Question 1

What are some conventional methods of political participation?

Accepted Answer

Voting, discussing politics, forming interest groups, contacting public officials, campaigning for a candidate/party, contributing money to a candidate/party, running for office, protesting decisions, etc.

Question 2

What is suffrage?

Accepted Answer

The right to vote in elections

Question 3

What is an electorate?

Accepted Answer

All of the people able to vote in a particular election

Question 4

What is voter turnout?

Accepted Answer

The percentage of registered voters who participate in a given election

Question 5

What structural factors affect voter turnout?

Accepted Answer

State voter registration laws

Procedures on how/when/where to vote

Importance of the election

Question 6

What factors affect voter turnout?

Accepted Answer

Failure of parties to mobilize voters

No perceived difference between candidates/parties

Satisfaction with how things are

Lack of political efficacy

Structural factors

Question 7

What is political efficacy?

Accepted Answer

How much a citizen trusts their government and feels that they can influence political and social change

Question 8

What is the Motor Voter Law?

(National Voter Registration Act of 1993)

Accepted Answer

A law that allowed voters to register at motor vehicle departments

Designed to make registration easier to increase voter turnout

Question 9

What factors influence a citizen's likelihood of voting?

Accepted Answer

level of education (higher = more likely)

income (higher = more likely)

age (older = more likely

minorities are less likely (primarily due to a lower average socioeconomic status)

gender (women are more likely to vote)

religion (active in religion = more likely)

people who are married are more likely

active members of community are more likely

strong party identification = more likely

being in a state with interparty competition and close elections = more likely

Question 10

What factors influence a voter's choice in an election?

Accepted Answer

party identification and ideology

candidate characteristics

contemporary political issues

demographics (religion/gender/race)

Question 11

What are primaries?

Accepted Answer

Eelection where people can vote for candidates that will compete for their party in a future general election

Question 12

What are general elections?

Accepted Answer

Elections where the voters choose from all candidates

Question 13

What are midterms?

Accepted Answer

General elections held halfway through a president’s term

All members of the HoR are elected, and ⅓ of the Senate is elected

Question 14

What is the coattail effect?

Accepted Answer

The tendency of a popular political party leader to attract votes for other candidates of the same party

Can lead to weaker or lesser-known candidates winning by riding the “coattails” of the nominee

Question 15

What is a recall?

Accepted Answer

A special election initiated by a petition that allows the voters to demand the removal of an elected official

Question 16

What is an initiative? (type of election)

Accepted Answer

Votes that allows citizens to propose a new statute or constitutional amendment

Question 17

What are referendums?

Accepted Answer

Votes that allow citizens to take a law that has been passed and give citizens an opportunity to vote on whether or not it should be upheld or repealed

(contrast with initiative)

Question 18

What are presidential preference primaries?

Accepted Answer

Primary elections where voters indicate their preference for a candidate to be a party’s nominee for president

Question 19

What is front-loading?

Accepted Answer

States holding presidential preference primaries earlier and earlier

(see Super Tuesday)

Question 20

What is Super Tuesday?

Accepted Answer

The date (in early March) when the greatest number of states hold presidential preference primaries on the same day

Question 21

What is a party platform?

Accepted Answer

A set of primary goals that are supported by a political party or a candidate

Attempts to appeal to the public to gain voters

Question 22

What are superdelegates?

Accepted Answer

Unelected delegates in the Democratic party who are free to support any candidate in the presidential nomination at the party’s national convention

Question 23

What are swing states?

Accepted Answer

States where neither party has overwhelming support and the vote could go either way

(decisive in elections)

Question 24

What is split-ticket voting?

Accepted Answer

A practice of individual voters voting for multiple parties during an election (when multiple offices can be won)

(opposite of straight-ticket voting)

Question 25

What does the Federal Election Commission (FEC) do?

Accepted Answer

Enforces federal campaign finance laws (e.g., monitoring how much is donated), and limits and oversees public funding for campaigns

Question 26

What was the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act?

Accepted Answer

An act that banned the use of soft money in federal campaigns and increased the regulations on how much individuals/groups could contribute to campaigns

(enforced by the FEC)

Question 27

What is soft money?

Accepted Answer

Donations to political party that can be used for general purposes

Question 28

What were the facts of Citizens United v. FEC (2010)?

Accepted Answer

Citizens United (a conservative nonprofit) attempted to air a film criticizing 2008 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton

This violated the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (enforced by the FEC) which prohibited corporations from making an "electioneering communication" right before an election to advocate for/against a candidate

Citizens United challenged the constitutionality of the law, claiming it violated the First Amendment

Question 29

What was the question of Citizens United v. FEC (2010)?

Accepted Answer

Are the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act's limitations on corporate funding of political broadcasts constitutional?

Question 30

What was the ruling of Citizens United v. FEC (2010)?

Accepted Answer

The limitations of the BCRA were unconstitutional, and corporations and other groups are allowed to spend unlimited money on elections (if they are not formally coordinating with a candidate)

Court reasoned that limit­ing “inde­pend­ent polit­ical spend­ing” from corpor­a­tions and other groups viol­ates the First Amend­ment right to free speech

(5-4 for Citizens United)

Question 31

What are linkage institutions?

Accepted Answer

Institutions that allow individuals to communicate their preferences to policymakers

(parties, interest groups, elections, media)

Question 32

What are political parties?

Accepted Answer

Organizations that coordinate candidates to compete in a country’s elections

Question 33

What are the differences between a One-, Two-, and Multi-Party system?

Accepted Answer

One-party system: only one political party exists; involuntary membership and those who are members are a small portion of the population; the party approves all candidates so voters have no real choice, often leading to dictatorial government

Two-party system: there are two dominant political parties; “either-or” choice between two candidates and little opportunity of a third-party candidate winning (single-member districts and the Electoral College promote the two-party system)

Multi-party system: several major parties have a chance at winning the election; voters have more meaningful choices in candidates (although this can cause instability, it has been shown to work well in many European countries)

Question 34

What are single-member districts?

Accepted Answer

Electoral districts represented by a single office holder

Question 35

What were the Founder's thoughts on political parties?

Accepted Answer

The Constitution does not call for political parties

James Madison warned against factions in Federalist No. 10

Question 36

What are some of the functions of political parties?

Accepted Answer

recruit candidates

nominate & support candidates

establish party platforms

mobilize & educate the electorate

organize the government

Question 37

What was the New Deal coalition?

Accepted Answer

A voting bloc made of blacks, city dwellers, labor union workers, Catholics, Jews, and women that allowed Democrats to regain power during the Great Depression

Question 38

What is dealignment?

Accepted Answer

A trend where a large portion abandons its parties and becomes independent

Question 39

What is realignment?

Accepted Answer

A trend where voting patterns shift and people who voted for one party now vote for another

(contrast with dealignment)

Question 40

What are third parties?

Accepted Answer

Political parties that are alternatives to the Democratic and Republican parties

Can be ideological, splinters from a major party, concentrated around a single issue, or rooted in protest

(Libertarian Party, Green Party, Constitution Party, etc.)

Question 41

What structural factors limit third parties?

Accepted Answer

Winner-takes-all voting systems, where whichever party is most popular gets almost complete control

The Electoral College gives no power to anyone who can't win a majority

Question 42

What are candidate-centered campaigns?

Accepted Answer

Campaigns that emphasize individual candidates over political parties

Parties have adapted to this, and their role in nominating candidates has weakened

Question 43

What are interest groups?

Accepted Answer

Organizations that aim to influence certain policies or advance a set of ideas

Raise awareness, provide information to the government, allow citizens to work together toward a common goal

Question 44

What are political action committees?

Accepted Answer

Organizations that pool campaign contributions and donate those funds to campaigns for/against candidates or legislation

(used by interest groups to influence elections)

Question 45

How can interest groups directly influence elections?

Accepted Answer

Encourage members to vote for specific candidates

Influence party platforms

Contribute money through political action committees

Question 46

What is lobbying?

Accepted Answer

Influencing a politician on an issue

Can be used by interest groups to advance their cause

(often through personal contacts, writing letters; controversial due to the influence of money on elections)

Question 47

How can interest groups use litigation to their advantage?

(litigation = taking something to court)

Accepted Answer

They can take an issue to court if they fail to gain support from Congress

(NAACP used this to argue against segregation)

Question 48

How can interest groups use the public to advance their cause?

Accepted Answer

They can appeal to the public to bring attention to an issue, or pressure lawmakers by rallying voters

Question 49

What is mass media?

Accepted Answer

Media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication

Transmit information to the general public

(newspapers, magazines, radio, television, internet)

Question 50

What are the roles of mass media?

Accepted Answer

inform the public

shape public opinion

link citizens and government

investigate personalities and policies

set agenda by highlighting national issues

Question 51

How is mass media affected by being privately owned?

Accepted Answer

It has more freedom but is also more dependent on advertising profits

Allows information to be put in the hands of a few private individuals

Question 52

What is a trial balloon?

Accepted Answer

Information sent out to the media to observe the reaction of the public

(test an idea)

Question 53

How does excessive reporting of polling results affect media?

Accepted Answer

Excessive use of polling results to convey popular levels of trust in government can turn elections into "horse races" based more on popularity than the candidates' qualifications and platforms

Unit 5: Political Participation, AP U.S. Government and Politics Flashcards