unit 4: political behavior and elections

Question 1

which type of election has higher voter turnout?

Answer 1

presidential

Question 2

during which type of election do people have stronger ideologies?

Answer 2

midterms, generally people who are more politically engaged

Question 3

what did the 15th amendment do?

Answer 3

intended to end race-based voting requirements

Question 4

what did the 19th amendment do?

Answer 4

women can vote

Question 5

what did the voting rights act of 1965 do?

Answer 5

guaranteed right to vote for minorities

Question 6

what did the 23rd amendment do?

Answer 6

D.C. right to vote for presidential electors

Question 7

what did the 24th amendment do?

Answer 7

eliminated poll tax

Question 8

what did the 26th amendment do?

Answer 8

lowered voting age from 21 to 18

Question 9

which type of party is totalitarian, undemocratic?

Answer 9

one-party

Question 10

which type of party has less choice, and lots of stability?

Answer 10

bi-party

Question 11

which type of party has more choice, and less stability?

Answer 11

multi-party

Question 12

what is gerrymandering?

Answer 12

manipulating of districts to favor one political party, done at census every 10 years

Question 13

when are primaries?

Answer 13

January of election year

Question 14

when is the national party convention?

Answer 14

summer of election year

Question 15

what is the difference between a closed and open primary?

Answer 15

closed: only declared members can vote for a specific party
open: any qualified voter can choose to vote for any one party

Question 16

what’s FECA?

Answer 16

Federal Election Campaign Act, established hard money, limits donations to campaign and how much candidates can spend on campaign
labor unions, corporations, could not contribute money to campaigns

Question 17

what was a loophole to FECA?

Answer 17

soft money: money given to parties instead of directly to candidate

Question 18

what happened in Buckley v. Valeo?

Answer 18

S.C. ruling on FECA, struck down limit on candidate spending because of first amendment free speech
limit: receiving money from gov for campaign

Question 19

what’s BRCA/McCain Feingold Act?

Answer 19

banned soft money to parties, increased hard money cap on money indiv could give to campaign, upheld that no labor union/company could donate to campaign

Question 20

what is an independent expenditure group?

Answer 20

527, group of people that raise unlimited soft money to spend on behalf of a candidate
no money directly to candidate

Question 21

what’s swiftboating?

Answer 21

attack on a political candidate with goal of discrediting them

Question 22

what is the 3 dollar fund?

Answer 22

public financing for a campaign

Question 23

what happened in Citizens United vs. FEC?

Answer 23

Citizens United made a video that talked bad about Hillary, thought violated BRCA, S.C. said it was protected by free speech

led to development of SuperPACs, soft money, no limits on spending, can’t coordinate with candidate

Question 24

what kind of money do PAC’s collect?

Answer 24

hard money

Question 25

what kind of money do SuperPACs collect?

Answer 25

soft money