Sections
Key Terms
Key Terms
- logrolling
- the situation in which groups of legislators all agree to vote for a package of otherwise unrelated laws that they individually favor
- median voter theory
- a theory that politicians will try to match policies to what pleases the median voter preferences
- pork-barrel spending
- spending that mainly benefits a single political district
- rational ignorance
- the theory that rational people will not vote if the costs of becoming informed and voting are too high, or because they know their vote will not be decisive in the election
- special interest groups
- groups that are small in number relative to the nation, but are well organized and thus exert a disproportionate effect on political outcomes
- voting cycle
- the situation in which a majority prefers A over B, B over C, and C over A