American National Government Test 4

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Which income group had the lowest percentage of donors?

$150,000 and up

Approximately ________ is needed for a candidate to have a reasonable chance of winning a seat in the House of Representatives.

$500,000

Approximately how much did PACs representing transportation groups spend in the past four elections?

$79 million

Which of the following is true?

All other things being equal, Hubert Humphrey was expected to prevail in 1968 and Al Gore was expected to prevail in 2000.

Which of the following is FALSE?

All states distribute electoral votes on a winner-take-all basis.

Which of the following presidential incumbents was reelected when the Consumer Confidence Index was less than 100 on the eve of election?

George W. Bush (2004)

Lobbyists

Have substantial influence in setting the political agenda help to craft specific legislation build coalitions around specific policy issues build coalitions in Washington D.C. in particular (*All of the above is correct*)

Which industry's PACs spent the most money over the past four elections?

Ideology / Single Issue; agribusiness if between the following: Agribusiness Construction Defense Labor

The Congressional results of the 2012 election

In Congress, Democrats retained control of the Senate and Republicans retained control of the house.

Prior to the 1890's, voters cast ballots according to political parties. The advent of _________ allowed voters to choose individual candidates rather than a political party as a whole

Neutral Ballot

During the earliest years of the United States, who nominated the candidates for president?

Nominations were controlled by each party's congressional caucus.

Which of the following is true regarding the 2012 presidential election?

Obama was reelected despite a low level of consumer confidence in the economy.

________ occurs when state legislators concentrate the members of one party in as few districts as possible in order to ensure that their opponents will elect as few representatives as possible.

Packing; part of Gerrymandering

Which three types of factors influence the decisions of voters at the polls?

Partisan loyalty Issues Characteristics of candidates

In the Republican primary, Mitt Romney's *superior organization and financial base* carried him to the nomination, despite challenges from _______________ and ________________ who portrayed themselves as more conservative than Romney.

Rick Santorum; Newt Gingrich

The role of soft money has been

Scrutinized following the 1996 and 2000 elections. This lead to restrictions on soft money in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act

Early presidential primaries and caucuses are more important because they

can help a candidate secure media attention and financial support.

The impact of issues and policy preferences on electoral choice is diminished if

competing *candidates do not differ substantially* or *do not focus their campaigns on policy matters*.

Which industry's PACs spent the least money over the past four elections?

defense

Since the 1930s, the number and scale of interest groups at the national level has ________.

dramatically increased

The Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990 was designed to

encourage administrative agencies to negotiate with important interest groups.

How can interest groups use litigation as a strategy of influence?

filing amicus curiae briefs, financing lawsuits, and bringing a suit on behalf of the group

When candidates for office *sponsor hearings, undertake inspection tours of disaster areas, or meet with foreign dignitaries, the form of publicity* they receive is called ________.

free media

In recent years, the religious right has had a great effect on American politics through ________.

grassroots mobilization

The number of corporate PACs

has declined in the last few years.

The first step in the campaigning involves the organization of supporters to

help the candidate *raise funds* and *create public name recognition*.

Which of the following groups made the lowest level of political contributions as a percentage?

high school diploma or less

What is the most important and beneficial resource that lobbyists provide government officials?

information

What strategy did President Obama use in this video to galvanize support for reforms?

institutional advertising

The organization of private interest into groups to advance their own views is

is a necessary and intrinsic element of the liberty of citizens to pursue their private lives and to express their views, individually and collectively.

The reform of spending practices may appear to advance the goal of political equality

it might do so at the expense of liberty.

The Teamsters and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations are examples of ________.

labor groups

Labor PACs are the

least common type of PAC

A number of important policy domains are controlled not by iron triangles, but by a collection of issue networks that consist of

like-minded politicians Consultants Public officials Political activists Interest Groups having some concern with the issue

Interest groups often turn to

litigation when they lack access or feel they have insufficient influence over the formulation and implementation of public policy.

To counter the growing influence of the lobbying industry, stricter guidelines regulating the actions of lobbyists have been adopted in the last decade; however,

lobbyists have found ways to circumvent many of the new rules.

Three factors influence voters' decisions at the polls:

partisan loyalty, issues, and candidate characteristics.

Before the 1890s, who was responsible for printing election ballots?

political parties

Partisan loyalty

predisposes voters in favor of their party's candidates and against those of the opposing party.

When a coalition of credit card companies form an interest group called the Partnership to Protect Consumer Credit, this indicates that

private interests are hiding behind the ideals of public interests.

Political scientists call voters' choices that focus on *future behavior* ________ voting, while those based on *past performances* are called ________ voting.

prospective; retrospective

If Barack Obama won the plurality of votes in California during the 2012 election, and California had 53 representatives in the House of Representatives, how many electoral votes from California did Obama win?

55 (53 House members + 2 Senate)

________ occurs when a voter must be registered with a party prior to voting in that party's election.

A closed primary

The New Politics Movement

A factor accounting for the explosion of interest-group activity in recent years was the emergency of a new set of forces in American politics

Romney's strength and Obama's struggles in the first presidential debate provided Romney with momentum. Obama won reelection by

putting together a coalition of working-class-voters, women, and minority constituents and winning all but one battleground state.

Primary elections were introduced by

reformers who hoped to weaken the power of party leaders.

In democratic systems, elections can be used to

replace current officeholders Function as a institution of legitimacy Promote government accountability Source of protection for groups in society

Presidential candidates secure a party's nomination by

running in *state party primaries* and *caucuses*.

Most European nations utilize a ________.

system of proportional representation

What is the most important attempt to limit the influence of lobbyists in recent years?

the 1995 Lobbying Disclosure Act

The modern expansion of governmental economic and social programs has contributed to

the enormous increase in group activity and organization.

The organization of private interests into groups is biased in favor of the

wealthy and powerful who have superior knowledge and opportunity and resources with which to organize.

Surveys of voter opinion, often called public opinion polls, provide:

*(1)* For basic information that candidates and their staffs use to craft campaign strategies *(2)* To select issues, to assess their own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of the opposition *(3)* to check voter response to the campaign, *(4)* To measure the degree to which various constituent parties may respond to campaign appeals.

What are the three types of elections held in the United States?

*(1)* Primary Elections *(2)*General Elections *(3)* Runoff Elections

The next steps of campaigning involve

*Hiring experts* - media consultants, pollsters, and others - to aid in developing issues and a message and communicating them to the public.

Which of the following statements about campaign spending in Senate elections is true?

*Incumbents generally spend more money* than challengers in Senate campaigns.

Interest groups also seek to use the electoral process to

*elect the right legislators in the first place* and to *ensure that those who are elected will owe them a debt of gratitude* for their financial support and campaign activism

Contemporary conventions merely

*ratify a party's platform* and *adopt rules governing the party* and its future conventions.

Organized interest groups enhance American democracy by

*representing the interests of large numbers of people* and encouraging *political participation*.

Which of the following groups is most likely to belong to the New Politics movement?

*upper-middle-class professionals*, for whom the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s were key experiences

Most interest groups share...

... key organizational components including: Leadership Money An agency or office Members

The number of corporate PACs has exceeded ______ since 1980.

1500

Since 1968, the Consumer Confidence Index was lowest on the eve of the election of

1992

How many electoral votes are needed to win a presidential election?

270

Barack Obama won ________ electoral votes in 2012.

332

AARP has approximately ________ members today.

38,000,000 (million)

By 2012, there were approximately ________ PACs in the United States.

5,500

In the 2012 election cycle, which age group made up the single largest group of donors as a percentage?

50-64

PACs representing health groups gave ____ percent to Republican candidates?

55

________ occurs when interest groups generate phony letters and phone calls in order to resemble a grassroots movement.

Astroturf lobbying

Why don't candidates visit the bigger states during a campaign?

Bigger states have strong ties to a specific political party.

According to President Obama, which __________ groups have recently become dangerously powerful.

Business

Nominations of presidential candidates were first made in

Caucasus of a party's members of Congress. This system was replaced in 1830's by nominating conventions, which were designed to be a more democratic , deliberative method of nominating candidates.

was the major concern regarding the Supreme Court's recent decision on direct lobbying.

Corruption

By using donor lists or magazine subscription lists, candidates are able to engage in ________.

Direct-mail solicitations

Campaign finance is regulated by the

Federal Elections Campaign Act of 1971.

What is a referendum?

It is the practice of voting directly for proposed laws.

Why is the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 important to lobbyists?

It requires agencies to create opportunities for public comments before implementing new rules and regulations.

________ was a dark-horse nominee for president.

James Polk; Warren Harding. *(*GRANT WAS NOT!!!!*)*

The fact that interest groups favor the wealthy and well educated can be understood as a reflection of what eternal dilemma in American politics?

Liberty is often inconsistent with equality.

Corporate lobbyists are seeking __________ benefits from Congress today.

NOT SOLIDARITY NOT PURPOSIVE (PROBABLY INFORMATIONAL)

Campaign funds in the United States are provided by

Small, direct-mail contributions Large gifts PACs Political parties 527's, Candidates' personal resources, and Public funding

Americans do not vote directly for presidential candidates. Rather, they choose *electors* who are pledged to

Support a party's presidential candidate.

Swing states like Ohio, Virginia, and Iowa were compared to which cut of meat?

Tenderloin

Most general elections in the United States use what type of system?

The plurality System; a type of electoral system in which, to win a seat in the parliament or other representative body, a candidate need only receive the most votes in an election, *not necessarily a majority of the votes cast*.

Smaller and weaker parties are most likely to have electoral success under which system of elections?

The proportional representation system

What is the "fourth voting process"?

The referendum - Technically not an election. - 18 States have provisions for recall elections - Recall is an electoral device that allows voters to remove governors and other state officials from office prior to the expiration of their terms.

Which of the following is true about public interest PACs?

There are more *public interest PACs* today than any other type. The number of *public interest PACs has increased greatly since 2007*.

What happens to interests that do not engage in extensive lobbying?

They often find themselves "Microsofted."

Most of the time a major-party nomination is necessary for electoral success, candidates must seek a

a party's nomination in primary elections

Interest group politics in the United States tends to have

a pronounced upper-class bias because of the characteristics of interest-group members.

The role played by private money in American politics

affects the relative power of social groups. As a result: *less affluent groups have considerably less power in the political system*

The framers of the Constitution argued for pluralism, in which

all interests are and should be free to compete for influence in the United States. They believed the outcome of this competition would be *compromise and moderation*, since no group would be able to achieve any of its goals without accommodating itself to some of the views of its many competitors.

Lobbying is

an effort by outsiders to influence Congress or government agencies by providing them with information about issues, giving them support, and even threatening retaliation.

An interest group is

an organized group of people that makes policy-related appeals to government.

Candidates ___________ and ____________ always influence voters' decisions.

attributes; personality characteristics

In recent years, the role of the parties during the general campaign has

been transformed by the introduction of high-tech campaign techniques, including polls, use of broadcast media, phone banks, direct mail, professional public relations, and the internet.

State legislators routinely seek to influence electoral outcomes by

manipulating the organization of electoral districts

Because of natural disincentives to join interest groups, groups offer

material, informational, solidary, and purposive benefits to entice people to join.

A(n) ________ does NOT coincide with a presidential election.

midterm election

Going public is a strategy that attempts to

mobilize the widest and most favorable climate of opinion. - Institutional Advertising - Demonstrations - Grassroots mobilization

Which of the following is NOT a job regularly performed by lobbyists?

nominating a candidate to run for political office

The Iron Triangle has

one point in the executive branch program, another in the Senate or House legislative committee or subcommittee, and a third point in an interest group. - The points are mutually supporting and work together for a mutual benefit; they count as access only if they last over a long period of time.

some groups employ a nonpartisan strategy in electoral politics

to avoid giving up access to one party by embracing the other.

In Capital-intensive campaigns, the main technique is to

use the broadcast media to present the electorate with themes and issues that will induce them to support one candidate over another.

Interest groups can

use the courts to affect public policy by bringing suit directly on behalf of the group itself, financing suits brought by individual's suits, or by filing a companion brief as an amicus curiae to an existing case.

The salience of these three bases of electoral choice

varies from contest to contest and from voter to voter.


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