Chapter 7: Political Parties

Question 1

Political parties

Answer 1

Organization that seek to achieve power by winning public office

Question 2

Sudden, large, durable shifts in the

Answer 2

Electoral balance and the composition of the coalitions that support the major parties

Question 3

Presidential elections

Answer 3

1) 1869: Abraham Lincoln, Republican
2) 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Democrat

Question 4

The Federalist Party (1788)

Answer 4

The country’s first political party to support John Adam’s presidential candidacy

Question 5

The Democratic-Republican Party (1792)

Answer 5

The country’s second political party.

Question 6

It was comprised of Thomas Jefferson and other Anti-Federalist support

Answer 6

Jefferson’s presidential candidacy

Question 7

Each party lobbied the state legislature to select

Answer 7

Electors who promised in advance to either elect Adams or Jefferson depending on which candidate won the popular vote in their states

Question 8

Significance of the Presidential Election of 1796

Answer 8

It was the first time two candidates campaigned as members of opposing parties

Question 9

It was the beginning of the Electoral College’s transformation from

Answer 9

An independent check on the popular vote to a “rubberstamp” on the popular vote

Question 10

Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party organized

Answer 10

Voters circulated literature and rallied the masses to their causes. Thomas Jefferson won the election.

Question 11

The election of 1800 was the first time in American democracy that

Answer 11

The control of government passes peacefully from one party to another based on an election outcome

Question 12

After the election of 1796, the Federalist Party

Answer 12

Never won another presidential election

Question 13

By 1820, the Federalist Party

Answer 13

Ceased to exist

Question 14

President Andrew Jackson (elected in 1828) transformed the

Answer 14

Democratic-Republican Party into the Democratic Party in 1829

Question 15

Jackson’s opponent formed the

Answer 15

Whig Party (1836), and by 1840, the Whigs won the presidency

Question 16

Factions began to form in the

Answer 16

Whig party over the issue of slavery

Question 17

The Republican Party formed in

Answer 17

1854 to oppose slavery

Question 18

In the election of 1860,

Answer 18

Abraham Lincoln was elected president

Question 19

From 1860-1912 (except for 1885 & 1893),

Answer 19

Republican won the presidency

Question 20

During the Great Depression, the Democratic Party’s nominee, Franklin D.Roosevelt was

Answer 20

Elected in a landslide and was the only president to be elected to four terms

Question 21

The New Deal Coalition

Answer 21

Working classes and union members, especially in large cities, Catholics and Jews, African Americans, poor people, and Southern whites

Question 22

By 1972, the Democratic Party became associated with

Answer 22

Anti-war protesters, civil rights advocates, feminists organizations, and liberal activists generally, all who were to the left of the electorate in general

Question 23

The Reagan Coalition

Answer 23

Economic conservatives, social conservatives concerned about crime, illegal drugs, and racial conflict, and religious fundamentalists

Question 24

Southern Whites were concerned about

Answer 24

Racial issues and affirmative action, anti-communists who wanted the U.S to maintain a strong military

Question 25

Loyal Democratic Party members

Answer 25

1) African Americans and other minorities
2) Government employee
3) Union leader
4) Liberal intellectuals in the media and universities
5) Feminists organizations and environmentalists
6) Gays, lesbians, and bisexuals

Question 26

The Democratic Leadership Council was formed in the 1980s to

Answer 26

Create a “new” Democratic Party closer to the center of the political spectrum

Question 27

The chair of the committee was

Answer 27

Then governor Bill Clinton

Question 28

The council’s concern was its traditional support for

Answer 28

Social justice and social welfare programs were overshadowing its commitment to economic prosperity

Question 29

When Clinton became president, he reverted to

Answer 29

Liberal policy directions rather than pursue the moderate line he promoted as a “new” Democrat

Question 30

In 1994, the Republican Party won

Answer 30

The majorities in the House and the Senate

Question 31

In 2000, the Republican Party continued to won

Answer 31

The presidency

Question 32

The party abandoned its principle of

Answer 32

Lower federal spending and shrinking the size of the federal government and failed to secure the country’s borders

Question 33

In 2006, the party lost its

Answer 33

Majority in Congress

Question 34

In a democracy, parties are supposed to

Answer 34

Organize majorities around broad principles of government in order to win public office and enact the principles into law

Question 35

Political parties once nominated candidates for their party and played a major role in

Answer 35

Campaign organization and finance.

Question 36

Campaigns are directed by

Answer 36

Professional campaign management firm or by the candidates’ personal organization not by parties

Question 37

Most political candidates are

Answer 37

Self-recruited, not the party

Question 38

The major political parties cannot control who their

Answer 38

Nominee the party’s entry in a general election rate will be

Question 39

The party was once the

Answer 39

Medium through which candidates communicated with voters

Question 40

Now, candidates communicate directly with voters through

Answer 40

The mass media

Question 41

Parties have no way to bind their elected officials to the

Answer 41

Party platform or even to their campaign promises

Question 42

Historically, nominations were made by

Answer 42

Caucus or party convention

Question 43

The caucus was the

Answer 43

Earliest nominating process

Question 44

Party leaders would meet

Answer 44

Several months before the election and decide who to nominate

Question 45

Nominating convention

Answer 45

Large meetings of delegates sent by local party organizations to nominate their party’s candidate

Question 46

The presidential nominee announces his/her choice of the

Answer 46

Vice presidential candidate

Question 47

The president’s choice is determined by

Answer 47

Ticket balancing (someone who will balance the ticket based on Washington experience, ideology, or geography)

Question 48

Primary elections

Answer 48

Registered voters select who will be their party’s nominee in the general election

Question 49

Closed primaries

Answer 49

Only voters who are registered as Democrat or Republican can vote in their chosen party’s primary

Question 50

Open primaries

Answer 50

Anyone regardless of party affiliation may choose to vote in either party’s primary election

Question 51

General elections

Answer 51

Election to choose among candidates nominated by parties and/or independent candidates who gained access to the ballot by peitition

Question 52

Members of the public who have registered with a party make up that

Answer 52

Party’s electorate

Question 53

Party identification

Answer 53

Members of a party’s electorate have a psychological link to their party

Question 54

Minor parties in the U.S are called

Answer 54

Third parties

Question 55

Third parties are political parties that

Answer 55

Challenge the two major parties in an election

Question 56

Winner-Takes-All Electoral System

Answer 56

Elections are usually determined in plurality winner-takes-all election whereby only one candidate, the one who wins the most popular votes wins the election

Question 57

The Democratic Party is more likely to favor

Answer 57

Increasing the number of social programs, increasing regulations on business, and decreasing domestic oil production

Question 58

The Republican Party is more likely to favor

Answer 58

Increasing spending on the military,, increasing domestic oil production and decreasing regulation on business