question

What is the minimum number of electoral votes needed to win a presidential election

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270

question

Elections influence the direction of policy

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to a large extent

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Americans voter turnout in presidential elections

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hovers around 50 percent

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The primary impact of state voter registration laws has been to

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decrease turnout

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What method used in Oregon has helped voter turnout there

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Voting by mail

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The relative decline in American party identification since the 1960s has

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caused voter turnout to decrease

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A party's effort to inform potential voters and persuade them to vote for that party is known as

answer

voter mobilization

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Rational nonvoters

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do not vote because they have weighed the costs and benefits of voting and have decided that they could not change the course of the election

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__________ voting occurs when people base their voting decisions on well-informed opinions and consideration of the future consequences of their votes

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Prospective

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__________ voting occurs when people use their judgment of the current political situation along with the past performance of the incumbents

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Retrospective

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Major-party presidential nominations are now determined primarily by

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convention delegates selected in party primaries, caucuses, and state conventions

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A party caucus is a meeting of

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local party members who choose delegates for the national convention

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Front-loading is the process of

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scheduling presidential primaries earlier in the primary season

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By tradition, the first presidential primary takes place in

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New Hampshire

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____________ determine(s) how delegates are distributed by the primaries

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Party rules

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In presidential primaries, front-runners struggle to

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fend off attacks from the other candidates

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Typically, the three important tasks of the presidential convention are to pick the presidential candidate,

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select the vice presidential candidate, and write the party's platform

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Typically, a party's vice presidential candidate is

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chosen by the party's presidential candidate

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The term "convention bump" refers to

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the opinion poll spike that most candidates enjoy immediately after the convention

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According to the text, the founders created the electoral college primarily to

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minimize the possibility that an unacceptably populist candidate could win

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The Constitution dictates that each state has

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one elector for each senator and representative

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Faithless electors are electors who

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vote their conscience rather than for the candidate they were pledged to support in the electoral college

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All states except Maine and Nebraska

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use a winner-take-all system to determine their electors

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According to the text, for candidates the goal of presidential campaigns is to

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mobilize their base and entice swing voters to vote for them

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Swing voters are

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people who have not made up their minds at the start of the campaign

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Oppo research refers to an investigation of the

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other candidate's background

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Who may collect government matching funds during the general election

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Major-party candidates and third-party candidates whose party received at least 5 percent of the vote in the previous presidential election

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A valence issue is an issue

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on which most voters and candidates share the same position

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A ___________ issue is one on which the parties differ in their perspectives and their proposed solutions

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position

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Wedge issues are controversial matters

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that one party uses to split voters in the other party

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Elections can be thought of as an "amazing innovation" because they

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provide a means for the peaceful transfer of power

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To deal with their fear that people could not reliably exercise wise and considered judgment about politics, the founders

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built a remarkable layer of insulation between the national government and the will of the people

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As a method of selecting leaders, democratic elections assure that the

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leader chosen is the most popular on the ballot

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The disproportionate amount of attention politicians pay to members of the middle and upper classes may best be attributed to the fact that

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these voters go to the polls at substantially higher rates than do members of other classes

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Which of the following statements does NOT reflect a key change in attitude within the American electorate that has likely led to decreased voter turnout

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Political efficacy has increased significantly in recent decades

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Compared to electoral participation in most other democracies, participation in American elections is

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often more difficult because elections are more frequent

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Politicians probably won't pass major electoral reforms that might increase participation, because current politicians

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won in the current system and are concerned about whom the beneficiaries of such changes might be

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Some of the overall decline in voter turnout at the end of the twentieth century is likely due to

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declining citizen involvement in community groups

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Electoral reform has been difficult to pass in the aftermath of the 2000 election, because

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it deals with both federal and state governments and some proposals are seen to help one party over another

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Party identification is the single most important predictor of how people decide to vote, because

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it directly influences one's vote and indirectly colors the partisan's perceptions of issues and candidates

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According to the text, which of the following statements reflects how most voters consider policy issues when voting

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Voters tend to know where they stand on simple issues but tune out the complex ones

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__________ is the idealized voting behavior, but _____________ more realistically reflects how policy considerations influence voters' decisions

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Prospective voting; retrospective voting

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The images that voters have of candidates cause voters to

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form clear opinions about candidate qualities that are relevant to governing

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Front-loading affects the selection of a nominee by

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making success in earlier primaries all the more important in gaining and keeping momentum

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Momentum and electability are important factors in voters' decision making during primaries, because voters

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cannot rely on partisanship, which is normally the strongest cue they have in voting behavior

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The New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucuses

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receive far more attention than their delegate counts would suggest

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According to the text, what is considered "winning" in primary elections

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Beating expectations and gathering momentum, even if the candidate did not come in first in the primary or caucus

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Both parties typically have competitive presidential primaries at the same time when

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an incumbent is not running for reelection

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"Running to the middle" in presidential general election campaigns refers to candidates

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moving away from sharp ideological tones to attract swing voters after motivating their partisan faithful with ideological appeals

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What is a key effect of electoral college votes being counted on a winner-take-all basis in all but two states

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What is a key effect of electoral college votes being counted on a winner-take-all basis in all but two states

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Because of the electoral college, presidential candidates generally spend most of their time and resources in

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competitive states, especially large ones

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The main debate concerning scholars' interpretations of Red and Blue America centers on whether

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ideological differences have divided America into two opposing camps, or whether ideological

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Oppo research is important to presidential campaigns because it enables campaigns to

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put opponents on the defensive by exploiting their weaknesses and vulnerabilities

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Negative advertising

answer

registers more quickly and is remembered longer than information from positive advertisements

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When presidential candidates use "soft news" to get their message across, they

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avoid tough questions by going on entertainment programs to project a favorable view of themselves

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To receive government matching funds in primary elections, candidates must

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raise a specified amount of money from at least twenty states

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In recent get-out-the-vote efforts, parties have

answer

put more effort and technology into grassroots mobilization efforts

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The media interpret election outcomes by

answer

quickly developing a standard, though incomplete, explanation of the complex decision made by the American electorate

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Which of the following terms reflects the perception that an election victory signals broad support for the winner's proposed policies

answer

Mandate

question

Rather than relying on the elite, pluralist, or participatory theories of democracy to explain how citizens approach elections, the text argues that

answer

even though American citizens do not match the expectations of the "ideal citizen," democracy is served well by having a variety of citizens

PLS 101 Chapter 14 – Flashcards

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