Gov. Online Questions Week 5
Based on the data, how many years between 1995 until 2011 did the Republicans serve as the majority party in control of the Senate?
10 years
party platform
A list of goals outlining a party's positions on issues and political priorities.
Which of the following scenarios is an example of how the media can act as a linkage institution?
A major newspaper organization publishes poll results indicating the percentage of the American public who support legislation to ban affirmative action programs
political party
An organization of people with similar political ideologies that seeks to influence public policy by getting its candidates elected.
Which of the following important functions of democracy would most likely be more difficult without political parties?
Educating voters on upcoming elections
linkage institutions
Groups in society that connect people to the government and facilitate turning the people's concerns into political issues on the government's policy agenda.
Which of the following is a linkage function primarily associated with interest groups?
Lobbying policy-makers
Which of the following scenarios is an example of how an interest group can act as a linkage institution?
March for Our Lives conducts a letter-writing campaign to key members of Congress to gain their support for gun control legislation
Which of the following is a linkage function primarily associated with US political parties?
Mobilizing voters to elect a candidate advocating preferred ideological positions on political issues
Which of the following best explains the function of the platforms of the two major US political parties?
Platforms are a set of general principles, goals, and strategies designed to give voters a sense of what candidates believe in and will address if elected
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the linkage function that the National Association of Realtors (NAR) would have with regard to a recently passed federal law protecting home buyers?
Sharing research and constituent preferences for enforcing the law at a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) hearing
Which of the following statements describes the role political parties within Congress play to promote their party's public policy agenda?
The majority party selects committee chairs who promote the party's legislative priorities
How political parties impact the electorate and the government:
The primary function of political parties is to link people to the government and its policies. Political parties are made up of three semi-independent teams: the party organization, the party in government, and the party in the electorate.
The party in government
consists of the elected officials who belong to the party. These politicians are responsible for proposing, debating, voting on, and signing legislation that meets the party's platform goals.
The party in the electorate
is made up of all citizens who identify with that party; it supports the party organization and its candidates by mobilizing voter support and turnout, and by donating to candidate campaigns.
The party organization
is the structure of national, state, and local parties that creates a platform, recruits candidates, and helps to manage candidates' campaigns by providing a fundraising and media strategy. The party organization is also responsible for educating and mobilizing voters to support candidates.
Which statement best explains how midterm elections serve an important linkage function with the electorate?
They can alter the legislative agenda if the majority party changes hands in Congress
Looking at the chart from 1981 until 2011, which of the following is an accurate trend related to party control of the Senate?
Transitions in party control of the Senate occurred most often following mid-year elections
Over the past 200 years
political parties have become more powerful and central to American democracy, providing opportunities for the electorate to participate in politics and influencing how people relate to the government and policymakers.
The first two political parties in American history
were the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans; today, the United States still has a two-party system made up of the Democratic and Republican parties.
