American gov exam 3
The boundaries of legislative districts in the United States are to be redrawn every ________ years.
10
In order to win the presidency, a candidate must win
270 electoral college votes
________ are independent, nonprofit groups that receive and distribute funds to influence the nomination, election, and/or defeat of a candidate.
527 committee
The average U.S. House district currently has roughly ________ people.
700,000
The electoral college is
A group of people named by each state legislature to select the president and vice president
A referendum is the
the practice of referring a proposed law passed by a legislature to the vote of the electorate for approval or rejection
Which of the following is the best definition of redistricting?
the process or redrawing electoral districts every 10 years
Which party system saw the formation of the Republican party out of the remnants of the Whig party and had conflicts over slavery as one of the dominant political issues?
third party system or democratic party?
"Dark money" comes from
undisclosed donors
The first party system was characterized by conflict between the ________ and the ________.
Federalists; Jeffersonian Republicans
Who was the last Republican presidential candidate to win the popular vote in U.S. elections?
George W Bush
A procedure that allows voters to remove state officials from office before their terms expire is called a
Recall Election
Which of the following is the best example of direct democracy in the United States?
Referendum
which of the following statements best describes the representation of women and minorities in the U.S. Congress?
Representation of women and minorities has increased during the past two decades, but is not comparable to their proportions in the general population.
Support for the Republican Party currently comes from the
South and Mountain West
Which statement about party identification in the United States is most accurate?
The number of people identifying as Democrats has outnumbered Republican identifiers for a long time.
The Heritage Foundation and Human Rights Watch are best categorized as
Think tanks
In the Senate, the most senior leadership role is ________. In the House, the most senior leadership role is ________.
U.S. vice president, speaker of the house
The Jeffersonian Republicans were best known for their support of
a week national government with the states retaining most powers
When Richard Nixon employed his "southern strategy," he
appealed to disaffected white voters in the South.
During the late 1840s and early 1850s, both the Democratic and Whig parties were divided by
conflicts over slavery
Which list of issue positions is most likely to be supported by the national leadership of the Democratic Party?
expanding funding for education, public spending for infrastructure, and raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations
Emerging in the late 1780s, America's first two political parties were the
federalist and the Jeffersonian Republicans
A closed or an open rule refers to congressional provisions regarding
floor debate on a bill.
National party conventions are held every
four years and attended by delegates from all 50 states.
________ involves intentionally manipulating district boundaries to unfairly advantage one party over the other.
gerrymandering
Which of the following is an "outsider" strategy?
grassroots mobilization
Which list of issue positions is most likely to be supported by the national leadership of the Republican Party?
maintaining high levels of military spending, instituting tax relief for upper-income voters, and reducing corporate taxes
During midterm elections, voters are selecting ________.
members of Congress
An advertisement emailed only to evangelical Christian voters about a Democratic candidate's support for abortion would be an example of
micro-targeting
The political party that holds fewer seats in the Senate than any other party is known as the
minority party
Which of the following groups is most likely to affiliate with the Republican Party?
old white voters
A(n) ________ occurs when a voter can wait until the day of the primary to choose which party to enroll in to select candidates for the general election.
open primary
A party's ________ contains its philosophy, principles, and policy positions.
paltform
An election where the winner is the person who receives the most votes, regardless of the percentage of votes received, is called a ________ system.
plurality
The three most important tasks accomplished at a party's national convention are nominating the party's
presidential and vice presidential candidates, drafting the partys campaign platform, and writing state level ballot initiatives
A filibuster allows members of the Senate to
prevent a vote on a bill by speaking continuously on the floor.
In order for a political party to select a candidate to run in the general election, it holds a(n)
primary election
In a ________ election, voters choose the nominees for their parties. In a ________ election, voters choose who they want to be officeholders.
primary, general
In an iron triangle, the interest group
provides campaign contributions to members of Congress and lobbies for larger administrative agency budgets.
The National Conference of State Legislatures is a good example of a
public-sector interest group.
The primary function of a PAC is to
raise campaign funds to support favored candidates
A(n) ________is the practice of referring a proposed law passed by the legislature to a vote. A(n) ________ is a proposed law or policy change that is placed on the ballot by citizens or interest groups for a vote.
referendum, ballot initative
During the 1980s, the Republicans added ________ to their coalition.
religious conservatives and working-class whites
What does the Democrats recent change reorder of its 2024 presidential primary entails
replacing Iowa with South Carolina in the leadoff spot as part of a major shake-up meant to empower Black and other minority voters critical to its base of support.
After the Civil War, African American men were more likely to vote for which party?
republican
The Help America Vote Act of 2003
required state governments to use computerized voter registration databases.
When an American voter supports only one party's candidates, he or she is said to be voting a ________ ticket.
sTRAIGHT
In a proportional representation electoral system
seats in the legislature are allocated to political parties based on their share of the total vote cast in the election.
Political parties hold primary elections or caucuses in order to
select a single candidate to represent the party in the general election.
What issue led to the demise of the Whig Party?
slavery
Third parties in the United States typically represent
social and economic interests that are disregarded by the two major parties for certain reasons.
If a citizen votes for a Republican for president and a Democrat for senator, he or she has engaged in
split-ticket voting
What is partisanship?
strong allegiance to one's own political party, often leading to unwillingness to compromise with members of the opposing party
Men are more likely than women to prioritize economic and national security issues. Women are more likely to prioritize healthcare and education issues. The difference in who men and women tend to vote for is known as
the gender gap
In the context of elections and national conventions, what is a delegate?
A person appointed or elected to represent others
Which was a popular campaign slogan during the 2020 Presidential Campaign
Make America Great Again- Trump, Our Best Days Still Lie Ahead- Biden
________ is the practice of tailoring campaign messages to individuals in small, homogenous groups.
Micro-targeting
This organization which started in the 1980s tracks money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy and has a website?
OpenSecrets
Under a system of ranked-choice voting
a candidate is declared the winner if he or she wins a majority of first-place votes.
A runoff election is most likely to occur in which kind of electoral system?
a majority system
In Congress, the term whip refers to
a party member in the House or Senate responsible for coordinating the party's legislative strategy, building support for key issues, and counting votes
What is a general election?
a regular election of candidates for office, as opposed to a primary election.
In a roll-call vote,
a vote in which each legislator's yes or no vote is recorded as the clerk calls the names of the members alphabetically
Imagine that you are one of the Framers of the Constitution and want to design a legislature with two chambers. Which type of legislature would that be?
bicameral legislature
How can Congress override a president's veto?
by passing the act by a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate.
Early presidential primaries and caucuses are more important because they
can help a candidate secure media attention and financial support.
Both 527 committees and 501(c)(4)s
can spend unlimited amounts on political advocacy as long as their efforts are not coordinated with those of any candidate's campaign.
Since the 1930s, most African Americans have identified as
democratic
When Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the House in 2018, her selection was made by the
democratic party
The two major parties in the United States during the 1830s and 1840s were the ________ and the ________.
democrats , whigs
All of the following are responsibilities of a party's national committee EXCEPT
determining committee assignments for members of Congress.
One of the earliest activities in which party workers engage once the general election campaign begins is
ensuring that citizens are registered to vote.
The Christian Coalition is a(n) ________ group.
ideological
Despite the strength of the Republican Party in the South, Democrats have been able to retain some southern congressional seats due to the
increased black voter participation in the South and The 1965 Voting Rights Act had greatly
The first caucus in the presidential primary campaign is held in ________, while the first primary election in the presidential primary campaign is held in ________.
iowa, New Hampshire
The Teamsters and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) are examples of ________ groups.
labor
The legalization of same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges illustrates the impact
that an interest group can have through a litigation strategy