Deck 6: Democracy and Voting

Question 1

What is mail order politics?

Answer 1

Students' answers may vary.
Mail order politics is the modern tendency for some to participate in politics through monetary contributions to Washington lobbying groups.

Question 2

Voter turnout is one of the measures of democratic legitimacy.Which groups vote the most and which groups vote the least? What does this mean for our democracy?

Answer 2

Students' answers may vary.

Question 3

Explain the importance of Jim Crow laws.

Answer 3

Students' answers may vary.
This series of measures, instituted by southern state governments around the turn of the twentieth century, enforced strict racial segregation as well as exclusion of African Americans from political participation by means of literacy tests, poll taxes, and "whites only" party primary contests."Jim Crow" was struck down by a series of federal civil rights acts in the 1960s.

Question 4

What are the implications of personal voter registration?

Question 5

Explain how social movements encourage the apathetic or nonpolitical to become active in political life.Use historical examples from the text for evidence.

Question 6

What is the new working class?

Question 7

Elite democrats believe that high voting rates

A)are unrelated to political efficacy.
B)will produce a society acting only on rational grounds.
C)may adversely affect democratic stability if the ill-informed vote.
D)will have no impact upon public policies.

Question 8

Which of the following people is most likely to vote?

A)A retired architect who lives off her stock portfolio
B)A Hispanic mother with two adolescent children
C)An African American student on a college fellowship
D)A white, high school-educated bank teller

Question 9

Explain political efficacy.

Question 10

How do elite democrats explain the high level of nonvoting in the United States? What assumptions do they make about the reasons why people choose to vote or not to vote? Compare and contrast this view with the explanation of popular democrats.

Question 11

What is structural inequality?

Question 12

Why is civil society important to democracy?

Question 13

In late nineteenth-century America, voting rates were

A)much lower than today.
B)about the same as today.
C)much higher than today.
D)not computed by the government.

Question 14

What is political equality?

Question 15

Which elections typically have the lowest turnouts?

A)Presidential elections
B)Big-city elections, such as those in New York or Los Angeles
C)Congressional elections in presidential election years
D)Senate elections in nonpresidential election years

Question 16

The United States has lower voter turnout than any other Western industrialized democracies.Explain the various obstacles to voting that makes the United States different.How could they be overcome?

Question 17

What is  proportional representation?

Question 18

Explain the importance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Question 19

The American system of personal voter registration

A)is similar to most countries around the world.
B)was introduced during the constitutional convention.
C)may depress voter turnout.
D)favors the uneducated.

Question 20

Are nonvoters and voters that different? What would our electorate look like if we had fuller voter turnout?

Question 21

The text argues that associational life today is biased in favor of

A)the affluent and the educated.
B)urban residents.
C)factory workers.
D)workers in new service industries.

Question 22

Willie Velasquez sought to mobilize Hispanic voters by

A)calling for revolution.
B)emphasizing that voting would bring practical results.
C)finding charismatic Hispanic candidates.
D)forming an alliance with Jesse Jackson.

Question 23

According to the text, "netroots"

A)has become the primary medium for political participation.
B)is used only by liberal activists.
C)is still problematic because it requires resources not readily available for all.
D)All of the above are correct.

Question 24

Which statement best reflects popular democratic thought concerning voter turnout?

A)Low turnout of certain groups may affect political inequalities.
B)Low turnout is simply the reflection of individual drive.
C)Nonvoting can actually benefit the political system.
D)More obstacles to voting are needed to reduce voter fraud.

Question 25

Compared to those who consistently vote, nonvoters are

A)more likely to have strong party loyalties.
B)more critical of the political and economic system.
C)more likely to support conservatives.
D)more trusting of elected officials.

Question 26

Which of the following is not considered to be an obstacle to voting in the United States?

A)Voting on a workday
B)Personal voter registration
C)The Electoral College
D)Limited voting rights for women and minorities

Question 27

The Motor Voter law

A)accepts a driver's license as a form of voter registration.
B)eliminates voting barriers such as literacy tests.
C)favors those states with high percentages of motorists.
D)ensures that voter registration forms are available in motor vehicle and other government offices.

Question 28

What voting reform would appeal most to a supporter of a third party candidate?

A)Automatic voter registration
B)Establish proportional representation in House of Representatives
C)Establish a voting holiday
D)Create national standards for the ballot

Question 29

Which of the following is true about the 2004 election?

A)Turnout dropped sharply from 2000
B)Turnout dropped only among African Americans
C)Turnout saw a significant jump upward
D)None of the above is true.

Question 30

According to the text, recent efforts of the Federal government like Help Americans Vote Act (HAVA)and the "motor voter" bill

A)represent a clear departure from cooperative federalism.
B)helped increase turnout to near record levels.
C)are insufficient in overcoming the problems of personal registration.
D)are favored by elite democrats.

Question 31

If the "new working class" has the most to gain from political participation, why does this fastest-growing part of the population have low turnout rates?

A)Members have few associations that build solidarity and promote their unique interests as a whole.
B)As members have more privileges than other groups, they appreciate them less and do not act to maintain them.
C)Members are in jobs with low education requirements and thus lack the knowledge or interest to participate.
D)Members are in low-paying positions that have high potential for advancement, so they spend more time in economic activity than in political activity.

Question 32

In 2012, voters of what state "mattered most" in the Electoral College?

A)Texas
B)California
C)Illinois
D)Virginia

Question 33

"Mail-order politics" is exemplified best by

A)a group of concerned mothers that form a group and speak at local high schools about drug abuse.
B)money envelopes that are distributed voluntarily at every house of worship in a city so people can send money to the city's coffers to replace funds lost as federal cuts.
C)the American Association of Retired Persons that take revenue from membership dues to pay lawyers to lobby representatives.
D)a city council that appoints a board of citizens to examine the effects of a waste disposal site within city limits.

Question 34

The authors question whether there actually is a national election because

A)officials in states and counties administer election laws.
B)local officials can use their discretion to make it impossible for certain people to register.
C)there is a wide variety of ballot designs.
D)All of the above are correct.