Political Participation

Question 1

Senate Requirements

Answer 1

Required to have 9 years’ standing as citizens and be at least 30 years old when sworn in. Term of office is 6 years. Must maintain broad appeal to win majority.

Question 2

House Requirements

Answer 2

Must be a US citizen of at least 7 years’ standing and must be at least 25 years old. Term of office is 2 years. Must regularly answer constituents.

Question 3

Interest Groups

Answer 3

a public or private association of individuals or organizations that attempts to influence government decision making and/or public policy

Question 4

Lobbyist

Answer 4

a representative of a particular interest or organization, usually employed for pay, who attempts to influence legislators.

Question 5

Private Interest Group

Answer 5

usually seek particularized benefits from the government that favor either a single interest or a narrow set of interests

Question 6

Public interest group

Answer 6

attempt to promote public, or collective, goods.

Question 7

Membership based organizations

Answer 7

which individuals join voluntarily and to which they usually pay dues. membership groups often consist of people who have common issues or concerns, or who want to be with others who share their views.

Question 8

Insider lobbying

Answer 8

which takes the interest group’s message directly to a government official sua as a lawmaker

Question 9

Outside lobbying

Answer 9

whereby the interest attempts to get its message out to the public.

Question 10

Super PAC

Answer 10

a political action committee group, created to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money

Question 11

Super PAC

Answer 11

a political action committee group, created to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to influence an election, which becomes a “super” when it relinquishes the right to coordinate its activities with its desired candidate.

Question 12

What are interest group grading or rating systems (candidate scorecards or report cards)?

Answer 12

Americans for Democratic Action, a liberal interest group, and the American Conservative Union, a conservative interest group, both rate politicians based on their voting records on issues these organizations view as important

Question 13

15th amendment

Answer 13

it guarantees that neither federal nor state governments can prohibit someone from voting on account of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” this amendment was intended to ban state restrictions on voting that were based on race, skin color, or having previously been a slave

Question 14

19th amendment

Answer 14

granted american women the right to vote, a right known as women’s suffrage, and was ratified on 8/18/1920

Question 15

24TH amendment

Answer 15

eliminating any poll tax in elections

Question 16

26th amendment

Answer 16

lowered the voting age to 18

Question 17

Federal Election commission

Answer 17

candidates to disclose where their money is coming from

Question 18

12th amendment

Answer 18

provided for the separate election of the president and vice president

Question 19

Bipartisan campaign reform act

Answer 19

placed limits on total contributions to political parties and established the requirements that candidates include personal endorsements on their political ads

Question 20

citizens united v federal election commision

Answer 20

allowed super pacs to accept and spend unlimited amounts of money for or against political candidates

Question 21

Buckley v valeo

Answer 21

establish that spending on political campaigns constituted political speech that is protected by the first amendment