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1st exam
Voting/News Media/Interest Groups/Domestic Policy/Foreign Policy
134
Political Studies
Undergraduate 1
12/09/2009

Additional Political Studies Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
The U.S. Presidential elections takes place every 4 years on the....
Definition
the tuesday after the first monday in November.
Term
About____ percent of eligible Americans vote regularly.
Definition
65
Term
In general, voter turnout is higher among those who are...
Definition
older and wealthier.
Term
In 1971, voting age was lowered to 18 by the _____ Amendment.
Definition
26th
Term

Women...

 

 

 

Definition
currently make up the majority of the U.S. electorate.
Term
The primary reason college students say they do not vote is that...
Definition
they feel like their vote doesn't make a difference.
Term
The Voting Right Act of 1965....
Definition
bans any procedure that impinges upon minorities' right to vote.
Term
The most important reason why people don't vote is....
Definition
they are too busy.
Term
Voter registration in the United States...
Definition
must be done by the individual.
Term

According to the Motor Voter Act, individuals can register to vote...

 

Definition
by mail, at their state's DMV, or at a military  recruitment office.
Term
The most powerful predictor of vote choice is...
Definition
party identification. 
Term
An important voting trend from the 1950s to the 1990s is....
Definition
ticket-splitting.
Term
Voting based on what a candidate says that they will do if elected is called...
Definition
prospective judgement.
Term
A primary in which only a party's registered voters are eligible to participate is most accurately called...
Definition
closed.
Term
The method of primary election that gives the political parties the greatest power is the ____ primary.
Definition
closed
Term
The process that allows citizens to propose legislation and submit it to the electorate for popular vote is called...
Definition
initiative.
Term
The procedure by which the state legislature offers proposed legislation for voter approval is called a 
Definition
referendum. 
Term
In some states, incumbents can be removed from office in the middle of their term by a popular vote called a...
Definition
recall.
Term
Most states today choose their nominee for the president through...
Definition
primary elections.
Term
Critics of the presidential primary argue that....
Definition
the quality of participation in primaries is low.
Term
In recent years, states have  had a tendency to choose early dates for their presidential primaries in order to gain influence in the process. This is called....
Definition
front-loading.
Term
Delegates to both of the national party conventions are:
Definition
wealthier and more educated than most Americans.
Term
The influence of television on the nominating conventions includes...
Definition
scheduling key affairs for prime time.
Term
The Electoral College was designed to...
Definition
produce a nonpartisan president.
Term
In the event that a single candidate  does not get a majority of electoral votes, the Constitution states that the ______ decides the winner.
Definition
House of Representatives
Term
Reapportionment has moved political power from the Northeast to the...
Definition
South and West.
Term
Abolishing the Electoral College...
Definition
would require a constitutional amendment.
Term
Congressional elections differ from those for the presidency because...
Definition
most candidates are not well known.
Term
One of the reasons that congressional incumbents have an electoral advantage is...
Definition
constituency service.
Term
The most common reason for drawing  gerrymandered districts is...
Definition
partisan advantage.
Term
Which of the following is NOT an explanation for why many incumbents loose reelections?
Definition
partisanship 
Term
During midterm elections held in the sixth year of a president's term, the president's party usually....
Definition
loses seats in both houses of Congress.
Term
Which of the following states did Barack Obama carry in the 2008 election?
Definition
Virginia
Term
Voter turnout in the 2008 presidential election was____than in 2006.
Definition
higher(62 percent of eligible citizens participating)
Term
A form of journalism popular in the late nineteenth century that featured pictures, comics, color, and sensationalized, oversimplified news coverage was called...
Definition
yellow journalism.
Term
President_______ was the first to use the radio as a medium to connect with the American public.
Definition
F.D.R.
Term
Most people get their information about politics from...
Definition
television.
Term
The Colbert Report...
Definition
lampoons conservative news talk host Bill O' Reilly.
Term
Gavel-to-gavel coverage of House and Senate sessions is provided by...
Definition
C-SPAN.
Term
In 2008, young voters relied more heavily than older voters on which sources for news about the campaign?
Definition
The Daily Show and the Internet
Term
The so-called news generation gap reveals that...
Definition
those over 65 appear to be more interested in the news.
Term
Local television stations that carry the programming of a national network are called...
Definition
affiliates.
Term
Private ownership of the media in the United States is..
Definition
a mixed blessing, bringing market pressures that make various networks compete for viewers, and detrimental to diversity in the news as smaller stations are brought up.
Term
 Media consolidation has...
Definition
led to fewer owners in the media sphere.
Term
The nightly gaggle of "experts" and pundits on the news...
Definition
has been found to have as much impact os reports from the field.
Term
Narrowcasting has resulted in...
Definition
polarization of public opinion and targeting news programs to specific audiences.
Term
The rise of Spanish  language television and news programing....
Definition
is an example of narrowcasting.
Term
The Federal Communications Commission is empowered with...
Definition
regulating how much market share any individual company can have.
Term
Television and radio are regulated by the federal government because...
Definition
the airwaves a public property .
Term
The Telecommunication Act of 1996 sought to...
Definition
provide an optimal balance between corporate and consumer intrest.
Term
In________, also called the Pentagon Papers Case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that only rare circumstances would prior restraint of the press be permitted.
Definition
New York Times Co. v. U.S.
Term
Embedded journalist were found to have...
Definition
filed stories lacking context and relying on anecdotes. 
Term
A______ is a live event where the president addresses the nation directly.
Definition
press conference 
Term
A factor that permits the modern press to undertake character investigations is a ruling by the Supreme Court that public officials would have to prove actual malice to win a libel suit. This has made it very hard for public officials to sue for libel. The case was...
Definition
New York Times v. Sullivan.
Term
President George W. Bush...
Definition
held a record low number of press conferences.
Term
The president receives the majority of press coverage, and...
Definition
much of it is unfavorable. 
Term
The congressional press corps has more than____ members.
Definition
3000
Term
The lion's share of the media's coverage of Congress is concentrated on....
Definition
the leadership in both houses.
Term
Some have argued that the press has...
Definition
a liberal bias and a conservative bias.
Term
In elections, how much influence do the media have on the public?
Definition
Increasing influence.
Term
Which of the following is a media effect?
Definition
agenda setting
Term
The press has a much greater impact on certain topics, such as...
Definition
events in foreign countries.
Term
The influences of news sources on public opinion are known as....
Definition
media effects.
Term
When covering campaigns, most journalists' deepest bias is...
Definition
a bias to get to the bottom of a good story.
Term
Al-Jazeera...
Definition
broadcast from Qatar.
Term
James Madison's chief concern at the inception of the United States was...
Definition
the formation of political factions.
Term
Citizen involvement in community groups increases social capital....
Definition
and is called civic virtue.
Term
Political scientist David Truman's theory explaining why interest groups form is called...
Definition
disturbance theory.
Term
Disturbance theory posits that...
Definition
groups form to counter the activities of other groups.
Term
The pluralist interest group theorist argued that...
Definition
political power is distributed among a wide array of competing interest groups.
Term
Common Cause, peace groups, environmental organizations, and other such groups are examples of____ interest groups.
Definition
public
Term
Business groups, labor unions, trade associations, and other such groups are examples of_____interest groups.
Definition
economic
Term
Cities, counties, and states actively lobby to Congress to...
Definition
obtain earmarks and obtain block grants.
Term
The Federal Election Campaign Act made PACs legal in...
Definition
1974
Term
One of the most well-known public interest groups that focuses on good government is called....
Definition
Common Cause.
Term
The 60s and 70s were characterized by....
Definition
the rise of public interest groups.
Term
In 1978, a number if conservative groups began to form in response to the successes of a number of liberal interest groups in shaping and defining the public agenda during the previous decade. One such group formed by the Rev. Jerry Falwell was called the...
Definition
Moral Majority
Term
The strong political clout of the AFL-CIO...
Definition
is diminished in the aftermath if the defection of many member union.
Term
Interest groups play an important role in American politics because they....
Definition
provide an avenue for participation, increased representation, increasing public awareness of issues, and help frame the public agenda.
Term
The activities of groups and organizations that seek to influence legislation and persuade political leaders to support a group's positions is most accurately called...
Definition
lobbying.
Term
The most often used lobbying technique at both the state and national level is...
Definition
testifying at legislative hearings.
Term
Almost all interest group lobbying includes....
Definition
contacting government officials.
Term
Lobbying the executive branch has become more important because...
Definition
that branch is easier to lobby that the legislative branch.
Term
Interest groups lobby the federal courts through...
Definition
sponsoring lawsuits and filing amicus curiae briefs and paying for trips for judges to attend " international conferences"
Term
What is a form of pressure group activity that attempts to influence policy by getting individuals to contact their representatives directly?
Definition
grassroots lobbying
Term
Modern grassroots lobbying often involves...
Definition
use of Internet.
Term
Radical protest activism...
Definition
has a strong history in the United States.
Term
Legally sanctioned organizations that allow corporations, labor unions, and interest groups to raise money and make contributions to candidates in national elections are called...
Definition
political action committees(PACs)
Term
Many interest groups become more directly involved in elections through...
Definition
candidate recruitment, rating candidates and officeholders, getting out the vote, and endorsements. 
Term
Which is true of PACs?
Definition
PACs often provide more than half of an incumbent member of Congress's campaign spending.
Term
Interest group ratings of representatives and senators....
Definition
help to reveal a member's ideology.
Term
In 2007, Congress passed the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. Among its key provisions were all of the following EXCEPT....
Definition
a ban on tickets to sporting events.
Term
The Lobbying Disclosure Act requires that... 
Definition
lobbyists should be defined by the percentage of time spent on lobbying activities. 
Term
The key provisions of the Ethics in Government Act....
Definition
deal with financial disclosure and employment after government service.
Term
President Bill Clinton sought to fulfill his promise of heath care reform care reform by creating a task force led by....
Definition
Hillary Clinton 
Term
The intentional course of action followed by government in dealing with problems or matters of concern is called...
Definition
public policy.
Term
Problem recognition...
Definition
is the first stage of the policy-making stage.
Term
A set of problems to which policy makers believe they should be attentive is called...
Definition
an agenda.
Term
Agenda setting is a...
Definition
competitive process.
Term
The crafting of appropriate and acceptable proposed courses of action to ameliorate or resolve public problem is called...
Definition
policy formulation.
Term
Policy adoption...
Definition
gives policies legal force.
Term
Most public policies are implemented by...
Definition
administrative agencies.
Term
Encouraging charitable giving through the use of tax deduction is an______technique.
Definition
incentive. 
Term
One important evaluator of public policy is the...
Definition
Government Accountability Office.
Term
Social Security was created in...
Definition
the 1930s.
Term
The Social Security Act's core...
Definition
is its compulsory old-age insurance program funded jointly by the federal government and employer and employee contributions.
Term
Health-care policy in the U.S. began formally first at the_______to deal with sick and disabled seamen.
Definition
national level
Term
Medicaid was designed to provide health care....
Definition
for the poor.
Term
Income security programs intended to assist persons whose income falls below a designated level are called...
Definition
means-tested programs.
Term
President George W. Bush's efforts to privatize Social Security...
Definition
were resonated well enough with the American public to support such dramatic change.
Term
The cost of Social Security....
Definition
are expected to exceed revenues around 2015 or shortly thereafter.
Term
Unemployment insurance payments....
Definition
vary dramatically by state.
Term
The initial purpose of the food stamp program was to...
Definition
expand domestic markets for farm commodities. 
Term
Three days after the September 11th attacks, President George W. Bush authorized...
Definition
warrant-less eavesdropping on the telephone calls of some Americans.
Term
Americans tend to be very proud of their ability to take advantage of a situation; this is called....
Definition
pragmatism.
Term
The U.S. often avoided participation in foreign affairs through a foreign policy of...
Definition
isolationism.
Term
The strategy of opposing Soviet expansion with military forces, economic assistance, and political influence was known as...
Definition
containment.
Term
The conflict in_____caused Americans to question the policy of containment.
Definition
Vietnam
Term
Which president initially engaged in a relaxation of tensions with Soviets in the late 1960s?
Definition
Richard Nixon
Term
The reduction of tensions and increased contact between the United States and the Soviet Union beginning in the the 1960's was called...
Definition
detente.
Term
President Jimmy Carter actively pursued policies favoring...
Definition
human rights.
Term
The policy that the U.S. would provide military assistance to anti-communist groups fighting against pro-Soviet governments was called the...
Definition
Reagan Doctrine.
Term
In in 1991, the U.S. military attacked...
Definition
Iraq.
Term
President Bill Clinton adopted a policy of active U.S. involvement in international affairs called...
Definition
engagement.
Term
On September 11, who attacked the United States?
Definition
al-Qaeda 
Term
The policy of using preemptive military action against a perceived threat to U.S. interests is known as the...
Definition
Bush Doctrine.
Term
The relationship between the U.S. and the UN can be characterized by all of the following EXCEPT...
Definition
The United Nations withholding money from the U.S.
Term
The war in Iraq...
Definition
was begun over weapons of mass destruction.
Term
The______was created after after 9/11 to combat terrorism at home and abroad.
Definition
Department of Homeland Security
Term
The U.S. accounts for_____precent of the world's total military spending.
Definition
nearly 50
Term
The Cold War ended when communist regimes in Eastern Europe collapsed in...
Definition
1989.
Term
Congress exerts control on foreign policy through all of the following except...
Definition
approving all military deployment.
Term
President______warned against the development of a military-industrial complex.
Definition
Dwight D. Eisenhower 
Term
The______approach advocates the U.S. acting single-handedly to protect its own interests.
Definition
unilateralist
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