Question 1

________is the single most important political act for most Americans.

Accepted Answer

Voting

Question 2

What was the primary venue for citizen participation in national politics until the early 1900s?

Accepted Answer

U.S. House elections

Question 3

The digital divide refers to the

Accepted Answer

line separating citizens with Internet access from those without.

Question 4

Nearly ________percent of Americans lack high-speed Internet access in their homes.

Accepted Answer

33

Question 5

About ________ percent of eligible voters turn out for midterm congressional elections.

Accepted Answer

33

Question 6

When did African Americans truly gain voting rights in the United States without fear of reprisal?

Accepted Answer

1965

Question 7

The main goal of the group Rock the Vote is to

Accepted Answer

draw young voters into participating politically.

Question 8

About ________ percent of African Americans voted for Barack Obama in 2008.

Accepted Answer

95

Question 9

What bloc of voters has recently been called \"the sleeping giant\"?

Accepted Answer

Latino Americans

Question 10

On average, more women vote for ________ candidates and more men vote for ________ candidates

Accepted Answer

Democratic; Republican

Question 11

About ________ percent of U.S. senators and U.S. representatives serving in Congress are women.

Accepted Answer

17

Question 12

Which of the following characteristics constitutes one\'s socioeconomic status?

Accepted Answer

level of education, level of political participation, and age

Question 13

An example of the phenomenon called the gender gap would be that

Accepted Answer

more women than men vote for Democrats.

Question 14

Which of the following statements is true about political participation?

Accepted Answer

Young people are far less likely to participate in politics than older people.

Question 15

Studies show that people are most likely to participate in politics when

Accepted Answer

someone asks them to get involved.

Question 16

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the criteria for determining one\'s eligibility to vote were established by ________.

Accepted Answer

state governments

Question 17

Under the Constitution, ________ has/have the power to regulate elections.

Accepted Answer

state legislatures

Question 18

According to political scientists, voter registration requirements reduce voter turnout by as much as ________ percent.

Accepted Answer

50

Question 19

Compared with western Europe, the United States has a(n) ________ turnout in elections.

Accepted Answer

lower

Question 20

Which of the following statements about voting rights is correct?

Accepted Answer

Many states have laws restricting the voting rights of persons convicted of felonies.

Question 21

A political party is an organization

Accepted Answer

that tries to influence the government by getting its members elected to office.

Question 22

Throughout its history, American politics has been dominated by ________ major political party/parties.

Accepted Answer

Two

Question 23

One important cause of the United States\' two-party system is

Accepted Answer

single-member electoral districts.

Question 24

Third-party candidates are better off under ________.

Accepted Answer

proportional representation

Question 25

What is the ultimate goal of a political party?

Accepted Answer

winning elections

Question 26

Incumbents in Congress

Accepted Answer

typically raise three times the money for their political campaigns than challengers.

Question 27

In 2012, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney raised about ________ each in their respective campaigns.

Accepted Answer

$1 billion

Question 28

A ________ is a closed meeting of a political group\'s members who gather to determine strategy and select candidates.

Accepted Answer

caucus

Question 29

A party\'s ________ contains its philosophy, principles, and policy positions.

Accepted Answer

Platform

Question 30

Which of the following is the best definition of soft money?

Accepted Answer

money contributed directly to political parties and other organizations at the state and local levels for political activities that are not regulated by federal campaign spending laws

Question 31

527 committees are an important part of the American political system because they

Accepted Answer

are able to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money as long as they do not coordinate their activities with a political party.

Question 32

Which of the following statements about partisan identification in the United States is most accurate?

Accepted Answer

Party identification varies significantly by income, race, and gender.

Question 33

An individual\'s psychological attachment to one party or another is called a party ________.

Accepted Answer

Identification

Question 34

Since the 1930s, African Americans have identified as ________.

Accepted Answer

Democrats

Question 35

In 2012, about ________ percent of Latino Americans voted for Barack Obama.

Accepted Answer

70

Question 36

Women in the United States are ________ the ________ Party.

Accepted Answer

somewhat more likely to support; Democratic

Question 37

Men in the United States are ________ the ________ Party.

Accepted Answer

somewhat more likely to support; Republican

Question 38

Which of the following groups is most likely to support the Republican Party?

Accepted Answer

the wealthy

Question 39

________ occurs when one party controls the presidency while another party controls one or both houses of Congress.

Accepted Answer

Divided party government

Question 40

Issues such as the environment, health care, retirement benefits, and taxation are on the political agenda in the United States because

Accepted Answer

contemporary political parties mainly compete for the support of middle-class Americans and these issues are important to the middle class.

Question 41

Third parties in the United States typically represent

Accepted Answer

social and economic interests that are disregarded by the two major parties for certain reasons.

Question 42

A(n) ________ does NOT coincide with a presidential election.

Accepted Answer

midterm election

Question 43

The primary responsibility for conducting public elections rests with ________.

Accepted Answer

state and local governments

Question 44

During midterm elections, voters are selecting ________.

Accepted Answer

members of Congress

Question 45

Primary elections were introduced by

Accepted Answer

reformers who hoped to weaken the power of party leaders.

Question 46

In order for a political party to select a candidate to run in the general election, it holds a(n) ________.

Accepted Answer

primary election

Question 47

________ occurs when a voter must be registered with a party prior to voting in that party\'s election.

Accepted Answer

A closed primary

Question 48

Party activists who are elected to vote at a party\'s national convention are called ________.

Accepted Answer

delegates

Question 49

If the winner of an election is whoever receives the most votes, regardless of the percentage of votes received, the candidates are running under a ________ system.

Accepted Answer

Plurality

Question 50

When American voters support only one party\'s candidates, they are said to be voting a ________ ticket.

Accepted Answer

Straight

Question 51

If a citizen votes for a Republican for president and a Democrat for senator, he or she has engaged in ________.

Accepted Answer

split-ticket voting

Question 52

What did the Supreme Court justices mean by the principle \"one person, one vote\"?

Accepted Answer

Within a state, electoral districts must have roughly equal populations.

Question 53

The practice of ________ means that district boundaries have been purposefully drawn to unfairly advantage one group or party.

Accepted Answer

gerrymandering

Question 54

The ________ is the last example of indirect voting in national elections.

Accepted Answer

electoral college

Question 55

What is a referendum?

Accepted Answer

It is the practice of voting directly for proposed laws.

Question 56

Smaller and weaker parties are most likely to have electoral success under which system of elections?

Accepted Answer

the proportional representation system

Question 57

Which of the following is the best example of direct democracy in practice in the United States?

Accepted Answer

initiative petition

Question 58

Who is the incumbent?

Accepted Answer

the current officeholder, running for re-election

Question 59

The themes, issues, and messages that candidates present during a campaign are generally based on

Accepted Answer

polls and focus groups.

Question 60

A(n) ________ is a media format in which candidates meet with ordinary citizens, without the input of journalists or commentators.

Accepted Answer

town hall meeting

Question 61

The Supreme Court justices ruled that the government could not restrict independent expenditures by corporations or unions to political campaigns in ________.

Accepted Answer

Buckley v. Valeo

Question 62

A citizen can currently give no more than ________ per candidate for federal office per election in a given two-year election cycle.

Accepted Answer

$2,600

Question 63

Which of the following statements is most accurate?

Accepted Answer

When voters are dissatisfied with their economic prospects, they tend to vote for Republican candidates.

Political Science 101 S.T.C. American political party, vote, candidates

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