GOVT 2305 Exam 2 Review

Among this factors listed, what is the most important factor in predicting whether an individual votes?

Education level

Which agency regulates broadcast media?

Federal Communications Commission

A person that enjoys the benefits of a group's collective efforts but does not contribute to those efforts is called a ________.

Free-rider

The solidary benefits of interest groups include

Friendship and consciousness-raising

When congressional districts are drawn to favor one political party over another, it is referred to as

Gerrymandering

________ involves purposefully drawing district boundaries to unfairly advantage one group or party.

Gerrymandering

Accidental mobilization occurs when

Individuals are exposed to political information that they did not explicitly seek out.

The best description of the ideal of pluralism is that

Interests should be free to compete with each other for governmental influence

What bloc of voters has recently been called "the sleeping giant"?

Latino Americans

The digital divide refers to the

Line separating citizens with Internet access from those without.

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

When membership in an organization allows for a reduction in the price of museum tickets, it is called a ________.

Material benefit

During midterm elections, voters are selecting ________.

Members of Congress

Grassroots online activist organizations that have redefined membership

Netroots

What is "niche journalism"?

News reporting targeted for a demographic of readers based on content or ideological presentation

Which of the following is NOT accomplished at a party's convention?

Nomination of Senate and House candidates

A party activist is an individual who

Not only votes but also contributes time, energy, effort, and financial resources to party affairs.

A party's ________ contains its philosophy, principles, and policy positions.

Platform

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

A closed primary

External mobilization occurs when

A group of politicians outside government organizes popular support to win governmental power

An iron triangle is made up of an alliance between

A legislative committee, an interest group, and an executive agency.

Which of the following is NOT currently a strong source of support for the Republican party?

African Americans

The power of the media to draw public attention to particular issues and problems is called________.

Agenda setting

The Tea Party movement is an

American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party

Which of the following occurs when one party replaces another party that has dominated national policies for a lengthy period of time?

An electoral realignment

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

Astroturf lobbying

A proposed law or policy change that is placed on the ballot by citizens or interest groups for a popular vote is called a

Ballot Initiative

A state with a roughly equal number of Democrats and Republicans in the population is often referred to as a ________ state.

Battleground

A ________ is a meeting of a political group's members who gather to determine strategy and select candidates.

Caucus

Groups that claim they serve the general good rather than only their own particular interest

Citizen groups

Daily Internet users who participate in society and politics through online activities are called ________.

Digital citizens

The main goal of the group Rock the Vote is to

Draw young voters into participating politically

Priming refers to

Process of preparing the public to bring specific criteria to mind when evaluating a politician or issue

Which of the following is a traditional form of political activity?

Protesting

The idea behind micro-targeting is to

Send different campaign messages to different demographic groups of voters.

Which of the following groups typically has the highest level of political participation?

Senior citizens (65 and older)

If a citizen votes for a Republican for president and a Democrat for senator, he or she has engaged in ________.

Split-ticket voting

The primary responsibility for conducting public elections rests with ________.

State and local governments

Under the Constitution, ________ the power to regulate elections.

State legislatures

Which of the following news sources reaches the most Americans?

Television

What has helped accelerate the trend toward less variety in national news in the past decade?

The corporate consolidation of news media into a small number of conglomerates

In a proportional representation electoral system,

The rules by which elections are conducted

Which of the following statements best describes the media's role in the Watergate affair?

They played a central role i President Nixon's decision to resign from the presidency by revealing his abuses of power to the public

a strategy by which organized interests seek to influence the passage of legislation by exerting direct pressure on members of the legislature

lobbying

A political is an organization

that attempt to influence the government by electing their members to important government offices

In the process known as redistricting, the boundaries of legislative districts in the United States are to be redrawn every ________ years.

10

In order to win the presidency today, a candidate must win

270 electoral votes, a plurality of electoral college votes

A majority system, which is used on a limited basis in the United States, requires that a candidate must win ________ to win an election

50 percent plus one of all votes cast

________ are independent, nonprofit groups that receive and distribute funds to influence the nomination, election, and/or defeat of a candidate.

527 committees

Large media conglomerates own approximately ________ percent of daily newspapers.

75

What is the ultimate goal of a political party?

To win elections

Low-level officials who hope to publicize what they view as their bosses' or the government's improper activities are usually called

Whistle-blowers

Most local newspapers get their national news from ________.

Wire services

Interest groups are permitted to spend as much money as they want on issue advocacy during a campaign season, as long as they

do not coordinate their efforts with a candidate's own campaign organization

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

information