Deck 5: Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Campaigns

Question 1

Efforts to get free media attention are

A)generally sufficient in transmitting a candidate's message.
B)unimportant to candidates, because they are always better off controlling their exposure in paid spots.
C)generally unsuccessful, given media efforts to cover all candidates in the election.
D)important to a candidate and more likely to occur if the candidate creates visual events, is quotable, and consistently attacks opponents or targeted problems.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Ticket splitting usually means

A)voting for both Democrats and Republicans in the same general election.
B)unwittingly voting for both a Democrat and a Republican in a nonpartisan election.
C)placing a few Democrats and a few Republicans on the same third-party ticket.
D)placing an independent on the ticket to achieve balance and attract nonpartisan voters.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The most important commodity that lobbyists can provide legislators is

A)information on the issues under consideration.
B)personal favors.
C)money to buy public policy through corrupt and illegal activities.
D)their presence in committee hearings, where they monitor debates.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Interest groups with the most political clout tend to have

A)more political cohesiveness as a group.
B)diverse members with differing ideologies.
C)strong enemies in other interest groups.
D)abandoned the use of lobbyists in favor of direct action.

Question 5

According to your text, all of the following are healthy developments to interparty competition except

A)it tends to turn a dull campaign into a lively contest.
B)it gives citizens who are dissatisfied with the performance of their party another choice.
C)it fosters the growth of independent third parties.
D)it promotes an increase in voter turnout.

Question 6

The number of people who identify themselves as members of one of the two major parties is just under _____ percent of the electorate, whereas the number of people calling themselves independents is nearly _____ percent

A)60; 40
B)85; 15
C)70; 30
D)45; 55

Question 7

State Republican organizations

A)do not differ in organization and funding from state Democratic organizations.
B)are generally better organized and better funded than state Democratic organizations.
C)do not exist in the eleven southern states.
D)are better organized but more poorly funded than state Democratic organizations.

Question 8

Factional challenges to the major parties' programs and candidates are

A)unusual in the American political party system.
B)to be expected, and both parties continuously face such divisive groups.
C)to be expected, but currently only the Democrats are faced with such challenges.
D)common, but currently neither party must contend with such divisiveness.

Question 9

Grassroots lobbying involves

A)lobbyists positioning themselves to greet legislators on the steps and lawn of the capitol.
B)increasing the number of lobbyists in the state capitol.
C)orchestration of public support in the form of letters, faxes, and telephone calls.
D)increasing the amount of time the lobbyist spends on the golf course developing a personal relationship with a legislator.

Question 10

The level of negative campaigning has

A)stayed about the same over the past fifty years.
B)persisted because candidates believe it benefits their campaigns.
C)decreased dramatically as a consequence of new campaign ethics laws.
D)decreased because it has proven to be ineffective.

Question 11

The Republican Party, also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP),

A)is newer than the Democratic Party.
B)emerged from the Jacksonian wing of the Jeffersonian Party.
C)is much older than the Democratic Party.
D)is much larger than the Democratic Party and is associated with the "blue states."

Question 12

Local political parties typically

A)have no problem staffing precinct offices.
B)hire professional staff.
C)are not as professionally organized as state parties.
D)maintain campaign headquarters year-round.

Question 13

Interest group membership

A)is a legitimate way for citizens to communicate their preferences to government and/or seek benefits offered by the group.
B)ensures that narrow, selfish interests will prevail in our society, particularly as the number of interest groups increase.
C)is limited to those with business interests.
D)is limited to those who seek some political end.

Question 14

The use of professional political consultants in state and local races

A)is a passing fad.
B)is increasing and is likely to remain a feature of the American political scene as campaign technologies are further refined.
C)has been around since the heyday of the political parties in the 1930s.
D)is unlikely to provide any benefit to a candidate who wishes to unseat an incumbent.

Question 15

According to your text, probably the most realistic term to describe the status of political parties over the past thirty years is

A)stagnant.
B)declining.
C)revitalized.
D)transforming.

Question 16

In most states where political parties are strong, interest group influence tends to be

A)equally strong.
B)overwhelming, given the symbiotic relationship of interest groups with parties.
C)nonexistent.
D)weak.

Question 17

According to your text, what role will partisan politics play in the states' task of resolving difficult policy issues?

A)Partisan politics will draw voters to the platforms of third parties.
B)Partisan politics will slow progress in the search for policy alternatives.
C)Partisan politics will increase divided government and will result in voters abandoning their traditional party attachments.
D)Partisan politics will encourage a wider search for policy alternatives and innovation.

Question 18

Political action committees (PACs)grew out of

A)a desire to weaken the role of political parties.
B)laws that made direct political contributions by corporations and labor unions illegal.
C)a concern over the rising influence of interest groups.
D)an effort to discourage public involvement and participation in politics.

Question 19

The geographical distribution of partisan loyalties has produced some interesting patterns.The South, where conservative political attitudes predominate, is

A)the region with the most independents and the least voter identification with either major political party.
B)the region with the most people loyal to the Democratic Party.
C)no longer a Republican stronghold because of the demise of the Christian Coalition.
D)no longer the Democratic stronghold it was forty years ago.

Question 20

"Direct action" as a means of influencing local government is most often carried out by

A)neighborhood groups and others lacking money but possessing enthusiasm, in order to attract attention to an issue or cause.
B)affluent neighborhood groups who do not have time for lobbying.
C)all groups as the first option available in their arsenal of tactics by which to influence decision makers.
D)local lobbyists who have little expertise in influencing city or county council members.

Question 21

When we speak of divided government in the states, we typically mean that one party controls the governor's office and another party controls the legislature.

Question 22

In spite of the fact that two political parties dominate politics in the states; third parties have achieved limited success in some states.

Question 23

What 1976 U.S.Supreme Court case held that governments could not limit a person's right to spend money in order to spread his or her particular political views in political campaigns?

A)Roe v.Wade
B)United States v.Buckley
C)South Carolina v.Baker
D)Buckley v.Valeo

Question 24

Political parties in the states often develop factions-that is, identifiable subsets within the party, such as liberal versus conservative or urban versus rural.

Question 25

The condition of contemporary American political parties has been described with words such as decline, decay, and demise, but a more precise description may be that political parties are in the process of transformation.

Question 26

Republicans typically have been considered the party of big business, and the Democrats the party of workers.

Question 27

In efforts to reform negative advertising,

A)some newspapers and websites have taken to doing "spot checks" on candidates' claims and publishing the truth in the event of false claims.
B)some major newspapers were intimidated when candidates took them to court.
C)political parties have created "Fair Campaign Practices" panels that must approve all campaign ads.
D)the Democratic Party has brought court action against Republican candidates in forty states for defamation of the character of their candidates.

Question 28

To a candidate, one of the most valuable services the state party can provide is access to its database of party voters.

Question 29

Running for public office has become increasingly expensive.To try to level the playing field and diminish the role of private money, most states

A)have banned PACs and forbid direct contributions from corporations, labor unions, and other special-interest groups in state elections.
B)have given up trying to limit the influence of soft money and PACs because of the U.S.Supreme Court's ruling in Buckley v.Valeo.
C)now provide public financing for all major elections.
D)limit contributions, and many now provide for public financing.

Question 30

Most states currently exhibit substantial two-party competition.

Question 31

State political parties are stronger today than at any time in the nation's history.

Question 32

State efforts at campaign reform have generally been effective with regard to

A)establishing campaign finance reporting and providing online databases containing information on campaign contributions.
B)imposing limitations on the amounts that individuals may contribute and creating public-private financing of primaries and general elections.
C)limiting how much an individual can contribute to his or her own campaign.
D)controlling, and in some cases reducing, the costs of political campaigns for the governorship and legislative seats.

Question 33

Two-party competition is increasing in the states at a time when the states are becoming the political battleground for the resolution of many difficult policy issues.

Question 34

Negative advertising aimed at a political opponent is

A)free of danger of a backlash against the side employing it.
B)a powerful tool in the hands of clever and aggressive politicians, but sometimes in danger of backfiring.
C)unlikely to be picked up and believed by the general public in the age of television and mass media.
D)no longer legal under recent U.S.Supreme Court rulings.

Question 35

Since the end of the Civil War, the southern states have remained single-party Democratic strongholds.

Question 36

The weakening of an individual's attachment to political parties is called realignment.

Question 37

The existence of only two major political parties in the United States is attributable to Article VII of the United States Constitution, which mandates that the nation will have only two major parties.

Question 38

The goal of the 2002 Federal Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act was

A)to increase party competition by increasing the amount of soft money that could be used in elections.
B)an effort to increase the number of publicly financed campaigns in federal elections.
C)an effort to control the amount of soft money contributed.
D)an effort to limit the amount of soft money used in campaigns and successfully ended the use of soft money in the 2004 federal and state elections.

Question 39

Voters display a remarkable penchant for ticket splitting-that is, voting for a Democrat for one office and a Republican for another in the same election.

Question 40

Groups that spend money to influence the outcome of elections but do not contribute directly to candidates are called

A)political action committees.
B)527 groups.
C)political consulting groups.
D)soft money interest groups.

Question 41

What is the proper role of interest groups in state politics? Do you believe that interest groups (including PACs)serve the public interest? How do you define the "public interest"?

Question 42

The level of negative campaigning in the states has decreased in response to the enactment of regulatory laws by many state legislatures.

Question 43

States have responded to the proliferation of political action committees by increasing their regulation.

Question 44

In Buckley v.Valeo, the U.S.Supreme Court imposed limits on the amount of money that individuals could contribute to political campaigns.

Question 45

Because so much of local government involves the delivery of services, local interest groups devote a great deal of their attention to administrative agencies and departments.

Question 46

A generic advertisement that emphasizes a campaign's popular and noncontroversial themes is known as a "feel-good spot."

Question 47

Is public financing of state and local elections a good idea? Discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages associated with using tax dollars to finance political campaigns.

Question 48

The impact of interest groups in state politics has been overstated.

Question 49

In Arizona in 2002, Janet Napolitano became the first governor to be elected with full public financing of her campaign.

Question 50

Discuss how state and local political parties are organized.Are the current political parties stronger or weaker than those in the past?

Question 51

Bombarding legislators with mail, e-mail, faxes and telephone calls are tactics used by grassroots lobbying organizations.

Question 52

It is difficult to compare the number of lobbyists across states because of differences in the way the term "lobbying" is defined.

Question 53

In your view, why do political parties and candidates continue to use "negative advertising" in campaigns? Does negative advertising work-that is, has it proven to be effective? Or, in your view, should it be banned or regulated?

Question 54

The 2002 federal Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act abolished the practice of individuals contributing "soft money" to national political parties.

Question 55

Political action committees (PACs)are not very influential in state politics.

Question 56

Individuals join interest groups for no other purpose other than to influence government.

Question 57

527 groups are not connected to candidates, but spend money to influence the outcome of elections.

Question 58

All states have begun experimenting with public funding of campaigns.

Question 59

Why have third political party successes been so infrequent on the American political scene? What is your opinion of the immediate future of third political parties?

Question 60

Why do we have only two major political parties in the United States, and why do third parties seem to perform poorly?