Homework Assignment #4
Chapters: 14 -15 & 21
Multiple Choice. Fill in the one letter that best completes the statement or answers the question.
1. The form of government used in the United States today can best be described as
A) totalitarian.
B) republican.
C) direct democracy.
D) authoritarian.
E) anarcho-syndicalism.
2. In addition to selecting political leaders, elections serve the role of allowing voters to
A) formulate public policy.
B) express opinions political issues.
C) reaffirm the importance of the Constitution.
D) overturn acts of Congress.
E) overrule the judiciary.
3. Which of the following groups had the highest level of voter turnout in the 2004 election?
A) People with less than a 9th grade education
B) People with some high school education but no diploma
C) People with a high school diploma or GED
D) People with some college but no college degree
E) People with a college degree
4. According to the _____ theory, life today is simply busier than in the past and offers more distractions.
A) relativity
B) democratic
C) lifestyle-change
D) string
E) social reform
5. Which of the following would NOT be an example of collective participation?
A) discussing politics with friends
B) voting
C) attending the local meeting of a political party
D) working at a candidate’s headquarters.
E) speaking at a rally
6. _____ participation occurs when a citizen participates in activity aimed at changing public policy without interacting with other citizens.
A) Individual
B) Collective
C) Singular
D) Interactive
E) Social
7. In order to prevent voter fraud, voters in the Iraqi election
A) had to present a government-issued identification card.
B) had their fingers dyed with indelible purple ink.
C) had to cast their votes by mail.
D) participated in caucus-style elections.
E) could not vote in their home districts but instead had to cast ballots in neighboring electoral districts.
8. The 2005 Iraqi election was boycotted by _____ who objected to the process.
A) Sunnis
B) Shi’a
C) Kurds
D) Iraqi Christians
E) Wahabis
9. Studies on voter knowledge have shown that the more election ads a voter sees,
A) the less likely they are to vote.
B) the more likely they are to vote.
C) the more accurate their political knowledge.
D) the less accurate their political knowledge.
E) the stronger their political opinions.
10. Which of the following were implemented to prevent dead or nonexistent voters from casting ballots?
A) grandfather clauses
B) motor voter laws
C) ballot initiatives
D) residency and registration laws
E) poll taxes
11. Almost half of counties use _____ in elections.
A) optical scan ballots
B) electronic ballots
C) pull lever ballots
D) punch card ballots
E) written ballots
12. Approximately _____ of states have avenues for direct democracy.
A) 10 percent
B) 25 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 75 percent
E) 90 percent
13. Initiatives were first developed
A) by the founders in the U.S. Constitution.
B) as a result of the corrupt bargain of 1824.
C) as a result of post-Civil War reconstruction.
D) during the Progressive era.
E) as a response to the political protests of the 1960s.
14. “_____” refers to funds contributed through a loophole in federal campaign finance regulations that allowed individuals and groups to give unlimited sums of money to political parties.
A) Dirty money
B) Fringe benefits
C) Soft money
D) Hard money.
E) Declarative donations
15. The number of PACs
A) declined slightly in the 1990s.
B) declined dramatically since the 1990s.
C) has remained relatively constant since the 1970s.
D) increased dramatically in the 1970s and early 1980s but has remained
relatively constant since then.
E) has increased dramatically since the early 1980s.
16. PACs prefer to send their funds to incumbents because of the so-called incumbent
A) demand.
B) oligarchy
C) advantage.
D) disadvantage.
E) leverage.
17. Which of the following was NOT an effect of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act?
A) 527 issue groups were banned.
B) Limits on contributions by political parties to individual candidates were
reduced.
C) Limits on soft money donations to political parties were imposed.
D) Group-sponsored advertisements were restricted.
E) All of the above were imposed as a result of the 2002 Campaign Finance
Reform Act.
18. Senator John McCain was a co-author of the
A) Voting Rights Act.
B) USA PATRIOT Act.
C) Help America Vote Act.
D) Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
E) Electoral College Reform Act.
19. A political party’s _____ refers to the set of issues, principles, and goals the party supports.
A) issue agenda
B) belief system
C) platform
D) political culture
E) institutional model
20. Political parties run candidates under their own
A) terms.
B) labels.
C) whims.
D) configuration.
E) structure.
21. In the Democratic Party’s convention, superdelegates make up slightly less than _____ of the total number of delegates.
A) 10
B) 20
C) 30
D) 40
E) 50
22. In the Democratic Party’s convention, _____ are delegates appointed by the Party who have the flexibility to cast a ballot for whoever they desire.
A) at-large delegates
B) preferred delegates
C) superdelegates
D) national delegates
E) limited delegates
23. Which two states are normally afforded the privilege of holding the first primary and caucus in the presidential election cycle?
A) Iowa and New Hampshire
B) Iowa and Nevada
C) Washington and New Hampshire
D) Alabama and Washington
E) South Carolina and Ohio
24. Voters in primary elections and caucuses tend to be more _____ than the average voter.
A) wealthy
B) ideological
C) liberal
D) moderate
E) conservative
25. In a _____ primary, used in most states, voters pick delegates who are pledged to support a particular candidate.
A) binding
B) restricted
C) closed
D) open
E) blind
26. The _____ primary is a system restricts participation to registered members of the party.
A) binding
B) restricted
C) closed
D) open
E) blind
27. The _____ primary is a system in which voters are allowed to participate in the primary election without declaring membership in a party.
A) binding
B) restricted
C) closed
D) open
E) blind
28. Voters who vote for a number of candidates from different parties in a given election are known as
A) ticket-splitters.
B) yellow dogs.
C) nonaligned voters.
D) muckrakers.
E) multi-ticket voters.
29. Compared to party activists, the average American tends to be
A) more informed.
B) less informed.
C) wealthier.
D) more ideological.
E) less ideological.
30. In recent years, the strongest third-party returns for a presidential election were netted by the _____ Party in 1992, when it managed to capture 19 percent of the popular vote.
A) American Independent
B) Know-Nothing
C) Reform
D) Libertarian
E) Green
31. _____ refer to legal impediments, such as laws, court decisions, and constitutional provisions, that limit the possibilities of minor parties in the United States.
A) Attitudinal barriers
B) Philosophical barriers
C) Political barriers
D) Institutional barriers
E) Memes
32. The loss of affinity for party politics among voters who no longer consider themselves partisans is referred to as
A) restructuring
B) denaturing
C) alignment
D) realignment
E) dealignment
33. The GOP is more commonly referred to as the
A) Democratic Party.
B) Republican Party.
C) American Independent Party.
D) Reform.
E) Greens.
34. _____ refers to the officials who were elected under a given party’s banner.
A) Party-in-the-electorate
B) Party unity score
C) Party organization
D) Party-in-government
E) Party governance
35. In order to be elected president, a candidate must receive
A) a majority of the popular vote.
B) a majority of the Electoral College vote.
C) a plurality of the popular vote.
D) a plurality of the Electoral College vote.
E) a 2/3 supermajority of the Electoral College vote.
36. The term “the Establishment” is primarily defined by
A) race.
B) profession.
C) ethnicity.
D) age.
E) gender.
37. An important shift occurred in Texas politics in 2002, from________ to________ dominance.
A) liberal, conservative
B) liberal, Republican
C) Republican, Democratic
D) Democratic, liberal
E) Democratic, Republican
38. Elections in Texas are notably different from federal elections in having
A) virtually no campaign limits.
B) no PACs.
C) no primaries.
D) white primaries.
E) two parties.
39. The function of political action committees is to
A) organize grassroots campaigns.
B) inform voters about important issues.
C) raise money.
D) get out the vote.
E) promote more equitable elections.
40. Women’s gains in public office-holding in Texas seem most pronounced in what position?
A) governor
B) council member
C) mayor
D) county judge
E) county commissioner
41. Political realignment in Texas in the 1960s and 1970s saw the two parties
A) come closer together.
B) moving apart.
C) emerge for the first time.
D) lose to a new third party.
E) lose membership.
42. Conservative white Democrats began to move to the Republican Party in the 1960s and 1970s, largely in response to
A) the Religious Right.
B) civil rights legislation.
C) the abortion rights issue.
D) migration from New England.
E) the election of George H.W. Bush.
43. According to the author, the Democrats dominated Texas politics by merging the politics of
A) religion and race.
B) gender and race.
C) economics and gender.
D) race and economics.
E) gender and religion.
44. It is safe to say that the Religious Right has come to _________ the Republican Party in Texas in the last decades.
A) foster
B) deflect
C) redefine
D) direct
E) differ from
45. Which of the following is NOT a major category of lobbyists in Texas?
A) local government
B) minority groups
C) Native Americans
D) public interest
E) education
46. Like the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has tended to use which pathway?
A) Grassroots mobilization
B) Election
C) Court
D) Lobbying
E) Cultural change
47. Public interest groups are most likely to use which pathway?
A) Court
B) Cultural change
C) Elections
D) Lobbying
E) Grassroots mobilization
48. Public interest groups may be defined as special interest groups that represent
A) a particular trade.
B) a particular ethnicity.
C) citizens of a particular region.
D) the most influential citizens.
E) all citizens.
True/False. Fill in ‘A’ if the statement is true or ‘B’ if the statement is false.
49. In the United States, everyone has a direct say in what the government does.
50. Ross Perot’s 1992 presidential campaign illustrates that third party candidates can shape politics and policies even if they do not win elected office.
51. Legitimacy requires that the mode of selecting leaders be both legal and, in the eyes of citizens, fair.
52. Abraham Lincoln was elected by fewer than 40% of the voters in the 1860 election.
53. Civic participation is an important avenue for conferring legitimacy on the political system.
54. Elections sometimes act as a safety value, allowing voters to remove unpopular officials from office.
55. Many highly qualified individuals chose not to run for office because of excessive press coverage and disclosure of personal information required to seek office.
56. Unit rule refers to the practice of awarding all of a state’s Electoral College votes to the candidate who wins the most votes in the state.
57. Electors for the Electoral College are chosen by the political parties.
58. Swing states are those states that regularly and consistently go to one political party over the other.
59. Several states have advanced plans to bypass the Electoral College and decide the president directly by the popular vote.
60. The Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote.
61. Money has become increasingly important to political campaigns since the 1960s.
62. Senator Barack Obama was a co-author of the Voting Rights Act.
63. Soft money refers to funds contributed through a loophole in federal campaign finance regulations that allowed individuals and groups to give unlimited sums of money to political parties.
64. Term limits are laws stipulating the maximum number of terms that an official may serve in a particular office.
65. “527 organizations” are groups created by political parties to raise money on their behalf.
66. Young Americans are more likely to vote than older Americans.
67. Voter turnout declined in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections.
68. Unlike interest groups which limit their focus to a narrow range of issues, the major political parties in the Untied States are umbrella organizations which put forward positions on a broad array of issues.
69. American political parties play an important role in educating voters about policy issues.
70. Political parties play an important role in promoting civic participation and ensuring accountability.
71. The Contract with America was produced by President Bill Clinton and helped to produce a groundswell of support for the Democratic Party in 1994.
72. Party-in-the-electorate refers to the officials in government who are elected under one party banner.
73. Since 2000, voters under the age of 30 have tended to support the Democratic Party.
74. Both the Democratic and Republican Parties have party committees at the local, state, and national levels.
75. The phrase “party machine” is used to describe the local party organizations that influence elections and operated on the basis of patronage and behind the scenes control before the Progressive era.
76. Parties were crucial to American politics even before the American Revolution.
77. The first political parties emerged in the United States as the result of policy differences between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
78. The Whig Party grew out of the collapse of Jefferson’s Democratic Republicans.
79. Conflicts over slavery produced a significant disruption in the party system during the 1840s and 1850s.
80. The candidate-centered era began with the development of radio in the early part of the twentieth century.
81. Third parties often disappear as their platforms are absorbed into the platforms of the larger parties.
82. Liberals believe in having the least possible government (except in national security matters) and in “traditional family values.”
83. Because the two main parties both try to distinguish their platforms to attract a wide number of voters, there is frequently considerable difference on fundamental issues.
84. Party activist and ideologues represent less than 20 percent of the total electorate.
85. A solid majority of Americans are far less ideological than party activists.