A.   every

B.   every three

C.   every other

D.   every four

A.   About half of the countries in the world hold primary elections.

B.   The United States is one of the few nations in the world to hold primary elections.

C.   Approximately three-quarters of the countries in the world hold primary elections.

D.   Every country in the world holds primary elections.

A.   exploratory committee.

B.   referendum.

C.   midterm election.

D.   primary election.

A.   primary

B.   majority

C.   proportionality

D.   plurality

A.   split

B.   dual

C.   straight

D.   single

A.   15

B.   6

C.   10

D.   4

A.   James Madison.

B.   Alexander Hamilton.

C.   Elbridge Gerry.

D.   Thomas Jefferson.

A.   a legislative district votes to elect a member of one party to serve in the House of Representatives but also elects a member of a different party to serve in the state legislature.

B.   a legislative candidate wins election with less than 50% of the vote in a three-candidate race.

C.   legislative districts are redrawn in a way that concentrates members of a particular party in as few districts as possible, thereby limiting the overall number of seats that party might win.

D.   legislative districts are redrawn in a way that disperses members of a particular party across multiple districts, thereby reducing that party’s chances of winning any seats.

A.   Iowa; Connecticut

B.   New Hampshire; Iowa

C.   Connecticut; Iowa

D.   Iowa; New Hampshire

A.   write the bills that will be introduced in state legislatures around the country.

B.   make rules concerning delegate selection for future primaries and draft the party’s platform.

C.   assign current members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate to congressional committee positions.

D.   nominate candidates for other important elections, including the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.

A.   4th

B.   34th

C.   1st

D.   10th

A.   grassroots amendment.

B.   ballot initiative.

C.   popular directive.

D.   people’s compact.

A.   enabled voters to make their choices on the basis of the individual candidate rather than the list of a party’s candidates.

B.   allowed voters to rank order each of the candidates running for a given office.

C.   removed all party labels from the voting process.

D.   provided voters with the ability to write in candidates who did not have their names printed on the ballot.

A.   retrospective voting

B.   prospective voting

C.   gerrymandering

D.   initiative

A.   that Kennedy had a much stronger performance than Nixon during televised debates.

B.   Nixon’s failure to develop infomercials.

C.   Kennedy’s aggressive use of push polls, especially in the Northeast.

D.   the fact that, unlike Nixon, Kennedy had hired a professional political consultant.

A.   negative ads tend to focus on important policy differences, while positive ads tend to focus on candidates’ personal characteristics.

B.   both positive and negative ads focus almost entirely on candidates’ personal characteristics.

C.   negative ads tend to focus on candidates’ personal characteristics, while positive ads tend to focus on important policy differences.

D.   both positive and negative ads focus almost entirely on important policy differences.

A.   Unlike the United States, most democratic countries provide public financing for their elections.

B.   There is no democratic country in the world that currently provides public financing for its elections.

C.   The United States prohibits candidates from raising unlimited sums of money to spend on their campaigns.

D.   Similar to the United States, most democratic countries allow candidates to raise unlimited sums of money to spend on their campaigns with no restrictions on when the money can be spent.

A.   SpeechNow v. FEC (2010)

B.   Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

C.   Bush v. Gore (2000)

D.   Buckley v. Valeo (1976)

A.   527s.

B.   501(c)(4)s.

C.   Super PACs.

D.   PACs.

A.   provides $200 million for all candidates meeting the minimum requirements specified by law

B.   is determined by a formula that weighs a presidential candidate’s previous fund-raising and number of votes received in previous elections.

C.   provides $500 million for all candidates meeting the minimum requirements specified by law

D.   matches, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, all contributions of $250 or less.

A.   $2,700

B.   $5,000

C.   $1,000

D.   $25,000

A.   the growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP).

B.   the unemployment rate in each state.

C.   the size of the national debt.

D.   surveys asking voters how optimistic they are about the future of the economy.

A.   are limited to spending $100,000 per candidate per election.

B.   are required to disclose where they get their funds if they intend on coordinating their message with a particular political campaign.

C.   are not required to disclose where they get their funds so long as they place hard limits on both the amount of money they raise and their total number of donors.

D.   can spend unlimited amounts on political advocacy as long as their efforts are not coordinated with those of any candidate’s campaign.

A.   free media.

B.   the C-SPAN effect.

C.   a spot advertisement.

D.   a press junket.

A.   political campaigns that operate at the local level and use face-to-face communication to generate interest and momentum among voters.

B.   the practice of legislators trading their votes on legislation for campaign contributions.

C.   the fact that politicians often adopt marketing strategies that attempt to “sell” their candidacies to potential voters.

D.   the campaigning and lobbying in which private corporations engage around business regulation and trade policy.

A.   state and local governments.

B.   the federal government.

C.   the candidates running for office.

D.   political parties.

A.   an open primary system.

B.   a closed primary system.

C.   a proportional representation system.

D.   a ranked-choice vote primary system.

A.   a proportional representation system

B.   a closed primary system

C.   a plurality system

D.   a majority system

A.   win the election only if the election were held in a majority system.

B.   win the election only if the election were held in a plurality system.

C.   not win the election under any set of democratic electoral rules.

D.   win the election in either a majority or plurality system.

A.   majority system

B.   closed primary

C.   open primary

D.   referendum

A.   proportional representation system.

B.   closed primary system.

C.   majority system.

D.   blanket primary system.

A.   political parties

B.   state governments

C.   the federal government

D.   voters

A.   authorized $1 billion for civic education in order to increase voter turnout in national elections.

B.   required state governments to use computerized voter registration databases.

C.   financed the creation of 2,000 additional polling places across the country for midterm and presidential elections.

D.   eliminated state-level voter registration requirements.

A.   are constitutionally required to include no more than 1 million people.

B.   are drawn to include a minimum of 100,000 people in all states.

C.     

D.   vary from a few thousand people in some states to nearly a million in California.

E.   are constitutionally required to include no more than 500,000 people.

A.   No one could be denied suffrage on the basis of race or gender.

B.   Voting was an individual right, not a group right.

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

D.   Voters may only vote once in an election.

A.   Proportional representation

B.   Straight-ticketing

C.   Redistricting

D.   Partisan gerrymandering

A.   United States v. Nixon (1974)

B.   Reynolds v. Sims (1964)

C.   Bush v. Gore (2000)

D.   Shaw v. Reno (1993)

A.   the use of each party’s congressional caucus to nominate presidential candidates during the early nineteenth century.

B.   the significance of Iowa as the first caucus of the presidential campaign.

C.   the fact that caucuses are inherently undemocratic methods of selecting nominees for national political office.

D.   Daniel Webster, who had unrivaled influence over the presidential nominating process during the 1820s and 1830s.

A.   superdelegates.

B.   ombudsmen.

C.   whips.

D.   policy entrepreneurs.

A.   at least 300 electoral votes.

B.   at least 270 electoral votes.

C.   at least 26 state-level presidential elections.

D.   a majority of the popular vote.

A.   members of the Senate would be elected by the country on the whole instead of by individual states.

B.   the electoral college would be abolished and the candidate with the most votes in the country overall would become president.

C.   the individual state-level caucus and primary elections during the nomination stage would be replaced with a national primary to be held on the first Tuesday of March during a presidential election year.

D.   a state’s electoral college votes would go to the candidate who won the national popular vote, not the candidate with a plurality of votes in that specific state.

A.   referendum; initiative

B.   referendum; recall

C.   initiative; referendum

D.   recall; initiative

A.   President Warren Harding (1921)

B.   Wisconsin governor Scott Walker (2012)

C.   California governor Gray Davis (2003)

D.   President Richard Nixon (1972)

A.   The Republican Party requires a two-thirds majority vote in a state to secure delegates, while the Democratic Party does not.

B.   The Democratic Party requires that state presidential primaries allocate delegates on the basis of a winner-take-all system, while the Republican Party does not.

C.   The Republican Party requires that state presidential primaries allocate delegates on the basis of proportional representation, while the Democratic Party does not.

D.   The Democratic Party requires that state presidential primaries allocate delegates on the basis of proportional representation, while the Republican Party does not.

A.   the candidate who raises the most money during the campaign

B.   whoever is leading in the polls on the day of the election

C.   a candidate who is running against a current officeholder in an election

D.   the current officeholder running for re-election

A.   events that allow for face-to-face contact

B.   using robocalls to reach potential voters.

C.   sending direct mail to all potential supporters

D.   increasing social media ads

A.   Incumbents generally spend less money than challengers.

B.   Incumbents generally spend more money than challengers.

C.   Incumbents and challengers generally spend the same amount of money.

D.   Incumbents and challengers are legally limited to spending only $2 million.

A.   wedge

B.   retrospective

C.   pocketbook

D.   prospective

A.   guided by campaign consultants.

B.   capital intensive.

C.   media driven.

D.   labor intensive.

A.   leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties.

B.   business and professional groups.

C.   working-class and poor people.

D.   environmental groups and religious organizations.

A.   Soft money donations

B.   Seed money donations

C.   Hard money donations

D.   Independent expenditures

A.   graft.

B.   hard money.

C.   a bribe.

D.   soft money.

A.   run as a major party candidate and raise at least $1 million in individual contributions of $250 or less in each of 40 states.

B.   gather signatures from at least 100,000 people in each of 40 states.

C.   run as a major party candidate and raise at least $5,000 in individual contributions of $250 or less in each of 20 states.

D.   gather signatures from at least 50,000 people in each of 20 states.

A.   1996

B.   2008

C.   2000

D.   2016

A.   is limited by a cap of $50 million.

B.   is protected only if the candidate can match every personal dollar with a dollar from outside donations.

C.   was forbidden by the Campaign Reform Act of 1974.

D.   is protected absolutely by the First Amendment according to the Supreme Court.

A.   a governor.

B.   a U.S. senator.

C.   a state legislator.

D.   the president.

A.   issue; partisan

B.   retrospective; prospective

C.   prospective; retrospective

D.   partisan; issue

A.   interest groups frequently engage in direct lobbying to enhance diversity in campaigns.

B.   the Constitution requires at least minimal levels of representation in election campaigns.

C.   affirmative action legislation from the 1960s requires proportional representation in all elections.

D.   voters tend to prefer candidates who are closer to themselves in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, geography, and social background.

A.   may spend no more than $10 million advocating support for its own presidential candidate.

B.   cannot spend any money advocating support for its own presidential candidate.

C.   may spend no more than $1 million advocating support for its own presidential candidate.

D.   may make unlimited “independent expenditures” supporting its own presidential candidate.

A.   spend as little money as possible on advertising and, instead, to maximize “free media” coverage.

B.   raise money through thousands of small donations rather than a small number of large donations.

C.   send hundreds of very short messages to the largest possible number of voters.

D.   send different campaign messages to different demographic groups of voters.