Politics Ch 8

Which of the following is the best description of party organizations in America?

Party organizations are decentralized and not hierarchical.

Andrew Jackson was the founder of which political party?

democratic

A __________ is a set of promises explaining what the party's candidates will do if elected.

party platform

The Second Party System ultimately split over the issue of

slavery

Which of the following groups identify overwhelmingly as Democrats?

African Americans

When the United States goes from one party system to another, this is known as a

realignment.

In a plurality voting system

whoever gets the most votes wins

The national committee is the most important part of which "facet" of parties?

party organization

__________ is defined as one party controlling Congress but not the presidency or different parties controlling the House and Senate.

divided gov

The __________ is one in which individuals who work for the winning party are rewarded with benefits such as jobs in government.

spoils system

A __________ is a tax-exempt group that is not subject to contribution limits and spending caps and that is formed primarily to influence elections through voter mobilization efforts and issue ads that do not directly endorse or oppose a candidate.

527 organization

__________ states that in a democracy with single-member districts and plurality voting, only two parties' candidates will have a realistic chance of winning political office.

Duverger's Law

The __________ parties defined the First Party System on the issue of the proper role and size of the national government.

Federalist and Democratic-Republican

Which statement best characterizes the nature of political action committees and 527s?

They are not part of the political party organization.

Which of the following BEST summarizes the political views of "independents"?

They are usually closet partisans and favor one party over another.

What does party identification refer to?

a citizen's loyalty to a specific political party

What is a party platform?

a set of objectives outlining the party's issue positions and priorities, which candidates are not required to support

In Congress, the Democrats are organized by a ______, while the Republicans are organized by a _______.

caucus; conference

The American political parties are

decentralized organizations with loose coordination across groups.

Over the last several decades, the number of ideologically moderate members in Congress has

decreased significantly

The __________ parties defined the Second Party System on the issue of the tariffs (farmers versus merchants) and slavery.

democratic and whig

If the Democrats control the Senate and the White House and the Republicans control the House of Representatives, what is this an example of?

divided gov

Select the correct party coalition for the modern Democratic party:

ethnic and racial minorities, the religiously unaffiliated, and the Millennial generation

When do nominating conventions happen?

every four years when a party must pick its presidential candidate

What do we call the principal or main body in each party organization in America?

national committee

Juan considers himself a Republican, while Mariah considers herself a Democrat. These are examples of their

party ID

From 1897 until 1932 one of the major parties, the Republicans, won most presidential elections, while the other major party, the Democrats, won when the Republicans were divided. The major issues of the time were industrialization and immigration. The Republicans had the support of business, while the Democrats relied on urban immigrants and southern whites. This description is an example of a

party system

If a voting system has a rule that whichever candidate receives the most votes wins, even if he or she does not get over 50 percent of the votes, we describe that system as what kind of voting?

plurality

Which of the following is an organization that runs candidates for office and coordinates the actions of affiliated elected officials?

political party

Imagine there are two parties, the Klingons and the Ferengis. Usually the two parties are pretty competitive, but over the course of a decade the Klingons start winning more and more elections until they are clearly the dominant party. This is an example of what phenomenon?

realignment

The ability of parties to ensure that those who run for office do so effectively and that those who win responsibly uphold their elective positions most clearly demonstrates which benefit of political parties?

recruiting good candidates

Duverger's Law states that in a democracy with __________, only two parties' candidates will have a realistic chance of winning political office.

single-member districts and plurality voting

In a spoils system,

supporters of the winning party are rewarded.

__________ is made up of politicians who were elected as candidates of a party, while __________ involves the structure of national, state, and local parties, including party leaders and workers.

the party in government; the party organization

According to Duverger's Law, if we want to know how many major political parties a country will have, what should we look at?

the rules for determining how many votes are needed to win an election, along with other electoral rules