Chapter 8: Political Parties

Question 1

an organization that recruits, nominates, and elects party members to office in order to control the government

Answer 1

Political Party

Question 2

Formal statement of a party’s principles and policy objectives

Answer 2

Platform

Question 3

Tasks that involve direct contact with voters or potential voters

Answer 3

Grassroots Organizing

Question 4

political scientists’ view that a function of a party is to offer a clear choice to voters by establishing priorities or policy stances different from those of rival parties

Answer 4

responsible party model

Question 5

Individuals who identify with or tend to support a party

Answer 5

Party in the Electorate

Question 6

Unaffiliated voter

Answer 6

Independent

Question 7

Individuals who identify themselves as a member of one party or the other.

-measured by party registration

Answer 7

Party Identifiers

Question 8

a role that the party out of power plays, highlighting its objections to policies and priorities of the government in power

Answer 8

Loyal Opposition

Question 9

Supreme Court interpretation of campaign finance law that enabled political parties to raise unlimited funds for party-building activities such as voter registration drives and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts

Answer 9

Soft Money Loophole

Question 10

the partisan identifications of elected leaders in local, county, state, and federal government

Answer 10

party in government

Question 11

the situation that exists when Congress is controlled by one party and the presidency by the other

Answer 11

divided government

Question 12

the categorization of the number and competitiveness of political parties in a polity

Created when federalists advocated ratification of the constitution and strong central government, and anti federalists opposed and favored states’ rights

Answer 12

Party System

Question 13

Shift in party allegiances or electoral support

Answer 13

Realignment

Question 14

a philosophy supporting the rights and empowerment of the masses as opposed to elites

Answer 14

Populism

Question 15

the practice of rewarding political supporters with jobs

To the victor goes the spoils

Answer 15

Spoils System

Question 16

big-city party organization that exerted control over many aspects of life and lavishly rewarded supporters

Answer 16

Political Machine

Question 17

system in which a party leader rewarded political supporters with jobs or government contracts in exchange for their support of the party

Answer 17

Patronage

Question 18

Franklin Roosevelt’s broad social welfare program in which the government would bear the responsibility of providing a “safety net” to protect the most disadvantaged members of society

Answer 18

New Deal

Question 19

the group composed of southern Democrats, northern city dwellers, immigrants, the poor, Catholics, labor union members, blue-collar workers, African Americans, and women that elected FDR to the presidency four times

Answer 19

New Deal coalition

Question 20

the situation in which fewer voters support the two major political parties, instead identifying themselves as independent, or splitting their ticket between candidates from more than one party

Answer 20

Dealignment

Question 21

the situation in which voters vote for candidates from more than one party

Answer 21

Ticket Splitting

Question 22

organizations that candidates form to support their individual election

Answer 22

candidate committees

Question 23

a party organized as opposition or an alternative to the existing parties in a two-party system

Answer 23

Third Party

Question 24

electoral system in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins that office, even if that total is not a majority.

Answer 24

winner-take-all

Question 25

an election in which voters choose the party’s candidates who will run in the later general election

Answer 25

Primary Election

Question 26

an electoral structure in which political parties win the number of parliamentary seats equal to the percentage of the vote the party receives

Answer 26

proportional representation system

Question 27

a campaign in which an individual seeking election, rather than an entire party slate, is the focus

Answer 27

Candidate Centered Campaign

Question 28

a grassroots, conservative protest movement that opposed recent government actions, including economic stimulus spending and health care reform

Answer 28

Tea Party movement