American Government Exam 3
Because of his hyperactive and ruthless mannerism, President Obama's former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was nicknamed:
Rahmbo
Since the reforms of 1972, convention delegates have become
a more diverse group.
A realignment is
a process in which one party loses many supporters to the other party.
Democratic Party strength was hurt by the alienation of white southerners over
civil rights issues.
Northern military presence in the South during Reconstruction
enabled blacks to vote and hold office.
During the convention, each party
endorses a platform.
In regards to voting in the early 19th Century, religion could
exclude you from voting if you were Jewish or Catholic.
The following characterization of the Tea Party is true EXCEPT; disproportionately:
female
White southerners today typically vote
for Republicans.
One modern threat to the integrity of elections is
fraudulent manipulation of electronic voting machines.
A new consideration as part of the ticket-balancing effort is
gender
Redistricting to achieve political goals is called
gerrymandering.
The Fifteenth Amendment
guaranteed male African-Americans and male former slaves the right to vote.
In the 2000 election, Ralph Nader's run as a third party candidate
perhaps helped Bush win the presidency.
Responsible party government says that
political parties should take clear and opposing positions and office holders should vote accordingly.
When party leaders award supporters government jobs and other benefits, this is called
political patronage.
The value of political parties in a democracy is to give average people
political power
Party realignment in the 1930s involved
poor people, new immigrants, black Americans and workers.
In the U.S., voter registration is the responsibility of
the individual would-be voter.
At the time, Washington's unanimous election in 1788 suggested that
the nation would be governed by consensus.
Andrew Jackson believed
the strength of democracy was in the common person.
Proportional representation means that
each party receives the number of seats in the district equal to its percentage of votes in the district.
The most dominant issue during the 2008 presidential election was
economics
The Federalist party under Hamilton
opposed the Jeffersonians.
One of the deciding factors in 2000 election in Florida was
overseas absentee ballots.
The most important determinant of party identification is
parents' party affiliation.
Which of the following is not a Progressive reform?
partisan ballots
Minor parties have problems establishing themselves because
people do not want to "waste" their votes.
The number of electors each state has equals the number of
people it elects to Congress.
"Cracking" tries to diminish black voting strength by
dividing areas with heavily concentrated areas of blacks into multiple districts.
The _____ guarantees women the right to vote.
19th Amendment
A majority of the Tea Partiers:
does not believe the country needs a third party.
It is unlikely for Americans to adopt the responsible party in government model for the long term because:
Americans are individualistic.
In the 2008 election, _________ was a leader in using the Internet to attract supporters and keep them engaged.
Barack Obama
By 1840, the size of the electorate had
doubled.
Creating minority-majority districts has helped the following groups EXCEPT
Democrats
Federalism, separation of powers and checks and balances are major factors that make it:
Difficult for party leaders to persuade officeholders to action
Unlike Western European democracies, the United States has a:
Dominant two party system
Which of the following women was a suffragist?
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Which of the following statements is NOT true?
Federal law regulates how much candidates who do not take public funding can raise.
The value of political parties in a democracy was to:
Give the average person political power
Which southern state had a black majority legislature during Reconstruction?
Mississippi
An example of a small swing state—where the results are in doubt—is
New Mexico.
Church attendance is an indicator of party affiliation in that regular churchgoers identify with the __________ Party and less religious people connect with the __________ Party.
Republican, Democratic
The Republican Party is __________; whereas, the Democratic Party is ____________.
Right of center/left of center
In most states, elections are controlled by the
Secretary of State
Which is often cited as the best example of responsible party government?
Some European democracies
The National Republicans later became the
The Whig Party
Interfering with an individual's right to vote became illegal with the passage of the
Voting Rights Act.
Third-party presidential candidates
can make a major party candidate lose, as Nader did to Gore in 2000.
Due to property holdings and other restrictions, in the first presidential election
about six percent of all Americans could vote
The most salient criteria for PAC donations are
access and ability to win.
Which of the following is most likely to receive substantial PAC money?
an incumbent of either party
Generally speaking, a person who wants to become active in a local party organization needs to
attend party meetings and be willing to work.
White primaries
barred blacks from voting in primary elections.
Which of the following statements is true regarding political participation during the late 1960's and early 1970s?
blacks participated more than whites
A large part of the cost of campaigns goes to
buying media ads
Voting was extended to 18-year-olds
by constitutional amendment.
The psychological link that individuals feel toward a party is
called party identification.
The Founders:
dreaded the prospect of political parties.
The lessening of citizens' attachment to parties is called
dealignment.
The Progressive Movement
decreased political corruption but weakened the political parties.
A major reason for the Republican Party's difficulty in wooing Latino voters is:
hostility toward Spanish-speaking immigrants by its conservative base.
The "Golden Age" of mass political parties was:
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In 2004 and 2008, voter turnout in presidential elections
increased sharply.
Which is not a component of a political party?
interest groups
A "political machine"
is a powerful party organization that could deliver votes.
The utility of political parties became apparent to the Founders when
it appeared a viable way to align people with similar views.
The biggest impact the Great Depression had on political parties was
it gave the political parties less of a hold on the votes of lower and middle-class Americans because federal government became the source of welfare and jobs.
An "understanding" or "good moral character" test was often used in the South to
let whites avoid literacy tests.
Less formal means that were used to exclude blacks from voting included all of the following EXCEPT:
locating polling places within black neighborhoods.
Citizens attitude, lack of rootedness, failures of political parties to mobilize voters are reasons cited for:
lower turnout.
The butterfly ballot design
may have given Bush Florida in 2000.
Critics charge that election campaigns are all of the following EXCEPT
meaningful.
The Electoral College
means that the U.S. does not directly elect its president.
Political parties normally pitch their campaigns towards the middle because Americans are:
moderates
In the single member district with a winner-take-all system, the
one who receives the most votes is elected from a district.
Of all the election reforms, ___________ reduced the strength and influence of the political parties the most.
primary elections
According to James Madison, the greatest source of factions was various and unequal distribution of
property
The women's movement contributed __________ to the tactics of American politics.
protest marches and picketing
The political party label of a candidate
provides voters with a general idea of the candidate's issue positions.provides voters with a general idea of the candidate's issue positions.
Conventions have become media events since the invention of
radio
The national Democratic and Republican party chairs
raise money and speak out on behalf of the party.
To increase voter registration, the national motor voter law allows people to
register to vote at public offices.
In 2010 the Roberts Court
removed spending caps on corporations and unions.
The Voting Rights Act has had the effect of
significantly increasing the number of minority elected officials.
Which of the following is not a likely reason that turnout is low?
strong labor unions
The right to vote is termed
suffrage.
City dwellers, blue collar workers, Catholic and Jewish immigrants, blacks and southerners who elected Franklin D. Roosevelt to the presidency were called
the New Deal coalition.
One consequence of southern realignment has been
the Republican Party has become more conservative.
A breakdown of voters by education, income and occupation shows that those least likely to vote include
those with less than a high school education.
Voting for a member of one party for one office but a member of another for a different one is called
ticket splitting.
The Republican racial strategy
used code words to appeal to southern white voters.
Which is not a feature of most political ads?
vague content
Retrospective voting is
voting based on past performance.
In the eyes of the Progressive reformers, the lower class
were the cause of corruption in politics.
Literacy tests
were used to keep blacks from voting.
Congress attempted to bar Wyoming from the Union because it had granted the right to vote to
women
When property requirements were used to determine who could vote
women property owners could vote in some places.
The term political parties is referenced in the Constitution _______ time(s).
zero
