Chapter 9: Political Parties
The average winning margin in House elections is ________ percent
40
________ are independent, nonprofit groups that receive and distribute funds to influence the nomination, election, and/or defeat of a candidate.
527 committees
The United States has had ________ party systems since 1789.
6
"Me too" Republicanism refers to
the tendency of Republican politicians during the New Deal to support popular programs such as Social Security rather than advocate alternative policies.
At any given time in American politics, how many parties have tended to dominate politics?
two
What is the ultimate goal of a political party?
winning elections
Which statement about education and voting in 2016 is MOST accurate?
College graduates backed Clinton by a large margin, while those without a college degree backed Trump by a large margin.
Since the 1930s, most African Americans have identified as
Democrats
Emerging in the late 1780s, America's first two political parties were the
Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans.
The first party system was characterized by conflict between the ________ and the ________.
Federalists; Jeffersonian Republicans
warned Americans against the dangers of political parties in his farewell address.
George Washington
The Republican Party is currently MOST internally divided over the issues of
Immigration
The ________ Party originated from internal mobilization.
Jeffersonian
Which of the following groups was NOT part of the New Deal coalition?
Jews
In 2015, Republican ________ resigned from his position as Speaker of the House.
John Boehner
From 1896 to 1932, the ________ Party was the nation's majority party.
Republican
Passing the federal budget often requires cooperation between Democrats and Republicans in Congress because the
Senate must approve the budget with a supermajority vote (60 out of 100 votes), and rarely does one party hold 60 seats.
Which statement about party identification in the United States is MOST accurate?
The number of people identifying as Democrats has outnumbered Republican identifiers for a long time.
Which of the following statements best describes how national party conventions have changed over time?
Though national conventions prior to World War II were primarily devoted to debating and negotiating about who the party's nominee would be, today's conventions serve mostly as media events to promote the candidate the party has already selected.
Issues such as the environment, health care, retirement benefits, and taxation are on the political agenda in the United States because
contemporary political parties mainly compete for the support of middle-class Americans, and these issues are important to the middle class.
The Jeffersonian Republicans were best known for their support of
a weak national government, with the states retaining most powers.
527 committees are an important part of the American political system because they
are able to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money as long as they do not coordinate their activities with a political party.
A ________ is a meeting of a political group's members who gather to determine strategy and select candidates.
caucus
There are very few party machines left today because
civil service reform and the institution of the merit system mean that party leaders can no longer control who is appointed to government jobs.
Internal mobilization occurs when
conflicts within the government create divided factions that try to mobilize popular support.
One of the earliest activities in which party workers engage once the general election campaign for Congress begins is
ensuring that citizens are registered to vote.
The Progressive movement of the early 1900s was motivated, in large part, by the
excessive power, corruption, and abuses of party machines and their bosses.
The establishment of the Republican Party is a good example of
external mobilization.
National party conventions are held every
four years and attended by delegates from all 50 states.
A major cause of political polarization in Congress is
gerrymandering
If a political party wanted to change the rules that governed its selection of delegates, it would likely make this change through a(n)
meeting at the party's national convention.
An advertisement emailed only to evangelical Christian voters about a Democratic candidate's support for abortion would be an example of
micro-targeting.
Soft money was
money contributed directly to political parties and other organizations at the state and local levels for political activities that were not regulated by federal campaign spending laws.
Party activists are ________ likely to contribute time to party affairs and ________ likely to hold more extreme views than the party's rank-and-file voters.
more; more
A party's platform is best understood as a
negotiated agreement among the various factions in the party.
Political party leaders are
not willing to provide financial backing to candidates who are unable to raise substantial funds on their own.
A party's ________ contains its philosophy, principles, and policy positions.
platform
The three most important tasks accomplished at a party's national convention are nominating the party's
presidential and vice-presidential candidates, drafting the party's campaign platform, and approving changes in the rules governing party procedures.
Third-party candidates are better off under
proportional representation
During the 1980s, the Republicans added ________ to their coalition.
religious conservatives and working-class whites
The American system for electing members of Congress is often referred to as "winner take all" because
runners-up do not gain seats in government.
Political parties hold primary elections or caucuses in order to
select a single candidate to represent the party in the general election.
One important cause of the two-party system in the United States is
single-member, winner-take-all electoral districts.
What issue led to the demise of the Whig Party?
slavery
Women in the United States are ________ the ________ Party.
somewhat more likely to support; Democratic
Men in the United States are ________ the ________ Party.
somewhat more likely to support; Republican
Between the Civil War and the 1960s, the ________ was a Democratic stronghold.
south
If a voter preferred Jill Stein (the Green Party candidate for president in 2016) to Hillary Clinton but voted for Clinton instead of Stein because Stein had little chance of winning, it would be an example of ________ voting.
strategic
Reconstruction after the Civil War was led by the ________ Party.
Democratic
What were the MOST common favors political bosses distributed to loyal party members during the era of political machines?
jobs
The New Deal coalition was severely strained and ultimately broken apart by the
Vietnam War and the issue of civil rights.
External mobilization occurs when
a group of politicians outside government organizes popular support to win governmental power
During the nineteenth century, party machines depended heavily on ________ in order to reward loyal party supporters.
patronage
In a proportional representation electoral system
seats in the legislature are allocated to political parties based on their share of the total vote cast in the election.
Voters who prefer third-party candidates but vote for the major-party candidate whom they regard as the "lesser of two evils" are engaged in
strategic voting.
The number of political parties there are in a country is determined primarily by
the country's electoral system and rules.
In 2016, about ________ percent of Latino Americans voted for Hillary Clinton
65
Which of the following statements about parties in Congress is true?
All members are allowed to take part in the election of the Speaker of the House.
Which statement best characterizes the influence average citizens and party elites have over the nomination process in the United States?
Although average citizens have some influence in the nominations process, party elites play an outsized role in selecting the candidates who will compete in the general election.
Soft money was made illegal as a result of the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
The two major parties in the United States during the 1830s and 1840s were the ________ and the ________.
Democrats; Whigs
occurs when one party controls the presidency while another party controls one or both houses of Congress.
Divided government
From the end of the Civil War to the 1890s, the ________ Party was the party of the North, while the ________ Party was the party of the South.
Republican; Democratic
Solid support for the Republican Party currently comes from the
South and Mountain West.
Which of the following statements best describes endorsements during the 2016 Republican Party presidential primary campaign?
Trump won the party's nomination despite the fact that only a small handful of Republican members of Congress endorsed him for president.
During the late 1840s and early 1850s, both the Democratic and Whig parties were divided by
conflicts over slavery.
Which list of issue positions is MOST likely to be supported by the national leadership of the Republican Party?
expanding funding for education, increasing public spending for infrastructure, and raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations
Which list of issue positions is MOST likely to be supported by the national leadership of the Democratic Party?
expanding funding for education, public spending for infrastructure, and raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations
The idea of "unequal democracy" refers to the fact that
lower-income citizens have little representation by either party, except when their opinions overlap with more-affluent citizens.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, strong and often corrupt urban political party organizations were called
machines
The Alien and Sedition Acts
made it illegal to criticize the government.
Political scientists have found that on economic issues, both the Democratic and Republican parties are
more responsive to the preferences of the upper and middle classes than the lower class.
A party activist is an individual who
not only votes but also contributes time, energy, effort, and financial resources to party affairs.
Between 1812 and 1830, the United States had
one political party: the Jeffersonian Republicans.
The division between the two major parties on most policy issues, with members of each party unified around their party's positions with little crossover, is called
party polarization.
An individual who identifies a problem as a political issue and brings a policy proposal into the political agenda is referred to as a(n)
policy entrepreneur.
Dealignment refers to
the decline of partisan attachment within the electorate, the growth in the number of voters identifying themselves as independents, and the rise of split-ticket voting.
John Boehner resigned from his position as Speaker of the House in 2015 because of
the opposition he faced from Tea Party activists who wanted him to take a harder line against President Obama and the Democrats.
America's ________ developed during the early eighteenth century.
two-party system
The Populist Party appealed to which of the following groups?
western mining interests, small farmers, and urban workers
Historically, electoral realignments occur
when new issues combine with economic or political crises to mobilize new voters and persuade large numbers of voters to reexamine their traditional partisan loyalties.
Which of the following groups is MOST likely to affiliate with the Republican Party?
African American voters
In 1964, Republican Party presidential nominee ________ was in favor of less taxation and less government regulation of the economy—two ideas that became major themes for the modern Republican Party.
Barry Goldwater
________ referred to himself as a "New Democrat" in the 1990s.
Bill Clinton
is the practice of tailoring campaign messages to individuals in small, homogenous groups.
Micro-targeting
All of the following are responsibilities of a party's national committee EXCEPT
determining committee assignments for members of Congress.
At the national level, the Democratic Party currently attempts to appeal to ________, while the Republican Party currently attempts to appeal to ________.
educated upper-middle-class professionals; white working-class voters
Which of the following occurs when one party replaces another party that has dominated national politics for a lengthy period of time?
electoral realignment
According to political scientist John Aldrich, which of the following problems found in democratic governments do political parties help solve?
how to regulate the number of people seeking public office, how to mobilize voters, and how to achieve the majorities needed to accomplish legislative goals once in office
A serious candidate for a U.S. House of Representatives race must raise at least several ________ dollars, while a serious candidate for a U.S. Senate race must raise at least several ________ dollars.
hundred thousand; million
An individual's psychological attachment to one party or another is called a party
identification
In 2018, the federal government was shut down over disagreements between Democrats and Republicans on the issue of
immigration
"Self-sorting" refers to the
tendency of individuals to segregate themselves by choosing to live in liberal or conservative geographic areas.
A political party is an organization
that tries to influence the government by getting its members elected to office.
In 1994
the Republican Party won control of both houses of Congress for the first time since the 1950s.
During the early nineteenth century, the Jeffersonian Party's main base of strength was in
the South.
The Federalist Party disappeared, in part, as a result of
the War of 1812.
The American system for electing members of Congress is often referred to as "first past the post" because
the candidate with the most votes wins, even if he or she did not win a majority of the popular vote.
In which of the following years was there an electoral realignment?
1896
As a third-party candidate, Ross Perot captured approximately ________ percent of the popular vote in the 1992 presidential election.
20
When Richard Nixon employed his "southern strategy," he
appealed to disaffected white voters in the South.