Question 1

Which two states are generally considered to be the most important in the presidential nominating process?

Accepted Answer

Iowa and New Hampshire, being the first two contests, are generally considered to be the most important states in the presidential nominating process. After losing in these states, several candidates will drop out, leaving only a few front-runners. So, if a candidate can't do well in Iowa or New Hampshire, she likely won't be able to become president.

Question 2

Each state has one vote in the Electoral College for:

Accepted Answer

Each state gets an elector for each representative and each senator it has in Congress. So, a state with a small population like Wyoming has three Electoral College votes-one for its single representative and two for each of its senators. As a result, the Electoral College is sort of but not completely proportional. For example, even though Texas has about 40 times as many residents as Wyoming, it does not get 40 times as many electoral votes. As of 2012, it gets about 12 times as many votes.

Question 3

Some political scientists argue that, for most Americans, their vote for president doesn't really matter. What is the strongest reason for this belief?

Accepted Answer

In 48 out of 50 states, the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes gets all of the electoral votes for that state. The two exceptions are Nebraska and Maine. Most states will strongly support either the Democratic or Republican candidate, so it won't be close. In that case, your vote arguably doesn't matter. If, however, you live in a state where there are a similar number of Democrats and Republicans, your vote could matter a lot.

Question 4

Incumbents in the House of Representatives who are running for reelection in the same district generally win about ________ of the time.

Accepted Answer

Incumbents in House elections have a huge advantage and win about 95% of the time. The advantage is so significant that about half the time the other party doesn't even bother running a candidate. This advantage is due to a variety of reasons, including name recognition advantage, and organizational advantages. Finally, constituents are generally happy with their own representative, and do not see a reason to kick them out of office.

Question 5

What is the difference between "hard money" and "soft money"?

Accepted Answer

Hard money is given directly to the campaign, whereas soft money is given to other sources to help the campaign in different ways. The difference is important because there are much tighter legal restrictions on hard money than soft money. There are also much higher limits on how much soft money one can donate.

Question 6

Which US Supreme Court decision prohibited the government from restricting political spending by corporations and unions?

Accepted Answer

The Citizens United (2010) decision opened the door for virtually unlimited political spending by corporations and labor unions. As a result, political advertising by groups not officially affiliated with either campaign went up tremendously. The Supreme Court decided that portions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2003 (better known as "McCain-Feingold") violated the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.

Question 7

Why would billionaire Richie McBuck be more likely to win as a candidate for Senate, all things being equal, than Bob Lawsome, who is not wealthy?

Accepted Answer

Elections cost a lot of money, so if you can spend your own you automatically have an advantage. This is probably the best explanation for why so many members of Congress are multi-millionaires. Another consideration is that a wealthy person can afford to quit her job and risk running for office. Poor Bob Lawsome might not have that option.

Question 8

When are federal general elections held?

Accepted Answer

According to federal law, federal general elections are held the first Tuesday of November in even-numbered years. In most states, the general election decides the winner for presidential, House, and Senate positions. The dates for other elections, such as primaries, run-offs, and special elections are largely determined by the individual states.

Question 9

Who is in charge of monitoring federal elections in the US?

Accepted Answer

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent agency mandated by Congress to supervise federal elections. It is composed of six members nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and only three members may be of the same party. So, if the President of the United States is a Republican and there are already three Republicans on the Commission, then the president would have to nominate a Democrat or an independent.

Question 10

Suppose Candidate Kane is a Democrat and he lives in a predominantly Democratic district. Not many people in the district know who he is and they aren't generally highly educated on the issues. Which campaign strategy should he use?

Accepted Answer

Candidate Kane already has the party advantage, so he should use a party-centered strategy. He should make it obvious in all of his campaign literature, posters, etc. that he is a Democrat. He should let the party do all the work to get out the vote. Assuming there aren't any other Democrats in the race that is all he probably needs to win.

Question 11

Suppose Candidate Kane is a Republican and he lives in a predominantly Democratic district. He is widely known and liked in the district, but the voters are not highly educated on the issues. Which campaign strategy should he use?

Accepted Answer

Candidate Kane should use a candidate-oriented strategy. The best thing Candidate Kane has going for him is that people know and like him. He should play that up and downplay his party affiliation and any of the issues. It will still be a hard campaign, but he might have a chance if he does it this way.

Question 12

Suppose Candidate Kane is a Democrat and he lives in a predominantly Democratic district. He is not widely known in the district and is running against a better-known incumbent Democratic candidate in the primary. The voters are a little upset about the incumbent's votes on education reform. Which campaign strategy should Candidate Kane use?

Accepted Answer

When running against a better-known candidate of the same party, your best option is to utilize an issue-oriented strategy where you focus on one or two issues where your opponent might be weak. Even this might not be enough unless there is some sort of ideological revolt going on in your party similar to the "Tea Party" among Republicans in 2009-2011. Finally, Candidate Kane will probably also need to spend a lot of money to become better-known.

Question 13

Voters who vote against an incumbent during a bad economic time exemplify:

Accepted Answer

Voters who vote against an incumbent during a bad economic time exemplify retrospective voting. Retrospective voting-sometimes called the "What have you done for me lately?" phenomenon-is when voters choose based on their own experience in the past few years. This can either be good or bad for the incumbent. For example, Ronald Reagan's unofficial campaign slogan in 1984 was "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?" and he won reelection in a landslide.

Question 14

On average, which of the following candidates is most likely to win an election?

Accepted Answer

It's sad to say, but Americans will generally vote for the good looking candidate, all things being equal. The higher the elected office, the more likely this is. Unattractive presidential candidates rarely get very far, especially if they look like they are out of shape. This has become especially true in the television age.

Question 15

Political parties are distinguished from interest groups in American politics by the fact that interest groups do not:

Accepted Answer

Once an interest group sponsors a candidate for political office under the banner of their organization, they become, by definition, a political party. Otherwise, interest groups can behave very much like political parties. Like political parties, they can clearly support candidates through both finances and mobilization. Like political parties, interest can organize various politicians to work together toward common goals.

Question 16

The primary goal of interest groups is to:

Accepted Answer

The primary reason for any interest group to exist is to try to affect public policy. Interest groups are called interest groups because there is a common interest around which they organize. All of their other activities are motivated by the opportunity to affect policy.

Question 17

It could be argued that interest groups better represent their constituents than do members of Congress because:

Accepted Answer

Members of Congress cannot truly represent the views of all of their constituents because sometimes the member of Congress and the constituent will disagree on an issue. One way to think about it is that if you are a conservative and your elected representative is a Democrat, then your views are probably not being well represented in Congress. Interest groups, because they do not have geographic boundaries, are free to represent whoever joins them. Presumably you will only join an interest group if you share the interest.

Question 18

What is an interest group entrepreneur?

Accepted Answer

An interest group entrepreneur is someone who sees a need for an interest group and either creates one or grows an existing one. Frequently, these individuals had not been involved in politics prior to their new activism. They are also frequently motivational leaders who can convince significant numbers of people to back them.

Question 19

Which of the following groups of Americans are most likely to join an interest group?

Accepted Answer

Historically in the US, the wealthy and highly educated join interest groups at significantly higher rates than do other groups. This is in spite of the fact that they, arguably, are in the least need of interest group representation. They join interest groups at higher rates because they are more likely to understand how important interest groups are in protecting their interests.

Question 20

Grassroots lobbying is designed to influence policy by:

Accepted Answer

Grassroots lobbying is designed to influence policy by convincing large numbers of citizens to contact political leaders by letters, telegrams, email, faxes, and phone calls. The idea of grassroots lobbying is to show policymakers that you have so many supporters that the policymaker cannot ignore you or your cause. Elected officials come to fear that they will risk losing reelection if they do not do what you are asking. This is the most productive style of lobbying if your organization does not have a lot of money.

Quiz 51: US Politics