Elections and Campaigns
Political Parties
Interest Groups and Social Movements
Multiple Choice
Miscellaneous
Media
100

This Supreme Court case ruled that corporations and labor unions are "persons" under the law protected by the First Amendment.  

What is Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission (2010)?

100

An organization that may spend an unlimited amount of money on a political campaign, as long as the spending is not coordinated with a campaign.  

What is a Super PAC?

100

Interacting with government officials in order to advance a group's public policy goals.  

What is lobbying?

100

A primary election in which voters are required to identify a party preference before the election and are not allowed to split their ticket is called

A.  an open primary

B.  a blanket primary

C.  a closed primary

D.  a runoff primary


C. A closed primary

100

These types of primaries encourage undecided and independent voters to participate in choosing a party's nominee.  

What is an open primary?

100

The concentration of the media into fewer corporations.

What is media consolidation?

200

Channels that connect individuals with government including elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media.    

What are linkage institutions?

200

In 2016 and 2020, Donald Trump ran a _______ - ______ ________ where he developed his own strategies and raised money with less influence from the Republican party elite.  

What is a candidate-centered campaign?

200

A brief filed by someone who is not a party to a case in an attempt to persuade the Court to agree with the arguments set forth in the brief.  

What is an amicus curiae brief?

200

Since the 1960s, support for the Democratic Party has declined the most among which of the following groups?

A. Labor union members

B.  Business leaders

C.  African Americans

D.  White southerners

D. White Southerners

200

This is a meeting where delegates officially select their party's nominee for the presidency.  It involves speeches by prominent politicians and committees of delegates who write the party platform on the issues.  

(Hint: In 2020 the Democrats held theirs in Chicago and the Republicans held theirs in Milwaukee, WI )

What is a national convention?

200

The slanting of political news coverage in support of a particular political party or ideology.  

What is partisan bias?

300

The number of eligible voters who participate in an election as a percentage of the total number of eligible voters.

What is voter turnout?

300
The state of Iowa holds a ____________ to select delegates for the democratic and republican nominating contests.  

What is a caucus?

300

Intentionally breaking a law to call attention to an injustice.  An example would be the Woolworth's lunch counter sit ins that started in Greensboro, NC on February 1, 1960.

What is civil disobedience?

300

For me, the overarching issue here is that we need regulatory agencies that are standing up for us [instead of hiring former employees of] Monsanto, and then suddenly Monsanto lobbyists are in charge of telling us whether GMOs are good for our food or not.  -Jill Stein

This quote refers to 

A. The revolving door

B. Grassroots lobbying by powerful interest groups

C. Campaign contributions by wealthy interest groups

D. Social movements on behalf of consumer safety

A. The revolving door

300

The NRA, the NEA, and Planned Parenthood are examples of ______ - ________  ________  _______

What are single-issue interest groups?

300

A broad term that includes newspapers, magazines, radio, television, internet sources, blogs, and social media postings that cover important events.  

What is the news media?  (I will also accept mass media)

400

Voter turnout in the United States also varies with _____ _________ including economic status, education, age, race or ethnicity, and gender.  

What are demographic characteristics?  

400
A group of voters who support a political party over time.  (For example, progressives wing has been a  faction of the democratic party)

party coalition

400

The webs of influence between interest groups, policy makers, and policy advocates.  

What are issue networks?

400

Voter turnout in the United States is low when compared to other electoral democracies.  On the other hand, interest groups have a significant impact in the policymaking process.  Which of the following forms of democracy best describe this system?  

A. elite democracy

B. republicanism

C. participatory democracy

D. pluralist democracy

D. pluralist democracy

400

From 1969 until 2016, government has often been divided, with one party controlling one or both houses of Congress with a president from the opposing party.  Some political scientists refer to this as the ____ ___ ______ _______.  

What is the era of divided government?

400

An approach to newsgathering in which reporters dig into stories, often looking for instances of wrongdoing.  

What is investigative journalism?

500

Ratified in 1971, this amendment lowered the voting age from twenty one to eighteen.  

What is the twenty-sixth amendment?

500

In the mid 1960s, the Republican Party's base began shifting away from the Northeast and toward the rapidly growing South and West.  Much of this change was driven by a large number of southern white voters who were angry about the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  This shift in allegiance from one political party to another is called a _________________.   

realignment

500

How are interest groups different from social movements? 

Interest groups tend to focus on specific issues while social movements are larger and more diffuse.  

500

Which of the following correctly describes the "free rider" problem faced by many interest groups?

A. Interest groups have to form coalitions to get the policies they favor passed.

B. People can join multiple interest groups, diluting the importance of individual interest groups. 

C. People can benefit from an interest group's public-policy work without becoming a member of that interest group. 

D. Interest groups endorse candidates, providing free advertising for campaigns.  

C.  People can benefit from an interest group's public-policy work without becoming a member of that interest group.  

500
In Citizens United v. Federal Elections Committee, the Supreme Court's decision overturned this law.  What is the name of the law?  

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 

or

BCRA

500
The 1980s and 1990s gave rise to a new type of television news that offered 24/7 coverage.  What is this called?  

Cable Television News