gov final

The presidential elections of 1932, in which Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt carried all but six states, were an example of:

A realigning election.

Fiscal policy involves:

government taxing and spending policies

Emissions of carbon dioxide have fallen since 2008 in part because of the increased use of ______ in power plants.

natural gas

The principle that all traffic on the Internet should be treated equally is called _______.

net neutrality

The incarceration rate is defined as:

number of people in prison or jail for every 100,000 persons

Within U.S. borders, illegal immigrants number as many as:

11 million

1. Why do we only have two major political parties in America? Explain the 4 circumstances that have perpetuated the two-party system.

America's history has been riddled with very specific issues that have quite literally divided the country in two ways. After the Constitution was made official, the issue of how much power the federal government should have was made a national issue. Those in favor of a strong central government being federalists and those opposed being anti-federalists. Following this was the dispute over slavery, which divided the country into the North and the South. During the civil war the issues surrounding both slavery and federal government authority were rallying people against each other and even following the closing of the war was yet another issue ready and set to divide the country. In a post civil-war-era, the South had grown different cultural customs. What was to follow was a division between government-sponsored morality and personal liberty. During all of this an issue that had always been pressing had reached a head in that economic issues were pushed to the forefront. During the New Deal, Democrats became known as the party of the working class and the Republicans became known as the party representing the middle and upper classes as well as industry. The result of all of these was the formation of a two-party system. People rallying behind common interests that represent their given background or group, but divided almost cleanly in two on any given issue.

Critics of the mainstream media have often accused it of exhibiting which of the following forms of bias:

Bias against conservatives, bias against losers, and bias in favor of conflict and drama.

3. Explain how the presidential elections of 1896 and 1932 were "realigning elections." In particular, who did the working class vote for in each election, and why did they switch sides in 1932.

Both of these election had to do with economic crisis in the nation, generally speaking, depressions. During the 1896 election, the working class vote was for populist beliefs that would alleviate them but only to cause further problems down the road. In 1932, Roosevelt put forth his New Deal policy which was a collection of projects centered on making the economy thrive to actually propel itself out of the Great Depression. The working class shifted this way because instead of populist policy that sought to alleviate, this New Deal actually proposed solutions, many of which are still around today.

Today, presidential candidates do not accept matching public funds because:

Candidates can raise far more outside of the public system than they would receive if they participated in it.

The supreme court ruling that was the most important in creating our current campaign finance system was ______ v. FEC.

Citizens United

The first televised major-arty presidential debates were held between:

Democrat John F. Kennedy and Republican Richard Nixon in 1960.

The first organized political parties in the United States were the _________ and the ___________

Federalists, Jeffersonian Republicans

The last two phases of the policymaking process involve policy _____________ and policy _____________.

Implementation, evaluation

4. Explain at least 2 differences between interest groups and political parties.

Interest groups are people who don't necessarily want political control over a country but want to influence policymakers to see legislation they want passed. A political party, on the other hand, is a group of people working together through national or state politics to take political control with common interests in mind. Another difference is that while interest groups aren't necessarily organized, political parties tend to be founded and tight-knight in what they intend to represent.

5. Explain at least 2 ways that interest groups make use of the public in their efforts to influence policy and legislation.

Interest groups break down their influence into direct and indirect methods -- the methods for using the public are indirect. Interest groups can generate public pressure potentially through the method of climate control in which they shape public opinion about an industry or group. They may also use the constituents of elected officials to apply pressure to see policy or legislation they want come to fruition.

Television remains a key medium in American politics because

It is the number-one source of information for older voters, who dominate the electorate

1. Explain the roles of religious denomination and religious commitment in predicting political attitudes and beliefs.

It's not secret in the nation that we have many people of many different political, cultural, and religious backgrounds. Nearly all of our presidents have been Protestant, which is generally more favoring of religious republicans. On the other hand Catholics tended to be more democrat. How much religious comes into play varies on commitment because that very commitment is an indicator of how hard-line their values might be toward that given religious body. So a denomination can be used to get an idea of ones background or where they might vote but their commitment gives more sureness to those claims.

The two most important third parties that remain active today are the ___________ and _______ parties

Libertarian, Green

A difficulty in limiting the effect of lobbying is:

Many legislators are proud of "pork" spending and are happy to tell their constituents all about it.

4. Discuss the media's role in political socialization, with a focus on how and why different generations might have been socialized differently. Define political socialization in your answer.

Media has a huge impact on political socialization because of its widespread status as information provider. Through transmission of historical information, our culture, our regions and groups, the media teaches young people and immigrants about American culture and customs. Young Americans acquire a great deal of their political association through forums and online interactivity for the sake of school or otherwise that helps shape their understanding of the world around them. To explain this is to understand that different media outlets have their own spins or focus on different stories, forums apply the same, and the people that seek out answers to their questions about any given event are generally looking at these issues through their own lens of life experiences. Quite literally, political socialization is the process of people forming their ideas of their own political landscape and how it plays into shaping the world in which they live and their role within it. Older people grew up with old media and younger people practically have the Library of Alexandria in their pocket. One generation might look to professionals they trust while another might take it into their own hands, for both you can only hope a degree of discernment so their opinions are not indoctrinated and instead just simply broadened to multiple viewpoints.

For more than two decades, the most popular conservatives radio talk-show host has been _________.

Rush Limbaugh.

In the United States today, all states use secret ballots that are prepared, distributed, and counted by government officials at public expense. This system is called:

The Australian ballot.

At almost every level of government in this country, the outcome of elections is based on the plurality voting system, which means that:

The candidate with the largest number of votes wins, even if the winner does not receive 50 percent or more of the votes.

2. Explain the principle of randomness in polling and connect this principle to at least one other technique or problem in polling.

The principle of randomness is one in which every person should have an equal chance of being polled. This is supposed to account for an equal representation among demographics and get a good idea of where each given group is coming from in a fair and balanced fashion. One such issue, however, is the reality of an entire population -- otherwise known as a sampling error. While polling randomly seeks to make a situation fair the polled sample does not represent an entire population and as such the difference between a sample's results and the reality of an entire population may not reflect things truly.

2. Discuss the obstacles faced by third-party and independent candidates in the American two-party system as well as their success in impacting American elections.

Third parties in the USA face a number of significant obstacles: 1) The electoral system. 2) Federal campaign finance laws. 3) State ballot access laws. 4) Lack of resources. 5) Lack of media coverage. 6) Lack of well-known, well-qualified candidates. 7) Regarded as too ideological. 8) The tactics of the two major parties. Third parties have an interesting impact because they can contain swing-voters or people disenfranchised with any given party. Any vote cast towards third party is one that's away from the party that person would otherwise align with, giving the opposing party more power, and by proxy, a better chance at winning the election.

6. According to Ch. 15, explain the difference between progressive and regressive taxes. In your opinion , would we be better served by simply employing a flat tax across the board? Why or why not?

To start, a progressive tax is one in which rates go up with income. On the contrary, a regressive tax is one that falls in percentage terms as income rises. In my opinion, I don't believe a flat tax would do much because the bar would have to be lowered to the point where it couldn't starve the poor which would make it chump change for those who are wealthy. While I'm not for gutting people's wallets because they are rich, I do think that it's reasonable to have some kind of increase to accommodate those who can barely pay out, although I don't want that to provide incentive to anything malicious.

3. Discuss voter turnout among racial minorities and connect turnout to all of the following factors to better explain this phenomenon: educational attainment, income level, citizenship.

Voter turnout among minorities is weakened by many of the factors listed in the prompt. When accounting for the lack of education, income level, and potential citizenship issues within certain minority groups you get an orchestra of problems that lead to some degree of under-representation among these groups. In general, the more education one has, the more likely they are to vote. the stats for that go as not high school graduate (16.5%), high school graduate (31.5%), some college or associate degree (40.0%), bachelor's (50.0%), advanced degree (57.0%). Income level also plays a role in that wealthier people tend to be over-represented. Voters with the highest annual incomes approached nearly three times those with low incomes, showing a clear impact. Citizenship is one that particularly impacts the Latino communities in them being both younger and not having access to citizenship meaning they have less representation in their given communities.

the federal personal income tax system can be called:

a progressive tax.

A major problem facing newspapers today is that they cannot collect enough online _________.

ad revenue

In colonial times, the right to vote was typically limited to persons who were:

adult white males who owned some property

The policymaking process includes, but is not limited to:

agenda building, policy formulation, and policy adoption.

To be eligible to serve as president of the United States, you must be:

at least thirty-five years old, a natural-born citizen, and a resident of the country for fourteen years.

union membership in the united states has:

been declining in recent years, except in the public sector

the us chamber of commerce is an example of a _________ interest group.

business

Some interest groups hire public relations firms to improve the public image of an industry or a group. This is called ________________

climate control

One way to compensate for underrepresented groups in a polling sample is to:

compensate by adding extra weight to the responses of the underrepresented group

The New Deal era under Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt occurred:

during the Great Depression of the 1930s

Interest groups have been described as examples of both the _____ and _____ theories of politics.

elite, pluralist

Over the last twenty years, homicide and violent crime rates in America have _______.

fallen

the trend in political satisfaction in this country has

fallen since around 2001

A major new source of increased energy supplies within the United States comes from:

fracking (hydraulic fracturing)

The same polling question can result in different responses depending on how that question is __________________.

framed

When individuals benefit by the actions of an interest group but do not support that group, they are:

free riders

The United States Supreme Court found that the First Amendment applied to motion pictures:

in 1952

when individuals have definite interests, but choose not to become a member of an interest group that represents these interests, their concerns are called ______ interests.

latent

Direct interest group techniques include:

meeting with officials and making campaign contributions

The major type of Republicans are:

members of the Religious Right and business-oriented economic conservatives.

Some factors that make an interest group powerful include:

membership size, financial resources, and cohesion of its members on key issues

Both political parties have _______ that direct and coordinate party activities during the four years after each presidential election.

national committees

A/an, ______ ballot groups all the candidates for a articular elective office under the title of that office.

office-block

In a/an _______, any voter can vote in either party primary without declaring a party affiliation.

open primary

With the possible exception of race, ____________ is the most important determinant of voting behavior in national elections.

party identification

The three faces of a political party include:

party organization, party in government, party in the electorate

If you are influenced in your political attitudes by your friends and co-workers, that means that a _____________ _____________ affects your attitudes.

peer group

The most sought-after (and most criticized) campaign expert is the ______, who for a large fee takes over the candidate's campaign

political consultant

Most lobbying today is undertaken by _____________, who often work in Washington, D.C., law firms.

professionals

When an economic slowdown is severe enough, it is officially called a ______ which is characterized by increased ___________

recession, unemployment

Americans who work for a salary typically pay federal income taxes, as well as payroll taxes that fund _____ and _______.

social security, medicare.

A campaign press adviser who tries to convince reporters of a particular interpretation of an event is called a _______

spin doctor

In an election, when a voter casts ballots for candidates of two or more parties, we call this _____ voting.

split-ticket

We can best define public opinion as:

the aggregate of individual beliefs shared by some portion of adults

When one polling organization's results consistently differ from those of other poll takers, we call this

the house effect

The gender gap refers to

the tendency for women to be more likely to vote for a particular candidate than men

In statistics on voter participation, the voting-age population is typically larger than the _____ population

vote-eligible

In an indirect primary:

voters choose convention delegates, and those delegates determine the party's candidate in the general election.

When voters are temporarily dissatisfied with the performance of one or another of the major parties the result may be a __________ election.

wave