Deck 10: Elections and Campaigns

Question 1

According to the U.S. Constitution, only the __________ was (were) to be elected directly by the people.

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

Answer 1

B

Question 2

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

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

Answer 2

B

Question 3

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

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The __________ has never worked as the Framers had envisioned, as an institution that would allow a group of independent decision makers to get together in the many states and deliberate over who would make the best president.

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

Question 5

The staggering of senatorial elections helps to insulate senators from __________.

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

Question 6

Who currently elects the members of the Electoral College?

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

Question 7

Originally, the Electoral College did not account for _______.

A) PACs
B) individuals
C) lobbyists
D) political parties
E) interest groups

Question 8

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) redistricting.

Question 9

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

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

Question 10

The number of electors each state receives is equal to the number of senators and __________.

A) members of the House of Representatives
B) total number of votes cast in the previous election
C) total number of population
D) the total number of licensed drivers
E) all of these

Question 11

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

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

Question 12

The Constitution requires that members of the House of Representatives be apportioned, within each state, according to population, which is counted in a(n)

A) caucus.
B) election.
C) initiative .
D) census.
E) primary.

Question 13

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 14

Who originally elected the members of the Electoral College?

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

Question 15

In the case of Bush v. Gore (2000), the Supreme Court ruled by a 7-2 vote that the absence of specific standards for gauging the intent of the voter was so arbitrary as to violate the__________ clause.

A) establishment
B) equal protection
C) full faith and credit
D) interstate commerce
E) presentment

Question 16

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 17

How was the Electoral College changed in order to account for the rise of political parties?

A) with an executive order
B) with a Constitutional amendment
C) by a change in the law
D) by abolishing parties
E) none of these

Question 18

To win the presidency, a candidate needs to win __________ electoral votes.

A) 25
B) 50
C) 100
D) 270
E) 538

Question 19

__________ provide(s) the most common (and easiest) gateway for people to express their opinions and to hold elected officials accountable.

A) Elections
B) Interest groups
C) Newspapers
D) Political protests
E) The Internet

Question 20

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 number of senators and members of the House of Representatives

Question 21

Once a candidate decides to run for president, he or she enters what has been called the__________. 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) front porch campaign
B) invisible primary
C) midterm election
D) permanent campaign
E) strategic primary

Question 22

The requirements that are in place to receive public financing during presidential nomination campaigns discourage _________ from running.

A) third-party candidates
B) long shot candidates
C) insider candidates
D) beltway candidates
E) outsider candidates

Question 23

At the party conventions, the __________ is formally adopted, laying out the plan for government.

A) mandate
B) political agenda
C) party platform
D) prediction model
E) strategic agenda

Question 24

Since the first televised presidential debate, candidates and campaign insiders have mostly viewed debates as more likely being ______ for their candidate.

A) not important
B) important
C) indifferent
D) negative
E) positive

Question 25

One of the consequences of the 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

Today, U.S. citizens directly elect

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

Question 27

Currently, most states favor some form of _______ election.

A) caucus
B) straw poll
C) primary
D) electoral reform
E) proportional representation

Question 28

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) bi-districting.

Question 29

Who monitors campaign finance?

A) Congress
B) Electoral College
C) Federal Election Commission
D) political action committees
E) political parties

Question 30

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

A) American Election Act.
B) Campaign Finance Reform Act.
C) Election and Campaign Finance Act.
D) Equal Footing Act.
E) Federal Election Campaign Act.

Question 31

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

A) sourced.
B) outsourced.
C) outstanding.
D) open.
E) variable.

Question 32

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 33

States that are not clearly reliable to vote for one of the two major political parties are referred to as _______.

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

Question 34

The first televised presidential debate was between

A) Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush in 1992.
B) George Washington and John Adams in 1789.
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 35

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) All of these are true.

Question 36

Although there is a high level of partisanship in the American electorate, ________, people who do not fall into either the Republican or Democratic camp, still exist.

A) undecided voters
B) swing voters
C) faction voters
D) sectarian voters
E) vanguard voters

Question 37

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) bundling.
B) consolidation.
C) ducking.
D) pushing.
E) redistricting.

Question 38

Since the 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) an exception to the limit
E) none of these

Question 39

Starting with Washington, presidential candidates wanted to appear ____________ through the early nineteenth century.

A) dominant and patriarchal
B) supportive and compassionate
C) ambitious and motivated for office
D) actively involved in the community
E) aloof and above the fray of the campaign

Question 40

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) Rand Foundation
E) State Department

Question 41

In a midterm election, the president's party is more likely to _____________.

A) maintain its position from the prior election.
B) gain seats in Congress.
C) lose seats in Congress.
D) win a landslide election.
E) adopt the president's party platform.

Question 42

A congressional district that is deemed to be noncompetitive is said to be a(n) _______.

A) held seat
B) iron seat
C) safe seat
D) clad seat
E) minor seat

Question 43

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

A) They help generate debate among voters.
B) They outnumbered positive ads in the 2012 presidential campaigns.
C) They are a fairly new campaign strategy.
D) They ensure accountability.
E) They are essential to the proper functioning of a democracy.

Question 44

Which of the following is a theory for why Congressional incumbents do so well in elections?

A) Name recognition is higher.
B) Citizens become loyal to their representatives by receiving their help when needed.
C) Members of Congress manipulate the bureaucracy to fail.
D) Incumbents have the skills to win an election because they've already won in the past.
E) All of these are true.

Question 45

In congressional elections, national political parties

A) pay for campaign training for candidates and their staffs.
B) hold general party fundraisers.
C) buy campaign advertisements that attack the opposing candidate so long as they do not mention their party's candidate.
D) share lists of campaign donors and party members who are likely to volunteer their time to candidates' individual campaigns.
E) do all of these.

Question 46

In 2012, both Romney and Obama campaigned hard in Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Nevada, and Wisconsin because these were __________ states that each thought he had a chance to win.

A) wedge
B) safe
C) strategic
D) battleground
E) winner-take-all

Question 47

__________ almost always win congressional elections.

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

Question 48

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) redefinition of terms
D) term expanders
E) term contractors

Question 49

The effect that the strength of the economy and the popularity of the sitting president have on the decision to run for Congress is known as

A) strategic politician hypothesis.
B) a landslide.
C) a mandate.
D) microtargeting.
E) presidential coattails.

Question 50

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

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

Question 51

Illustrating the 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 52

In the past sixty years, the number of competitive congressional seats has been declining in a trend called __________.

A) diminishing marginals
B) vanishing marginals
C) repressed marginals
D) dwindling marginals
E) broadcasting marginals

Question 53

The effect of __________ is 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) pushing

Question 54

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 55

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) multiple issue polls
E) strategic politician hypotheses

Question 56

The technique of __________ includes identifying and tracking potential supporters so that campaign strategists can design specific political messages tailored for each of the "voting profiles" found from the data. In 1996, for example, 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."

A) bundling
B) gerrymandering
C) microtargeting
D) polling
E) typecasting

Question 57

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 58

When voters tend to judge incumbents based upon their performance they are engaging in ________.

A) retrospective voting
B) prospective voting
C) transcriptive voting
D) postscriptive voting
E) perspective voting

Question 59

Perhaps the most famous breaking of a promise occurred in 1991, when President George H. W. Bush agreed to __________ as part of a budget deal with congressional Democrats.

A) a tax decrease
B) a tax increase
C) a wage increase to the middle class
D) a wage increase to the representatives
E) none of these

Question 60

To win a primary election, a Congressional candidate generally shapes campaign messages to please ____________.

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

Question 61

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

Question 62

Describe the significance of presidential debates.

Question 63

Detail the three fundamental themes that guided the Framers' thinking on the constitutional rules governing the selection of the president.

Question 64

How do campaign finance laws discourage third-party candidates from running?

Question 65

Explain how caucuses and primaries work.

Question 66

Why did the Framers set up gates against popular participation in elections?

Question 67

State the importance of the invisible primary to candidate momentum.

Question 68

Explain the strengths and weaknesses of the Electoral College.

Question 69

Discuss the importance of candidates choosing electors that are loyal to them.

Question 70

Explain the front porch campaign strategy that was used by William McKinley in 1896.

Question 71

How do differences in term lengths and constituencies affect how senators and House members behave?

Question 72

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

Question 73

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

Question 74

Why did the Framers give so much authority over presidential elections to the states?

Question 75

Compare and contrast valence issues and position issues.

Question 76

Give reasons for incumbency advantage.

Question 77

Describe gerrymandering.

Question 78

Discuss the three key factors associated with prediction models .

Question 79

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

Question 80

Explain microtargeting as a campaign strategy.