Political Parties and Interest Groups Quiz

Question 1

What group is best adapted to organizing the lower classes?

Answer 1

A political party

Question 2

T/F

Spending in U.S. elections is much higher than in any other country on earth.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

T/F

Officials representing super PACs will likely spend more in 2016 than in 2012.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Most initiative campaigns today are sponsored by

Answer 4

Interest groups seeking to circumvent legislative opposition to their goals.

Question 5

Members of the New Politics movement…

Answer 5

1) used technology to help them pursue their goals.

2) secured enactment of environmental, consumer rights, and occupational health legislation

Question 6

What is the increased number and importance of interest groups a response to?

Answer 6

an increase in the size and activity of government.

Question 7

________ occurs when interest groups take out advertisements and hold marches.

Answer 7

Mobilizing public opinion

Question 8

An iron triangle is made up of an alliance between

Answer 8

a legislative committee, an interest group, and an executive agency.

Question 9

By 2012, there were approximately ________ PACs in the United States.

Answer 9

5,500

Question 10

What is the primary function of a political action committee (PAC)?

Answer 10

to raise and distribute money to election campaigns

Question 11

Interest groups most effectively serve ________.

Answer 11

The upper classes

Question 12

Which of the following is a main theoretical assumption of pluralism?

Answer 12

Competition among interests will produce balance with all interests regulating each other.

Question 13

What group has had the greatest success with a strategy of litigation?

Answer 13

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Question 14

If citizens were motivated to join an environmental organization because they strongly believed in protecting the environment and supported the goals of the group, then we can conclude that they were motivated by ________.

Answer 14

purposive benefits

Question 15

________ once wrote that “America was a nation of joiners.”

Answer 15

Alexis de Tocqueville

Question 16

When a group is called a membership association, it means that

Answer 16

members play an important role in the daily activities of the group.

Question 17

What happens to interests that do not engage in extensive lobbying?

Answer 17

They often find themselves “Microsofted.”

Question 18

What is Lobbying?

Answer 18

An attempt by an individual or group to influence the passage of legislation by exerting direct
pressure on members of Congress or a state legislature.

Question 19

Organized interest groups enhance American democracy by

Answer 19

representing the interests of large numbers of people and encouraging political participation.

Question 20

The Christian Coalition is a(n) ________ group.

Answer 20

ideological

Question 21

What distinguishes lobbying from other strategies of influence?

Answer 21

Lobbyists try to exert pressure directly on government officials themselves.

Question 22

A ________ is the best example of an informational benefit provided by many interest groups.

Answer 22

Newsletter

Question 23

If one enjoys the benefits of a group’s collective efforts but did NOT contribute to those efforts, one is called a ________.

Answer 23

free rider

Question 24

________ occurs when interest groups generate phony letters and phone calls in order to resemble a grassroots movement.

Answer 24

Astroturf lobbying

Question 25

Since the 1930s, the number and scale of interest groups at the national level has ________.

Answer 25

Dramatically increased

Question 26

What is the primary variable for predicting the likelihood of joining an interest group?

Answer 26

having a higher income and education

Question 27

A benefit that is sought by an interest group and that once achieved cannot be denied to nonmembers is called a ________.

Answer 27

Collective good

Question 28

A full-page, fully paid spread in the New York Times publicizing a major oil company is best described as ________.

Answer 28

institutional advertising

Question 29

Why is the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 important to lobbyists?

Answer 29

It requires agencies to create opportunities for public comments before implementing new rules
and regulations.

Question 30

Which of the following has Congress NOT done in recent years in order to limit the influence of interest groups?

Answer 30

outlawed all contact between lobbyists and members of Congress during legislative sessions

Question 31

The New Politics movement gave rise to ________ groups.

Answer 31

public interest

Question 32

What groups are most likely to belong to the New Politics movement?

Answer 32

upper-middle-class professionals, for whom the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s 
were key experiences

Question 33

In the lobbying world, to be “Microsofted” means that a company has

Answer 33

become vulnerable to adverse legislation and investigation as a result of failing to lobby the
federal government.

Question 34

________ was an important Washington lobbyist who was indicted in 2005 on charges of violating federal lobbying laws.

Answer 34

Jack Abramoff

Question 35

The practice of lobbying is protected by ________.

Answer 35

the First Amendment

Question 36

Parties with a direct interest in a regulatory rule or decision are often called ________.

Answer 36

stakeholders

Question 37

What has been eliminated as a result of 2002 campaign finance reforms?

Answer 37

soft money

Question 38

What is NOT a key organizational component of interest groups?

Answer 38

newsletter and website

Question 39

The best description of the ideal of pluralism is that

Answer 39

interests should be free to compete with each other for governmental influence.

Question 40

Interest groups are concerned with the ________ of government, while political parties are concerned with the ________ of government.

Answer 40

policies; personnel

Question 41

What is the most important attempt to limit the influence of lobbyists in recent years?

Answer 41

the 1995 Lobbying Disclosure Act