Deck 14: The Party in the Executive and the Courts

Question 1

The president's party has almost always seen ______ in its share of House seats in the midterm election.

A) an increase
B) no change
C) a decline
D) no clear pattern

Answer 1

C

Question 2

What is a major cause of any reduction in the president's party's share of House seats in the midterm election?

A) Approval ratings of the president have dropped.
B) More voters turn out to vote in midterm than in presidential elections.
C) Midterm elections draw more young people than do presidential elections.
D) The president has long coattails.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

When a president's popularity and success leads other candidates of that party to win their races, we refer to that as:

A) the midterm election effect
B) swing districts
C) coattails
D) merit elections

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which key resource assists the chief executive in getting Congress to go along with his or her programs?

A) The president's popular support.
B) Congressional committees.
C) Conference committees.
D) Swing districts.

Question 5

Coattail effects since the 1990s have:

A) weakened as the parties became more polarized
B) remained limited to federal races
C) strengthened as the parties became more polarized
D) remained the same as they were prior to the 1990s

Question 6

A ______ district is one in which both parties are competitive.

A) bipartisan
B) swing
C) landslide
D) urban

Question 7

"Divided control of government":

A) means that it is even more difficult now than it used to be for Congress to pass legislation
B) is when at least one house of Congress is controlled by the party other than the president's party
C) has occurred only rarely in the U.S. government since the end of World War II
D) has occurred only rarely in state governments

Question 8

The federal bureaucracy:

A) responds to partisan forces over the long run
B) is completely nonpartisan
C) has no constituency groups, unlike members of Congress
D) is composed almost entirely of political appointees

Question 9

Judges appointed by ______ tend to be more ______ on issues such as civil rights and crime.

A) Republicans; liberal
B) Democrats; conservative
C) Republicans; conflicted
D) Democrats; liberal

Question 10

What causes partisan behavior on the courts?

A) Local party organizations tell judges how they are expected to decide cases.
B) There is no such thing as partisan behavior on courts.
C) An elected official is likely to nominate equal numbers of judges from each major party.
D) Judges are usually partisans, and they have some discretion in applying laws to specific cases.

Question 11

Retention elections:

A) usually favor challengers rather than incumbents
B) rarely attract much campaign spending or advertising
C) occur when previously appointed judges must run in a later election
D) are no longer held in states

Question 12

In many European nations, people become judges by:

A) studying for and scoring well on a judgeship exam
B) being appointed by elected officials
C) running for the office in frequent elections
D) getting patronage appointments

Question 13

Generally, partisan influence in the executive branch and the judiciary is:

A) not present in either
B) present in the executive branch but not in the judiciary
C) present in the judiciary but not in the executive branch
D) present in both, to at least some degree

Question 14

State court judges are often ______.

A) appointed rather than elected
B) elected rather than appointed
C) hired as employees by the state personnel agency
D) civil service appointees

Question 15

Partisanship in the executive and the judiciary is:

A) Not present in the process used to appoint executives and judges
B) nonexistent
C) due to the differing values of Democrats and Republicans who hold these positions
D) easy to eliminate by simply passing laws against it

Question 16

Define each of the following and briefly explain why it is relevant to the study of political parties.
-Divided control of government.

Question 17

Define each of the following and briefly explain why it is relevant to the study of political parties.
-Executive agencies in the federal government.

Question 18

Define each of the following and briefly explain why it is relevant to the study of political parties.
-Coattail effects.

Question 19

Define each of the following and briefly explain why it is relevant to the study of political parties.
-Campaigns for state Supreme Court seats

Question 20

In what ways do we find evidence of partisanship in judges' behavior? Does this mean that party organizations are telling judges how to rule in particular cases? What else could account for the presence of partisanship in the courts?

Question 21

How has the recent polarization of American politics affected presidential nominations to the Supreme Court? Give an example of a case in which a presidential nomination was stopped due to partisan or ideological forces.

Question 22

If you were president, under what circumstances would you expect the strongest support for your proposals from both houses of Congress? What could you do to try to increase that support?

Question 23

Explain how presidential or party influence can be felt in the decision-making by executive branch agencies. When this influence exists, is it more likely to reflect presidential influence or that of the party? What is the argument that such influence benefits a democratic system? What is the argument that it doesn't?