Unit 5 – Linkage Institutions – Vocab List for Quiz #1

Question 1

Political party

Answer 1

A group that seeks to elect candidates to public office.

Question 2

Realigning period

Answer 2

An election where there’s a dramatic change in party identification.

Question 3

Party decline

Answer 3

When people gradually move away from both political parties, marked by decreasing influence of both parties on voters and govt.

Question 4

Democratic Party

Answer 4

A political party founded in the 1790s by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and other leaders who wanted to preserve the power of the state governments and promote agriculture.

Question 5

Republican Party

Answer 5

Political party established in the United States in 1854 with the goal of keeping slavery out of the western territories.

Question 6

Divided government

Answer 6

Governance divided between the parties, as when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.

Question 7

Faction

Answer 7

A group or clique within a larger group, party, or government.

Question 8

Grass-roots organization

Answer 8

A type of social movement organization that relies on high levels of membership participation to promote social change. it lacks a hierarchical structure and works through existing political structures.

Question 9

Plurality

Answer 9

Candidate or party with the most votes cast in an election, not necessarily more than half.

Question 10

Linkage institution

Answer 10

The means by which individuals can express preferences regarding the development of public policy.

Question 11

Political efficacy

Answer 11

One’s own influence or effectiveness on politics.

Question 12

Proportional representation

Answer 12

Representation of all parties in proportion to their popular vote.

Question 13

Winner-take-all electoral system

Answer 13

An electoral system in which the party that receives at least one more vote than any other party wins the election.

Question 14

Split-ticket voting

Answer 14

Casting votes for candidates of one’s own party and for candidates of opposing parties.

Question 15

Straight-ticket voting

Answer 15

Practice of voting for candidates of only one party in an election.

Question 16

Party platform

Answer 16

A political party’s statement of its goals and policies for the next four years.

Question 17

Patronage

Answer 17

Granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support.

Question 18

Third party

Answer 18

A political party organized in opposition to the major parties in a two-party system.

Question 19

Independent

Answer 19

A voter or candidate who does not identify with a political party.

Question 20

National Committee

Answer 20

Delegates who run party affairs between national conventions.

Question 21

National Convention

Answer 21

The meeting of party delegates every four years to choose a presidential ticket and write the party’s platform.

Question 22

Congressional campaign committee

Answer 22

A party of committee in Congress that provides funds to members and would-be members.

Question 23

National chairman

Answer 23

Day-to-day party manager elected by the national committee.

Question 24

Superdelegates

Answer 24

Party leaders and elected officials who become delegates to the national convention without having to run in primaries or caucuses.

Question 25

Political machine

Answer 25

An organization linked to a political party that often controlled local government.

Question 26

Two-party system

Answer 26

An electoral system with two dominant parties that compete in national elections.

Question 27

Plurality system

Answer 27

An electoral system in which the winner is the person who gets the most votes, even if he or she does not receive a majority; used in almost all American elections.

Question 28

Caucus

Answer 28

A meeting of party members to select delegates backing one or another primary candidate.

Question 29

Incumbent

Answer 29

Obligatory, required; one who holds a specific office at the time spoken of.

Question 30

Coattails

Answer 30

The tendency of candidates to win more votes by riding on a ticket of a well-known candidate.

Question 31

Political Action Committee (PAC) & SuperPAC

Answer 31

A committee set up by a corporation, labor union, or interest group that raises and spends campaign money from voluntary donations.

Question 32

Malapportionment

Answer 32

Drawing the boundaries of legislative districts so that they are unequal in population.

Question 33

Gerrymandering

Answer 33

The drawing of legislative district boundaries to benefit a party, group, or incumbent.

Question 34

Primary election

Answer 34

A preliminary election where delegates or nominees are chosen.

Question 35

Single member district

Answer 35

An electoral district that returns one officeholder to a body with multiple members such as a legislature.

Question 36

General election

Answer 36

A national or state election.

Question 37

Position issue

Answer 37

An issue about which the public is divided and rival candidates or political parties adopt different policy positions.

Question 38

Valence issue

Answer 38

An issue about which the public is united and rival candidates or political parties adopt similar positions in hopes that each will be thought to best represent those widely shared beliefs.

Question 39

“Critical elections” (maintaining, deviating)

Answer 39

***a dramatic change in the political system

Question 40

Closed primary

Answer 40

A primary in which only registered members of a particular political party can vote.

Question 41

Open primary

Answer 41

Primary election in which any voter, regardless of party, may vote.

Question 42

Blanket primary

Answer 42

A primary election in which each voter may vote for candidates from both parties.

Question 43

Runoff primary

Answer 43

A second primary election held when no candidate wins a majority of the votes in the first primary.

Question 44

FECA 1974

Answer 44

Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which limited amounts that candidates for federal offices can spend on advertising, required the disclosure of the sources of campaign funds as well as how they are spent, and required PACs to register with the government and report all major contributions and expenditures.

Question 45

Hard Money

Answer 45

Political contributions given to a party, candidate, or interest group that are limited in amount and fully disclosed.

Question 46

Soft Money

Answer 46

Political contributions made in such a way as to avoid the United States regulations for federal election campaigns (as by contributions to a political action committee).

Question 47

Independent Expenditures

Answer 47

Spending by political action committees, corporations, or labor unions that is done to help a party or candidate but is done independently of them.

Question 48

527

Answer 48

A tax-exempt group that raises money for political activities, much like those allowed under the soft money loophole.

Question 49

dark money

Answer 49

Funds given to nonprofit organizations.

Question 50

McCain-Feingold (BCRA)

Answer 50

Federal law that amended the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which regulates the financing of political campaigns.

Question 51

Buckley v. Valeo

Answer 51

A case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld federal limits on campaign contributions and ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech.

Question 52

McConnell v. FEC

Answer 52

Upheld the constitutionality of most of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), often referred to as the McCain–Feingold Act.

Question 53

Citizens United v. FEC

Answer 53

Political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment, and the government may not keep corporations or unions from spending money to support or denounce individual candidates in elections.

Question 54

McCutcheon v. FEC

Answer 54

Struck down the aggregate limits on the amount an individual may contribute during a two-year period to political parties.

Question 55

Retrospective voting

Answer 55

Voting for a candidate because you like his or her past actions in office.