Chapter 11

Question 1

What happened in 1994?

Answer 1

House republicans signed a document that outlined the reforms they wanted to bring to Americans.

Question 2

What did the Contract with Americans do?

Answer 2

• Gave Americans a good idea of what the republican party wanted to accomplish in the first 100 days of the congressional term.
• Newt Gingrich was the key architect.

Question 3

What is party competition?

Answer 3

The battle between democrats and republicans for the control of public offices.

Question 4

What are Partys goals?

Answer 4

To win elections.

Question 5

What are the Interest group’s goals?

Answer 5

To influence public policy.

Question 6

How can you define a political party?

Answer 6

A team of men and women seeking to control the governing apparatus by aging office in an election.

Question 7

What helps run party operations?

Answer 7

National, state, and local organizations.

Question 8

How do parties serve as a Linkage Institution?

Answer 8

By setting the policy agenda (like social media)

Question 9

What are some tasks of parties?

Answer 9

• Nominate candidates to run for office
• Run campaigns
• Cue voters (identify with a party to show what a candidate generally stands for)
• Articulate policies (parties offer different policy alternatives on issues)
• policymaking (parties must work together to ensure agenda is put into place)

Question 10

What is Rational choice theory?

Answer 10

In order to win office, a party selects policies that are widely favored. History has shown that to be successful a party should not stray far from the majority of Americans that are in the middle of the political spectrum.

Question 11

What is a party image?

Answer 11

The voter’s perception of what Republicans or Democrats stand for, such as conservatism or liberalism.

Question 12

What is party identification?

Answer 12

A citizen’s self-proclaimed preference for one party or the other.

Question 13

What do most people identify as?

Answer 13

Democrats

Question 14

What do least people identify as?

Answer 14

Independents

Question 15

What is ticket splitting?

Answer 15

Voting for both democrats and republicans in the same election. (could mean a state isn’t safe for either party.)

Question 16

What is a Grassroot campaign?

Answer 16

use collective action from the local level to effect change at the local, regional, national or international level.

Question 17

What is a Grassroot campaign example?

Answer 17

When Bernie Sanders was starting out.

Question 18

What are party machines?

Answer 18

The opposite of grass roots campaign.

Pary leaders chose who would run, patronage played a key role as well.

Question 19

What is an example of a party machine?

Answer 19

Both Boss Tween in New York and Daley in Chicago are two examples of successful party machines.

Question 20

What are open primaries?

Answer 20

Gives voters a choice deciding on primary day is they want to vote Democrat or Republican.

Question 21

What are closed primaries?

Answer 21

Only those that have declared party affiliation are able to vote. Independent are excluded from the process.

Question 22

What are blanket primaries?

Answer 22

No declaration is required. You can cross party lines and vote. Only Alaska and Washington have this.

Question 23

What are white primaries?

Answer 23

Only white voters were allowed to participate in the primary. (used in south to exclude minority candidates from running and minority voters from voting in the primary election.)

Question 24

What are the 2 goals at the national convention?

Answer 24

• Design the final platform.

- Nominate the party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

Question 25

What is the National Committee?

Answer 25

The task is to run the party organization between national conventions.

Question 26

What is the chairperson?

Answer 26

Person in charge of the day-to-day running of the party between conventions.

Question 27

What did Regan promise?

Answer 27

• Increase military spending.

- cut social welfare.

Question 28

What are party eras?

Answer 28

historical periods in which a majority of voters side with the party in power.

Question 29

What is a Critical election?

Answer 29

Results when there is a fracture in either or both parties. (new issues could appear.)

Question 30

What is party realignment?

Answer 30

The displacement of the majority party by the minority party, usually during the critical election period. (ex: the democratic party after the great depression).

Question 31

Who were the Federalists?

Answer 31

The first party to form and the quickest to disappear. Dissolved after John Adams lost his re-election bid against Jefferson.

Question 32

Who were Democratic-Republicans?

Answer 32

Formed by Jefferson, Madison, and James Monroe (six presidential terms combined.) Tried to be everything for everyone (reason of their demise)

Question 33

Who are Democrats?

Answer 33

Founded by Andrew Jackson. Came out of the ashes of the Democratic-Republicans. Martin Van Buren was the real leader behind the party. Said you had to acknowledge the existence of another party to be successful. Could not please all of the people all of the time.

Question 34

Who were Whigs?

Answer 34

Pary that opposed Democrats. Led by Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. Only managed to get two candidates into the presidency (William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor)

Question 35

Who are Republicans?

Answer 35

Started out as the anti-slavery party in the 1850s. Thrived for more than five decades after the Civil War.

Question 36

How many Americans identify themselves as Democrats or Republicans?

Answer 36

60%. This leads to a divided government.

Question 37

What is Party dealignment?

Answer 37

Many people are moving away from both of our major parties.

Question 38

What are 3rd Parties?

Answer 38

Contenders that do not come from either of our two major parties.

• Single Issue - prohibition party
• Splinter - faction that breaks away.
• Some cases no party just a candidate.

Question 39

What is the Winner Takes All system?

Answer 39

Our system. Does not matter if you win by one vote or one million. Discourages third-party participation. For presidential candidates, they need to be polling at 15% or higher just to get into presidential debates.

Question 40

What is Proportional representation?

Answer 40

Many European models have this. Legislative seats are awarded based on the percentage of votes by a party in the national election.

Question 41

When are Coalition governments necessary?

Answer 41

Under proportional representation.

Question 42

What are coalition governments?

Answer 42

If no party controls the majority of seat coalitions may be formed between competing parties to gain a majority of votes through cooperation.

Question 43

What is the Responsible party model?

Answer 43

Each party offers a distinct set of choices for voters. One in office they carry out their mandate. If things don’t work out voters know who to blame and can hold them accountable.