Gov Chapters 12&13

Which of the following raise money from individuals and then distribute it in the form of contributions to political parties?

Political Action Committees (PACs)

What is an organization that seeks to influence public policy?

Interest Group

What is a public interest group?

A group that works to gain benefits for society as whole

What institution is responsible for electing the president of the US?

Electoral College

How many electoral votes are needed to be elected president?

270

What is front-loading?

The tendency of states to choose an early date on the nomination/primary calendar

Why do Democrats no longer use the winner-take-all primary?

It was generally less representative

If you want to crossover vote that primary must be a(n) ____

Open primary

What is said of a successful presidential candidate who helps members of Congress get elected as well?

The president has long coattails

What is one reason why incumbents have the advantage in elections?

Incumbents tend to have greater amounts of money to spend on campaigns

Why is redistricting an issue for incumbents?

It can put an incumbent against another incumbent in the next election cycle

What is the greatest threat to incumbents of the president’s party?

Midterm election

A command, indicated by an electorate’s votes, for the elected officials to carry out a party platform or policy agenda is known as a(n) ______

mandate

What amendment in the US Constitution lowered the voting age to 18?

26

Voting is a form of ______ participation

Conventional

Which of the following is a problem presented by the Electoral College?

Winner of the popular vote can still lose presidency

Attempting to influence the political process through extreme measures such as boycotts, is an example of _______ political participation

Unconventional

When a citizen votes for candidates from different parties in the same election (s)he is ______

ticket splitting

Voting for a candidate based on the candidate’s policy promises is called

prospective voting

What is a criticism of early voting?

It decreases the importance of campaigns

What is the name of the process by which citizens propose legislation or constitutional amendments, through petition followed by popular vote?

Initiative

How do most citizens in Washington and Oregon vote?

mail

One of the primary dangers of the nomination campaign is that

candidates can become too ideologically extreme

What is a media effect?

Agenda setting

What is the future of political participation going to look like?

In America it will go down

What is lobbying?

Communicating with government officials to persuade them to support a particular policy position

One of the various ways in which parties contribute to democratic governance is by

running candidates

The most visible instrument that parties use to formulate, convey, and promote public policy is

platform

Modern national party conventions serve what ends?

They mobilize supporters for the nominee, who has basically already been decided.

What serves as the glue that holds together the disparate elements of the US governmental and political apparatus

The political parties

Although national committee activities attract most of the media attention, the roots of the party lie in

the states and localities

To which of the following might PACs invest their contributions in order to maximize their political influence

campaigns of incumbents

The ______ is the bureaucratic agency in charge of monitoring campaign activity

Federal Election Commission

What Supreme Court decision determined that no limits could be placed on the amount of his or her own money a candidate spends in an election?

Buckley v. Valeo

The ability of an office holder to fend off challengers is known as the

scare-off effect

Most election follow the same structure, consisting of a(n)

nomination campaign and general election campaign

Which of the following is a characteristic of negative ads?

They sometimes do no mention the sponsor of the ads

What is one strategy that campaigns use to control the media?

Staging media events

If you wanted to have the most informed voters during a party nomination, you would use which nomination system?

Caucus

Front loading benefits

Front runners

If you are competing for your party’s nomination for office, you must first participate in a(n)

primary election

If you are challenging an incumbent and looking for PAC money to support your campaign. you can expect to receive

significantly less money than if you were an incumbent

If a state wanted to increase its influence in the presidential nomination, what could the state do?

Frontload the primaries

A campaign manager who was attempting to make clear that his candidate was suitable for the presidency would most likely

Prepare his candidate for televised debates

T or F: The nomination campaign may begin years before the actual election

True

Until 2002, the primary federal regulation of campaign finance occurred according to the

Federal Election Campaign Act

T or F: During the same time period that legislators attempted to reform campaign finance, the number of PACs grew at a rapid rate

True

Nonprofit, tax-exempt groups that can expressly advocate for candidates and are not required to disclose the names of contributors are called

501(c) groups

The role of campaign consultants has become so important in today’s campaigns because

candidates need specialists to help them make the most of fund-raising, media relations, and Internet outreach.

T or F: If a small newspaper writes an incendiary expose about a candidate, the person on staff who most needs to be made aware of it is the communications director

True

In one recent election, researchers found that individual donors accounted for what percent of contributions to presidential candidates?

85

The incumbency advantage includes which of the following

Greater visibility

Roughly what percentage of Americans rarely or never vote

35%

Why might being a member of a civic group make you more likely to vote

Civic groups provide opportunities to learn important political skills

Candidate debates became a regular part of presidential campaigns in which decade?

the 1980s

T or F: Congressional incumbents tend to have a low change of reelection

False

If proportional representation primaries are fairer to the public, why might some state parties choose not to adopt them?

They can lengthen the nomination process

Why did the original Electoral College hold separate elections for president and vice-president

The Framers anticipated that partisanship would have little influence

If you wanted to improve voter turnout for busy people you would

Turn election day into a national holiday

T or F: One explanation for low voter turnout is that the burden of vote registration falls on the state and not the individual citizen

False

What is true about the relationship between the political knowledge and political participation

Increases in political knowledge lead to increases in political participation

What is a correct statement about PACs

The amount of money that PACs can contribute directly to an individual candidate is limited by law

The use of direct primaries instead of the convention system in selecting presidential candidates results in what

A weakening of party control over nominations. An increase in the number of people involved in the choice of candidates

What is a factor that best accounts for the rise of interest groups and the decline of political parties in recent years

Interest groups are better able to articulate specific policy positions than are political parties

Over the past 20 years, reforms of the presidential nomination process have had the this effect

The number of female delegates and minority group delegates at Democratic national conventions has grown substantially

What is true of the electoral college system

It encourages candidates to concentrate their campaigns in competitive, populous states

The primary reason for the current existence of only two major political parties in the US is

a winner-take-all electoral system makes it difficult for new parties to emerge and survive

An interest group would likely have the greatest influence on policy matters involving

narrow issues, only a few interest groups, and technical information

What characterizes the main different between elite theories and pluralist theories of politics in the US

Elite theories argue that a single minority dominates politics in all policy areas; pluralist theories argue that many minorities compete for power in different policy areas

Political parties serve what function in the US

Informing the public about political issues, mobilizing voters and getting them to the polls, organizing diverse interests within society

The primary election system of selecting presidential candidates has had what effect

It has loosened the hold of party leaders over the nomination process

An interest group is most likely to have influence in Congress when the issue at stake

is narrow in scope and low in public visibility

A primary election in which voters are required to identify a party preference before the election and are not allowed to split their ticket is called

a closed primary

Registered voters directly elect whom?

Members of the senate and house of representatives

What is a significant trend in the presidential nominating process over the past three decades

Increasing importance of presidential primaries rather than state conventions

Interest groups and political parties both promote US democracy by

linking citizens to the political process

Critical elections in the US typically have occurred

when groups of voters have changed their traditional patterns of party

Who form the "iron triangle"

Executive department, congressional committee, interest groups

An election involving more than two candidates in which the person who receives the most votes is the winner is called

plurality election

The statement "America has a pluralistic political system" means

many interest groups compete in the political arena to influence public policy

What reflects an elitist view of American politics

American politics are dominated by the military-industrial complex

In a single=member district, plurality vote system

the candidate with the most votes represents the district

What is a false statement about the Democratic Party’s national convention

It selects the state party chairmen

What is not possible due to the electing of a president

A presidential candidate with a majority of the electoral vote fails to be elected president

The term "minority majority" refers to the fact that

America will soon cease to have a white majority and together the minority groups will become a majority

The largest amount of political coverage in newspapers during presidential campaigns is devoted to

day-today campaign activities

The Federal Election Campaign Act established all of the following except

a fund for public donations to congressional campaigns

Not a criticism of the nomination system

Few citizens are permitted to participate in the nomination process

The boundary lines of congressional districts must be redrawn every ten years in order to

reflect population shifts indicated by the national census

Why does the US have a two party system

seats in congress are awarded an a winner take all basis

Ticket splitting

Voters choose the presidential nominee of one major part but chooses congressional of other major party.

Voters who rely exclusively on tv network news coverage of national elections are most likely to be aware of

the relative strength of each candidate’s support, as indicated by public opinion polls

The concept of critical elections is closely associated with

party realignment

The task of writing a party’s political platform is left to

the national convention

Political parties over the past 40 years

party loyalty gas decreased over that period

Linkage institution

the way in which cities policy preferences are converted into policy initiatives

The two major political parties in the US are described as

separate and largely independent party organizations exist at national, state, and local levels

Who is the audience of the media

the masses

Allows voters to select both parties on the primary

blanket primary

Party dealignment

the loss of party members as more people identify as independents

One who votes democrat because they are minority and democrat supports minority is called

group benefits voter

An electoral system based on single-member districts is usually characterized by

domination of the legislature by two political parties

Horse race journalism

cover campaigns by emphasizing the relative standing of the candidates the polls rather than the issues they discuss

Which state was the first in the nation caucus

Iowa

Significant trend in the presidential nominating process over the past 30 years

Decreasing cost of campaigns

Most important influence on the choice made by voters in presidential elections

partisan identification

The advantages incumbents have in congressional elections

Incumbents receive more campaign contributions than do challengers and are able to provide important services for individual voters

The bounders of US congressional districts are usually determined by

state legislatures

Critical elections in the US typically have occurred

when groups of voters have changed their traditional patterns of party loyalties

When 18 to 21 year olds received the right to vote the did what

turned out at a lower rate than the rest of the electorate

Considering all the elections which describes the electoral behavior in the US

the majority of the electorate does not got in most elections

What is generally true of gerrymandering of congressional districts

It creates districts that favor one political party over another

What is a provision of federal election laws

In areas with significant populations of linguistic minorities, voting materials must be made available in the preferred languages of the population

Voter turnout between US and other western democracies

Voter turnout is lower in the US

Which would result from the direct election of presidential candidates

The electoral college would become more influential in the electoral process