Deck 4: Political Parties

Question 1

Why are Texas Republicans considered to be in a "divided moment"?

A) because Republicans are divided over Latino voter recruitment
B) because coalition between the Latino and African American voters has dominated state politics in recent years, and the Tea Party movement has begun to influence state legislative races as well as statewide races
C) because of the rise of independent voters and the growing influence of the Tea Party movement
D) because pro-business Republicans have dominated state politics in recent years, and the Tea Party movement has begun to influence state legislative races as well as major statewide races

Answer 1

D

Question 2

In modern-day Texas,control of state government

A) is shared between the two major parties.
B) fluctuates often between the two major parties.
C) lies solely in the hands of the Democrats.
D) lies solely in the hands of the Republicans.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The fastest-growing demographic group in Texas is ________,the majority of whom vote ________.

A) Hispanic; Democratic
B) white; Democratic
C) Hispanic; Republican
D) African American; Republican

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The process of ________ occurs throughout our early years,when parents,religious leaders,teachers,and others influence our partisan identifications.

A) acculturation
B) political partisanship
C) political culture
D) political socialization

Question 5

________ is the degree to which Republicans have become more conservative and Democrats have become more liberal.

A) Partisan polarization
B) The party line
C) The party platform
D) Party identification

Question 6

Most Texas Democrats today would be classified as

A) liberal.
B) moderate.
C) independent.
D) swing voters.

Question 7

Which movement has had the largest impact on state legislative races in recent years?

A) the Tea Party movement
B) La Raza Unida
C) the Libertarian movement
D) the Green Party movement

Question 8

Texas Democrats have been relegated to a minority status at the state level since

A) 1948.
B) 1964.
C) 1980.
D) 1994.

Question 9

Why might parties at the state level have less power than those at the national level?

A) The creation of party primaries took control of the nomination from party leaders and gave it to the voters.
B) Local issues are usually not ideological in nature.
C) The rise of media campaigns made candidates more reliant on money than local party volunteers.
D) Legislative campaign committees raise money from individuals and interest groups and then distribute it to candidates at the national political party level, thereby weakening the influence of the state party.

Question 10

The degree to which members of the Texas Republican Party have become more conservative and members of the Texas Democratic Party have become more liberal is referred to as

A) partisan drift.
B) partisan allegiance.
C) partisan polarization.
D) the two-party system.

Question 11

Which is the most important function of parties in Texas?

A) recruit candidates
B) mobilize voters
C) contest elections
D) provide a party label with which voters can identify

Question 12

After 1994,Democrats controlled the Texas House up until ________.

A) 2000
B) 2002
C) 2008
D) 2010

Question 13

The first African American woman elected to Congress from Texas was

A) Barbara Jordan.
B) Sheila Jackson Lee.
C) Shirley Chisholm.
D) Eddie Bernice Johnson.

Question 14

The most important goal of political parties is to

A) fund political candidates.
B) gain control of government through popular elections.
C) organize political rallies.
D) organize PACs.

Question 15

No Democrat has won Texas in a presidential race since ________.

A) Barack Obama
B) Bill Clinton
C) Jimmy Carter
D) Ann Richards

Question 16

Texans are increasingly identifying themselves as

A) Republican.
B) independent.
C) Democratic.
D) Libertarian.

Question 17

In recent presidential elections,Texas has

A) consistently supported the Democratic nominee.
B) consistently supported the Republican nominee.
C) consistently supported the Independent nominee.
D) never consistently supported only one party's nominee.

Question 18

Political parties to some extent help in

A) assisting candidates with legal challenges to policy.
B) raising money for constitutional amendments.
C) training for a campaign.
D) negative campaigning.

Question 19

The demographic changes in Texas make the state more similar to its southern neighbors because the Texas

A) Democrats will become more minority and less white.
B) Democrats consist mainly of conservative whites.
C) Democrats consist mainly of progressive whites.
D) Democrats' greatest influence is in certain localities.

Question 20

What is a political party?

A) a special type of interest group
B) a group that represents a narrower range of policy interests than an interest group
C) any group that opposes those who hold political power
D) an organization that seeks to elect officeholders under a given label

Question 21

The Latino movement known as La Raza Unida occurred during the

A) 1920s.
B) 1940s.
C) 1960s.
D) 1980s.

Question 22

The Libertarian Party can be considered

A) fiscal and social liberals.
B) fiscal conservatives and social liberals.
C) fiscal and social conservatives.
D) fiscal liberals and social conservatives.

Question 23

The ________ convention is a meeting held by a political party following its precinct convention for the purpose of electing delegates to its state convention.

A) city
B) regional
C) county
D) special district

Question 24

The pattern,beginning in the 1950s,of Texans voting for a Republican president but sticking with conservative Democrats for state offices is called

A) Yellow Dog democracy.
B) presidential Republicanism.
C) the white primary.
D) the Eisenhower syndrome.

Question 25

By about the 1940s,a split between liberals and conservatives developed in the Democratic Party that focused on

A) labor and civil liberties measures.
B) New Deal economic policies and civil rights measures.
C) education and civil rights measures.
D) war and New Deal economic policies.

Question 26

When intraparty disputes split members into different groups,these groups are referred to as

A) factions.
B) teams.
C) enemies.
D) subparties.

Question 27

________ believe that they can have more influence in state politics if they become a force to be reckoned with within the Republican Party.

A) Libertarians
B) Tea Party members
C) Conservative Republicans
D) Independents

Question 28

________ is a system of representation that encourages third-party voting because it allows each political party representation in proportion to its percentage of the total vote.

A) Proportional representation
B) Duverger's Law
C) A single-member district
D) Multimember representation

Question 29

What is the lowest level of the permanent party organization in Texas?

A) ward chair
B) district chair
C) county chair
D) precinct chair

Question 30

Which third party emphasizes the importance of small government and personal responsibility?

A) Libertarian Party
B) Green Party
C) Natural Law Party
D) Reform Party

Question 31

Duverger's Law states that

A) proportional representation systems result in two-party systems.
B) one-party systems are the result of white flight.
C) single-member district systems result in two-party systems.
D) presidential Republicanism results in ticket splitting.

Question 32

Why don't people vote for third parties?

A) Texas employs what is known as a "first past the post" electoral system.
B) Third-party candidates really do not make a real effort to win.
C) Third-party candidates do not establish clear-cut positions on issues where there is a broad agreement.
D) Third-party candidates develop a campaign strategy that is too narrowly focused.

Question 33

The Dixiecrats abandoned the national Democratic Party in the 1948 presidential election over the issue of

A) the Cold War.
B) civil rights.
C) the national deficit.
D) welfare reform.

Question 34

The ________ movement was a movement during the 1950s in which conservative Democrats in Texas supported Republican candidate Dwight Eisenhower for the presidency because many of those conservative Democrats believed that the national Democratic Party had become too liberal.

A) Dixiecrat
B) La Raza Unida
C) Shivercrat
D) Constitutionalist

Question 35

What event marked a significant change in how Texans began to vote not only in presidential elections but also in state elections?

A) Michael Dukakis won Texas in 1988.
B) George H. W. Bush moved to Texas.
C) George H. W. Bush won Texas in the general election of 2000.
D) Ronald Reagan was elected as President.

Question 36

The main role of the precinct conventions is to select delegates to the ________ and possibly to submit resolutions that may eventually become part of the party platform.

A) state executive committee
B) county convention
C) precinct convention
D) state convention

Question 37

Although the Democratic Party dominated state politics for much of the twentieth century,by the 1950s it faced internal divisions between ________ and ________ Democrats.

A) liberal; conservative
B) moderate; liberal
C) conservative; moderate
D) Blue Dog Democrats; Yellow Dog

Question 38

In the post-Civil War era,the only parts of Texas that showed significant Republican leanings were

A) counties in the Panhandle.
B) rural areas in East Texas.
C) counties located along the Rio Grande River.
D) German counties in the Texas Hill Country.

Question 39

Which statement correctly describes the requirements for membership in a major political party in Texas?

A) An individual must apply for membership through a formal process.
B) An individual must have voted in two party primaries in successive elections.
C) One must be a registered voter in the state of Texas and 21 years of age.
D) With no requirements, a registered voter simply chooses which party primary to vote in.

Question 40

Conservative Democrats in Texas are also known as

A) Blue Dog Democrats.
B) Yellow Dog Democrats.
C) Republicans.
D) Libertarians.

Question 41

In Texas,the most local level of a party organization is the county.

Question 42

New immigrants are more likely than Tejanos to identify as Democrats and to see the Democratic Party as more supportive of immigrant rights.

Question 43

Texas Democrats have been relegated to minority status in the state since 1994.

Question 44

Texas voters,without other information,use the party affiliation of the candidates as a way to decide for whom to vote.

Question 45

Partisan polarization refers to situations in which members of the same political party begin to fight over policy and ideological issues.

Question 46

Today,the Texas Democratic Party's base is made up of all of the following EXCEPT

A) Latinos.
B) African Americans.
C) white liberals in Austin.
D) whites in rural areas.

Question 47

Most of the African American population of Texas is concentrated in

A) the Panhandle.
B) West Texas.
C) suburban Brownsville.
D) East Texas.

Question 48

Duverger's Law states that single-member districts result in two-party systems.

Question 49

Texas does have a system of party registration.

Question 50

The mass exodus of more affluent whites from urban areas to suburban areas is sometimes referred to as

A) urban withdrawal.
B) white flight.
C) tax-base erosion.
D) urban racism.

Question 51

Social media is an important fund-raising tool because it is less costly to solicit campaign contributions.

Question 52

Which demographic group has the largest percentage share of voters in Texas?

A) whites
B) Asians
C) Latinos
D) African Americans

Question 53

Blue Dog Democrats are becoming more and more popular in Texas.

Question 54

Local issues are always ideological in nature.

Question 55

Most third-party candidates in Texas are unsuccessful in their electoral bids.

Question 56

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,Texas was a competitive,two-party state.

Question 57

In Texas,which group is most likely to support the Republican Party?

A) Latinos
B) women
C) people who reside in rural areas
D) Jewish Americans

Question 58

The main role of the precinct convention is to select delegates for the county-level convention.

Question 59

The Dixiecrat movement led by Strom Thurmond in 1948 opposed the segregationist ideas of President Truman.

Question 60

As of 2014,Texas Republicans hold all the major statewide elected offices.

Question 61

How would you explain what political parties are and why Texas has a two-party system?

Question 62

How does strong partisan ideology serve to weaken Texas's political parties?

Question 63

The Tea Party movement is strong in Texas.

Question 64

Has Texas always been a predominantly conservative state? How does this question tie in to the state's shift from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party since the 1960s?

Question 65

How would you describe the structure of political parties and elections in Texas? What are the different levels of party organization?

Question 66

African Americans have the largest percentage share of voters in Texas.

Question 67

Discuss urban,rural,and suburban influences on partisanship.Explain which party tends to dominate in each of these areas,and why.

Question 68

Describe the history of Texas as a one-party state.Which party dominates Texas politics,and what are the historical origins behind this dominance? What were some of the ramifications of one-party rule? What caused the rise of a two-party system in Texas?