Unit 5 Progress Check: MCQ

Which of the following quotes from the Federalist Papers best supports the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) ?

"Liberty is to faction what air is to fire. . . . But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency."

Which of the following is the most likely result of the changes in voter registration rates illustrated in the table?

An increase in the number of African American members of Congress from Georgia

Based on the data in the bar graph and your knowledge of presidential elections, how should Hillary Clinton's campaign have responded if Jill Stein's support in the polls had increased significantly as Election Day approached?

By adopting positions on issues similar to Stein's in an attempt to win over those voters before the election

Which of the following explanations describes the impact of Jill Stein's candidacy on the 2016 election as depicted by the data in the bar graph and your knowledge of presidential elections?

Jill Stein's supporters preferred Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump, hurting the Clinton campaign.

A citizen cast her vote for the candidate in a congressional election based on the candidate's promise to reform the health care system. Which voting behavior model best characterizes the citizen's choice?

Prospective voting

Given the evolution of campaign communication described in the passage, which of the following is a way that political candidates most likely would use these tools to reach the broadest possible base of supporters?

Using social media tools to target different demographic and political groups with messages designed to appeal to them

If one were interested in showing how much certain industries spend on lobbying, the best way to change the visual would be to

categorize the data by industry group and combine the data so that a bar represents each group

Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932 after running on the Democratic Party platform that included an expansion of federal programs aimed at pulling the United States out of the Great Depression. The expansion plan, known as the New Deal, substantially increased the voting base of the Democratic Party. As a result, the Democratic Party dominated Congress and many state governments for the next half century. The election of 1932 is considered a critical election because it

changed the base of support in each party

The decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) led to the creation of super PACs that can legally raise unlimited amounts of money and engage in electioneering with few limits. Madison argued in The Federalist 10 that factions, like super PACs, would not be detrimental to society because the Constitution

created a large republic with many factions that would cancel each other out

Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the table?

Barriers to registration existed in all of the states in the table but were most significant in Mississippi.

Increases in the amount of money spent on national defense and security contracts, such as those that occurred after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and during the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, would most likely have which of the following consequences?

Defense contractors would increase their lobbying efforts in order to improve their chances of winning a contract.

Which of the following scenarios best represents the model for party-line voting?

Despite not recognizing the name, a candidate votes for the Democratic Party candidate because he is a Democrat.

Which of the following describes a visual limitation of the bar graph?

Even though the bar graph contains data from 1998 to 2014, there is no illustration of how spending is broken down by specific years or elections.

A Pentagon contractor named Daniel Ellsberg stole a report, which later became known as the Pentagon Papers. The report had classified information about the conduct of the war in Vietnam. He gave this report to several major media outlets. The government tried to use prior restraint to prevent the outlets from publishing these excerpts. The Court allowed the media outlets to publish the excerpts in which of the following cases?

New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)

A popular news website obtains transcripts of confidential discussions in the White House regarding how the National Security Agency should collect private data of citizens. Even though the president urges the website not to publish the story, the website does so anyway because it believes the conversation does not reveal information that poses a risk to national security. Which of the following cases would the news website most likely cite if it had to argue the case that it can publish the story without permission from the president?

New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)

Which of the following best demonstrates how political parties serve as linkage institutions?

Parties may organize activities to identify supporters, increase registration, and get out the vote.

Which of the following best explains the role of parties in Congress?

Parties organize government by selecting chamber leadership and determining committee membership.

Which of the following examples best illustrates how the trend in political communications described in the passage will most likely affect campaigns?

Political candidates will seek more data on voters so that their campaigns can create messages designed to attract different demographics.

A voter has seen his income increase by 3% over the past four years. He is encouraged that unemployment is down and the price of gas has remained relatively low. On Election Day, by voting for the incumbent presidential candidate, he has engaged in which type of voting?

Retrospective voting

Using social media, individuals are increasingly able to communicate their political views to a wide audience. However, some messages over social media have led to certain individuals being arrested for making credible threats. This issue is most related to which of the following cases?

Schenck v. United States (1919)

Which of the following features of the data displayed make the use of the bar graph less helpful for a comparison?

The bar showing the spending for the Chamber of Commerce makes comparisons with the other groups more difficult.

For decades, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has worked closely with members of Congress to successfully curtail the capacity of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to regulate firearms and track gun crimes. Which of the following statements best explains how the NRA maintains its influence in Washington?

The National Rifle Association outspends its competitors in all elections and stages of policy making.

Which of the following conclusions is most supported by the data in the chart?

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has significantly reduced disparities in voter registration between Whites and African Americans.

What do the data in the bar graph indicate about how Gary Johnson's candidacy affected the 2016 election?

The data in the bar graph show that since Gary Johnson's supporters were split between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, his candidacy did not have an impact on the outcome of the election.

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), the Supreme Court ruled that corporations and labor unions could spend unlimited amounts of money supporting political candidates under certain circumstances. Which of the following was the basis for the Court's ruling?

The freedom of speech in the First Amendment

Which of the following best explains how political parties use party platforms?

The platform is used to define the party's general stance on political issues.

The new developments in campaigning described in the passage have the greatest impact on which of the following trends?

The rise of candidate-centered campaigns