Exam 4

Question 1

Participation paradox

Answer 1

The fact that citizens vote even though a single vote rarely decides an election

Question 2

Voter turnout

Answer 2

The proportion of eligible Americans who actually vote

Question 3

Voting-age population

Answer 3

The total number of persons in the United States who are 18 years of age or older

Question 4

Changed restrictions for voting in Texas

Answer 4

Poll tax, women’s suffrage, white primary, military vote, long residence requirement, property ownership as a requirement for voting in bond elections, annual registration, jury duty, & early registration.

Question 5

Direct primary

Answer 5

A method of selective party nominees in which party members participate directly in the selection of a candidate to represent them in the general election

Question 6

Runoff primary

Answer 6

A second primary election the pits the two top vote-getters from the first primary against each other when the winner of the first primary did not receive a majority

Question 7

Open primary

Answer 7

A type of party primary and watch a voter can choose on election day in which primary to participate

Question 8

Closed primary

Answer 8

What type of primary in which a voter is required to specify a party preference when registering to vote

Question 9

Crossover voting

Answer 9

With members of one political party and the other parties primary to influence the selection of the nominee

Question 10

Plurality vote

Answer 10

An election rule in which the candidate with the most votes wins even if that candidate gets less than 50%

Question 11

Party column ballot

Answer 11

A type of ballot used in a general election in which all the candidates for each party are listed in parallel columns under the party label

Question 12

Straight ticket voting

Answer 12

Selecting all of the candidates of one particular party

Question 13

Office block ballot

Answer 13

The type of ballot used in a general election in which the names of the parties candidates are listed randomly under each office

Question 14

Split ticket voting

Answer 14

A voter selecting candidates from one party for some offices and candidates from the other party for other offices

Question 15

Australian ballot

Answer 15

A ballot printed by the government (as opposed to the political parties) that allows people to vote in secret. Adopted by tx in 1892

Question 16

Early voting

Answer 16

The practice of voting before election day at traditional voting locations, such as schools, and other locations, such as grocery and convenient stores

Question 17

Negative campaign

Answer 17

Strategy used in election campaigns in which candidates attack their opponents issue positions or character

Question 18

Political action committees (PACs)

Answer 18

Organizations that raise and then contribute money to political candidates

Question 19

Soft money

Answer 19

Money spent by political parties behalf on political candidates, especially for the purpose of increasing voter registration and turnout

Question 20

Independent expenditures

Answer 20

Money individuals and organizations spend to promote a candidate without working or communicating directly with the candidates campaign organization

Question 21

Two party system

Answer 21

A political system characterized by two dominant parties competing for political offices. In such systems, minor or third parties have little chance of winning

Question 22

Pragmatism

Answer 22

The philosophy that ideas should be judged in the basis of their practical results rather than the purity of their principles

Question 23

Valence issues

Answer 23

Issues on which virtually all of the public agrees, such as peace and prosperity

Question 24

Position issues

Answer 24

Issues in which the public is divided

Question 25

Decentralization

Answer 25

Exercise of power at the state and local levels of government in addition to the national level

Question 26

Party realignment

Answer 26

The long-term transition from a system in which one party is consistently dominant to one in which another party is consistently dominant. (When the state/country transitions from being mostly run by one political party to mostly run by another political party). Ex: after civil war tx became more republican)

Question 27

Partisan identification

Answer 27

A persons attachment to one political party or the other

Question 28

Dealignment

Answer 28

When increasing numbers of voters choose not to identify with either of the two parties and consider themselves to be independents

Question 29

Evangelical or fundamentalist Christians

Answer 29

A block of conservative Christians who are concerned with such issues as family, religion, abortion, gay rights, and community morals, and often support the Republican Party

Question 30

Party platform

Answer 30

The formal issue positions of a political party; specific elements are often referred to as “planks” in the parties platform. Their list of actions

Question 31

Tea party

Answer 31

A faction or group of very conservative Republicans generally resistant to any compromise of its principles

Question 32

Tipping

Answer 32

Phenomenon that occurs when a group grows large enough to change the political balance in the electorate

Question 33

Swing voters

Answer 33

Voters who are not bound by party identification and who support candidates of different parties in different election years

Question 34

Precinct convention

Answer 34

A gathering of party members who voted in the parties primary for the purpose of electing delegates to the county or district convention

Question 35

Presidential preference primary

Answer 35

A primary election that allows voters to express their preference among the candidates seeking to become their parties presidential nominee

Question 36

General sales tax

Answer 36

A broadly based tax collected on the retail price of most items

Question 37

Selective sales tax

Answer 37

Taxes levied on the sale, manufacture, or use of specific items such as liquor, cigarettes, and gasoline; these are also sometimes known as excise taxes

Question 38

Gross receipts taxes

Answer 38

Taxes on the gross revenues (sales) of certain enterprises

Question 39

Hidden taxes

Answer 39

Taxes included in an items purchase orice

Question 40

Severance taxes

Answer 40

Taxes on the production of raw marterials such as oil and gas

Question 41

Ad valorem taxes

Answer 41

Taxes assessed on the value of real property (land and buildings) and personal property (possessions such as furniture and automobiles).

Question 42

Tax rates

Answer 42

The amount per unit of taxable item or activity

Question 43

Tax base

Answer 43

The object or activity taxed

Question 44

Broad-based taxes

Answer 44

Taxes paid by a large number of taxpayers

Question 45

Regulatory taxes

Answer 45

Taxes that reward approved behavior with lower taxation or punish socially undesirable action with a higher tax

Question 46

Benefits received tax

Answer 46

A tax assessed scoring to the services received by the payers. Ex: .20 cent per gallon tax- it goes towards tx highway fund

Question 47

Ability to pay taxes

Answer 47

Taxes apportioned according to taxpayers financial capacity, such as property, sales, and income

Question 48

Progressive tax rates

Answer 48

Tax rates that increase as income increases- for example, federal income tax rates

Question 49

Regressive tax rates

Answer 49

Tax rates that effectively decline as a persons income increases

Question 50

Declining marginal consume

Answer 50

The tendency, as income increases, for persons to save and invest more, thus spending a smaller percentage of their income on consumer items

Question 51

Tax shifting

Answer 51

Business passing taxes to consumers on the form of higher prices

Question 52

Supply side economics

Answer 52

a theory that maintains that increasing the supply of goods and services is the engine for economic growth.

Question 53

General obligation bonds

Answer 53

Bonds to be repaid from general revenues, such as those that voters have approved to finance prison construction

Question 54

Revenue bonds

Answer 54

Bonds to be repaid with revenues from the projects the finance, such as higher education bonds to be repaid with revenue from student tuition

Question 55

Appropriations

Answer 55

The process by which a legislative body legally authorizes a government to spend specific sums of money to provide various programs and services

Question 56

Charter schools

Answer 56

Publicly funded schools that operate independently from the district system

Question 57

Affirmative action

Answer 57

Positive efforts to recruit members of undeserved populations such as ethnic minorities, women, and the economically disadvantaged. Sometimes these efforts are limited to recruitment drives among target groups, but such programs have sometimes included ethnicity or gender as a part of their admissions criteria

Question 58

Individual mandate

Answer 58

Requirement that individuals get health insurance or pay a tax penalty to the federal government

Question 59

Income redistribution

Answer 59

A public policy goal intended to shift income from one class of recipients to another, regardless of whether these programs are designed to benefit lower, middle, or upper income groups

Question 60

Social insurance

Answer 60

Public insurance programs, such as Social Security and unemployment compensation, in which all eligibility is based on tax premiums paid by the beneficiaries or their employers rather than need alone

Question 61

Means test

Answer 61

A standard of benefit eligibility based on need