Deck 9: Elections

Question 1

The winner of the general election for president is not necessarily the person who receives the most popular votes.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Today, a 527 organization can raise unlimited soft money from individuals or corporations for voter mobilization and for issue advocacy.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Open seats are less competitive than a race where an incumbent seeks another term.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Push polls are designed to gauge public opinion.

Question 5

Today, campaign donors can contribute to as many candidates and political action committees as they desire.

Question 6

The process of campaigning for congressional office begins immediately after the most recent election ends.

Question 7

Nearly 80 percent of congressional campaign expenditures are for television advertising.

Question 8

The 2010 and 2012 elections were strikingly similar.

Question 9

Retrospective evaluations make incumbents less responsive to constituent demands.

Question 10

Wave elections are relatively rare.

Question 11

The voting technology used for counting ballots does not influence election outcomes.

Question 12

There is evidence of voter fraud in most American elections.

Question 13

Decisions about how ballots are structured can affect who wins elections.

Question 14

Early voting has had a clear and significant effect on the outcome of elections in recent years.

Question 15

The Republican Party reserves a number of convention delegate spots for party elites, called "superdelegates."

Question 16

The Democrats experienced historical losses in the House and the Senate during the 2014 elections.

Question 17

Get-out-the-vote efforts are part of the ground game in campaigns.

Question 18

The use of proportional allocation for convention delegates can cause the primary season to be more competitive and last longer.

Question 19

Most citizens are issue voters.

Question 20

In most U.S. House and Senate contests, the winner is the candidate who wins a majority of votes.

Question 21

Why do election rules and their implementation matter?

A) There is no legal way to challenge the outcome of an election.
B) In close races, small changes to rules can change electoral outcomes.
C) An election must be held a second time if the rules are not followed.
D) There are different rules that must be used if voter turnout is higher than expected.

Question 22

In some democratic nations, citizens use a system of elections where if no one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the votes, everyone is eliminated except for the top two contenders. Citizens then vote again and may select either of the top two candidates. This is an example of a ________ election system.

A) plurality with run-off
C) majority with run-off
B) majority without run-off
D) proportional representation

Question 23

Voters hold incumbents accountable through a ________ evaluation?

A) personal
C) retrospective
B) prospective
D) candidate

Question 24

Constitutional requirements in the U.S. Constitution are least stringent for ________.

A) the presidency
C) the House of Representatives
B) the Senate
D) state governors

Question 25

Analyzing the job performance of an incumbent is an exercise in ________.

A) prospective evaluation.
C) normal voting
B) retrospective evaluation
D) direct democracy

Question 26

The 2014 election was a ________ election; the 2012 election was a ________ election.

A) midterm; presidential
C) general; primary
B) general; presidential
D) presidential; midterm

Question 27

What will happen in 2020?

A) midterm election
B) presidential election
C) all U.S. Senate seats will be contested
D) most incumbents will likely lose

Question 28

________ holds its elections entirely by mail.

A) Oregon
C) Maine
B) Alaska
D) Arizona

Question 29

While the ________ use(s) proportional allocation rules in all primaries and caucuses, the ________ uses a combination of proportional allocation and winner-take-all to determine convention delegates.

A) Democratic Party; Republican Party
B) Republican Party; Democratic Party
C) electoral college; state
D) Green Party; electoral college

Question 30

A voting system where the candidate with the most votes wins is called________.

A) proportional voting
C) semi-democratic
B) majority voting
D) plurality voting

Question 31

Which one of the following most directly contributes to an incumbent president facing competition for the party's nomination during a reelection bid?

A) open primaries
C) closed primaries
B) low approval ratings
D) frontloading

Question 32

Which one of the following illustrates the importance of ballot design?

A) passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
B) the butterfly ballot in Florida in 2000
C) passage of the Help America Vote Act of 2002
D) Senator Richard Lugar's primary loss in Indiana in 2012

Question 33

What does it mean to be a representative democracy?

A) There are multiple parties who compete for votes.
B) Some of the time people who get the most votes do not win.
C) Each vote represents the will of one, and only one, person.
D) Citizens have an indirect say on policy by voting in elections.

Question 34

Which one of the following restrictions on voter eligibility is true for all Americans regardless of state of residence?

A) must be 18 years or older
C) cannot be a convicted felon
B) must be mentally competent
D) cannot be in jail on Election Day

Question 35

Which one of the following is a recent trend in American general elections?

A) frontloading
C) regional elections
B) early voting
D) blanket primaries

Question 36

In 2016, ________ were the first two states holding primaries or caucuses.

A) Iowa and New Hampshire
C) Nevada and Texas
B) South Carolina and Montana
D) Maine and Vermont

Question 37

________ has 55 electoral votes in presidential elections.

A) New York
C) Texas
B) Florida
D) California

Question 38

What is the second step in the election process?

A) general election
C) open primary
B) closed primary
D) semi-closed primary

Question 39

How are presidential primaries different from presidential caucuses?

A) Caucuses involve voting on a specific day, whereas primaries take place over the course of a week.
B) Caucuses are secret while primaries are open to the public.
C) Primaries involve voting by ballot, whereas caucuses take place in a local meeting.
D) In caucuses anyone can participate, whereas in primaries only registered party supporters may do so.

Question 40

About ________ of the delegates at the Democratic Convention are superdelegates.

A) one-fifth
C) one-half
B) one-third
D) two-thirds

Question 41

What happens if no presidential candidate receives a majority of the Electoral College votes?

A) Nothing; the candidate with the most votes wins.
B) The House of Representatives decides who wins, with each state getting one vote, and voting continues until someone gets a majority of the votes.
C) The current sitting vice president, in his role as the president of the Senate, chooses the next president.
D) Both the House and the Senate decide who wins with a simple majority vote.

Question 42

The general election campaign typically begins ________.

A) in June
C) in September
B) in August
D) in October

Question 43

How might a candidate's issue positions in the primaries differ from the general election?

A) Candidates tend to have more ideologically extreme positions during primaries.
B) Candidates try to keep their views unchanged throughout the election season.
C) Candidates do not express issue positions during primaries, since they are only competing against others of their own party.
D) Candidates tend to have more ideologically extreme positions during general elections.

Question 44

Which one of the following statements is accurate?

A) Turnout in 2016 amongst registered voters exceeded 80 percent.
B) About 38 percent of the voting age population typically votes in a presidential election.
C) About 60 percent of the voting age population typically votes in a presidential election.
D) Turnout is typically about 50 percent of registered voters in a presidential election.

Question 45

________ involves candidates reaching out to voters directly; ________ involves candidates contacting voters indirectly through the mass media.

A) The permanent campaign; advertising
B) Wholesale politics; retail politics
C) Name recognition; advertising
D) Retail politics; wholesale politics

Question 46

What is the ground game?

A) the candidate's speechmaking ability
B) the campaign's fund-raising ability
C) the campaign's emphasis on retail politics
D) the campaign's effort to get out the vote on Election Day

Question 47

Incumbents

A) are always campaigning.
B) rarely campaign outside of an election year.
C) typically get defeated for reelection.
D) are quite vulnerable in primaries.

Question 48

Which one of the following issues was embraced by Hillary Clinton in 2016?

A) She supported same-sex marriage.
B) She supported a voucher program for Medicare.
C) She supported a significant increase in defense spending.
D) She supported eliminating guaranteed benefits in Social Security.

Question 49

An important activity of any campaign is ________, which most directly involves ________.

A) mobilizing supporters; the ground game
B) converting opponents into supporters; the ground game
C) mobilizing supporters; name recognition
D) converting opponents into supporters; campaign platforms

Question 50

The rise in the use of television advertising in campaigns is an important component of ________.

A) split ticket politics
C) mobilization
B) wholesale politics
D) retail politics

Question 51

________ do not allocate all of their Electoral College votes to the winner of the state's popular vote.

A) Montana and Maine
C) Maine and Rhode Island
B) Oregon and Montana
D) Nebraska and Maine

Question 52

The national conventions are not responsible for

A) attracting attention for the party's electoral goals.
B) developing a party platform.
C) selecting the party's presidential nominee.
D) selecting the party's congressional nominees.

Question 53

Which one of the following statements is accurate?

A) Presidential campaign events usually involve a small number of citizens.
B) House and Senate candidates are more likely to engage in retail politics than presidential candidates.
C) House and Senate candidates are more likely to engage in wholesale politics than presidential candidates.
D) Voters are typically more attentive to the primary election than the general election.

Question 54

Which one of the following is the appropriate order of events in presidential elections?

A) Super Tuesday, national conventions, Electoral College vote, general election
B) Iowa caucus, New Hampshire primary, general election, Super Tuesday
C) Electoral College vote, general election, national conventions
D) Iowa caucus, Super Tuesday, national conventions, Electoral College vote

Question 55

Which one of the following groups won the presidency but actually lost the popular vote?

A) Al Gore, Richard Nixon, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison
B) George W. Bush, John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison
C) Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, Franklin Pierce, and James Garfield
D) Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, and Rutherford B. Hayes

Question 56

Katherine is running for Congress. She spends a lot of her time attending town halls and meeting with individual voters to talk about their concerns. These are examples of ________.

A) inside strategies
C) retail politics
B) wholesale politics
D) turnout strategies

Question 57

Which one of the following swing states is the most important in a presidential election?

A) Florida
C) California
B) New Hampshire
D) Colorado

Question 58

What is it called when a district has no sitting legislator running for reelection?

A) an open seat
C) a safe seat
B) a closed seat
D) a contested seat

Question 59

Why are swing states so important to a campaign strategy?

A) They obviously favor one party's candidate over another, which saves the favored candidate money to campaign elsewhere.
B) They provide better opportunities for fund-raising.
C) They can potentially be won by either major-party candidate.
D) They are always in the South, which is a very competitive electoral region.

Question 60

Roy and Amelia are running against each other for a seat in the Senate. Roy's campaign volunteers call voters under the guise of doing a poll and ask, "Would you be more or less likely to vote for Amelia for Senate if you knew that she took campaign funds from terrorists?" This is an example of ________.

A) the ground game
C) an attack ad
B) a push poll
D) a voting cue

Question 61

Which one of the following describes issue voters?

A) They have a high interest in politics and are knowledgeable about candidate positions.
B) They are knowledgeable about issues but fail to vote.
C) They only vote when a particular issue is discussed during the campaign.
D) They are Independents who do not register with either major party.

Question 62

Which one of the following statements is accurate?

A) Most campaign ads are positive in nature.
B) Candidates behind in the polls typically resort to attack ads against their opponent.
C) Most attack ads are factual in nature.
D) Most campaign ads today are very long compared to the past.

Question 63

A 527 organization can accept unlimited amounts of ________ but cannot use that money on behalf of a specific ________.

A) soft money; candidate
C) hard money; candidate
B) soft money; issue
D) hard money; party platform

Question 64

Some Americans wonder whether or not to vote because the chances of one vote being the decisive one is very small. What does this sentiment illustrate?

A) the paradox of voting
C) reasonable voting
B) a personal vote
D) split-ticket voting

Question 65

Turnout among registered voters in presidential elections is generally around ________.

A) 85 percent
C) 50 percent
B) 70 percent
D) 40 percent

Question 66

What can be learned from the 2016 presidential election?

A) The candidate that raised the most money won.
B) Political victory is ensured with campaign cash.
C) Donald Trump was able to win the Republican nomination even though he spent substantially less than some of his rivals.
D) Name recognition does not matter in campaigns.

Question 67

________ is in charge of administering federal election laws.

A) Congress
B) The Federal Election Commission
C) The White House chief of staff
D) The Federal Communications Commission

Question 68

Which one of the following groups does not typically turn out in large numbers to vote?

A) whites
B) people with less than a high school education
C) middle-aged people
D) women

Question 69

What is the link between campaign donations and influence with elected officials?

A) There is a strong relationship between giving money and being able to buy votes.
B) Most campaign donations go to opposition politicians in an attempt to get them to support a cause.
C) At most, campaign donations might buy a donor access to see an elected official.
D) Elected officials often refuse to accept donations from groups with which they agree.

Question 70

Voters in American national elections

A) use many kinds of cues when deciding for whom to vote.
B) use only personal characteristics as a cue when deciding for whom to vote.
C) use only economic issues as a cue when deciding for whom to vote.
D) focus mostly on one issue when deciding for whom to vote.

Question 71

What can be concluded from the data presented in this figure?

A) About 83 percent of registered voters routinely vote in presidential elections.
B) About 59 percent of registered voters routinely vote in midterm elections.
C) Turnout was highest during this time period in 2008.
D) None of the above.

Question 72

Which one of the following is a limitation on soft money?

A) Soft money cannot be used to mobilize voters.
B) Soft money cannot be used to promote a policy proposal.
C) Soft money cannot be used to promote a point of view.
D) Soft money cannot be used to elect or defeat a specific candidate.

Question 73

Voter turnout in a primary in America rarely exceeds ________ percent of the voting age population.

A) 10
C) 50
B) 30
D) 66

Question 74

In an effort to raise doubts about their opponents, almost all candidates use ________ as a key part of their campaign strategy.

A) hard money
C) soft money
B) opposition research
D) voting cues

Question 75

According to political scientists, what helps make something a reasonable vote?

A) voting cues
C) coattails
B) the paradox of voting
D) a split ticket

Question 76

The main way that American candidates reach the electorate is through ________.

A) news media coverage
C) campaign ads
B) retail politics
D) fund-raising events

Question 77

What kind of campaign funds are subject to clear limits on how much can be raised but not on how much is spent?

A) soft money
C) overall spending
B) independent expenditures
D) hard money

Question 78

Which one of the following groups is most likely to run positive campaign advertisements?

A) candidates
C) political action committees
B) political parties
D) 527 groups

Question 79

Lyndon Johnson's "Daisy Girl" was an example of ________.

A) opposition research
C) an attack ad
B) a get out the vote effort
D) a platform

Question 80

What is it called when a popular presidential candidate generates additional support for legislative candidates and helps them gain office?

A) frontloading
C) voting cues
B) coattails
D) retrospective voting