Deck 7: Participation and Voting

Question 1

Which of the following was the first known act of unconventional participation in America?

A) Revolutionary War
B) Declaration of Independence
C) Civil rights marches of the 1960s
D) Shays's Rebellion
E) Boston Tea Party

Answer 1

E

Question 2

Although terrorism is an unconventional political action, it is generally not counted as unconventional political participation because

A) terrorists do not seek to influence government but to destroy it.
B) the acceptability of terrorism varies from culture to culture.
C) terrorism uses fear, not persuasion, as its primary tactic.
D) terrorist acts generally concern international politics, not domestic disputes.
E) terrorism does not use the established institutions of representative government.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

An example of a citizen using "contacting behavior" is which of the following?

A) Calling the county animal control office to remove a raccoon from a window well
B) Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance
C) Pressuring an alderman to vote against an increase in school taxes
D) Flying the American flag on July 4
E) Standing during a parade when the American flag passes by

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following terms can be defined as the actions of private citizens by which they seek to influence or support government and politics?

A) Direct action
B) Political participation
C) Unconventional participation
D) Conventional participation
E) Conventional behavior

Question 5

Compared with citizens in other democracies, Americans are which of the following when it comes to unconventional participation?

A) Unwilling to join demonstrations
B) More willing to boycott products
C) More interested in politics
D) Less trusting of the government
E) Not noticeably apathetic

Question 6

Which of the following is most likely to engage in unconventional political participation.

A) The disadvantaged
B) The wealthy
C) The elite
D) Men
E) Government officials

Question 7

A practical test of whether or not a government is democratic is which of the following?

A) People can operate outside government institutions to influence policymaking.
B) Citizens can affect its policies by acting through its institutions.
C) Direct action is necessary for government to hear citizens' views.
D) Conventional political action consists largely of influencing behaviors and not supportive behaviors.
E) There is only one political party.

Question 8

Researchers have found that political apathy is which of the following in the United States compared to almost all other nations?

A) Much lower
B) Slightly lower
C) About the same
D) Slightly higher
E) Much higher

Question 9

When a citizen contributes money to a candidate's campaign, he or she is engaging in which of the following?

A) Unconventional participation
B) Supportive behavior
C) Influencing behavior
D) Competitive behavior
E) Elite behavior

Question 10

Which of the following is a criterion that must be met for a country to be considered democratic?

A) Have only two political parties.
B) Be politically divided along traditional liberal/conservative lines.
C) Have more than one political party.
D) Allow initiative and referendum.
E) Prevent interest groups from unduly influencing elections.

Question 11

When a leader assembles crowds to confront businesses and local governments to demand a hearing, he or she is engaging in which of the following?

A) Terrorism
B) Apathy
C) Democracy
D) Civil rights
E) Direct action

Question 12

The 1955 Montgomery bus boycott is an example of which of the following?

A) Unsuccessful unconventional political participation
B) Indirect action
C) Successful conventional political participation
D) Successful unconventional political participation
E) Unsuccessful conventional political participation

Question 13

Serving as an election judge in a nonpartisan election or organizing a holiday parade are examples of which of the following?

A) Gatekeeping
B) Unconventional participation
C) Suffrage
D) Supportive behavior
E) Influencing behavior

Question 14

Which of the following qualifications for voting was virtually eliminated in all states by the 1850s?

A) Property ownership
B) Age
C) Race
D) Gender
E) Literacy requirement

Question 15

Violent unconventional political participation is defined as which of the following?

A) Never used in America
B) Common during elections in the United States
C) Not punished harshly enough
D) Sometimes worth the risk
E) Unjustifiable

Question 16

Which of the following is not generally considered to be a form of political participation?

A) Voting
B) Boycott
C) Violent Protest
D) Terrorism
E) Discussing politics

Question 17

Which of the following best describes the right to vote?

A) It has been expanded since the writing of the Constitution.
B) It has not been extended to those without property.
C) It has been given to aliens as long as they are registered to vote.
D) It can never be taken away.
E) It is taken away if one doesn't vote in five elections.

Question 18

Relatively routine behaviors that use the established institutions of representative government such as voting in an election are called which of the following?

A) Process
B) Conventional
C) Social
D) Gatekeeper
E) Formula

Question 19

The march from Selma demonstrated to the nation the seriousness of which of the following?

A) Health care deviations
B) The civil rights problem
C) Education funding
D) Gun violence
E) The constitutional amendment process

Question 20

A legal action brought by a person or group on behalf of a number of people in similar circumstances is known as which of the following?

A) Class action suit
B) Initiative
C) Supportive behavior
D) Public act
E) Referendum

Question 21

In 1965, which of the following laws was passed by Congress that effectively ended strategies that had discriminated against African Americans at the polls?

A) Civil Rights Act
B) Equal Voting law
C) Federal Rights Act
D) Motor Voter law
E) Voting Rights Act

Question 22

What was the effect of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment that enfranchised 18- to 20-year-olds?

A) It boosted voter turnout in the United States above that of most other democratic nations.
B) It reduced the national voter turnout rate.
C) It increased the national voter turnout rate.
D) It decreased the percentage of the population that distrusts the American political system.
E) It countered the increasing social mobility of this group.

Question 23

In Oregon, everyone votes by which of the following methods?

A) Telephone
B) Internet
C) Electronic devices
D) Mail
E) Raising their hand

Question 24

Which of the following best describes the relationship between income and voting?

A) The lower one's income, the more likely you are to vote.
B) The lower one's income, the more likely you are to be politically knowledgeable.
C) Income appears to have no effect on voting participation.
D) The higher one's income, the more likely you are to vote.
E) The higher one's income, the less you are expected to vote.

Question 25

Which of the following amendments to the Constitution prohibits states from denying the right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude"?

A) Tenth
B) Fourteenth
C) Fifteenth
D) Twenty-Second
E) Eighteenth

Question 26

Blacks compared to whites tend to have political participation rates today that are which of the following?

A) Far lower
B) Slightly lower
C) About the same
D) Slightly higher
E) Far higher

Question 27

Which of the following events contributed most to an increase in the number of African American public officials?

A) The legal end of segregation in public schools
B) The ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment
C) The passage of major civil rights legislation in the 1960s
D) The refinement of the constitutional requirements for office in the latter 1800s
E) The lowering of the legal voting age to 18

Question 28

Which of the following is a statewide election of delegates to a party's national convention, where the delegates will choose the party's presidential nominee.?

A) Primary election
B) Party primary
C) Presidential primary
D) Delegation primary
E) General election

Question 29

Which of the following amendments lowered the voting age to 18?

A) Eighteenth Amendment
B) Nineteenth Amendment
C) Twentieth Amendment
D) Twenty-Sixth Amendment
E) Twenty-Seventh Amendment

Question 30

Which of the following granted women the right to vote?

A) Thirteenth Amendment
B) Fourteenth Amendment
C) Fifteenth Amendment
D) Nineteenth Amendment
E) Twenty-First Amendment

Question 31

Which of the following groups tends to be overrepresented in the electorate?

A) Wealthier people
B) People under the age of 65
C) Voters aged 18 to 24
D) The poor and homeless
E) Hispanics

Question 32

Which of the following groups of Americans turns out to vote at the lowest rate?

A) Voters with children
B) The wealthiest voters
C) The oldest voters
D) Middle-aged voters
E) The youngest voters

Question 33

Besides registration, which of the following is usually cited as a reason for low voter turnout?

A) Location of polling places
B) Compulsory voting
C) Lack of effective voter mobilization by political parties
D) Poll taxes
E) Literacy tests

Question 34

Women could vote in all states with the ratification of which of the following amendments in 1920?

A) Fifteenth
B) Nineteenth
C) Twentieth
D) Twenty-First
E) Twenty-Second

Question 35

The standard socioeconomic model of participation chiefly refers to which of the following?

A) Age, race, and education
B) Gender, ethnicity, and income
C) Race, income, and religion
D) Age, education, and political interest
E) Education, income, and occupation

Question 36

Compared with other nations in the world in granting suffrage to women, the United States is which of the following?

A) Was among the first
B) Ranked about in the middle
C) Lagged far behind
D) Was unique in extending that right without being pressured to do so
E) Was more selective in which women were extended the right

Question 37

Which of the following amendments extended voting rights to African American males?

A) Thirteenth Amendment
B) Fourteenth Amendment
C) Fifteenth Amendment
D) Nineteenth Amendment
E) Twenty-First Amendment

Question 38

In general, which of the following factors contributes to higher voting rates?

A) Greater geographic mobility
B) Higher education level
C) Minority status
D) Youth
E) Less competitive race

Question 39

In 2012 compared to 1952, Americans were how politically apathetic?

A) Much less
B) A little less
C) Neither more nor less
D) A little more
E) Much more

Question 40

Characteristics frequently associated with nonvoters include which of the following?

A) Low education, high income, and being middle-aged
B) Low education, low income, and being relatively young
C) High education, low income, and being relatively old
D) Low education, low income, and being middle-aged
E) High education, high income, and being middle-aged

Question 41

Someone who asserts that elections "socialize political activity" is contending that elections are mechanisms that maintain which of the following?

A) Freedom
B) Majoritarianism
C) Equality
D) Order
E) Independence

Question 42

Evaluate what conditions may indicate when unconventional political participation is most appropriate.

Question 43

The relationship between participation and order is complicated because of which of the following?

A) Order and participation are inherently contradictory.
B) Participation promotes order.
C) Order promotes participation.
D) Some types of participation promote disorder.
E) Both are positive values.

Question 44

Analyze Americans' demands for services from local government.

Question 45

To maintain order, the government has a stake in doing which of the following whenever possible?

A) Converting education into voting behavior
B) Converting wealth into contributions
C) Converting unconventional participation into conventional participation
D) Converting voting into "buy-in"
E) Converting foreign policy issues into domestic policy issues

Question 46

Evaluate the commitment required for individuals to engage in unconventional political participation. Will most groups be successful?

Question 47

The American emphasis on freedom over equality in political participation works to the benefit of which of the following?

A) Union members
B) The poor
C) Those with greater resources
D) No particular group
E) Nonvoters

Question 48

Analyze the demographics of individuals most likely to engage in unconventional political participation.

Question 49

Evaluate the extent to which Americans support unconventional political participation.

Question 50

Freedom as a value in political participation tends to advantage which group?

A) Poor
B) Wealthy
C) Young
D) Racial Minorities
E) Women

Question 51

With respect to political participation, what is the "great equalizer"?

A) Protest
B) Voting
C) Contacting political elites
D) Education
E) Political party activism

Question 52

Because it depends on mass participation in politics, majoritarianism tends to do which of the following?

A) It enhances individual freedom.
B) It favors the less wealthy.
C) It minimizes the impact of differences in socioeconomic status.
D) It limits individual freedom.
E) It disproportionately advantages politically motivated individuals.

Question 53

Elections, as an institutional mechanism, do which of the following?

A) They have no perceptible effect on policies and actions of governments.
B) They diminish the power and authority of the state.
C) They encourage the citizenry to engage in other kinds of political participation.
D) They bolster the power and authority of the state.
E) They equalize segments of the population.

Question 54

Congress and the states moved quickly to pass the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, which lowered the voting age to 18, because of which of the following?

A) They recognized the justice of the student antiwar and civil rights movements.
B) They knew that student voter turnout would be low.
C) They expected the new voters to change the political balance of power drastically.
D) They hoped to channel student energy away from demonstrations and toward more conventional forms of participation.
E) They realized the unfairness of the discrepancy between the military draft age and the voting age.

Question 55

How does majoritarianism view political participation?

A) Broadly
B) Narrowly
C) Irrelevant
D) Symbolic
E) Beneficial but not essential

Question 56

In what way does pluralism benefit citizens?

A) It allows them to be treated as individuals.
B) It lowers the cost of participation.
C) It ensures that the best decision will be reached.
D) It speeds up the decision-making process.
E) It prevents corruption.

Question 57

Analyze the reasons why groups and individuals engage in terrorism.

Question 58

Analyze the civil rights movement as a case study of unconventional political participation.

Question 59

Analyze the ways in which Americans participate politically.

Question 60

The majoritarian model of democracy favors which of the following?

A) Both conventional and unconventional forms of participation
B) Unconventional forms of participation
C) Resourceful individuals seeking particularized benefits
D) Better-educated, wealthier citizens
E) Voting as the primary means of participation

Question 61

Analyze the impact of socioeconomic status on political participation.

Question 62

Discuss voter turnout among racial minorities, and use at least one other demographic factor to better explain this phenomenon.

Question 63

Analyze voter turnout in the United States relative to other democracies.

Question 64

Discuss differences in the ways that various demographic groups have voted.

Question 65

Evaluate what conditions may indicate when conventional political participation is most appropriate.

Question 66

Analyze different types of supportive behavior. Why might a person prefer one type over another?

Question 67

Discuss the path that led to women's suffrage.

Question 68

Evaluate the degree to which the franchise has been expanded in the United States.

Question 69

How has the right to vote been expanded since the Constitution was written?

Question 70

Provide a detailed discussion of how suffrage was expanded from the 1790s to 1870. Explain which groups gained ground and which groups lost ground during this time period.

Question 71

Summarize the expansion of voting rights by describing federal government actions that granted the franchise to those who had been denied suffrage.

Question 72

Analyze the differences between supportive behavior and influencing behavior.

Question 73

Describe why people with a higher socioeconomic status engage in conventional political participation.

Question 74

Discuss the factors that influence voter turnout in the United States. Which groups are most likely to vote? Least likely?

Question 75

How does socioeconomic status affect voter turnout? Why?

Question 76

Analyze the relationship between participation and freedom.

Question 77

Evaluate the impact of political contributions as a form of influencing behavior.

Question 78

Discuss the history of the struggle to obtain suffrage by African Americans.

Question 79

Review the restrictions placed on voting throughout American history. Explain how these restrictions have been eliminated.

Question 80

Discuss how Americans compare in terms of voter turnout with citizens of other democracies, and give one reason your text offers for why this difference may exist.