6. T/F Flashcards
The U.S. Congress is able to serve simultaneously as a representative assembly and a powerful agency of government.
True
A representative who votes according to the preferences of his or her constituency acts as a delegate.
True
A representative who votes based on what he or she thinks is best for his or her constituency acts as a trustee.
True
Constituents are a legislative agent’s only principals.
False
Members of Congress rarely pay attention to the interests of their constituency.
False
The U.S. Congress is a bicameral legislature.
True
Members of the House serve longer terms than members of the Senate.
False
The Senate was originally designed to maximize the input of citizens.
False
Modern candidates decide for themselves whether and when to run for office.
True
Incumbency plays a very important role in the kind of representation citizens get in Washington.
True
In recent elections, over 90 percent of House incumbents running for another term have been reelected.
True
Because of many campaign finance regulations passed to level the playing field, the gap between incumbent and challenger spending has narrowed considerably over the past quarter century.
Fasle
Since its inception, the U.S. Congress has been a very professional legislature.
False
Members of Congress avoid recommending spending that benefits their home district, focusing instead on spending that benefits the country as a whole.
False
Most challengers are able to outspend their incumbent opponents.
False
Part of the reason incumbents are so successful at reelection is that they scare off potential challengers.
True
The incumbency advantage tends to preserve the status quo in Congress.
True
The incumbency advantage makes it harder for women to increase their numbers in Congress.
True
Women who run for open congressional seats are just as likely to win as male candidates.
True
Since most incumbents are male, the number of females in Congress has grown slowly.
True
The way congressional district lines are drawn has little effect on the outcome of an election.
False
Redistricting can give an advantage to one party by clustering votes with some ideological or sociological characteristics in a single district.
True
Redistricting can give an advantage to one party by separating groups of similar voters into two or more districts.
True
Legislators rarely see success of their policy proposals on the merits of the policy; instead, they must cooperate and compromise.
True
Legislators tend to be drawn from the same class of society, and therefore have similar policy preferences and priorities.
False
