Unit 2 Media, Parties, Campaigning, Interest Groups

Question 1

What are the three roles of the media?

Answer 1

gatekeeper, scorekeeper, and watchdog

Question 2

What basically does the Federal Communication Commission do?

Answer 2

it regulates the airwaves

Question 3

What do reporters use investigative journalism to do?

Answer 3

checks the honesty of the government

Question 4

What does partisan journalism do?

Answer 4

openly support a certain political party

Question 5

What are the four effects of the media on politics?

Answer 5

selective attention, endorsement of candidates, national convention coverage, issues highlighted by media attraction

Question 6

What are the four factors that influence media stories?

Answer 6

deadlines, audience attraction, fairness, bias

Question 7

What is narrow casting?

Answer 7

a media transmission for a specific audience

Question 8

What does yellow journalism do?

Answer 8

report shocking stories in order to gain the public attention

Question 9

What is the main idea behind sampling?

Answer 9

those represented speak for the represent the entire group

Question 10

When do sampling errors occur?

Answer 10

when the poll gives misleading results

Question 11

What is ideology?

Answer 11

a set of beliefs

Question 12

What does a reactionary advocate?

Answer 12

a return back to the previous state of affairs

Question 13

What is the process by which citizens acquire a new sense of political identity?

Answer 13

political socialization

Question 14

What type of poll uses the same questions for a large group of people?

Answer 14

straw poll

Question 15

What are six forms of political socialization elements?

Answer 15

family, media, school, peers, religion, political institutions

Question 16

What are the three ways political opinion can be affected?

Answer 16

it can be changed, activated, or crystallized

Question 17

What are the parts of political parties?

Answer 17

the electorate, government, and organization

Question 18

What are the four roles of political parties?

Answer 18

recruit candidates, nominate and support candidates for office, educate the electorate, organize the government

Question 19

What are the six factors that affect how one identifies with a certain political party?

Answer 19

education, income, race, gender, religion, family

Question 20

What do all political parties want to do?

Answer 20

win!!!

Question 21

When does dealignment occur?

Answer 21

when a significant number of voters no longer support a particular political party.

Question 22

When does realignment occur?

Answer 22

when a large amount of supporters for a particular dominant party switch to another party

Question 23

What are the three types of third parties?

Answer 23

ideological, factional, single issue

Question 24

What is soft money?

Answer 24

money that is distributed through the national party not a particular candidate

Question 25

What are three factors that cause the decline of political parties?

Answer 25

loss of support by party loyalists, increase in split ticket voting, lack o perceived differences between the parties

Question 26

What are the two major functions of a national convention?

Answer 26

to write the party platform and to nominate the party's candidates for the president and vice president.

Question 27

What are the three main causes of realignment?

Answer 27

war, economic crisis, societal changes

Question 28

What are eight forms of political participation?

Answer 28

voting, attending meetings, forming interest groups, contacting officials, campaigning, donating, running for office, protesting

Question 29

What is the right to vote?

Answer 29

suffrage

Question 30

What type of election allows citizens to directly vote for a candidate?

Answer 30

direct primary

Question 31

What type of election is started with a petition to remove a candidate?

Answer 31

recall

Question 32

What allows citizens to directly vote on issues?

Answer 32

referendum

Question 33

What allows citizens to petition a direct vote on an issue?

Answer 33

initiative

Question 34

What is the most common form of political participation?

Answer 34

voting

Question 35

What eleven factors affect voting?

Answer 35

education, occupation and income, age, race, gender, religion, marital status, union membership, community membership, party identification, geography

Question 36

What are off year elections?

Answer 36

elections that occur when the presidential election does not

Question 37

What did the Federal Election Campaign Act do?

Answer 37

limited the amount of campaign funds that can be spent on advertising

Question 38

What supreme court case proved the FECA unconstitutional?

Answer 38

Buckley v. Valeo

Question 39

What did the Bipartisan Campaign Financial Reform Act do?

Answer 39

banned the use of soft money for federal campaigns

Question 40

What is a 527 interest group?

Answer 40

A single issue interest group

Question 41

What amount of electoral college vote is required to win?

Answer 41

270

Question 42

What did James Madison warn about in Federalist paper #10?

Answer 42

factions

Question 43

What are the four functions of interest groups?

Answer 43

raise awareness, represent membership, provide information, provide channels for political participation

Question 44

What are the four types of economic interest groups?

Answer 44

labor, business, professional, agriculture

Question 45

What are the three strategies interest groups use?

Answer 45

influencing elections, lobbying, litigation

Question 46

What is litigation?

Answer 46

taking an issue to court

Question 47

What is a political action committee?

Answer 47

a type of organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to a campaign

Question 48

What did the Lobbying Disclosure Act do?

Answer 48

regulated and restricted Lobbying

Question 49

How is an interest group different from a political party?

Answer 49

Interest groups have no legal status in elections

Question 50

The method in which interests groups send out communications in order to influence policy makers:

Answer 50

grassroots lobbying

Question 51

What is front loading?

Answer 51

holding elections early in the calender year in order to get more attention

Question 52

What did the McCain-Feingold Act do?

Answer 52

bans soft money, increased amount of individual contributions, and limited issue ads.

Question 53

What state has the first caucus?

Answer 53

Iowa

Question 54

What state has the first primary?

Answer 54

New Hampshire

Question 55

Who picks the president if there is no majority?

Answer 55

the House of Representatives

Question 56

What is retrospective voting?

Answer 56

voters cast a vote based on what the candidate has done in the past for them

Question 57

What are the three parts of the iron triangles?

Answer 57

Agency, Congress, Lobbyists

Question 58

What type of party forms around a single issue and what is an example of one?

Answer 58

Single Issue Party, Right to Life

Question 59

What type of party forms around a broad belief and what is an example of one?

Answer 59

Ideological Party, Libertarian

Question 60

What type of party forms from a split in a party?

Answer 60

Factorial Party, Bull Moose Party of 1912

Question 61

What is a positive effect of front loading?

Answer 61

more media attention

Question 62

What is a negative effect of front loading?

Answer 62

it gives wealthier candidates an advantage over others

Question 63

What are two ways candidates use the internet for campaigning?

Answer 63

websites and email

Question 64

What are the advantages of using the internet for campaigning?

Answer 64

easier to fund raise, cheaper, more controllable

Question 65

What is a disadvantage of internet in campaigning?

Answer 65

rumors can spread quickly

Question 66

What did the Motor Voter Act do?

Answer 66

force the states to offer voting to citizens applying for drivers licenses

Question 67

What are political action committees?

Answer 67

a type of organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaign for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation