TEST 3 GOVERNMENT

How many votes are needed to win the electoral college?

270

The typical procedure for an initiative requires petitions how many signatures of the number of registered voters in a state?

5-10%

How many votes does each state have in the electoral college?

Every state gets two plus however many representatives they have in the House.

What percent of all Americans adopt their parents' party?

More than 50%

Citizen mobilization to stop construction of a nuclear waste facility near their homes would be an example of the _________ phenomenon.

NIMBY

Why did Black Americans shifted significantly to the Democratic Party in the 1960s?

Primarily vote

What did analysis of Super PAC ads during the 2012 Republican nomination show?

Raise money/funds and use it on campaigns- political committees

Recall

The process for removing an elected official from office. Eighteen states allow recall.

direct action

Unconventional participation that involves assembling crowds to confront businesses and local governments to demand a hearing.

What is the first objective of campaign advertising?

name recognition

To whom did the framers of the Constitution leave the issue of voter enfranchisement to?

states

Federal Election Commission (FEC)

A bipartisan federal agency of six members that oversees the financing of national election campaigns.

national committee

A committee of a political party composed of party chairpersons and party officials from every state.

class action suit

A legal action brought by a person or group on behalf of a number of people in similar circumstances.

general election

A national election held by law in November of every even-numbered year.

progressivism

A philosophy of political reform based on the goodness and wisdom of the individual citizen as opposed to special interests and political institutions.

primary election

A preliminary election conducted within a political party to select candidates who will run for public office in a subsequent election.

direct primary

A preliminary election, run by the state government, in which the voters choose each party's candidates for the general election.

initiative

A procedure by which voters can propose an issue to be decided by the legislature or by the people in a referendum. It requires gathering a specified number of signatures and submitting a petition to a designated agency.

standard socioeconomic model

A relationship between socioeconomic status and conventional political involvement: people with higher status and more education are more likely to participate than those with lower status.

responsible party government

A set of principles formalizing the ideal role of parties in a majoritarian democracy.

presidential primary

A special primary election used to select delegates to attend the party's national convention, which in turn nominates the presidential candidate.

party identification

A voter's sense of psychological attachment to a party.

supportive behavior

Action that expresses allegiance to government and country.

political participation

Actions of private citizens by which they seek to influence or support government and politics.

By national law, _________ of the seats in the House of Representatives and ____ of the seats in the Senate are filled in a general election held every even-numbered year.

All(435), 1/3

What did a 2013 supreme court decision regarding the Voting Rights Act allow numerous states to do?

Allows states to do whatever they want when it comes to eleciton laws

referendum

An election on a policy issue.

influencing behavior

Behavior that seeks to modify or reverse government policy to serve political interests.

15th amendment

Citizens cannot be denied the right to vote because of race, color , or precious condition of servitude

What are the responsibilities of the Federal Election Commission (FEC)?

For election laws not be violated

19th amendment

Gave women the right to vote

26th amendment

Lowered the voting age from 21 to 18

According to the text the authors assert that the majority of voters are ideologically more ________ than the voting records of members of Congress would indicate.

Moderates

Does the constitution discuss parties?

No

Beginning with the 2010 election, what supreme court case allows corporations to run ads directly advocating a candidate's election?

Opened the door to advertisement and self money - hard money is direct money

What percent of the Incumbents in the House of Representatives historically have won elections?

Over 90%

closed primaries

Primary elections in which voters must declare their party affiliation before they are given the primary ballot containing that party's potential nominees.

open primaries

Primary elections in which voters need not declare their party affiliation and can choose one party's primary ballot to take into the voting booth.

conventional participation

Relatively routine political behavior that uses institutional channels and is acceptable to the dominant culture.

unconventional participation

Relatively uncommon political behavior that challenges or defies established institutions and dominant norms.

Discuss the functions served by political parties in today's political system.

Select candidates - reduce the number of choices . Choose candidates, structure the vote, work with each other

According to the text, why do American presidential elections seem to last so long?

Start campaigning , every 4 years

What are states where races are Closely contested known as?

Swing states

voter turnout

The percentage of eligible citizens who actually vote in a given election.

franchise

The right to vote. Also called suffrage.

suffrage

The right to vote. Also called the franchise.

proportional representation

The system by which legislative seats are awarded to a party in proportion to the vote that party wins in an election.

majority representation

The system by which one office, contested by two or more candidates, is won by the single candidate who collects the most votes.

What are some characteristics frequently associated with nonvoters?

They are less education and have less money

straight ticket

Voting for a single party's candidates for all the offices.

split ticket

Voting for candidates from different parties for different offices.

What does a practical test of whether or not a government is democratic consist of?

citizens can affect its policies by acting through its institutions.

of all the social and economic variables affecting political participation, ___ is the strongest single factor.

education

Campaign finance laws are challenged as a violation of the _________ Amendment.

first

Why does the New Hampshire presidential primary gathers the lion's share of political and media attention?

the New Hampshire primary is the first one to occur each election year.