Political Parties - Vocab

Question 1

Political Party

Answer 1

is a group of people with broad common interests who organize to win elections, control government, and thereby influence government policies.

Question 2

Theocracy

Answer 2

government dominated by religion

Question 3

Ideaologies

Answer 3

basic beliefs about government

Question 4

Coalition Goverment

Answer 4

Several parties often combine forces to obtain a majority

Question 5

Third Party

Answer 5

is any party other than one of the two major parties

Question 6

Single-Member Districts

Answer 6

another difficulty for third-party candidates is that nearly all elected officials in the United State; no matter how many candidates compete in a district, only one will win

Question 7

Proportional Represtation

Answer 7

this system several officials are elected to represent voters in an area

Question 8

Independent

Answer 8

not supporting any particular party

Question 9

Precinct

Answer 9

a voting district ranging in size from just a few voters to more than 1,000 voters, all of whom cast their ballots at the same polling place, basic local unit

Question 10

Precinct Captain

Answer 10

in a precinct each party has a volunteer who, organizes party workers to
distribute information about the party and its candidates and to attract voters to the polls

Question 11

Ward

Answer 11

several adjoining precincts comprise a larger district

Question 12

State Central Committee

Answer 12

in each state the most important part of a party is the state central committee, which usually is composed largely of
representatives from the party’s county organizations

Question 13

National Convention

Answer 13

is a gathering of party members and local and state party officials

Question 14

National Committee

Answer 14

a large group composed mainly of representatives from the 50 state party organizations, runs the party

Question 15

Patronage

Answer 15

favors given to reward party loyalty, to their members

Question 16

Caucues

Answer 16

early in the nation’s history, private meetings of party leaders chose nearly all candidates for office

Question 17

Nominating Convention

Answer 17

an official public meeting of a party
to choose candidates for office

Question 18

Bosses

Answer 18

powerful party leaders, chose delegates and controlled conventions.

Question 19

Direct Primary

Answer 19

an election in which party members select people to run in the general election, common method

Question 20

Closed Primary

Answer 20

in which only members of a political party can vote

Question 21

Open Primary

Answer 21

all voters may participate, even if they do not belong to the party, but they can vote in only one party’s primary

Question 22

Plurality

Answer 22

in most states a primary candidate does not need a majority of the votes to win, but only a plurality, or more votes than any other candidate

Question 23

Runoff

Answer 23

if no candidate receives a majority,
a runoff primary is held
the runoff is a second primary election between the two candidates who
received the most votes in the first primary

Question 24

Ticket

Answer 24

the task of the delegates is
to select a ticket—candidates for president and vice president—that will win in the November general election

Question 25

Platform

Answer 25

party’s statement of its principles, beliefs, and positions on vital issues and spells out how the party intends to deal with these issues

Question 26

Planks

Answer 26

part of the difficulty in getting platforms accepted is that individual parts of the platform, may divide delegates