Chapter 8: Recap

Which of the following is true of Asian American voting patterns and political participation?

Asian Americans often vote similarly to whites. In terms of socioeconomic status, Asian Americans have education and income levels closer to those of whites than of Latinos or African Americans. Asian Americans often vote similarly to whites.

An example of ____ was the Black Lives Matters campaign starting in Ferguson but spreading to New York City, Baltimore and dozens of other locations in 2015.

protests. Growing concern over police discrimination and excessive use of police force against African Americans has led to both peaceful protests and civil unrest. The Black Lives Matter campaign took off after the killing of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old unarmed black man, by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. The incident sparked protests in Ferguson that began peacefully but soon became unruly. Mass media attention and an ongoing investigation-in which Darren Wilson, the police officer involved, was not indicted-put the incident on the forefront of the American political scene, triggering protests in 170 American cities. Since then, a number of similar incidents of police force against African Americans across the country have kept the issue in the spotlight and been the cause of widespread peaceful protests and civil unrest.

Women and minorities in the U.S. Congress are....

significantly underrepresented compared with their percentage of the U.S. population. Women hold roughly 18 percent of seats in the U.S. Congress, a number far lower than their percentage of the total population. Minorities are also significantly underrepresented.

The Latino vote is often referred to by analysts as the...

sleeping giant. The Latino vote has often been called "the sleeping giant" because Latinos are both a very large and rapidly growing minority group, and also one that suffers from very low levels of political mobilization.

Which of the following statements about the voting rights of felons is accurate?

some states allow felons who have served their sentences to vote, while others do not. Felony records are a controversial barrier to voting rights. Some states allow felons to vote, but in 36 states, felons on probation or parole are not permitted to vote. In 11 states, a felony record can result in a lifetime ban on voting.

Over the past two centuries of American history, which of the following has been the MOST persistent barrier to increased suffrage for disenfranchised groups?

state laws. Over the past two centuries of American history, a dominant trend has been federal statutes, court decisions, and constitutional amendments designed to override state voting laws and expand suffrage to more segments of the population.

_____ refers to a group's right to vote.

suffrage. The right to vote, or suffrage, is a legal right. Suffrage was restricted to property-owning white males at the founding of the republic, and has slowly been extended to other groups throughout its history.

Which voting trend began in 2004 and continued through 2008?

the first significant increase in voter turnout in 40 years. In 2004 major efforts to get out the vote brought voter turnout to over 60 percent - the first significant increase in voting in 40 years. The trend continued in 2008, when nearly 62 percent of the population eligible to vote did so, a modern-day record.

Which religious group became a significant part of the Republican Party base starting in the 1980s?

white evangelical Protestants. The evangelical Protestant movement began to organize as a serious political force and lend much of its support to the Republican Party in the late 1970s . Their success was evident in the 1984 election, when 80 percent of evangelical Christian voters cast their ballots for Reagan.

Which group won suffrage in 1920?

women. Women won the right to vote in 1920, through the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. This amendment resulted primarily from the activism of the women's suffrage movement.

A series of experiments by Donald Green and Alan Gerber showed that face-to-face interaction may increase voter turnout by...

10 percent. A series of experiments conducted by the political scientists Donald Green and Alan Gerber demonstrate the importance of personal contact for mobilizing voters. Evaluating the results of several get-out-the-vote drives, the researchers showed that face-to-face interaction with a canvasser greatly increased the chances that the person contacted would go to the polls. They estimated that personal contact boosted voter turnout by almost 10 percent.

Which of the following granted 18-year-olds the right to vote?

26th Amendment. The most recent expansion of the right to vote in the United States, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 and was ratified in 1971, during the Vietnam War.

Which of the following individuals would be MOST likely to vote?

a white middle-aged college graduate. Education is the most important predictor of voter participation, with income also playing a huge role. Considering that Latinos have very low rates of voter turnout, this makes the white college graduate the most likely voter.

Which factor in particular helped the Democratic Party in the 2008 presidential election?

better mobilization efforts by Democrats. During the 2008 campaign, the Democrats built a more extensive organization to contact and turn out voters than did Republicans. Analyses have suggested that the Democrats' organization and mobilization helped Barack Obama win the White House.

Reversing decades of negative trends, digital media may foster community building. Digital media may also increase Americans' social capital, which is defined as...

community networks that motivate political participation. Digital media may foster a new kind of community building that has the potential to reverse the trends in declining political participation since the 1960s. Some analysts have cited reduced trust in government, unresponsive elected officials, and a diminishing stock of what Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, calls social capital-community networks that motivate political participation-to explain low voter turnout in the United States. By making political information, discussion, communication, and mobilization easier, the Internet, and especially social media, may help Americans grow a new kind of digital social capital, one based on shared political experiences online.

The concept defined as "when individuals are represented in government by officials of their same race, ethnicity, or gender" is known as

descriptive representation. Similar to African Americans, Latinos are also more likely to vote when residing in states with increased representation in the state legislature, as measured by the percentage of Latino lawmakers, or in a district with a Latino Congress member. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as descriptive representation-when individuals are represented in government by officials of their same race, ethnicity, or gender. In this context, minority groups may have a greater ability to affect policy outcomes, thus incorporating minority populations and their concerns and interests into the political system. Descriptive representation may also confer symbolic benefits, such as reducing levels of political alienation among racial and ethnic minorities. As the Latino population continues to grow, this group will continue to shape who wins and who loses in U.S. elections. Barreto and Segura argue that the sleeping giant of the Latino population has awakened.

Apart from voting, this form of political participation is the most common way citizens participate in American politics...

digital political participation. Digital participation includes discussing issues or mobilizing supporters through social media (Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and other platforms), email and text messaging, reading blogs and online news stories, viewing online videos and campaign ads, commenting and sharing opinions on the Internet, contributing money to candidates, campaigning on social networking sites, working on behalf of candidates, and organizing face-to-face neighborhood meetings online. Digital participation is the most common way average Americans participate in politics outside of voting.

What is the single MOST important factor in predicting not only whether an individual will vote but also most kinds of political participation?

education level. Although older Americans over 65 exhibit very high levels of voter turnout, and income is an important factor, higher education is the most important predictor of voter participation.

____ are the hallmark of democracy.

elections. Elections are of course the hallmark of political participation in a democracy. In addition to voting, citizens can give money to candidates or political organizations, volunteer in campaigns, contact political officials, sign petitions, attend public meetings, join organizations, display campaign signs and pins, write letters to the editor, attend rallies, or lobby their representatives in Congress. They can even sue the government or run for elected office. They can also join interest groups. Such activities can communicate much more detailed information to public officials than voting can. Voters may support a candidate for many reasons; their votes do not indicate which specific policies they support or how strongly they feel about particular issues. By volunteering for a political campaign, writing or emailing their member of Congress, or contributing money to a political organization, people can convey their specific opinions, making these political activities often more satisfying than voting. However, these forms of political action generally require more time, effort, and/or money than voting.

Political scientist Russell Dalton argues that social media such as Twitter and Facebook is making participation in politics much more...

expressive. Political scientist Russell Dalton has argued that participation in politics is becoming more expressive than ever before, largely aided by social media. Today, voting and volunteering are not enough. Individuals turn to social media to express their opinions on issues or candidates, as exemplified by the response to the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. The rainbow-colored backdrop draped over millions of Facebook profile pictures was a particularly expressive means of sharing a political opinion. Digital politics and social media make expressive politics easier and may force elected officials to better represent the people.

Which of the following is a voting practice that most European countries have but that the United States does not?

holding elections on nonworking days. One of the barriers to voting in the United States is that elections are held on Tuesdays-regular working days. In most European countries, by contrast, elections are held on Sundays or holidays.