American government chapter 8,9 & 10

Question 1

___________is a team of people seeking to control the governing apparatus by gaining office in a dully constituted election

Answer 1

A Political party

Question 2

The political party can be viewed as the party in the _______, the party as an _______and the party in____. What does each term means

Answer 2

Electorate

Organization

Government

Question 3

History demonstrates that a successful party rarely strays too far from the middle point of public opinion’ Recently there has been a clear trend in the decline of membership from both major parties and an increase in_____. 21% of the the population call themselves__________

Answer 3

Independent

Independent

Question 4

In recent years___________ has reached record proportions_________is when someone votes with one party for one office and anothor party for another office

Answer 4

Ticket spliting

Ticket spliting

Question 5

America is and always has a __party system. Most democratic nations have more than __parties. Also, throughout our history, one party has dominated for long period of times and won numerous elections. This is called a ____________

Answer 5

2

a party era

Question 6

Punctuating each party era is a __________wherein fissures appear in the party coalition and new issues appeared which divide the electorate. New conditions are formed and ______takes place.___________are typically associated with a major crisis and trauma in the nation’s history(eg, the war)

Answer 6

critical election

Party realignment

party realignment

Question 7

A___________ exists when there is a president from one party and a congressional majority from the other party. Both houses of congress and the presidency have been controlled bythe same party for only 8.3 years of the 36 years from 1969 to 2004

Answer 7

divided party government

Question 8

The phenomena of increased divided party governement has led political scientists to speculate the___________is occuring___________means that people are gradually moving away from both parties

Answer 8

Party dealignment(people moving away)

Party dealignement

Question 9

What is the chief impact of a 2 party systems?

Answer 9

Political parties are similar

not a lot of choices in the two

it’s possible to have viewpoints from each party

gridlock with a divided party system

Question 10

The future of ___________is uncertain___________areno longer the main source of political information and attention_____has enabled canditates to bypass the party and communicate directly with voters____________have become more influential on legislators than parties

Answer 10

political parties

political parties

TV

interest groups

Question 11

A major party’s candidate almost always has held office as governor, senator, or representative. This allows the candidate to have an _______

Answer 11

Electoral base

Question 12

What are some criticisms of the primaries?

Answer 12

Disproportional attention goes to early states

Fund raising plays too big a role. Low voters turned out(20%)

gives the press too much power to define candidates

Question 13

In 1976 the supreme court in Buckey v Valeo struck down the portion of the Federal elections campaign act which limitted individual contributions to one’s own campaign as a violation of ______-. This allows individuals to finance their own campaigns

Answer 13

Free speech

Question 14

The FECA also allows for the proliferation of_.

Answer 14

PAC

Question 15

There has been an explosive growth of PACs in the last 3 decades. PACs are funded by______and this has led many to criticize that this is an open system of graft. Politicians who accept PAC money are beholden to the interest groups behind the PACs

Answer 15

interest groups

Question 16

_________is the right to vote. Eveyone over the age of 18 has a right to________

Answer 16

Suffrage

18

Question 17

The____________passed in 1976 tightened controls on campaign finance. What does FECA do?F

Answer 17

Federal election campaign act

It introduced dollar limits on campaign contributions

privide public financing(matching fund)

Limmmitted the amount of money you can spend on the campaign if you take the matching funds

extensive disclosure of campaign donors-keep records on spending

Question 18

Many voters-especially the youth are apathetic and many people don’t vote because they feel their vote does not make a difference. ________laws also discourage people from voting by requiring registration fr in advanced of elections

Answer 18

voters registrations

Question 19

The_________is a unique American institution created by the the constition providing for the selection of the president by electors chosen by the state parties. The_____________is criticised and opposed by many political scientists, institutions and voters as undemocratic, complex, ambiguous and dangerous

Answer 19

electoral college

electoral college

Question 20

An______is an organization of people with similar polocy goals who enter the political process to try to achieve those aims.____support candidates but don’t run their own state of candidated. This is the central difference interest groups and parties

Answer 20

interest groups

interest groups

Question 21

A___________is a group that has a narrow interest, dislikes compromise and single-mindedly pursues its goal

Answer 21

single issue

Question 22

There are 4 basic strategies used by IGs to shape polocy. What are they?

Answer 22

lobbysts, election campaigning, appealing to the public, litigation

Question 23

__________is aiding candidated financially and getting group members to support the canditate. this is accomplished through _______, the majority if the ______money goes to__________-because there is a more likely return on th ePACs investment

Answer 23

election hearing

PACs

PACs

incumbent

Question 24

What are some criticisms of IGs?

Answer 24

They only care about their issues. Congress people can become corrupted by internet groups

Question 25

How does the electoral college work?

Answer 25

Each states has a certain numbedr of electoral votes . That number=the number of seats in congress

The state dem/rep parties select individuals/electors to vote ECVs

general election occurs and populate votes is tallied by states by states

election vote in private using a winner takes all system

electoral votes are tallied. 268 ECVs are required to win the election

electoral votes always followed popular votes