Political Parties
What is a group of people who work together to win elections and influence government policy called?
What is a political party?
How many electoral votes are needed to win the presidency out of the current total of 538?
What is 270?
What is the final election in which voters choose between candidates to determine who will hold office?
What is the general election?
Which chamber of Congress gives every state two members, regardless of population?
What is the U.S. Senate?
What federal agency oversees and enforces campaign finance laws for federal elections?
What is the Federal Election Commission (FEC)?
What are the two major political parties in the United States?
What are the Republican Party and the Democratic Party?
What determines how many electoral votes each state receives?
What is the state's total number of U.S. representatives and senators?
What type of primary allows only registered members of a political party to vote in that party's primary?
What is a closed primary?
What is the official population count conducted by the federal government every ten years?
What is the U.S. Census?
What is money donated directly to a candidate's campaign under federal campaign finance rules commonly called?
What is hard money?
What is the term for a person's general beliefs about the role of government and how society should be organized?
What is a political ideology?
What is a state where either major-party candidate has a realistic chance of winning, making it especially important to the election outcome?
What is a swing state
What is the process called when a political party or group officially selects its candidate for an election?
What is nomination?
What is the process of redistributing seats in the U.S. House of Representatives among states based on population changes called?
What is reapportionment?
What is the term for political spending whose funding sources are difficult or impossible for the public to identify?
What is dark money?
What is the term for strong loyalty to a particular political party, sometimes causing people to favor their party regardless of the issue?
What is partisanship?
Identify one major barrier that makes it difficult for third-party candidates to win elections in the United States.
What is the difficulty of gaining ballot access, limited media coverage, fundraising challenges, or the winner-take-all election system?
Local election that focus more on local issues and candidates qualifications are often this?
What is nonpartisan?
What is the practice of drawing legislative district boundaries to benefit a particular political party or group called?
What is gerrymandering?
What 2010 Supreme Court case allowed corporations and unions to make unlimited independent expenditures supporting or opposing political candidates?
What is Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission?
What is the term for the growing division between political parties, in which members become more ideologically distant from one another?
What is polarization?
What are the two states that do not use the traditional statewide winner-take-all method for allocating all their electoral votes?
What are Maine and Nebraska?
The practice of choosing a running mate who complements the presidential candidate, potentially appealing to different regions, demographic groups, or ideological factions to broaden electoral support.
What is Balancing the ticket?
Which 1962 Supreme Court case established the “one person, one vote” principle for state legislative districts?
What is Baker v. Carr?
What is the key difference between a traditional PAC and a Super PAC regarding contributions and coordination with candidates?
What is spending limits?