Political Participation

Question 1

What is the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act

Answer 1

a 2002 law to limit soft money donations to political parties

Question 2

What is a general election

Answer 2

an election where candidates for elected office are formally chosen, or where the allocation of presidential electoral votes is decided

Question 3

What is an incumbent

Answer 3

a candidate for office who presently holds that office and is running for re-election

Question 4

What is a primary election

Answer 4

an election among members of the same political party, designed to narrow the field or identify the person who will ultimately serve as the party’s nominee for a particular office

Question 5

What are electoral votes

Answer 5

votes made by the Electoral College, which, according to the Constitution, are the votes that actually elect a president

Question 6

What is a caucus

Answer 6

a meeting of party members where delegates are selected to support a candidate for a party’s presidential nomination or other party issues are discussed. Caucuses occur at local, state, and national levels.

Question 7

What are electors

Answer 7

persons selected by each state to cast Electoral College votes

Question 8

What are independent voters

Answer 8

voters who indicate no preference for one political party or another

Question 9

What are swing states

Answer 9

states with a history of voting for both political parties in recent presidential elections, considered by both sides as able to be persuaded

Question 10

What is winner-take-all

Answer 10

a system of voting in which the candidate who wins a plurality of the popular vote is elected. In U.S. presidential campaigns, most states use this system, awarding all their electoral votes to the candidate who wins 50.01 percent or more of the popular vote.

Question 11

What is a congressional district

Answer 11

one of 435 legally established areas of a state represented by one member of the House of Representatives. Each congressional district is approximately equal in population to all other congressional districts.

Question 12

What are swing voters

Answer 12

voters who do not have a definite preference for the candidate of a political party and therefore are open to voting the candidate of any political party

Question 13

What is brokered convention

Answer 13

a national party convention where no candidate for the party’s presidential nomination enters with a majority of the convention’s delegates, resulting in negotiating by “power brokers” to agree on a nominee

Question 14

What is a district method

Answer 14

a method of allocating the electoral votes of a state in a presidential election among candidates according to the popular vote in each congressional district. The district method is rare, with most states using the winner-takes-all method.

Question 15

What are faithless electors

Answer 15

a disparaging name for electors who violate their pledge to support a particular presidential candidate, voting instead for someone else

Question 16

What are safe states

Answer 16

a state with historically strong leanings toward a particular political party, requiring relatively little effort from that party to win campaigns; the opposite of a safe state is a swing state

Question 17

What are the constitutional requirements to serve in Congress

Answer 17

minimum age and citizenship tenure

Question 18

What are the terms for a representative and senator

Answer 18

rep - 2 yrs

senator - 6 yrs

Question 19

What is “soft money” in campaign funding

Answer 19

money raised for purposes like part-building efforts, etc. It had almost no regulations or limits unlike “hard money” which is specifically for a candidate

Question 20

What is a PAC

Answer 20

a political action committee designed to raise hard money to elect or defeat candidates tended to be run by businesses or other groups like the Teamsters Union and the NRA

Question 21

What is a super PAC

Answer 21

not bound by regulations that a PAC is. They cannot give money directly to a candidate or a party but they can raise and spend unlimited funds and can spend independently

Question 22

How are the limits on campaign contributions set

Answer 22

amounts are adjusted every 2 years based on inflation

Question 23

What is the difference between hard money and soft money?

Answer 23

Hard money is spent by a candidate or campaign while soft money is spent by a PAC

Question 24

What is the difference between general election and primary election

Answer 24

general - the final election where voters choose between candidates from different political parties

primary - held before the general and helps parties select their nominees

Question 25

What must a candidate win when seeking a state's electoral votes?

Answer 25

A candidate must win a plurality of the state's popular vote.

Question 26

What must a candidate do to be successful in the primaries

Answer 26

A candidate must align and commit themselves to the ideology of the party.

Question 27

How are the presidential electors decided for each state

Answer 27

equal to the sum of the state's representatives and senators

Question 28

How is a president selected if no one receives a majority vote in the Electoral College

Answer 28

The choice goes to the House of Representatives to determine who of the top three finishers will be elected with each state having one vote.

Question 29

What is a lobbyist

Answer 29

represents interests of a group to government officials

Question 30

What are public interest groups

Answer 30

pursues policies or goods that are useful for most or all citizens

Question 31

What are private interest groups

Answer 31

seeks "particularized" benefits from the government that favor a single interest or a narrow set of interests

Question 32

What are membership groups

Answer 32

people with common issues or concerns; join voluntarily and pay dues (NRA)

Question 33

What are legislative liaisons

Answer 33

an individual who represents a government institution to other governmental decision-makers

Question 34

What are associations (Trade Associants)

Answer 34

groups of institutions that join with others within the same trade or industry with similar concerns

Question 35

What is Inside Lobbying (Direct Lobbying)

Answer 35

directly influencing government officials

Question 36

What is Outside Lobbying (Indirect Lobbying)

Answer 36

influencing the people or public opinion such as issuing press releases

Question 37

What is bundling

Answer 37

a fund raising strat in which the individual or PAC collects separate campaign donations and submits them as a single donation

Question 38

How much can a PAC give directly to a presidential candidate

Answer 38

$5k per election so $10k total (primary and general)

Question 39

What is Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

Answer 39

Supreme Court said that corporations and union have free speech rights and can unlimited money advocating for their own interests as long as they do not coordinate their activities directly with a candidate

Question 40

What is the consequence of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

Answer 40

there is no limit how much money unions or corporations can donate to Super PACs

Question 41

What is the Lobbying Disclosure Act

Answer 41

requires registration of lobbyists representing any interest group and devoting more than 20 percent of their time to it

Question 42

What are the 2 strategies of interest groups

Answer 42

Legislative - donate money to a candidate to gain an "in" with them Electoral - work to elect candidates who already "fit" with their interests

Question 43

What are amicus briefs

Answer 43

present legal arguments stating why a given court should take a case or why a court should rule a certain way. Filed by lobbyists

Question 44

What is registration

Answer 44

the process of demonstrating to state election officials that an individual meets the qualifications to participate in an election

Question 45

What is a literacy test

Answer 45

a detailed exam on reading ability and civic knowledge. This was historically used to prevent African Americans in the South from voting. During the 1960s, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and several Supreme Court decisions put an end to this practice.

Question 46

What is disenfranchise

Answer 46

to deny the right to vote

Question 47

What is poll tax

Answer 47

historically in the United States, a fee required with the intention of preventing African Americans from voting; poll taxes were banned by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment.

Question 48

What is online voter registration?

Answer 48

a voter registration process that can be completed over the internet without a paper application or signature

Question 49

What is Motor Voter Law

Answer 49

A 1993 law, officially named the National Voter Registration Act but commonly called the Motor Voter Act or Law, that allows voters to register when they sign up for a driver's license or some other government services.

Question 50

What is voter-eligible population (VEP)

Answer 50

the percentage of citizens who, whether registered or not, are eligible to vote because they meet age and citizenship qualifications and are mentally competent and not imprisoned

Question 51

What are compulsory voting laws

Answer 51

laws in some countries (not the United States) that require citizens to vote in elections

Question 52

What is straight-ticket voting

Answer 52

an approach to voting where a voter selects all candidates on the ballot from a single party

Question 53

What is ballot fatigue

Answer 53

the tendency of a voter to select a candidate in an important office and then stop voting before selecting candidates for lower offices

Question 54

What is retrospective voting

Answer 54

a vote cast by a citizen on the basis of events that have transpired in the past

Question 55

What is prospective voting

Answer 55

a vote cast by a citizen on the basis of what a candidate is expected to do in the future

Question 56

What is an incumbency advantage

Answer 56

the tendency of voters to re-elect the candidate who is currently serving in a position or to select candidates who have previously served

Question 57

What is the 24th amendment

Answer 57

ended poll taxes

Question 58

What is the Voting Rights Act (VRA)

Answer 58

prohibits state laws that denied voting rights based on race

Question 59

What is the 15th amendment

Answer 59

guarantees that neither federal nor state governments can prohibit someone from voting on account of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude"

Question 60

What is the 19th amendment

Answer 60

extend the right to vote to all adult female citizens. some states and territories allowed women to vote but most did not prior to the amendment

Question 61

What is the 26th amendment

Answer 61

lowered the minimum age to vote to 18

Question 62

What are the socioeconomic factors affecting voter turnout

Answer 62

More likely to vote- Occupation - managerial and professional positions Income - wealthier Educated - more educated

Question 63

What are compulsory voting laws

Answer 63

citizens must vote in elections or pay a fine

Question 64

What is pocketbook voting

Answer 64

when the voter looks at personal circumstances and finances to decide how to vote

Question 65

What is a closed primary

Answer 65

election cycle even that allows registered party members to participate in the selection of a congressional nominee

Question 66

What is a nominating convention

Answer 66

delegates assemble at to select a presidential candidate

Question 67

What is the Federal Election Campaign Act

Answer 67

requires that candidates disclose the source of campaign contributions

Question 68

What is Buckley v. Valeo

Answer 68

centered on the question of whether campaign finance laws that limited individual campaign contributions, total campaign spending, and candidate use of their own money in their campaign were a violation of the First Amendment right of freedom of speech.