Ch 9 Pre-Quizzes

A citizen can currently give no more than (roughly) ________ per candidate for federal office per election in a given two-year election cycle.

$2,800

"Dark money" comes from

501(c)(4)s.

Bernie Sanders ran as a Democrat in 2016 even though he was a registered independent. He had a LOT of enthusiastic supporters who were "Independents." Which kind of election was LEAST favorable to Sanders?

Closed Primary states

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), the Supreme Court ruled that

Corporations are people and can therefore spend as much as they want on political campaigns

In 1971, Congress passed the ____, which created a federal bureaucratic structure to monitor and set limits on campaign contributions by individuals as well as provide public financing for presidential campaigns.

Federal Election Campaign Act

What is the major significance of the Supreme Court's ruling in Buckley v. Valeo?

Independent expenditures are consider protected speech.

In the 2010 Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Court:

Struck down a part of the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Act, thus allowing corporations and unions to spend money in support of candidates

The campaign funds raised and spent by 501(c)(4) organizations are called "dark money" because

donors and amounts contributed do not have to be made public.

What is the MOST important factor in predicting whether an individual votes?

education level

T/F: According to this article on fraud in the 2020 elections (Links to an external site.), Joe Biden stole the 2020 election.

false

T/F: In the John Oliver clip on Voting Machines in the lecture (from 15:01 to 19:00), Oliver agrees with Trump that electronic voter is more secure.

false

T/F: Stephen Colbert's reason for forming his SuperPAC (based on the clips from the lecture) was to promote the idea that all people (including corporations) should be treated equally.

false

T/F: The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) is a powerful watchdog that has successfully kept US elections free from the influence of wealthy donors.

false

In the ________ election, voters select who they want to fill a political office. In the ________ election, voters choose each party's candidate to compete for a political office.

general; primary

The right of candidates to spend their own money on running for office

is protected absolutely by the Constitution according to the Supreme Court.

Private groups that raise and distribute funds for election campaigns are called

political action committees.

The idea behind micro-targeting is to

send different campaign messages to different demographic groups of voters.

A serious candidate for a U.S. House of Representatives race must raise at least ________ while a serious candidate for a U.S. Senate race must raise at least ________.

several hundred thousand dollars; several million dollars

In modern political campaigns, ____ has/have recently emerged as a valuable tool in reaching the public.

social media

Contributions to political parties designated for so-called "party-building" activities (not to directly promote a candidate) are known as

soft money.

In the American federal system, the responsibility for running elections rests largely with

state and local governments.

Presidential elections are always held on what day?

the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November

In most elections in the US (for Congress or other offices, for example), how many votes must a candidate receive in order to win?

the most votes

Trump won in 2016 by ________________ while Biden won in 2020 by ________________.

winning key swing states by less than 40,000 votes; winning key swing states by about 220,000 votes

A state's electoral votes can be calculated by:

Adding together the number of representatives and senators that it has

Which of the following statements about how voters decide is most accurate? - Economic considerations do not affect the decisions that voters make about whom to vote for. - When voters are satisfied with their economic prospects, they tend to vote for the party in power. - When voters are dissatisfied with their economic prospects, they tend to vote for Democratic candidates. - When voters are dissatisfied with their economic prospects, they tend to vote for Republican candidates.

B. When voters are satisfied with their economic prospects, they tend to vote for the party in power.

Under the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002, soft money contributions to national parties are:

Banned

According to the text, which is NOT a reason why Biden won in 2020?

Biden cheated with the help of Hugo Chavez

Some people say that money buys elections. A more realistic statement would be that money:

Is necessary but not sufficient for victory

Who wants to make it more difficult for working class and poor people to vote?

Republicans

_____ may raise unlimited contributions from corporations, unions, professional and business associations, and individuals for the purpose of making unlimited expenditures in favor of or against a candidate running for the presidency or for Congress.

Super PACs

Who selects the president if no candidate receives a majority of the electoral vote?

The House of Representatives

Which of the following statements about age and political participation is true?

Young people are far less likely to participate in politics than older people.

According to the lecture and the article on possible fraud in the 2020 election, - 3/4 of Republicans falsely believe the 2020 election was stolen - of the few cases of provable fraud in 2020, most were committed by Republicans -even if every case of suspected voter fraud was truly a fraud, and every "illegal" vote went to Biden, it would not have affected the outcome (Biden's margin of victory was too large) - all of these are accurate

all

Which of the following has an impact on the outcome of elections? campaign rules (laws) electoral system (such as First Past the Post) Voter ID laws voter registration requirements all of these can affect the outcome of an election

all

Which of the following is NOT accurate regarding photo ID and voter fraud? - Absentee ballot fraud (which photo ID does not prevent) has been known to affect local elections - In-person voter fraud (the rationale for photo ID) is extremely rare and has never affected an election - Whites are much more likely to have a photo ID than minorities. - In order to justify Voter ID, President Trump claimed that you need a photo ID to buy a box of cereal all of these are accurate

all

Which of the following is NOT a false conspiracy theory posed by former President Trump, his lawyer, or one of his allies on Fox News? the ghost of Hugo Chavel rigged the election some Asian country illegally smuggled in fake ballots, using bamboo paper that voting machine company Smartmatic "flipped" 6,000 votes from Trump to Biden in the 2020 election all of these are false conspiracy theories that have been proven false and thrown out of court by both Democratic and Republican judges

all are false

Which of the following is a concern raised by CPG Grey in his clip on the electoral College system? - a candidate can win with only 22% of the vote - all of these are accurate; CPG Grey discussed all of these issues - votes in less populated states (like Montana) are worth more than - - votes in heavily populated states like Texas everyone's votes are NOT equal - candidates only focus on a few swing states

all of these are accurate; CPG Grey discussed all of these issues

In order to win the presidency, a candidate must win

at least 270 electoral votes.

The McCain-Feingold Act

banned most soft money contributions.