Deck 10: Elections and Campaigns

Question 1

In the contested 2000 presidential election, the ultimate deciding factor turned out to be

A) the concession by candidate Gore.
B) the Supreme Court decision on Florida's electoral votes.
C) the Supreme Court decision on suspected voter fraud.
D) the recount of the national popular vote.
E) the recount of the Florida electoral votes.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Today, how many electoral votes does each state get?

A) 1
B) 2
C) 10
D) 1 for every 10,000 residents
E) equal to the state's number of House and Senate members

Answer 2

E

Question 3

In the election of 1800, rivals ________ and ________ each vied for the presidency under the Democratic-Republican banner.

A) Alexander Hamilton; Aaron Burr
B) John Adams; James Madison
C) Aaron Burr; Thomas Jefferson
D) James Madison; Alexander Hamilton
E) Thomas Jefferson; John Adams

Answer 3

C

Question 4

When political parties redraw district lines in order to benefit one political party over another, it is called

A) gerrymandering.
B) salamandering.
C) remaindering.
D) redistricting.
E) censuring.

Question 5

According to the original U.S. Constitution, only the ________ was to be elected directly by the people.

A) chief justice of the Supreme Court
B) House of Representatives
C) president and vice president
D) Senate
E) state governor

Question 6

The U.S. Constitution's requirements regarding elections indicate that the Framers wanted to set up barriers against

A) corruption.
B) direct democracy.
C) revolution.
D) free speech.
E) elitism.

Question 7

The Constitution requires that members of the House of Representatives be apportioned, within the states, according to

A) political party strength.
B) population determined by state legislatures.
C) majority party redistricting.
D) population determined by census.
E) number of registered voters within the state.

Question 8

Originally, the Electoral College did not account for

A) independent decision makers.
B) the office of vice president.
C) rivalries.
D) political parties.
E) interest groups.

Question 9

Depending on patterns of population growth or decline, states win or lose congressional seats with each new census. State legislatures are responsible for drawing the district lines, in a process known as

A) redlining.
B) consolidation.
C) cracking.
D) pushing.
E) redistricting.

Question 10

The staggering of senatorial elections was intended to insulate senators from shifts in

A) party identification.
B) public understanding.
C) public sentiment.
D) federal law.
E) the economy.

Question 11

Tally of the total votes from individual citizens, as opposed to the electoral vote, is known as the

A) popular vote.
B) electoral vote.
C) secret vote.
D) blanket vote.
E) advisory vote.

Question 12

If no candidate achieves a majority of electoral votes, the _________ decides the outcome of the election.

A) House of Representatives
B) Senate
C) states
D) Supreme Court
E) Electoral College

Question 13

The Framers designed the office of the president with ________ in mind.

A) George Washington
B) King George III
C) James Madison
D) Alexander Hamilton
E) Thomas Jefferson

Question 14

The __________ Amendment in 1913 took the choice of senators from the state legislatures and gave it to the people.

A) Eleventh
B) Thirteenth
C) Seventeenth
D) Twenty-First
E) Twenty-Second

Question 15

Who currently elects the members of the Electoral College?

A) House of Representatives
B) people of each state
C) Senate
D) state legislatures
E) state governors

Question 16

All except two states, _________ and ________, use a winner-take-all system in the Electoral College.

A) Maine; Ohio
B) Nebraska; Maine
C) Nebraska; Delaware
D) Michigan; Maine
E) Nevada; Nebraska

Question 17

The formal selection of the president of the United States is in the hands of the

A) Supreme Court.
B) electors in the Electoral College.
C) House of Representatives.
D) people.
E) Senate.

Question 18

To win the modern presidency, a candidate must obtain

A) a majority of the popular vote.
B) a plurality of the popular vote.
C) 100 electoral votes.
D) 270 electoral votes.
E) 538 electoral votes.

Question 19

The ________ Amendment combined the vote for president and vice president into one ballot, with the person running for each office named.

A) Ninth
B) Twelfth
C) Seventeenth
D) Twenty-First
E) Twenty-Second

Question 20

Who originally elected the members of the Electoral College?

A) House of Representatives
B) people of each state
C) Senate
D) state legislatures
E) state governors

Question 21

Who is responsible for monitoring campaign finance?

A) Congress
B) Electoral College
C) Federal Election Commission
D) Federal Broadcast Commission
E) individual political parties

Question 22

Many have expressed concern over what has been called the __________, a worry that politicians, especially presidents, spend too much time working toward reelection and not enough time governing.

A) front porch campaign
B) permanent campaign
C) strategic politician hypothesis
D) winner-take-all hypothesis
E) horse race campaign

Question 23

The first televised presidential debate was between

A) Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush in 1992.
B) Franklin Roosevelt and Thomas Dewey in 1944.
C) Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter in 1976.
D) John Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960.
E) Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Question 24

Today, U.S. citizens directly elect all of the following EXCEPT

A) senators.
B) the House of Representatives' members.
C) governors.
D) state legislators.
E) the president.

Question 25

One of the consequences of the Supreme Court's ruling in  Citizens United v. FEC  was the rise of _________, which can raise unlimited funds from such groups as corporations, unions, and individuals.

A) PACS
B) interest groups
C) lobbyists
D) Super PACs
E) grassroots movements

Question 26

Currently, about 70 percent of states use some form of ________ during the presidential campaign season.

A) caucus
B) town hall meeting
C) primary election
D) advisory referendum
E) proportional representation

Question 27

States that are not clearly reliable to vote for one of the two major political parties, but that are of great interest to presidential candidates, are referred to as

A) swing states.
B) bipartisan states.
C) undecided states.
D) purple states.
E) fly-over states.

Question 28

Today, presidential debates and vice-presidential debates are managed by the nonpartisan, nonprofit __________, which was established in 1987.

A) Commission on Presidential Debates
B) Federal Bureau of Investigations
C) Federal Election Commission
D) Gallup Organization
E) League of Women Voters

Question 29

States in which both major presidential candidates campaign hard, but the outcome is uncertain, can be thought of as

A) wedge states.
B) rust belt states.
C) strategic states.
D) battleground states.
E) winner-take-all states.

Question 30

Once a candidate decides to run for president, he or she enters what has been called the __________ in which no votes are cast, but candidates are jockeying for position so they can be ready to do well in the initial primaries and caucuses.

A) shadow election
B) invisible primary
C) midterm election
D) open primary
E) strategic primary

Question 31

The__________ caucus, the nation's first and most famous caucus, requires that people attend a meeting of about two hours in which they indicate their preferences and then try to convince those who are undecided to join their candidate's group.

A) Arkansas
B) Iowa
C) New Hampshire
D) New Mexico
E) Washington

Question 32

During a presidential debate in 1992, President George H.W. Bush gave viewers the impression that he was

A) truly concerned about their welfare.
B) the natural legacy to Ronald Reagan.
C) shifty-eyed and dishonest.
D) bored, and thus, out of touch.
E) ill and unfit to serve as president.

Question 33

Starting with Washington and until the early twentieth century, presidential candidates wanted to appear

A) dominant and patriarchal.
B) morally superior, but deserving.
C) ambitious and motivated to seek office.
D) non-elitist, non-racist and non-sexist.
E) removed from ambition and direct campaigning.

Question 34

In 1996, President Bill Clinton's reelection campaign sought to reach soccer moms-"busy suburban women devoted to their jobs and kids, who had real concerns about real presidential politics." This was an example of

A) bundling.
B) gerrymandering.
C) microtargeting.
D) valence issues.
E) typecasting.

Question 35

In 1971, Congress tried to put candidates on an equal financial footing and make them less beholden to special interests through the

A) McCutcheon,et.al v FEC case.
B) Campaign Finance Reform Act.
C) Election and Campaign Finance Act.
D) Citizens United case.
E) Federal Election Campaign Act.

Question 36

If neither a sitting president nor vice president is seeking their party's nomination, the nomination is said to be

A) invisible.
B) outsourced.
C) captured.
D) open.
E) closed.

Question 37

________ are voters who are neither reliably Republican or Democratic, but are pursued by each party during an election.

A) Undecided voters
B) Swing voters
C) Unregistered voters
D) Blue dog voters
E) Vanguard voters

Question 38

Since the Supreme Court's ruling in  McCutcheon v. FEC, individuals have ________ on the number of campaigns to which they can contribute.

A) massive limits
B) no limit
C) some limits
D) a limit of five
E) a limit of two

Question 39

During his 2016 presidential campaign, nearly ________ people had contributed to Bernie Sanders campaign.

A) 10,000
B) 4 million
C) 250,000
D) 1 million
E) 7 million

Question 40

A __________ issue is a vague claim to a goal, such as a "strong economy," "improved education," or "greater national security." These are goals all candidates talk about and voters seek.

A) position
B) salient
C) swing
D) valence
E) wedge

Question 41

How are votes in the Electoral College allocated to the states?

Question 42

In recent years, there has been a growing call for ________ on members of Congress, much like those imposed upon the president.

A) term limits
B) term extenders
C) strategic retirement
D) pay freezes
E) veto restrictions

Question 43

The congressional elections that occur in-between the four-year presidential election cycles are called

A) caucuses.
B) invisible elections.
C) midterm elections.
D) gubernatorial elections.
E) primary elections.

Question 44

A congressional seat that is considered to be reliably held by either a Democrat or Republican is called a ________ seat.

A) defined
B) lost
C) safe
D) landslide
E) marginal

Question 45

State the importance of the invisible primary to candidate momentum.

Question 46

________ almost always win congressional elections.

A) Challengers
B) Democrats
C) Incumbents
D) Progressives
E) Republicans

Question 47

Discuss the changes to the Electoral College that occurred after the election of 1800.

Question 48

In very large districts and states, it is difficult for congressional candidates to connect directly with voters, which tends to make these campaigns about

A) the personal characteristics of candidates.
B) the size of the campaign war chest.
C) international concerns, not local ones.
D) issues and party politics.
E) issues of little consequence to voters.

Question 49

Which of the following is NOT true of negative ads in a political campaign?

A) They help generate debate among voters.
B) They tend to outnumber positive ads in presidential campaigns.
C) They are a very recent campaign strategy.
D) They help ensure accountability.
E) They are disliked by most of the public.

Question 50

In the past sixty years, the number of competitive congressional elections has been declining, a trend called

A) diminishing marginals.
B) vanishing marginals.
C) incumbency rules.
D) seat limitations.
E) safe seats.

Question 51

How did the Framers feel about letting the people choose the president directly?

Question 52

According to federal campaign finance laws, an individual may contribute up to ________ per congressional candidate in the primary, and up to ________ per congressional candidate in the general election.

A) an unlimited amount; $1,000
B) $2,700; $2,700
C) $2,700; $5,000
D) $5,000; $5,000
E) $5,000; an unlimited amount

Question 53

In order to ensure victory in general elections, candidates revise their message to attract moderate voters. This is an example of Anthony Downs'

A) maximum voter theorem.
B) median voter theorem.
C) rational voter theorem.
D) minimal voter theorem.
E) truthful voter theorem.

Question 54

To win a primary election, a congressional candidate generally shapes campaign messages to please

A) local citizens.
B) local interest groups.
C) grassroots organizations.
D) core party members in the Senate.
E) core party members in the district.

Question 55

A ________ is a document that lays out a political party's core beliefs and policy proposals for each presidential election.

A) mandate
B) political agenda
C) party platform
D) candidate strategy
E) strategic attack

Question 56

What process is described as the behavior of voters when they assess incumbents (and vote accordingly) based upon their performance in office?

A) retrospective voting
B) prospective voting
C) negative voting
D) predictive voting
E) party line voting

Question 57

Economic strength and popularity of the sitting president impact many candidates' decisions to run for Congress, an idea referred to as

A) strategic politician hypothesis.
B) landslide theory.
C) vanishing marginals.
D) microtargeting.
E) presidential coattail effect.

Question 58

The effect of __________ describes when a popular president running for reelection brings additional party candidates into office.

A) bundling
B) front porch campaigning
C) microtargeting
D) presidential coattails
E) gerrymandering

Question 59

Illustrating the campaign advantage of ____________, Clay Aiken ran for Congress in North Carolina in 2014.

A) fundraising
B) name recognition
C) Super PACs
D) grassroots campaigns
E) incumbency

Question 60

To look beyond a single case, political scientists have developed __________ that yield specific estimates of the vote share in presidential elections. The goal is to provide a general understanding of who wins and why.

A) conceptual models
B) prediction models
C) multiple issue hypotheses
D) standard polling questions
E) focus group strategies

Question 61

What are battleground states? Why are they important in modern presidential elections?

Question 62

Discuss the use of negative ads in campaigns today. Do they work? Why or why not?

Question 63

What is the value of name recognition in congressional campaigns? Why is it important?

Question 64

Compare and contrast valence issues and position issues.

Question 65

How have recent changes in campaign finance laws changed the nature of presidential campaigns?

Question 66

What are the three key factors associated with prediction models ?

Question 67

Describe the significance of presidential debates.

Question 68

Explain how caucuses and primaries work.

Question 69

Discuss the relationship between outcome of midterm elections and public opinion of the president.

Question 70

Describe the general process of running for a congressional seat. When does it begin? What obstacles are faced by challengers?

Question 71

What do high rates of incumbent reelection say about voters?

Question 72

What was the "front porch" campaign strategy that was used by William McKinley in 1896? Why did it prove successful?

Question 73

Describe what happens if no one wins a majority of the electoral votes.

Question 74

Explain how the size of a congressional district or state can affect campaign strategy.

Question 75

Explain how presidential debates have evolved over time. What are some of the pitfalls that a candidate could encounter when engaging in a debate? What are some of the advantages?

Question 76

Explain why a candidate would decide to forgo matching funds in his or her quest for the presidential nomination. Is this a successful strategy?

Question 77

What is the median voter theorem? Provide a real-life example.

Question 78

Explain the strengths and weaknesses of the Electoral College.

Question 79

Explain microtargeting as a campaign strategy.

Question 80

Give reasons for incumbency advantage.