Exam 2 Questions Flashcards
In 2012, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney raised about ________ each in their respective campaigns.
$1 Billion
The Tea Party movement is
an organized challenge to incumbents in the Republican Party by the most conservative wing of the Republican Party.
What are political parties more capable of doing than interest groups?
organizing people on a mass scale
A political party is an organization…
that tries to influence the government by getting its members elected to office.
The fact that interest groups favor the wealthy and well educated can be understood as a reflection of what eternal dilemma in American politics?
Liberty is often inconsistent with equality.
Strong and often corrupt urban political party organizations during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were called ________.
machines
Individuals and organizations can give an unlimited amount to ________.
super PACs
The New Politics movement gave rise to ________ groups.
public interest
When a group is called a membership association, it means that
members play an important role in the daily activities of the group.
The major organizational factors shared by most interest groups are
leadership, money, an agency or office, and members.
Party activists are ________ to contribute time, energy, and effort to party affairs and ________ to hold more extreme views than the party’s rank-and-file voters.
more likely; more likely
In 1994,
the Republican Party won control of both houses of Congress for the first time since the 1950s.
Why is it important for interest groups to offer selective benefits?
It is necessary to limit the extent of the free-rider problem.
What is the most important attempt to limit the influence of lobbyists in recent years?
the 1995 Lobbying Disclosure Act
The average winning margin in House elections is ________ percent.
40
T/F
The national leadership of the Democratic Party supports less regulation of business.
False
One reason that America has such low levels of political involvement and voter turnout is that
political parties are not strong enough to function effectively.
Between the Civil War and the 1960s, the ________ was a Democratic stronghold.
South
Lobbying is…
an attempt by an individual or group to influence the passage of legislation by exerting direct pressure on members of Congress
The best description of the ideal of pluralism is that
interests should be free to compete with each other for governmental influence.
________ was elected president with no political party affiliation.
George Washington
The Christian Coalition is a(n) ________ group.
ideological
A ________ is a closed meeting of a political group’s members who gather to determine strategy and select candidates.
caucus
Which of the following groups is most likely to belong to the New Politics movement?
upper-middle-class professionals, for whom the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s were key experiences
Which of the following is NOT a key organizational component of interest groups?
newsletter and website
The practice of lobbying is protected by ________.
the First Amendment
Another name for lobbying is ________.
petitioning
The National Governor’s Association is a good example of a
public-sector interest group
Organized interest groups enhance American democracy by
representing the interests of large numbers of people and encouraging political participation.
Alexis de Tocqueville argued that the proliferation of groups promoted ________.
governmental responsiveness
The solidary benefits of interest groups include ________.
friendship and consciousness-raising
What distinguishes lobbying from other strategies of influence?
Lobbyists try to exert pressure directly on government officials themselves.
The United States began its tradition of the ________ during the early nineteenth century
two-party system
One way that AARP has been effective at overcoming the free-rider problem is by providing ________ benefits to its members
Selective
527 committees are an important part of the American political system because they
are able to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money as long as they do not coordinate their activities with a political party.
A benefit that is sought by an interest group and that once achieved cannot be denied to nonmembers is called a ________.
collective good
Which of the following has Congress NOT done in recent years in order to limit the influence
outlawed all contact between lobbyists and members of Congress during legislative sessions
Incumbents in Congress
typically raise three times the money for their political campaigns than challengers.
Women in the United States are ________ the ________ Party.
somewhat more likely to support; Democratic
Which of the following statements about partisan identification in the United States is most accurate?
Party identification varies significantly by income, race, and gender
The New Deal coalition was severely strained and ultimately broken apart by the ________.
Vietnam War and the issue of civil rights
The Alien and Sedition Acts
made it illegal to criticize the government.
Members of interest groups in the United States are typically people
with higher levels of income and education.
How can interest groups use litigation as a strategy of influence?
filing amicus curiae briefs, financing lawsuits, and bringing a suit on behalf of the group
________ are nonprofit independent groups that receive and distribute funds to influence the nomination, election, and defeat of a candidate
527 Committees
Parties with a direct interest in a regulatory rule or decision are often called ________
stakeholders
Men in the United States are ________ the ________ Party.
somewhat more likely to support; Republican
When Richard Nixon employed his “southern strategy,” he
appealed to disaffected white voters in the South.
The United States has had ________ party systems since 1789.
6
A loose, informal relationship of public officials, interest groups, and activists who are all concerned with the same policies is called ________.
an issue network
The Federalist Party disappeared forever as a result of ________.
the War of 1812
What happened in the late nineteenth century?
Federal officials attempted to regulate more aspects of interstate commerce and combat monopolies.
Which of the following has been eliminated as a result of 2002 campaign finance reforms?
soft money
What were the most common favors political bosses distributed to loyal party members during the era of political machines?
jobs
From the end of the Civil War to the 1890s, the ________ Party was the party of the North, while the ________ Party was the party of the South.
Republican; Democratic
If one enjoys the benefits of a group’s collective efforts but did NOT contribute to those efforts, one is called a ________.
free rider
The Populist Party appealed to which of the following groups?
Western mining interests, small farmers, and urban workers
Which of the following groups is most likely to support the Republican Party?
the wealthy
Successful interest groups quickly become ________.
bureaucratized
Which of the following statements about contemporary American politics is most accurate?
While political elites are highly polarized, most Americans are moderate in terms of public opinion.
Which of the following issues is NOT part of the agenda of the New Politics movement?
industrial deregulation
Third parties in the United States typically represent
social and economic interests that are disregarded by the two major parties for certain reasons.
The first party system was characterized by conflict between the ________ and the ________.
Federalists; Jeffersonian Republicans
Which of the following is NOT part of a country’s party system?
the laws that govern how much money parties can raise and spend in election campaigns
Why is the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 important to lobbyists?
It requires agencies to create opportunities for public comments before implementing new rules and regulations.
Which of the following groups has had the greatest success with a strategy of litigation?
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Which of the following is NOT accomplished at a party’s national convention?
nomination of Senate and House candidates
The free-rider phenomenon
becomes increasingly problematic in very large groups.
What is the primary function of a political action committee (PAC)?
to raise and distribute money to election campaigns
________ develops when the winner of an electoral race obtains more votes than any other candidate.
The plurality system
Third-party candidates are better off under ________.
proportional representation
The establishment of the Republican Party is a good example of ________.
external mobilization
Interest groups are concerned with the ________ of government, while political parties are concerned with the ________ of government.
policies; personnel
The two major parties in the United States during the 1830s and 1840s were the ________ and the ________.
Democrats; Whigs
As a third-party candidate, Ross Perot captured approximately ________ percent of the popular vote in the 1992 presidential election.
20
The free-rider problem occurs because
the benefits of a group’s actions are broadly available and cannot be denied to nonmembers.
When membership in an organization allows for a reduction in the price of museum tickets, it is called a ________.
material benefit
What is the most important and beneficial resource that lobbyists provide government officials?
information
A ________ is the best example of an informational benefit provided by many interest groups.
newsletter
AARP has approximately ________ members today.
38,000,000
A party’s platform is best understood as a
negotiated agreement between the various factions in the party.
During the early nineteenth century, the Jeffersonian Party’s main base of strength was in ________.
the South
By 2012, there were approximately ________ PACs in the United States.
5,500
What happens to interests that do not engage in extensive lobbying?
They often find themselves “Microsofted.”
From 1896 to 1932, the ________ Party was the nation’s majority party.
Republican
In 2012, about ________ percent of Latino Americans voted for Barack Obama.
70
Which of the following statements is true about elections in the US and super pacs in 2012 and 2016.
1) Spending in U.S. elections is much higher than in any other country on earth.
2) Officials representing super PACs will likely spend more in 2016 than in 2012.
In contemporary American politics, solid support for the Republican Party comes from the ________.
South and Mountain West
A criticism of interest group pluralism is
its class bias in favor of those with greater financial resources
The Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990 was designed to
- encourage administrative agencies to negotiate with important interest groups
Question 91
________ warned Americans against the dangers of political parties in his farewell address.
George Washington
A party activist is an individual who
not only votes but also contributes time, energy, effort, and financial resources to party affairs.
Grandparents, tall people, and undergraduates are all examples of ________.
potential interest groups
A party’s ________ contains its philosophy, principles, and policy positions.
platform
________ occurs when one party controls the presidency while another party controls one or both houses of Congress.
Divided party government
An iron triangle is made up of an alliance between
- a legislative committee, an interest group, and an executive agency.
The Teamsters and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations are examples of ________.
Labor groups
Reconstruction after the Civil War was led by the ________ Party.
Republican
A ________ exists when paid staff conduct most of the daily business of a group.
Staff organization
During the late 1840s and early 1850s, both the Democratic and Whig parties were divided by
Conflicts over slavery
