Deck 10: Campaigns and Elections

Question 1

A majority system, which is used on a limited basis in the United States, requires that a candidate must win ________ to win an election.

A) at least 33 percent of all votes cast
B) at least 40 percent of all votes cast
C) 50 percent plus one of all votes cast
D) at least 60 percent of all votes cast, plus a percentage of absentee ballots

Answer 1

C

Question 2

During midterm elections, voters are selecting ________.

A) federal judges
B) members of Congress
C) the president
D) national-level referendums

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Most European nations utilize a ________.

A) majority system
B) system of proportional representation
C) blanket primary
D) closed primary

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Before the 1890s, who was responsible for printing election ballots?

A) the federal government
B) state governments
C) political parties
D) voters

Question 5

A(n) ________ occurs when a voter can wait until the day of the primary to choose which party to enroll in to select candidates for the general election.

A) open primary
B) closed primary
C) majority system
D) referendum

Question 6

________ currently use(s) the "top two primary" system.

A) Every state in the country
B) Twenty-two states
C) Two states (California and Washington)
D) One state (Washington)

Question 7

Party activists who are elected to vote at a party's national convention are called ________.

A) incumbents
B) delegates
C) electors
D) whips

Question 8

Most Americans have the opportunity to vote in ________ election(s) each year.

A) one
B) three to four
C) six to eight
D) ten

Question 9

A(n) ________ does not coincide with a presidential election.

A) closed primary election
B) open primary election
C) midterm election
D) referendum

Question 10

In order for a political party to select a candidate to run in the general election, it holds a(n) ________.

A) primary election
B) referendum
C) midterm election
D) exploratory committee

Question 11

An election where the winner is the person who receives the most votes, regardless of the percentage of votes received, is called a ________ system.

A) majority
B) plurality
C) proportionality
D) primary

Question 12

The ________ is the most common electoral system used in general elections in the United States.

A) majority system
B) plurality system
C) proportional representation system
D) referendum

Question 13

A(n) ________ occurs when a voter must be registered with a party prior to voting in that party's election.

A) open primary
B) closed primary
C) majority system
D) referendum

Question 14

National elections are held in the United States on the first Tuesday of November ________ year(s).

A) every
B) every other
C) every three
D) every four

Question 15

Primary elections were introduced by

A) the Federalists in the late eighteenth century.
B) the Democrats in the 1830s.
C) the Republicans in the 1870s.
D) reformers at the start of the 1900s, who hoped to weaken the power of party leaders.

Question 16

In the "top two" primary system,

A) political parties are allowed to place two candidates for the general election on the ballot if both receive at least 25 percent of the overall primary vote.
B) candidates from all parties run against one another and the top two face each other in the general election.
C) candidates must win two separate primary elections before being officially nominated for the general election.
D) voters are allowed to vote for their two favorite candidates, regardless of the candidates' party affiliation.

Question 17

For the presidential primaries, most but not all state parties use what type of election?

A) winner-take-all
B) proportional representation
C) majority rules
D) plurality

Question 18

If a citizen votes for a Republican for president and a Democrat for senator, he or she has engaged in ________.

A) an open primary
B) split-ticket voting
C) the coattail effect
D) a closed primary

Question 19

When an American voter supports only one party's candidates, he or she is said to be voting a ________ ticket.

A) dual
B) single
C) straight
D) split

Question 20

The primary responsibility for conducting public elections rests with ________.

A) the federal government
B) state and local governments
C) political parties
D) the candidates running for office

Question 21

Political campaigns that operate at a local level and use face-to-face communication to generate interest and momentum by citizens are called

A) Astroturf politics.
B) grassroots politics.
C) socialism.
D) populism.

Question 22

When states vie for influence by holding their nominating processes earlier, it is called ________.

A) gerrymandering
B) the winner-take-all system
C) open caucusing
D) front-loading

Question 23

In order to win the presidency, a candidate must win

A) at least 270 electoral votes.
B) a majority of the popular vote.
C) at least 26 state-level presidential elections.
D) at least 300 electoral votes.

Question 24

________ was a dark horse nominee for president.

A) George Washington (1788)
B) Warren Harding (1920)
C) Ulysses S. Grant (1868)
D) Franklin Roosevelt (1932)

Question 25

What did the Supreme Court mean by "one person, one vote"?

A) Voters may only vote once in an election.
B) Within a state, electoral districts must have roughly equal populations.
C) No one could be denied suffrage on the basis of race or gender.
D) Voting was an individual right, not a group right.

Question 26

Which of the following statements is true?

A) Federal law since 2002 requires that all states use the same type of voting equipment.
B) The Supreme Court has mandated that all voting machines provide a paper ballot.
C) Voting equipment varies from county to county throughout the United States.
D) Since 2000, all voting equipment has been required to use a butterfly ballot.

Question 27

While traditional party conventions were ________, contemporary party conventions are ________.

A) deliberative assemblies to determine nominations; simple ratifications of nominations that have already been determined
B) simple ratifications of nominations that had already been determined; deliberative assemblies to determine nominations
C) financed solely by the federal government; financed by interest groups, private donors, and corporations
D) financed by interest groups, private donors, and corporations; financed solely by the federal government

Question 28

During the earliest years of the United States, who nominated the candidates for president?

A) The incumbent president chose both candidates.
B) Members of the major political parties chose their own nominees.
C) Nominations were controlled by each party's congressional caucus.
D) State legislatures selected one candidate from each party.

Question 29

The winner of the electoral college vote has not won the popular vote ________ time(s) in American history.

A) one
B) four
C) ten
D) thirty-four

Question 30

The principle of "one person, one vote" was established by the Supreme Court in the ________.

A) 1820s
B) 1870s
C) 1930s
D) 1960s

Question 31

Which of the following is NOT accomplished at a party's national convention?

A) nomination of the presidential candidate
B) determination of the party's rules concerning future convention delegate selection
C) drafting the party platform
D) nomination of senatorial candidates

Question 32

In ________, the Supreme Court determined that purposefully drawing districts where the majority of voters were members of a single minority group, in order to ensure minority representation, was unlawful.

A) Reynolds v. Sims (1964)
B) Bush v. Gore (2000)
C) Shaw v. Reno (1993)
D) United States v. Nixon (1974)

Question 33

Before the post-World War II era, dark horse candidates were most likely to arise at a national convention when

A) deadlocks between major factions developed.
B) no other candidate wanted the nomination.
C) charismatic leaders dominated the proceedings.
D) an incumbent president was running for re-election.

Question 34

The ________ is the last example of indirect voting in national elections.

A) referendum
B) electoral college
C) open primary
D) closed primary

Question 35

The boundaries of legislative districts in the United States are to be redrawn every ________ years.

A) 4
B) 6
C) 10
D) 15

Question 36

The Help Americans Vote Act of 2003

A) authorized $1 billion for civic education in order to increase voter turnout in national elections.
B) financed the creation of 2,000 additional polling places across the country for midterm and presidential elections.
C) required state governments to introduce computerized voting systems.
D) eliminated state-level voter registration requirements.

Question 37

"King Caucus" refers to

A) the significance of Iowa as the first caucus of the presidential campaign.
B) the use of each party's congressional caucus to nominate presidential candidates during the early nineteenth century.
C) Daniel Webster, who had unrivaled influence over the presidential nominating process during the 1820s and 1830s.
D) the fact that caucuses are inherently undemocratic methods of selecting nominees for national political office.

Question 38

________ involves purposefully drawing district boundaries to unfairly advantage one group or party.

A) Proportional representation
B) Gerrymandering
C) Balloting
D) Recall

Question 39

The original gerrymander is attributed to ________.

A) Thomas Jefferson
B) James Madison
C) Alexander Hamilton
D) Elbridge Gerry

Question 40

In Baker v. Carr (1962), the Supreme Court ruled that

A) federal courts can constitutionally intervene on the issue of drawing of legislative districts.
B) federal courts cannot constitutionally intervene on the issue of drawing of legislative districts.
C) districting based exclusively on racial criteria is lawful.
D) districting based exclusively on racial criteria is unlawful.

Question 41

Under the National Popular Vote plan,

A) the electoral college would be abolished and the candidate with the most votes in the country overall would become president.
B) a state's electoral college votes would go to the candidate who won the national popular vote, not the candidate with a plurality of votes in that specific state.
C) the individual state-level caucus and primary elections during the nomination stage would be replaced with a national primary to be held on the first Tuesday of March during a presidential election year.
D) members of the Senate would be elected by the country on the whole instead of by individual states.

Question 42

Smaller and weaker parties are most likely to have electoral success under the ________ system of elections.

A) proportional representation
B) majority
C) plurality
D) unitary

Question 43

When Hillary Clinton won the plurality of votes in California during the 2016 election, and California had 53 representatives in the House of Representatives, how many electoral votes from California did she win?

A) 53
B) 55
C) 62
D) 77

Question 44

A referendum is the

A) congressional election held between presidential elections.
B) power to remove an elected official from office during the middle of his or her term.
C) practice of referring a proposed law passed by a legislature to the vote of the electorate for approval or rejection.
D) process by which a party selects its candidates for the general election.

Question 45

When do incumbents have difficulty securing supporters and contributors?

A) some of the time
B) when they have experienced negative publicity
C) never
D) a majority of the time

Question 46

Generally speaking, a recall effort begins with a ________.

A) petition campaign
B) lawsuit
C) law passed by the state legislature
D) decree by the governor

Question 47

A ________ is an effort by political candidates and their staffs to win backing and support by voters in the quest for political office.

A) gerrymander
B) campaign
C) caucus
D) national convention

Question 48

Which of the following political officers is/are subject to recall elections?

A) the president
B) members of the House of Representatives
C) federal judges
D) the governor of the state of California

Question 49

Early presidential primaries and caucuses are more important because they

A) allocate more than 85 percent of all delegates in the nomination process.
B) encourage more candidates to run for the nomination in later primaries and caucuses.
C) can help a candidate secure media attention and financial support.
D) are held in the largest, most populated states.

Question 50

Which of the following was NOT an election in which the person who was elected president failed to receive more popular votes than his opponent?

A) 1876
B) 1888
C) 1912
D) 2000

Question 51

Which of the following is a difference between Democratic and Republican primaries?

A) The Democratic Party requires that state presidential primaries allocate delegates on the basis of a winner-take-all system, while the Republican Party does not.
B) The Democratic Party requires that state presidential primaries allocate delegates on the basis of proportional representation, while the Republican Party does not.
C) The Republican Party requires that state presidential primaries allocate delegates on the basis of proportional representation, while the Democratic Party does not.
D) The Republican Party requires a two-thirds majority vote in a state to secure delegates, while the Democratic Party does not.

Question 52

Approximately ________ is needed for a candidate to have a reasonable chance of winning a seat in the House of Representatives.

A) $100,000
B) $300,000
C) $1 million
D) $5 million

Question 53

A proposed law or policy change that is placed on the ballot by citizens or interest groups for a popular vote is called a

A) ballot initiative.
B) grassroots amendment.
C) people's compact.
D) popular directive.

Question 54

Plurality and majority systems tend to

A) increase the number of political parties.
B) decrease the number of political parties.
C) evolve into single-party systems.
D) devolve into anarchy.

Question 55

Which of the following is the best example of direct democracy in the United States?

A) gerrymandering
B) retrospective voting
C) prospective voting
D) referendum

Question 56

Currently, ________ states have agreed to the compact specified by the National Popular Vote plan.

A) 2
B) 10
C) 17
D) 22

Question 57

Who is an incumbent?

A) the current officeholder, running for re-election
B) the candidate who raises the most money during the campaign
C) whoever is leading in the polls on the day of the election
D) a candidate who is running against a current officeholder in an election

Question 58

A runoff election is likely to occur when

A) there are only two candidates running in the election.
B) there are more than two candidates running in the election.
C) turnout in the election is very high.
D) turnout in the election is very low.

Question 59

The advent of the Australian ballot in the early twentieth century was significant because it

A) removed all party labels from the voting process.
B) allowed voters to rank order each of the candidates running for a given office.
C) provided voters with the ability to write in candidates who did not have their names printed on the ballot.
D) enabled voters to make their choices on the basis of the individual candidate rather than the collective merits of a party's candidates.

Question 60

Which of the following politicians was recalled from office?

A) President Warren Harding (1921)
B) New York City mayor David Dinkins (1993)
C) California governor Gray Davis (2003)
D) President Richard Nixon (1972)

Question 61

In McCutcheon et al. v. FEC (2014), the Supreme Court ruled that the

A) PAC contribution limits contained in the 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act were too low and must be raised to $10,000 per election cycle.
B) government cannot place limits on the amount of money that an individual can give to any one candidate in a two-year election cycle.
C) government cannot place limits on the number of candidates or PACs that an individual can give money to in a two-year election cycle.
D) government could not restrict independent expenditures by corporations or unions to political campaigns.

Question 62

________ are sums of money spent to influence an election, but the donating organization is not allowed to coordinate with a candidate's official campaign.

A) Seed money donations
B) Hard money donations
C) Soft money donations
D) Independent expenditures

Question 63

In ________, the Supreme Court ruled that the government could not restrict independent expenditures by corporations or unions to political campaigns.

A) Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
B) Bush v. Gore (2000)
C) Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)
D) FCC v. Pacifica Foundation (1978)

Question 64

Private groups that raise and distribute funds for election campaigns are called ________.

A) corporations
B) political parties
C) political action committees
D) political consulting firms

Question 65

By using donor lists or magazine subscription lists, candidates are able to engage in ________.

A) direct mail solicitations
B) town meetings
C) redlining
D) benign gerrymandering

Question 66

When candidates for office sponsor hearings, undertake inspection tours of disaster areas, or meet with foreign dignitaries, the form of publicity they receive is called ________.

A) a press junket
B) free media
C) the C-SPAN effect
D) a spot advertisement

Question 67

When does public-opinion polling take place during a campaign?

A) at the very beginning
B) only toward the end of the campaign
C) throughout the entire campaign
D) never

Question 68

The themes, issues, and messages that candidates present during a campaign are generally based on

A) the election rules passed by Congress each year.
B) the size of the constituency they are seeking to represent.
C) polls and focus groups.
D) legally binding orders that are issued from the national party organizations.

Question 69

Spot advertisements are useful because they

A) permit a candidate's message to be delivered to a target audience before people can tune out.
B) are essentially free of charge because the media needs to fill the "spot."
C) are funded through a loophole in campaign finance laws.
D) are the best means for an audience to get the most information about the policy preferences of candidates, rather than the candidates' personalities.

Question 70

The majority of political action committees represent ________.

A) working-class and poor people
B) business and professional groups
C) Republicans and Democrats
D) environmental groups and religious organizations

Question 71

The idea behind micro-targeting is to

A) send different campaign messages to different demographic groups of voters.
B) send hundreds of very short messages to the largest possible number of voters.
C) spend as little money as possible on advertising and, instead, to maximize "free media" coverage.
D) raise money through thousands of small donations rather than a small number of large donations.

Question 72

Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign in 2016 was unique because it

A) was a purely mass-media campaign.
B) was a purely grassroots campaign.
C) combined elements of both grassroots and mass-media campaigns.
D) did not incorporate any elements from grassroots or mass-media campaigns.

Question 73

Which of the following statements about campaign spending in Senate elections is true?

A) Incumbents generally spend less money than challengers in Senate campaigns.
B) Incumbents and challengers generally spend the same amount of money in Senate campaigns.
C) Incumbents generally spend more money than challengers in Senate campaigns.
D) Incumbents and challengers in Senate campaigns are legally limited to spending only $2 million.

Question 74

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, election campaigns tended to be ________.

A) capital intensive
B) labor intensive
C) media driven
D) guided by campaign consultants

Question 75

A major factor in John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential victory over Richard Nixon was

A) the fact that, unlike Nixon, Kennedy had hired a professional political consultant.
B) that Kennedy had a much stronger performance than Nixon during televised debates.
C) Nixon's failure to develop infomercials.
D) Kennedy's aggressive use of push polls, especially in the Northeast.

Question 76

A(n) ________ is a media format in which candidates meet with ordinary citizens without the input of journalists or commentators.

A) town hall meeting
B) spot ad
C) infomercial
D) caucus

Question 77

Local election campaigns tend to be ________, while statewide elections tend to be ________.

A) caucuses; primaries
B) organizationally driven and labor intensive; media driven and capital intensive
C) front-loaded; back-loaded
D) back-loaded; front-loaded

Question 78

Research shows that

A) negative ads tend to focus on important policy differences, while positive ads tend to focus on candidates' personal characteristics.
B) negative ads tend to focus on candidates' personal characteristics, while positive ads tend to focus on important policy differences.
C) both positive and negative ads focus almost entirely on important policy differences.
D) both positive and negative ads focus almost entirely on candidates' personal characteristics.

Question 79

During the 1880s, as many as ________ people worked on political campaigns.

A) 50,000
B) 100,000
C) 1 million
D) 2.5 million

Question 80

Super PACs were made possible by the

A) Federal Election Campaign Act.
B) Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
C) Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
D) Supreme Court's decision in Buckley v. Valeo.