POLS 3180 - Final Exam Review

POLS 3180 Public Opinion and Political Behavior
Final Exam Review

Political Participation

determinants of participation
determinants of changes in levels of participation
Robert Putnam and social capital

Voting behavior

Explanations of vote choice
- Michigan model
- Downsian model
- Role of issues in effecting voter behavior
  - The economy as an issue
    - retrospective v. prospective
    - sociotropic v. pocketbook
  - required conditions of issue voting

Public Opinion and Political Institutions

Public opinion and representation
- sharing model
- role-playing model
Dimensions of public perceptions of President
- Patterns of presidential approval
- determinants of presidential approval
Public opinion of Congress
- representatives v. institution
- perception of power and role
public attitudes toward government
- Determinants of trust in local government
- institutions v. officials
- aggregate changes in attitudes

Terms you should know:

coalition of minorities
Downsian model
easy issues
unmet expectations
floating voters
hard issues
honeymoon period

incumbent advantage
Michigan model
normal vote
political connectedness
prospective evaluations
pocketbook evaluations
rally-around-the-flag event

retirement slump
retrospective evaluations
role-playing model
sharing model
sociotropic evaluations
social connectedness
sophomore surge

The exam will feature one of the following essay questions. Your best bet is to be prepared to answer each of them. Furthermore, it is not wise to try to anticipate which one I will select because the decision will be a random choice.

What are the determinants of political participation? What explanations have been offered to account for the decline in turnout in the United States over the latter half of the 20th century?
Discuss the effect of economic attitudes on vote choice. How, and to what extent, do economic conditions effect how people vote in presidential elections?
What are the factors that influence the president's standing with the public? How, and why, has the public's general perception of the president changed over the latter half of the 20th century?

The Final will also include an additional essay which is intended to tie together the material from the semester. Essentially, the question will involve the nature of the American electorate given the expectations of the public in democratic theory (as discussed during the first couple of weeks of the class; E & T refer to it as the "rational-activist model"). What you will be expected to do is examine, using specific evidence from the semester's material, how the American public's level of information and involvement meets with the expectations of democratic theory and then make a judgement as to whether this is good or bad for democracy in the United States.