Deck 6: The Influence of Interest Groups in American Politics: Myth Vs Reality

Question 1

The political science evidence for the influence of interest groups on legislative outcomes is _______.

A) overwhelming
B) supportive of public concern
C) surprisingly weak
D) none of the above

Answer 1

C

Question 2

What do policy historians find about the frequency of interest group influence and the circumstances that make it more likely?

Answer 2

No Answer

Question 3

What evidence does Matt Grossmann generate that interest groups help bills become laws? What difficulties arise in interpreting the evidence?

Answer 3

No Answer

Question 4

How are opportunities for influence distributed across the interest group community? What types of groups are most prominent in the media and most involved in policymaking?

Question 5

How do political scientists typically study interest group influence? What do they typically find?

Question 6

What interest group is known for having candidates sign a pledge to oppose all tax increases?

A) Americans and Government Waste
B) National Taxpayers Union
C) Americans for Tax Reform
D) Citizens for Tax Justice

Question 7

Which of the following is a problem of causality that interest group research has yet to solve?

A) It is difficult to know whether the association between interest group activity and policy outcomes is causal.
B) It is difficult to know whether interest groups matter for policy outcomes, independent of all of the other factors that influence policy.
C) It is difficult to know whether anticipated policy success causes interest group activity or whether interest group activity causes policy success.
D) All of the above

Question 8

According to this chapter, what does the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal prove?

A) Interest groups can buy votes in Washington.
B) Lobbyists can extort dollars from constituencies who want to influence policy.
C) Abramoff was the most important lobbyist in Washington.
D) All of the above

Question 9

In which issue areas do policy historians find interest group influence on policy enactments most often?

A) Civil rights and liberties, environmental policy, and transportation policy
B) Housing policy, criminal justice, and labor and immigration policy
C) Energy policy, macroeconomics, and civil rights and liberties
D) None of the above

Question 10

What does this chapter show about the process of how a bill becomes a law?

A) Bills must go through committee to become law.
B) Bills must generate interest group lobbying to become law.
C) Most bills do not become law and most bills do not generate lobbying.
D) None of the above

Question 11

What does the data in this chapter indicate about the distribution of prominence and involvement among interest groups?

A) It is highly concentrated among a small number of highly-successfully groups.
B) Media mentions are widely distributed across the population of interest groups.
C) All interest groups get a chance to testify before Congress.
D) Most interest groups gain the attention of the president.

Question 12

What measures are used as a substitute for policy influence to measure the success of interest groups in Matt Grossmann's chapter?

A) Media mentions
B) Congressional committee hearing appearances
C) Mentions in federal court documents
D) All of the above

Question 13

What is the primary problem with studies of interest groups that compare the winning and losing sides of policy debates between interest groups?

A) It is difficult to measure who won.
B) Scholars cannot be sure that factors related to interest groups are responsible.
C) It is impossible to know which interest groups support which side.
D) It is difficult to measure interest group resources.

Question 14

What indicator of interest group activity is used most often to measure the influence of interest groups on legislative votes?

A) Political Action Committee contributions
B) Lobbying dollars
C) Number of interest groups supporting change
D) Interest group staff

Question 15

What difficulties are involved in assessing whether or not, and under what circumstances, interest groups influence policy outcomes? How does Matt Grossmann attempt to circumvent these difficulties in his chapter? What difficulties with causal inference remain after the three research strategies that he reviews?