Deck 12: Political Parties

Question 1

Political parties organize to resolve the collective action problems associated with successful election campaigns.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Political parties are largely irrelevant to the operation of Congress.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Hispanics are increasing in importance and policy relevance in the United States.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

In the modern age, party leaders do not actively recruit or discourage potential candidates from running for office.

Question 5

Political parties organize with the goal of serving the national interest.

Question 6

Political parties diminish participation in politics.

Question 7

Political parties generally shy away from trying to get candidates to run for office, preferring instead to support whoever is actually elected.

Question 8

Most candidates for office are nominated in primary elections.

Question 9

Open primaries are less conducive to strong parties.

Question 10

Organizing activists and supporters poses a collective action problem.

Question 11

The Republican brand name includes reducing government spending and lowering taxes.

Question 12

Political parties seek to influence the government.

Question 13

Party brand names make voting a more complex task.

Question 14

American party coalitions look much like European party coalitions.

Question 15

Closed primaries prohibit anyone who is not a registered party member from participating.

Question 16

Political parties are effective at mobilizing voters.

Question 17

Individuals who do not identify with a major party derive no information from party labels.

Question 18

During elections, interest groups usually sponsor candidates directly.

Question 19

Ambition poses no threat to the development of stable coalitions in government.

Question 20

Legislative parties face a collective choice problem in trying to set policy.

Question 21

Today's parties provide valuable services for candidates.

Question 22

Party identification is a voter's psychological tie to one party or the other.

Question 23

Party machines were highly strategic organizations run in accordance with the rationality principle.

Question 24

After the Civil War and Reconstruction were over, the South remained solidly Republican until the 1930s.

Question 25

Blacks overwhelmingly support the Democratic Party.

Question 26

The president does not rely on his party for any support.

Question 27

The United States has experienced over seven party systems.

Question 28

Political parties are responsible for overseeing committee appointments.

Question 29

Citizens' party identification is generally chosen independent of their group affiliations.

Question 30

The electoral structure of the United States creates incentives for rational politicians to join one of two major political parties.

Question 31

Since the 1960s, most of the South has shifted from the Democratic to the Republican camp.

Question 32

Third-party candidates often emerge to represent issues that were not given voice by the major parties.

Question 33

Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was a plan to reduce the intrusion of the federal government in Americans' lives.

Question 34

Members of Congress who share the president's party identification look to him as a party leader.

Question 35

In the United States today, there are more Independents than party identifiers.

Question 36

Women are somewhat more likely to be Republicans than men.

Question 37

Young people are more likely than other age groups to be independents.

Question 38

Since the 1950s, the percentage of adults affiliating with the two major political parties has declined.

Question 39

Third parties in the United States tend to have a long lifetime.

Question 40

Today parties serve no meaningful roles for candidates.

Question 41

During Barack Obama's presidency, Republican candidates suffered at the state level so that by 2016 a clear majority of state legislators were Democratic.

Question 42

Which of the following explains why parties form?

A)to adhere to the mandate of Article IV of the Constitution
B)to resolve collective action problems
C)to weaken the link between elections and governing
D)to seek the collective good of the country

Question 43

Unlike consumer products, political party "brand names" have little effect on citizens' actions.

Question 44

A political party is an organization seeking

A)grants and other funds from the government.
B)influence over government by electing its members to office.
C)to influence the government through lobbying.
D)the greater good of the nation.

Question 45

The permanence of political parties

A)helps the legislative process because coalitions do not need to be built from scratch on every issue.
B)helps the legislative process by ensuring conflict across all issues.
C)hurts the legislative process because there is so much internal conflict in contemporary parties.
D)hurts the legislative process by reducing the ambition of elected members.

Question 46

A party system includes the number of parties competing for national office. It also connotes the balance of power between and within party coalitions that endure over many years, the social and institutional bases of the parties, and the issues and policies around which party competition is organized.

Question 47

To facilitate collective action, the shape of party organization in the United States has followed which simple rule?

A)For every presidential election, a national committee will select a candidate.
B)For every district where an election is held, some kind of party unit should exist.
C)For every initiative by one political party, an equal but opposing initiative is promoted by the other political party.
D)For every candidate, the party must provide a vigorous campaign.

Question 48

By law, nonprofit interest groups cannot endorse candidates or work in alliance with a political party.

Question 49

From 2010 to 2016, Republican party candidates campaigned on a promise to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act. In 2017, Republican lawmakers followed through on this pledge by completely repealing the 2010 law and replacing it with an alternative scheme.

Question 50

As opposed to interest groups, political parties are composed mainly of __________ seekers.

A)vote
B)office
C)policy
D)money

Question 51

Groups, such as the National Organization of Women (NOW), can do which of the following by providing resources to and aligning itself with the Democratic Party?

A)pick a certain number of delegates to attend the Democratic National Convention
B)receive subsidies for court cases that NOW appeals to the Supreme Court
C)join a larger coalition of groups that can win elections
D)use the Democratic National Committee building to host its annual convention

Question 52

During the first party system, the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans focused on the distribution of spoils to party machines rather than major national policies.

Question 53

Within the American government today, political parties exist as

A)organized teams bound together by perfect discipline and strong leadership.
B)discussion groups of people with generally similar policy views but no shared electoral interests.
C)permanent coalitions of individuals with shared interests who support one another.
D)teams that select legislative leaders and rules but do not organize coalitions on specific policy proposals.

Question 54

In 2016, Hilary Clinton received more votes than Donald Trump among white (non-Hispanic) women.

Question 55

Labor unions have been an important part of the Democratic party coalition since the 1930s.

Question 56

Groups are willing to give their electoral support to help parties overcome the collective action problem of mobilizing voters because in return parties give groups

A)influence over policy.
B)positions on party leadership boards.
C)foot soldiers to achieve their group goals.
D)free advertising on party and government websites.

Question 57

The adoption of primary elections for party nominations instead of party conventions reduced party control over the selection of candidates.

Question 58

By regulating career advancement, providing for the orderly resolution of competition, and attending to post-career care of elected and appointed party officials, political parties deal directly with the problem of

A)groupthink.
B)unrestrained individual ambition.
C)collective action in the electoral process.
D)collective choice in the policy-making process.

Question 59

Political parties organize because of three problems with which politicians and other political activists must cope: collective action in the electoral process, collective choice of policy, and political

A)drift.
B)oversight.
C)organization.
D)ambition.

Question 60

The United States has a(n) __________ system.

A)one-party
B)multiparty
C)three-party
D)two-party

Question 61

Political parties effectively lower the information costs of voter participation because they provide

A)a media blitz for each candidate.
B)a forum for candidates to debate issues.
C)brand-name recognition.
D)a clearinghouse for disseminating position papers and policy analyses.

Question 62

When recruiting candidates, parties typically look for candidates who have an unblemished record and

A)a cheerful temperament.
B)a pleasant physical appearance.
C)the ability to raise money.
D)a record of military service.

Question 63

Which nomination process is more conducive to new issues and new candidates?

A)caucus
B)presidential appointment
C)convention
D)primary

Question 64

A primary election in which voters can participate in the nomination of candidates only for the party in which they have previously registered is called a(n) __________ primary.

A)open
B)runoff
C)closed
D)exclusive

Question 65

Which of the following is an example of how parties deal with the problem of ambition?

A)organizing primary elections so like-minded voters can choose a single candidate to support in a general election
B)providing every member of Congress with a press secretary
C)giving politicians financial bonuses when they win elections
D)firing candidates with a track record of losing

Question 66

Which term best describes a nominating process comprised of a formal caucus bound by a number of rules that govern participation and nominating procedures?

A)direct primary
B)nominating convention
C)party assembly
D)party congress

Question 67

In modern American politics, how are most candidates nominated to elected office?

A)through primary elections
B)by party caucuses
C)through nominating conventions
D)by presidential appointment

Question 68

Party get-out-the-vote efforts are critical for overcoming

A)the general lack of knowledge in the electorate.
B)Americans' native distaste for parties.
C)the free-rider problem in voting.
D)the prisoner's dilemma of voter competition.

Question 69

As part of its brand name, the national leadership of the Republican Party supports

A)increases in social programs.
B)regulation of business and industry.
C)increased restrictions on abortions.
D)a more progressive tax system.

Question 70

Party leaders can act as __________ by pursuing ideas that will help expand their own party's support.

A)party facilitators
B)partisan catalysts
C)policy entrepreneurs
D)strategic guides

Question 71

Which of the following is true about political party labels and parties' ability to simplify electoral choice in the general election?

A)Party labels do not simplify choice among independents because Democrats and Republicans pursue similar policy goals.
B)Many independents do not derive value from party labels.
C)Because government can never get anything done, most Americans do not attach themselves to any party label.
D)Though most Americans identify with one of the two major parties, party labels also simplify choice among independent voters.

Question 72

What is the term for a primary election in which voters can choose on primary election day which party's primary to vote in?

A)open primary
B)closed primaries
C)conventions
D)modified systems

Question 73

Political party turnout efforts are aided by

A)nonprofit groups.
B)the Department of Labor.
C)corporate advertising.
D)National Guard mobilization.

Question 74

The process by which a party selects a single candidate to run for each elective office is known as

A)enlistment.
B)recruitment.
C)appointment.
D)nomination.

Question 75

The first step in the process of getting out the vote involves

A)voter registration.
B)primary elections.
C)submitting required campaign finance information.
D)transporting voters to the polls.

Question 76

The type of primary election most conducive to strong political parties is the __________ primary.

A)open
B)runoff
C)closed
D)jungle

Question 77

When recruiting candidates, parties consider that at the very least, a serious candidate for a U.S. Senate seat must be able to raise several __________ dollars.

A)thousand
B)hundred thousand
C)million
D)billion

Question 78

The Republican Party's traditional support of lower taxes is an example of an issue associated with the party's

A)media savvy.
B)connection to populist sentiment.
C)brand name.
D)general support of an active government on social issues.

Question 79

Which of the following is part of today's Democratic Party coalition?

A)western ranchers
B)organized labor and members of racial minorities
C)businesses and fundamentalist religious organizations
D)supporters of school prayer and opponents of affirmative action

Question 80

When recruiting candidates, parties consider that at the very least, a serious candidate for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives must be able to raise several __________ dollars.

A)thousand
B)hundred thousand
C)million
D)billion