S. political
parties.
During the 20th century, the Republican party has generally been
the party of more affluent and conservative
voters, and has favored economic and social policies that are
somewhat less re-distributive than Democratic
party policies. The first Republican president was Abraham
Lincoln, the 16th U.S. president, elected in 1860. The
Republicans emerged in a major party realignment (see term
immediately above), replacing the now defunct Whig Party as a
major U.S. party. The nickname, often used in newspaper headlines
or when a commentator wishes to abbreviate, is "GOP" (pronounced
gee-oh-pee, not gop)which stands for a now antiquated and little-
used term, "grand old party."
Straw poll: In modern presidential politics, a
non-binding vote, often taken among party activists and
usually at a very early stage in a candidate-selection process,
to indicate which candidate or candidates are preferred by a
local group.
Stump speech: The "standard" speech of a candidate for
office -- the one he or she is most likely to use, perhaps with
slight variations, on normal occasions.
Super Tuesday: Primary elections
are often held on
Tuesdays, and Super Tuesdays are when primaries and caucuses are
held in several states on the same day, with many delegates "up
for grabs." If a candidate does particularly well on Super
Tuesday, he or she will not only gain many delegates, but also
press coverage and momentum. Since Super Tuesdays are seen as
big events on the election calendar, they often have a large
impact on the perception of where candidates stand in the race,
causing front runners to solidify the perception of their
invincibility, or lose ground to other candidates that do better
than expected. Often, candidates that have were lagging in the
opinion polls, and that failed to do well in the earlier
primaries and caucuses, drop out of the race if they fail to do
well on Super Tuesday (they also may find it difficult to raise
additional campaign funds, because they are portrayed as not
having a chance to win the nomination). Therefore, Super Tuesday
may serve as the coup de grace on candidates' campaigns that were
already in trouble after disappointing showings in the earlier
caucuses and primaries, such as Iowa and New Hampshire. This
year, Super Tuesday
will be held on March 12, and will include Florida, Mississippi,
Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas, for a total of 352
delegates, more than a third of the 996 needed to win the
Republican nomination. Other big days on the calendar this year:
March 5 with nine states and 241 delegates, March 7's New York
primary with 102 delegates, March 19 with four states and 229
delegates, and March 26 with California and two others for 215
delegates. That's 1,139 delegates in just three weeks. Perhaps
it should be called "Super March."
Swing Voters, Ticket Splitters, and
Persuadables: "Swing voters" are
those that are not always loyal to a particular political party,
and therefore are not part of any party's electoral base. They get their name because
they might "swing" from one party to the other in different
elections.
"Ticket Splitters" is another name for swing voters,
because many of them will vote for candidates from opposing
parties for different offices on the same ballot (e.g., might
vote Democratic for President and Republican for Senator, or vice
versa). They get their name because they do not
necessarily vote for all candidates on the same "ticket" or
slate, thus these voters "split" their votes.
When swing voters are undecided as to which candidate they will
support, they are called "undecideds."
Political campaign managers also refer to undecideds as
"persuadables," because campaigns concentrate on
persuading them, through various persuasion
activities, to vote for their candidate.
Campaigns generally consider the opposition's "natural" electoral
base as unpersuadable, and consider their own "natural" electoral
base as already likely to favor their own candidate. Thus, they
do not waste resources on the former, and only "target" the
latter for motivation or assistance to vote(called get-out-the-vote operations) on election day.
Although swing voters are sometimes referred to as independents, they may be registered
members of any political party. For example, "Reagan
Democrats" is the term used for those Democratic voters who
voted for the Republican president, Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
"Reagan Democrats" is often used today as a generic term for
swing voters in the Democratic party.
Third
party: In the parlance of American politics, "third
party" refers to political parties outside the two-party system
which are perceived to have a significant base of support. In
the 20th century, that has come to mean a party that is not the
Republican Party or the Democratic Party and can play some role
in influencing the outcome of an election.