Which of the following statements about political parties in the
United States is true?
Parties today are relatively weak, but they are not weak in all areas of the country.
The key term in the definition of a political party is
label, to give a candidate party identification.
Party identification among voters is one way of gauging the strength
of a party. Another cited by the text is the
strength of the organization that recruits and campaigns for
candidates.
The federal system goes a long way toward explaining why U.S.
parties are ________ than their European counterparts.
more decentralized
One reason why political parties in the United States today are
weaker than in Europe is that, in t
he United States,
party leaders do not typically select people to run for office
In most states, candidates for office are chosen by
primary elections.
In Europe, almost the only way a person can become a candidate is
by
being nominated by party leaders.
What role do political parties play in the lives of most Americans?
Most Americans separate political parties from other aspects of
their lives.
George Washington's view of parties may have been influenced by
the constant quarreling between Hamilto
n and Jefferson in his
cabinet.
Why should George Washington, among other Founders of our
nation, have been so opposed to political parties?
Because disputes over policies and elections were not easily
separated fro
m disputes over government legitimacy
The Founders saw political parties as
factions motivated by ambition and self
-interest.
The first organized political party in American history was
made up of the followers of Jefferson.
Some were so distraught by the election of Thomas Jefferson that
they
organized to have New England secede from the union.
During the founding period of U.S. history, political parties could
best
be characterized as
small coalitions based more on geography and class than on
common economic interests.
According to the text, when did political parties in the United States
develop a comprehensive organizational form and appeal?
From the time of President Jackson to the Civil War
The first Republican party, with its base of support in the South, was
organized in the 1790s by
Thomas Jefferson.
The Federalist party could not compete effectively in national
elections because
it had such a limited sectional and class base.
National party conventions were developed as a reform of
party caucuses.
In the Jacksonian era, for the first time a party system was built
from the bottom up.
Prior to 1824, presidential candidates were nominated by
caucuses comprising of members of Congress
Party conventions emerged during the Jacksonian era as a means of
giving some measure of local control to the presidential
nominating process.
The first Convention in American history was that of the ________
party.
Anti
-
Masonic
Which of the following statements about the modern Republican
party is
correct
?
It emerged as a major party only after the Civil War.
O
ne effect of the geographic split in parties that occurred as a
consequence of the Civil War was the
emergence of strong party factions such as the mugwumps.
The ________, a fac
tion of the Republican party, were opposed to
the patronage system and feared the influx of immigrants who could
be incorporated into the political machine.
progressives
The progressives favored all of the following
except
better relations with business.
The progressive movement reduced the level of political corruption
but ultimately failed to
solve the problem of how to select candidates.
Procedures such as the initiative and the referendum arose as efforts
to give
citizens a direct say in making laws.
Sch
olars have identified ____ critical or realigning periods in
American politics.
5
The three clearest cases of critical or realigning elections seem to be
1865, 1896 and 1932.
Which of the following were major issues in the three clearest cases
of critical or realigning periods?
Slavery and economics
Which of the following statements concerning slave
ry and the
election of 1860 is
incorrect
?
Party loyalities remained fluid
after
1860.
Which of the following statements about the critical election of 1896
is
correct
?
The Republicans won the support of those in cities.
The elections of Ronald Reagan could not have represented a
realignment because
they left contro
l of Congress in the hands of the Democratic
party
Dramatic realignments, such as the one that occurred in 1932, may
not occur again bec
ause
party labels have lost their meaning for a growing number of
voters.
In recent elections, ticket splitting has been most common
in the South.
Ticket splitting was almost unheard of in the nineteenth century
because
a and d. (political parties provided voters with ballots and government printed ballots listed candidates in columns.)
One would generally expect split
-
ticket voting to occur mo
re often
when
states adopt the office ballot.
The national convention meets every _____ years to nominate a
presidential candidate.
four
Between the national conventions
party affairs are managed by a
______________ made up of delegates from each state and territory.
national committee
In Congress each party has a _______________ that helps members
of Congress who are running for re
-
election or would
-
be members
seeking election
congressional camp
aign committee
This person manages the day
-
to
-
day work of the party
National chairman
Beginning in the 1960s, the ________ became more bureaucratized,
while the ________ became more factionalized.
Republican party, Democratic party
Who selects the time and place of the national convention and issues
a call for the convention?
A party's national committee
The number of convention delegates from each state, along with the
rule
s under which they are chosen, is determined by
the party's national committee.
Which of the following statements about the formula by which
delegates to the nominating conventions are apportioned is
correct
?
The Democrats and Republicans use different formulas.
The formula for the selection of delegates to the Republican national
convention generally stresses the importance of
loyalty.
Throughout the 1970s, the general thrust of the Democratic rules
commissions considering delegate selection was to
weaken the influence of party leaders and enlarge the role of
the rank and file.
The Republicans changed the goal of their national party to the
election of candidates while the Democrats sought to make their
party
achieve a fairer distribution of power.
Democratic rule changes were drafted in 1972 by a commission
headed by
George McGovern.
The Hunt commission's changes in the Democratic party rules were
designed to
increase the influence of party leaders.
The term "superd
elegate"
refers to
elected officials and party leaders who are not required to
pledge themselves in advance to a presidential candidate.
All of the following statements concerning the delegates to the 2004
conventions are correct
except
:
More of the Democrats were male.
Over 40 percent of the delegates to the conventions of both parties
were born again Christians.
The winner
-
reward systems of delegate distribution were banned in
the campaign of
1992.
The 1992 Democratic National Committee penalized states that
violated the rules with what percentage loss of their national
delegates?
25 percent
The three areas of rule
-
changes approved by the 1992 Democratic
National Committee were
rules violation penalty, win
ner
-
reward systems, proportional
representation.
According to the text, the role of national conventions has been
transformed by party rules into a
place where delegates ratify decisions made by voters
Within both major parties, it is the ________ level that has most
obviously declined.
grassroots
Party machines
are characterized by a high degree of leadership control over
member activity.
The classical machine
-
type party was developed and perfected
in the nineteenth century before the
large
-
scale Irish and Italian
immigrations.
Old
-
style political machines counted heavily on the support of
civil servants.
Unlike political machines, ideological parties tend to be
factionalized.
The ideological groups, or reform clubs, of the 1950s and 1960s gave
rise to ideological parties composed of
single-issue activists.
According to Barbara Mikulski, the training grounds for national
political activists today are
social movements.
People can join a party for reasons other than patronage. The text
cites all of the following other reasons
except
to join a delegating committee (caucus groups).
Party organizations based on their members' enjoyment of the
sociability of politics are referred to as
solidary parties.
The political involvement of the United Auto Workers (UAW) in
Detroit provides an example of a(n)
sponsored party.
An example of an organization that sponsors a local party i
the United Auto Workers (UAW) in Detroit.
Today, a person wanting to win an election will most often seek the
support of
a personal following.
Which of the following statements about the traditional party
organization in the United States is correct?
It exists, but only in a few states.
Which of the following statements about the two
-
party system is
correct?
The United States is one of the few
countries with such a
system.
To win in a plurality system such as that in the United States, a
candidate must
gather more votes than anyone else.
The plurality electoral system in the United States means that
every party must be a broad-based coalition.
Why should elections based on a plurality system discourage new
parties from forming?
Because under this winner
-
take
-
all system no incentive is
given for finishing second (or lower)
The most dramatic example of the winner
-
take
-
all principle in the
U.S. electoral system is the
electoral college.
The two
-
party system has worked in the United States, but not in
Europe, because
Americans agree on enough issues to form broad coalitions.
The most recent independent candidate for president who was able to
get on the ballot in every state was
Ross Perot.
Which of the following statements about minor parties in the United
States is correct?
They were once discouraged by the election laws of many states.
The platform of the Fr
ee Love party (a fictitious party) is, as you
might guess, free love. This party is
most
likely a(n)
one-issue party.
The Libertarian and Socialist parties in the United States are
examples of
ideological parties.
George Wallace's American Independent party was an example of
a(n)
factional party.
The Populist party i
s an example of a(n)
economic protest party.
An example of an economic protest party is the
Populist party.
Which of the following kinds of minor parties tends to endure the
longest?
Ideological
The kind of minor party that has probably had the greatest influence
on public policy is the
factional party.
Many strong social movements in the United States (e.g., the antiwar
movement of the late 1960s) never produced a significant third party.
One reason for this i
s that
dissident elements were able to influence elections through
party primaries and nati
onal conventions.
Even thoug
h minor parties have had little success in national
elections, they have played an important role in many elections by
influencing the public policy positions of the two major parties.
In the days when party conventions were heavily influenced by party
leaders and elected officials, it was relatively easy to ignore
the policy preferences of dissident factions.
At party conventions in recent years, the ________ has (have)
become increasingly important.
policy interests of the party
National convention delegates, compared to their respective party
members, tend to be
more liberal if they are Democrats, more conservative if they
are Republicans.
A meeting of party followers at which convention delegates are
picked is known as a
caucus.
The makeup of state party caucuses can best be characterized as
highly partisan
Compared to primary voters, members of caucuses are
more likely to
support the most ideological candidate.
An example of how the partisan makeup of state party caucuses can
result in the choice of the most ideological candidate was the success
of
Jesse Jackson in the 1988 Democratic party caucuses.
The typical convention delegate?Democratic or Republican?can
best
be characterized as a(n)
issue-oriented amateur
The disadvantage of the new primary system that has developed in
the United States is that it
increases the chances that the party will nominate a candidate
who is unappealing to the average voter.
Why should the Democrats have been so
unsuccessful
in winning the
presidency before 1992 at the same time that they were so
successful
in winning congressional seats?
Because their presidential candidates tended to be out of step
with voters on issues of taxation and social policy
Since 1972, ideologi
cal differences between convention delegates
and rank
-
and
-
file party voters have been greatest among
Democrats.
How can the differences between the two major parties in the United
States best be characterized?
There are large policy differences among activists and much
smaller ones among the rank and file.