History chapter 5

Caucuses

A closed meeting of a political or legislative group to choose candidates for office or to decide issues of policy parties decide when and how

Which of the following represents a consequence of candidate-centered electoral campaigns?

A decrease in the role of political parties in campaign management

A corporate lobbyist would be LEAST likely to have an informal discussion about a pending policy matter with which of the following?

A federal judge in whose court a case important to the corporation is being heard

Which of the following exemplifies the free-rider problem for interest groups?

A teacher who does not join the local teachers union but receives a salary negotiated by the unionc

Which of the following generalizations about group voting tendencies is true?

African American Democrats tend to support the more liberal candidates within their party.

Which of the following demographic groups has voted most consistently for the Democratic Party in national elections over the last three decades?

African Americans

For which of the following tasks would using the bar graph as currently designed be the LEAST helpful?

Calculating the election cycle spending based on the intervals shown on the vertical axis

Which of the following is a result of the electoral college system?

Candidates focus on the states with the largest populations.

Primaries

Election in which voters choose the candidates from each party who will run in the general election state government finances & restricts

Which of the following activities would the author most likely be concerned about interest groups engaging in?

Forming iron triangles with bureaucratic agencies and congressional committees

A chief executive officer (CEO) of a corporation believes that the Republican candidate for president will enact policies that are more beneficial to her business. The CEO donated the maximum amount allowed by law directly to the candidate's campaign fund. To increase the candidate's chances for election, the CEO also directed her corporation to donate funds to an independent political action committee to create ads criticizing the opposing candidate. According to the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), which provision of the Constitution protects her actions?

Freedom of speech in the First Amendment

The data in the graph best illustrate which of the following common criticisms of the electoral college?

Individuals in small-population states have a greater impact on the electoral college than individuals in large-population states.

Which of the following factors best accounts for the rise of interest groups and the decline of political parties in recent years?

Interest groups are better able to articulate specific policy positions than are political parties.

Which of the following statements about interest groups would the author most likely agree with?

Interest groups tend to over-represent elite interests.

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (McCain-Feingold) did which of the following?

It banned soft money donations to national parties.

Which of the following describes the Twenty-Fourth Amendment?

It eliminated poll taxes.

Which of the following is NOT an explanation for low voter turnout?

Laws protecting minority voting rights

Which of the following scenarios depicts the concept of an iron triangle?

Lobbyists from the energy industry provide information to the Department of Energy before the department head testifies before the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House of Representatives.

Which of the following is the best interpretation of the political cartoon?

Members of Congress receive political contributions from many special interest groups.

Which of the following best explains why delegates to both the Republican and Democratic Conventions in 1996 were much more likely to have college and postgraduate degrees than was the rest of the voting population?

Political activism increases with education levels.

Which of the following best explains how most candidates are recruited to run for office?

Political parties usually recruit and train people at the local level they believe are most fit to run for office.

Which of the following best explains how political parties are likely to respond to the data in the chart?

Political parties will adapt their positions and find ways to appeal to voters from growing demographic groups.

Which of the following statements can best be supported by the survey data displayed in the bar graphs?

Republicans with a low level of political efficacy are the most likely group to say that government needs major reforms.

Which of the following statements best describes the organization of the two major political parties in the United States?

Separate and largely independent party organizations exist at national, state, and local levels.

Which of the following arguments best supports a claim that the electoral college violates democratic principles?

Smaller states are disproportionately advantaged by the two additional electoral votes granted to each state for its senators.

There is an ongoing debate over the role of money in elections. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002 banned soft money and restricted advertisements in the weeks before an election. Parts of this act were challenged and struck down in the Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010). Which of the following was a consequence of that ruling?

Super PACs may spend unlimited funds on advertisements that are not coordinated with the campaign because they are protected by the freedom of speech.

A state has 11 electoral votes. In a presidential election, the Democratic candidate receives 48 percent of that state's popular vote, the Republican candidate receives 40 percent of the vote, and an independent candidate receives 12 percent of the vote.

The Democratic candidate will receive all 11 electoral votes.

Two interest groups are competing for influence in Congress. One group represents banking institutions, while the other advocates for consumer protections. A critic of the influence of interest groups would make which of the following claims?

The banking interest group likely has greater financial resources and access to policy makers than the consumer protection group.

Which of the following describes the potential impact on the electorate when daily media coverage of elections focuses primarily on the newest poll results?

The electorate will be less able to accurately compare the policy platforms of candidates running in the election.

Which of the following statements about political parties and the United States Constitution is true?

The issue of political parties is not addressed in the Constitution.

Of the following groups of eligible voters, which is LEAST likely to vote?

The young with low education levels

Which of the following best characterizes the influence of the news media on public opinion in the United States?

They affect which issues the public thinks are important.

Which of the following is true of amicus curiae briefs?

They are used by interest groups to lobby courts.

A political science professor is researching the effects that the Fifteenth and Twenty-Sixth Amendments have had on the American political system. Which of the following is the most likely reason the professor is researching these amendments?

To study the expansion of the right to equal protection under the law

Which of the following statements about voting patterns is best supported by the table?

Women were more likely than men to vote Democratic.

A primary election in which voters are required to identify a party preference before the election and are not allowed to split their ticket is called

a closed primary

During the past twenty-five years, all of the following changes in public opinion and political behavior have occurred in the United States EXCEPT

a decline in party competition in the South

The agenda-setting function of the media refers to the power to

decide which issues are important enough to bring to public attention

Typically, presidential candidates implement their campaign strategies by

focusing on larger, competitive states, because they might tip the balance of the electoral college

In response to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold Act), the United States Supreme Court, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), ruled that

independent campaign expenditures by corporations and unions are protected by the First Amendment

Explanations for low voter turnout include all of the following EXCEPT

laws protecting voting rights for minorities

Citizens who believe that their votes will have no effect on the outcome of an election have a

low level of political efficacy

In the process and structure of public policy-making, "iron triangles" refer to the

networks of congressional committees, bureaucratic agencies, and interest groups that strongly influence the policy process

All of the following are commonly used by interest groups to influence the political process EXCEPT

nominating candidates

The free rider problem occurs when

people benefit from an interest group's efforts without making any contribution

Interest groups use political action committees (PACs) to

raise and spend money on election campaigns

All of the following are examples of a linkage institution influencing the policy process EXCEPT

the president delivering the State of the Union speech

The process known as front-loading refers to

the tendency of states to choose an early date on the primary calendar

The data in the table provide clear evidence that

the vote in the Midwest predicted the outcome rather consistently

Since 1960 the presidential election process has been affected by an increase in all of the following EXCEPT the

turnout of votes

Interest groups engage in all of the following activities EXCEPT

using the franking privilege