Election speak.

• Author: Smith, Patricia
• Position: NATIONAL - United States presidential election, 2016

You'll be hearing lots of campaign jargon as November approaches. These are the terms you're likely to encounter most.

SOUND BITES

Brief, catchy phrases that politicians use to sum up their positions or attack their rivals. The shorter and more compelling a comment, the better its chances of being replayed in TV news reports or shared on social media.

ATTACK/NEGATIVE ADS Many political ads tell you reasons to vote for a candidate. Attack, or negative, ads tell you why not to vote for someone--and they can get nasty. Both voters and candidates say they don't like negative ads, but will they go away? Not likely: The reality is, negative ads often work.

BATTLEGROUND STATES

States with a large number of undecided voters are known as battleground states because candidates campaign hard there, fighting for every vote. They're also known as swing states because in different election years, they've swung their support from one party to the other (see map, p. 9).

CONSERVATIVES & LIBERALS Conservatives, often said to be "on the right," generally think government should play a limited role in regulating business and instituting social reforms. They tend to vote Republican. Liberals, often said to be "on the left," generally think government should play an active role in regulating business and solving social problems. They tend to vote Democratic. Be careful who you label, though: Sometimes people are conservative on some issues and liberal on others.

ELECTORAL VOTE

Technically, the presidency is decided not by the popular vote (total votes nationwide) but by the electoral vote. In the Electoral College system established in the Constitution, each state has the same number of electoral votes as it has representatives in the two houses of Congress. The total number of electoral votes is 538 (535 for the states plus 3 for Washington, D.C.). To win the presidency, a candidate must receive at least a majority (270) of those votes. Most of the time, the popular-vote winner is also the electoral vote winner. The most recent exception was 2000, when Democrat A1 Gore won the popular vote but Republican George W. Bush won the electoral vote--and the White House.

MUDSLINGING

Particularly negative-and often nasty and very personal--campaigning. But watch out for candidates who accuse their opponents of mudslinging when, really, they just don't like what's being said about them and want to minimize its impact.

STUMP SPEECH

Long before election campaigns were...