GOVT 2305 Exam 2 - CH 5
The typical procedure for an initiative requires petitions to feature the signatures of __________ of the number of registered voters in a state.
5 to 10 percent
Which of the following qualifications for voting was virtually eliminated in all states by the 1850s?
Property ownership
Which of the following activities requires the most initiative?
Running for office
Which country was the first to provide for the general election of representatives through mass suffrage?
United States
At the local level, voters elect about __________ of 13,800 school districts across the nation.
95 percent
Americans contributing money to a candidate's campaign is best defined as a form of
influencing behavior.
Most referenda are placed on the ballot by
legislatures
In 2001-2002, over 42 percent of registrations for voting were done though
motor-voter provisions.
The text defines _________ as the actions of private citizens by which they seek to influence or support government politics
political participation
In Smith v. Allwright, the Supreme Court found __________ is (are) unconstitutional
preventing blacks from voting in primary elections
The effect of the Twenty-sixth Amendment, which enfranchised eighteen-to-twenty-year-olds, was to
reduce the national voter turnout rate
A 2009 study showed that half of all voters are unaware that they can:
register at motor vehicle offices.
A legal action brought by a person or group on behalf of a number of people in similar circumstances is also known as a(n)
class action suit.
The purpose of the literacy tests that were used in the southern states after 1870 was to
discourage African Americans from voting.
Some studies show that direct political action appeals most to those who __________ the political system and have a _________ sense of political efficacy.
distrust; strong
Petitioning a local government council to rebuild a curb in front of your home is a(n)
example of seeking particular benefits
The majoritarian model of democracy favors
voting as the primary means of participation.
Compared with other nations in the world in granting suffrage to women, the United States
was among the first
The text defines suffrage and franchise as the right to
vote
If voter-turnout was computed on the basis of registered voters, about __________ of Americans vote
80 percent
Which of the following forms of political participation are Americans least likely to engage in, according to a 2008 survey?
Attending political meetings
Which of the following is an unconventional form of political participation?
Chanting slogans outside public officials' windows
The __________ to the Constitution prohibits states from denying the right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
Fifteenth Amendment
The last governor recalled from office was Governor
Gray Davis of California.
Which of the following statements about unconventional participation is not true?
It consists of relatively routine behavior that uses established institutions of representative government.
The amendment granting women's suffrage is the
Nineteenth Amendment
During the Vietnam War, protesting students on college campuses
Options A, B, and C are true. (stopped traffic.; destroyed property.; occupied buildings.)
Public demonstrations by Egyptian women in December of 2011 were waged in order to protest
Options B and D are true.(public beatings of women by Egyptian soldiers; forced virginity tests on female prisoners.)
Political scientists know less about unconventional forms of political participation because
Options C and D are true (it is easier to collect data on conventional practices; they are biased toward institutionalized, or conventional, politics.)
Which nation did not extend the vote on equal terms with men until 1971?
Switzerland
Which of the following was the first known act of unconventional participation in America?
The Boston Tea Party
Which statement concerning recall is incorrect?
Twenty-one state governors have been unseated through recall
The amendment lowering the voting age to eighteen is the
Twenty-sixth Amendment.
Which means of political participation serves the ideal of equality better than any other?
Voting in elections
How does education affect voter turnout?
Well-educated people are more likely to vote than are their less-educated counterparts
Characteristics frequently associated with nonvoters are
Well-educated people are more likely to vote than are their less-educated counterparts.
Women were first given the right to vote in
Wyoming.
Direct action includes
a citizen's group appearing before the city council seeking change in an ordinance
Elections, as an institutional mechanism:
bolster the power and authority of the state.
In general today, women politically participate
about the same as men
All of the following are regarded in the text as examples of unconventional participation except
all of these are examples of unconventional participation .
A practical test of whether or not a government is democratic is whether
citizens can affect its policies by acting through its institutions
Someone who asserts that elections "socialize political activity" is contending that elections are mechanisms that maintain
government stability
Congress and the states moved quickly to pass the Twenty-sixth Amendment, which lowered the voting age to eighteen, because they
hoped to channel student energy away from demonstrations and toward more conventional forms of participation.
Voting in the United States decreased during the 1970s and 1980s. Other forms of participation
increased or remained stable
Americans are less likely to __________ than citizens of other countries.
join demonstrations
In Oregon, everyone votes by
Today, __________ states allow voters to both register and vote on the day of the election
nine
A direct primary is a
preliminary election to choose party candidates
Flying the American flag on holidays is an example of _________ behavior.
supportive
While terrorism is an unconventional political action, it is generally not counted as political participation because
terrorists do not seek to influence government but to attack it.
Although the United States has a much lower voter turnout than do other democracies, Americans may actually work harder at being good citizens because
the United States has far more elections than do other countries
The country with the lowest voter turnout among eligible voters in national elections is
the United States.
In nearly every other democratic country, the burden of registration is placed on
the government.
The framers of the Constitution left the issue of voter enfranchisement to
the states
Before the collapse of communism, the former Soviet Union did not function as a democracy because
there was only one political party.
Studies of Americans who engage in "contacting behavior" like complaining to city hall find
they are not more likely to engage in other forms of political activity
One recent criticism of referenda and initiatives is that
they create an expensive "industry" designed around circulating petitions and spending millions.
The American emphasis on freedom over equality in political participation works to the benefit of
those with greater resources