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| The person currently in office |
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| The tendency of lesser-known or weaker candidates to profit in an election by the presence on the ticket of a more popular candidate |
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| political action committee (PAC) |
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| A committee set up by and representing a corporation, labor union, or special-interest group that raises and sends campaign contributions on behalf of one or more candidates or causes |
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| Drawing boundaries of political districts so that districts are very unequal in population |
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| Drawing the boundaries of political districts in bizarre or initial shapes to make it easy for candidates of the party in power to win elections in those districts |
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| An increase in the votes that congressional candidates usually get when they first run for reelection |
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| An issue dividing the electorate on which rival parties adopt different policy positions to attract voters |
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| 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. Ex.: economic prosperity, political corruption |
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| An election used to fill an elective office |
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| An election prior to the general election in which voters select the candidates who will run on each party's ticket. |
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| A primary election limited to registered party members. Prevents members of other parties from crossing over to influence the nomination of an opposing party's candidate |
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| A primary election that permits voters to choose on election day the primary in which they wish to vote. They may vote for candidates of only one party |
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| A primary election that permits all voters, regardless of party, to choose candidates. A Democratic voter, for example, can vote in a blanket primary for both Democratic and Republican candidates for nomination |
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| A second primary election held in some states when no candidate receives a majority of the votes in the first primary; the runoff is between the two candidates with the most votes. Common in South |
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| Held before presidential elections to select delegates to the presidential nomination conventions of the major parties |
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| Spending by political action committees on political matters that is done directly and not by giving money to a candidate or party |
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| Funds solicited from individuals, corporations, and unions that are spent on party activities, such as voter-registration campaigns and voting drives, rather than on behalf of a specific candidate. These funds need not be reported to the Federal Election Commission |
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| Voting for a candidate because one favors his or her ideas for addressing issues after the election |
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| Voting for or against the candidate or party in office because one likes or dislikes how things have gone in the recent past (Retrospective="backward-looking") |
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