1)What are the four main functions of political parties?
2)What are the two main types of political primaries, and what is the difference?
3)What is an election system in which political parties receivethe number of legislators matching their percentage of the national vote?
4)Identify three reasons for the two party system in the United States:
5)What are the characteristic of a Catch-All political party?
6)What are the ways Minor parties can have an impact on national elections in the United States?
7)Based on the chart above, what percent of American voters were registered as Democrats in 2010? Republicans?
8)Based on the chart above, what is the trend in American voter registration over the past 20 years?
9)What is it called when political parties change their platforms or are eliminated and replaced by a new party?
10)What is Gerrymandering? What are the effects of gerrymandering?
11)What are the advantages held by incumbents in getting re-elected?
12)Define a presidential system:
13)Which branch of government did the framers expect to be the most important? How do you know this?
14)How many members are there in the House of Representatives? What are their terms? How are they elected?
15)What are the powers of the Speaker of the House? What does a Whip do?
16)How many members are there in the Senate? What are their terms? How were they originally elected?
17)What did the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution do?
18)What is a filibuster? When is it used? Why would it be used?
19) What are the four types of congressional committees? Which is the most powerful type of committee?
20)What is the process by which a bill becomes a law?
21)What are special amendments to bills that fund special projects for the constituents of individual congressmen called? What is the process by which they get passed?
22)What case ruled the line item veto unconstitutional? What case ruled presidential impoundment unconstitutional?
23)What are the three foundations of a legislators voting behavior :
24)What does the Constitution say a public official can be impeached for? Describe the steps in the process of impeachment:
25)What is a group of people that share a common attitude toward an issue and join together to influence the government without running candidates for office?
26)What are the three ways interest groups influence the legislative process? Which is the most important?
27)What are Political action committees (PACs) and why were they originally established?
28)What is hard money? What is Soft money? What is a 512 organization? How do these affect political campaigns?
29)According to the chart above, what has happened to overall contributions to PACs for federal candidates since 1998? Who appears to raise more PAC money, and how does this give them an advantage in elections?
30)What are the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v FEC?
1 | AP American Government Unit 2Review