Midterm Government
___ are nonprofit independent groups that receive and distribute funds to influence the nomination, election, and defeat of a candidate.
527 committees
On average, more women vote for __ candidates, and more men vote for ___ candidates.
Democratic; Republican
During the earliest years of the Unites States, who nominated the candidates for president?
Nominations were controlled by each party's congressional caucus.
Which of the following statements is most accurate?
On many issues, constituents do not have very strong views and representatives feel compelled to do exactly what their constituents demand.
Which of the following statements about partisan identification in the United States is most accurate?
Party identification varies significantly by income, race, and gender.
In contemporary American politics, solid support for the Republican Party comes from the
South and Mountain West.
Which event occurred in 1994?
The Republican Party won control of both houses of Congress for the first time since the 1950s.
"Closed rule" and "open rule" refer to congressional provisions regarding
floor debates on a bill
The solitary benefits of interest groups include
friendship and consciousness-raising
The role of the House of Representatives plays in impeachments can best be compared with that of a
grand jury
An individual's psychological attachment to one party or another is called a party
identification
Money swapping occurs when a(n)
interest group makes a contribution to a not-for-profit group which, in turn, provides laundered campaign funds to politicians.
The constitution
is almost completely silent on the rules regarding how political parties must go about selecting a candidate to run for any elective office.
A loose, informal relationship of public officials, interest groups, and activists who are all concerned with the same policies is called a(n)
issue network
Which of the following statements about campaign spending in House elections is true?
The amount of money spent by incumbents has increased since 1980 and has grown at a much faster rate than the amount spent by challengers.
Which of the following statements about PACs is most accurate?
The number of ideological/public interest PACs has increased dramatically since 1980, while the number of labor PACs has remained essentially the same.
When membership in an organization allows for a reduction in the price of museum tickets, it is called a
material benefit
Party activists are __ to contribute time, energy, and effort to party affairs and __ to hold more extreme views than the party's rank-and-file voters.
more likely; more likely
Which of the following statements accurately describes the percentage of Americans voting in presidential elections since 1960?
The percentage of Americans voting in presidential elections dropped significantly after 1960 but has been increasing in recent years.
The Senate's constitutional power of advice and consent extends to which of the following?
The president's power to make treaties with foreign nations
Which of the following statements about the impact of the SOPA and PIPA protests is most accurate?
The protests created a grassroots backlash that caused the bills to lose support among many members of Congress.
Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between lobbyists and Congress in recent years?
The relationship between lobbyists and Congress has become so close that many have argues that lobbyists have become like staff members to the Republican leadership.
Which of the following statements about contemporary American politics is most accurate?
While political elites are highly polarized, most Americans are moderates in terms of public opinion.
Which of the following transpires when one party controls the presidency while another party controls one or both houses of Congress?
a divided government
Many interest groups are initially organized because
a political entrepreneur with a strong commitment to a particular set of goals believes a group will promote his or her goals and enhance his or her political influence.
How can a president's veto be overridden by Congress?
by a two-thirds vote in both houses
A party's platform is best understood as a
negotiated agreement between the party's various factions
Which of the following is not accomplished at a party's national convention?
nomination of Senate and House candidates
The powers and resources available to government officials that are used to favor supporters are called
patronage
Studies have discovered___to be the key element of successful mobilization efforts.
personal contact
Congress adjourns during a ten-day period after presenting the president with a bill, and the president takes no action. This is known as a
pocket veto
Congressional organization is influenced by all of the following except
presidential directives
A filibuster allows members of the Senate to
prevent a vote on a bill by speaking continuously on the floor.
When a coalition of credit card companies forms an interest group called the Partnership to Protect Consumer Credit, this indicates that
private interests are hiding behind the ideals of public interests.
Which of the following is the best example of direct democracy in practice in the United States?
referendum
Organized interest groups enhance American democracy by
representing the interests of large numbers of people and encouraging political participation.
Men in the United States are ___ the ___ Party.
somewhat more likely to support; Republican
Brief quotes and short characterizations of the day's events in news coverage are called
sound bites
When American voters support only one party's candidates, they are said to be voting a
straight ticket
Despite its high reach, ____ typically provides the least depth of news coverage.
television
What were the two major parties in the United States during the 1830s and 1840s?
the Democrats and the Whigs
During the early nineteenth century, the Jeffersonian Party's main base of strength was in
the South
Most members of the House attempt to stay on good terms with the Speaker of the House because
the Speaker possesses the power of recognition
The Federalist Party disappeared forever as a result of
the War of 1812
Which of the following is not a reason that Americans prefer online news?
the accuracy and objectivity of the information found online.
The decentralization of news refers to
the decline of national media reporting and the revitalization of local news coverage
Oversight can best be described as
the efforts of Congress to supervise the manner in which its laws are implemented by the executive branch.
The digital divide refers to
the line separating citizens with Internet access from those without.
Which system develops when the winner of an electoral race obtains more votes than any other candidate?
the plurality system
Who elects the chairperson for the Republican and Democratic national committees?
the president if the party controls the White House, or the party committee if the party does not control the White House.
The "sophomore surge" refers to
the tendency for candidates to win a higher percentage of the vote when seeking future terms in office.
Which of the following is not a function of interest groups?
to get their members elected to political office
If George W. Bush won the plurality of votes in Texas during the 2000 election, and Texas had thirty representatives in the House of Representatives, how many electoral votes from Texas did Bush win?
32
Approximately how many members does AARP have?
38,000,000
In recent years, approximately what percentage of House members seeking re-election won their race?
95 percent
Which of the following is a key assumption of the sociological model of representation?
Because similarity helps promote good representation, the composition of legislative bodies should mirror the composition of society.
Which of the following statements about lobbyists and members of Congress is incorrect?
Members of Congress are forbidden from ever working for an interest group once they leave office.
Which statement is not correct?
National news reporters, as opposed to local reporters with less access, are generally more favorable toward politicians.
What are the greatest dangers associated with a trustee model of representation?
Representatives may become inattentive to the wishes and opinions of their constituents.
From the end of the Civil War to the 1890s, the __ Party was the party of the North, while the __ Party was the party of the South.
Republican; Democratic
Which statement about the membership of Congress is not true?
Senators and members of the House are less likely than the population on the whole to be Protestants.
In what case did the Supreme Court say that purposefully drawing districts where the majority of voters were members of a single minority representation, was unlawful?
Shaw v. Reno
Which idea of representation says that a legislator should be viewed as someone whom voters hire to represent their interests?
agency representation
A political party is
an organization that tries to influence the government by getting its members elected to office.
When Richard Nixon employed his "southern strategy," he
appealed to disaffected white voters in the South.
One reason why redistricting is controversial is that
computer technologies allow legislatures to know statistically what kinds of people live where and this can be used to give one party an advantage over the other.
Pork-barrel legislation
deals with specific projects and their location within a particular congressional district
Party activists who are elected to vote at a party's national convention are called
delegates
Who decides which committee assignments members of the House of Representatives receive?
each party's own "steering and policy" committee.
The __ is the last example of indirect voting in national elections.
electoral college
