Deck 11: Voting, Campaigns, and Elections

Question 1

The decision of representative democracies to hold regular, free, and competitive elections represents ______.

A) an imperfect solution to the problem of delegation
B) the perfect solution to the problem of delegation
C) an imperfect solution to the problem of transaction costs
D) a perfect solution to coordination problems

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The 2018 midterm election ______.

A) allowed Democrats to recapture control of the House of Representatives so there was unified government
B) saw Democrats take control of the House, while the Senate remained in Republican hands
C) maintained the status quo of a Republican majority in the House of Representatives and a Democratic majority in the Senate
D) maintained a Republican majority in the House of Representatives but resulted in a 50-50 tie in the Senate

Answer 2

B

Question 3

A republic differs from a democracy because ______.

A) republics are generally small and the people are generally responsible for making all of the major decisions
B) democracies have parliamentary governments and the people are directly responsible for making all major decisions
C) democracies have a large number of interests and one person is selected to mediate between the competing interests
D) republics delegate power to a smaller number of elected citizens and republics often have a greater number of citizens and a greater sphere of country

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Turnout for the 2016 presidential election was about ______.

A) 60%
B) 30%
C) 75%
D) 19%

Question 5

Which of the following is a way that elections ameliorate the problem of delegation of authority?

A) They give ordinary citizens a say in who represents them.
B) Elections are supervised by citizen judges.
C) They discourage those who want to replace officeholders from monitoring and reporting on the activities of elected officials.
D) The requirement that all citizens must vote ensures that the electorate is representative of all interests.

Question 6

The Civil War amendments ______.

A) ensured universal suffrage for all African Americans
B) did not effectively extend the vote to African Americans
C) ensured universal suffrage for African American males who owned property
D) provided universal suffrage for women

Question 7

The sheer size of the new country meant that if Americans were going to govern themselves, ______.

A) self-government by direct democracy was the way to ensure that all of the major interests in society were represented
B) direct democracy was going to be impossible and the people would have to delegate their authority to a small number of representative agents
C) they would need to ensure that the President had a strong set of powers so that he could exercise the authority of the federal government throughout the country
D) only a dictatorship could possibly reconcile the competing economic and religious interests in the states

Question 8

Why is it logical for citizens to not vote?

A) The benefits are collective and they enjoy the payoff even if they have not helped to produce them by voting.
B) The benefits are individual, but since governments do not provide many tangible benefits, the costs of voting outweigh the benefits.
C) Votes do not really matter because politicians can manipulate the public into believing whatever they want.
D) The system of separated institutions sharing powers provides more influence to the unelected branches of the government, such as the judiciary and the bureaucracy.

Question 9

What did Alexis de Tocqueville suggest about voting rights in the United States?

A) Once electoral rights are extended to one group, there will be demands to extend them to another group and that will lead eventually to universal suffrage.
B) Once electoral rights had been expanded to one group, the government agents would realize the folly of their decision and fight even harder against future expansions.
C) Because people always act in a self-interested manner, it would require strong government laws to prevent those in government from disenfranchising their political opponents.
D) Universal suffrage would lead to the downfall of republican government because factional competition would become too intense for the political system to handle.

Question 10

The constellation of costs and benefits that surround the decision of individuals to vote raises what type of collective action problem?

A) transaction costs
B) tragedy of the commons
C) free riding
D) pareto optimization

Question 11

Elections allow ordinary citizens to, in aggregate, ______.

A) essentially support the status quo
B) express how they feel about government although elected officials do not take the voters' views into account when they make policy choices
C) avoid working for the duration of Election Day
D) reward or punish elected officials for their performance in office

Question 12

Every expansion of suffrage since the adoption of the Constitution has had to do which of the following?

A) be unanimously approved in the Senate
B) be unanimously approved in the House
C) overcome both philosophical objections and mundane calculations of political advantage
D) be enforced at the state level with the federal military

Question 13

Pluralist politics is all about building coalitions, which means ______.

A) getting people to agree to cooperate in elections in order to make governing possible
B) that it is essential to make sure that the political party contains as many interests as possible
C) getting people to agree on an action even in the absence of agreement on the purposes of the action
D) getting people to agree to an action as long as there is an agreement about the purpose of the action

Question 14

When was universal suffrage for White men achieved?

A) in the 1780s at the end of the Revolution
B) in the 1860s at the outset of the Civil War
C) in the early 1800s with Jefferson's first term as President
D) in the 1840s, in the wake of the triumph of Jacksonian democracy

Question 15

Why did property restrictions and voting restrictions exist in the colonies?

A) Too many poor people were well-educated in the public schools and this threatened to upset the social order.
B) Members of the upper-class minority took for granted their right to govern and were not about to risk the existing social order by extending voting rights.
C) The colonial charters required the colonies to follow the same rules and procedures for voting as in England.
D) Since land was easier to acquire and more evenly distributed, royal authorities imposed restrictions to limit the ability of the colonists to gain experience with self-government.

Question 16

Universal suffrage for women was achieved ______.

A) after the Civil War with the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment
B) through state-level action alone; the national government has never formally changed the Constitution but has simply reinterpreted it to include women
C) in 1920 with the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment
D) at the end of World War II with the adoption of the Universal Women's Suffrage Act

Question 17

Which of the following contributed to overcoming resistance to women's suffrage?

A) nonviolent resistance by suffragettes
B) the expansion of education for both sexes
C) the burgeoning socialist movement of the 1910s
D) the entry of women into the military in World War I

Question 18

Lowering the voting age to 18 in 1971 reflected ______.

A) Supreme Court decisions that the drinking age and the voting age needed to be the same
B) a deep desire among political reformers to increase electoral turnout
C) political needs provoked by the Vietnam War as youth argued if they were old enough to die, they were old enough to vote
D) regulations issued by the Department of Justice following the passage of the Voting Rights Act that any discriminatory barriers in elections needed to be removed

Question 19

Which of the following is true about voting in the United States prior to the American Revolution?

A) Every colony imposed a property qualification for voting.
B) Most of the colonies allowed women to vote.
C) There were robust laws protecting voting rights for minorities.
D) Voting was not introduced because all of the major decisions were made in England.

Question 20

Opponents have voiced numerous objections for expanding the franchise, but what has not happened as a result of reducing barriers to voting?

A) Those who do not own property have not despoiled those who do own property.
B) There was a decline in the percentage of those eligible to turn out and vote.
C) Incumbents continue to win reelection at very high rates.
D) It did not prevent a century of racial discrimination at the polls.

Question 21

Why are the personal characteristics of the candidates important to voters?

A) They are pieces of information that are readily accessible so people can make generalizations.
B) Since much of what these agents do is out of public sight, these give clues about a candidate's personal values.
C) They are closely tied to partisanship so it reinforces preexisting biases.
D) It is an easy piece of information, but it really has very little effect on voting outcomes.

Question 22

The assorted demographic and institutional influences on voting produce an electorate ______.

A) in which wealthy, well-educated, older White people are underrepresented and poor, uneducated, young, and non-White people are overrepresented
B) in which wealthy, well-educated, older White people are overrepresented and poor, uneducated, young, and non-White people are underrepresented
C) in which wealthy, well-educated, older White people and poor, uneducated, young, and non-White people are equally represented
D) in which wealthy, well-educated, older White people and poor, uneducated, young, and non-White people are equally underrepresented

Question 23

Voters who coalesce around causes such as gun control or gun rights are ______.

A) typically just manipulated by a special interest group
B) irrational supporters of politicians
C) not frequent voters
D) single-issue voters

Question 24

What lessons can we draw from President Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns about voter turnout?

A) The most effective way to get large numbers of voters to the polls is television advertising.
B) Sending a handwritten letter to every potential voter is a powerful tool to encourage people to vote.
C) Even spending large amounts of money on mobilization efforts has a very small effect on campaign outcomes.
D) Massive and effective turnout efforts by candidates and parties can get potentially free-riding supporters to the polls.

Question 25

What factors have the strongest influence on voting?

A) race and gender
B) income and age
C) age and education
D) race and education

Question 26

What is the most important information shortcut voters use to make predictions?

A) endorsements
B) religious affiliation
C) party label
D) advertisements about specific policy proposals

Question 27

How do scholars measure partisanship?

A) by asking respondents in polls which party they voted for in the last election.
B) by asking respondents in polls whether they donated money to a candidate in the last election
C) by requiring respondents in polls submit to MRIs to measure deep cognitive attachments to the parties
D) by asking respondents a series of questions that place them on a 7-point scale

Question 28

Which of the following statements about partisanship in the 2016 election is correct?

A) There were a large number of crossover voters as about 25% of self-identified Democrats voted for Governor Romney.
B) President Obama won reelection in 2012 by winning the support of Independents because of a large number of Democratic defections.
C) About 90% of partisans voted their own party's presidential candidate while independents split their votes.
D) Weaker partisans were more likely to vote for a presidential candidate from the other party while Independent voters were more likely to vote for third party candidates.

Question 29

Which of the following statements about candidates is accurate?

A) Every member of the House of Representatives faces a qualified individual because many Americans feel the pull of public service.
B) The quality of House and Senate candidates varies with their prospects for success.
C) The pool of presidential candidates is rarely affected by expectations.
D) Since raising money is a major challenge, senators rarely face qualified candidates.

Question 30

Other things being equal, the voting rates for men and women ______.

A) had been roughly equal for decades but women are now more likely to vote
B) vary depending on the salient issues in a given election
C) depend on context as greater percentages of men vote in midterm elections, while greater percentages of women vote in presidential elections
D) are heavily conditioned by race and region so it is hard to draw clear conclusions from the data

Question 31

What was the effect of more than a dozen states adopting a requirement that voters show a picture ID at the polls before the 2012 election?

A) It raised the cost of participation for poor and minority voters who are more likely not to possess driver's licenses or passports.
B) It reduced the cost of participation for wealthy White voters who are more likely to have a driver's license or a passport.
C) It did not really have an effect because equal numbers of Republican and Democratic states adopted these new rules so the effects canceled each other out.
D) There was no effect on the cost-benefit calculation for voters because everyone has either a driver's license or a passport.

Question 32

Issue voting is ______.

A) closely tied to socioeconomic status
B) made easier by party labels
C) not affected by party labels
D) has been rendered obsolete by party labels

Question 33

Party labels provide cues for performance voting so voters can easily ______.

A) vote based solely on the performance of the voter's retirement account or other investments
B) vote for the party based on how the voter thinks the government is doing well
C) vote in a national election based on how the voter's municipal officials are performing
D) vote at every available election opportunity

Question 34

What have scholars discovered about voting based on a number of different field experiments?

A) telephone calls stressing the importance of voting increased turnout the most
B) television advertising about the closeness of the election had the greatest effect on turnout
C) personal visits combined with a message about the closeness of the election increased turnout the most
D) Americans have become so apathetic that there is very little that can be done to increase voter turnout above 50%

Question 35

The differences in voter turnout in the United States ______.

A) are explained completely by individual differences in resources and psychological involvement
B) are explained completely by the institutional context in which elections are conducted
C) are explained by individual differences in resources as well as the institutional context of elections
D) have largely disappeared since the United States implemented a system of mandatory voting with the goal of improving policy outcomes

Question 36

Campaigns in the United States are ______.

A) intensely pragmatic, opportunistic affairs, highly variable because they must adapt to circumstances
B) tightly scripted around economic issues because that is the only thing voters really care about
C) hard to understand because of the fact there are so many elections making it hard to find common themes
D) increasingly being replaced with short periods of campaigning where all of the candidates attend the same events so the voters can make side-by-side comparisons

Question 37

A focus group is ______.

A) a group of voters who are observed as they discuss political candidates, issues, and events
B) a group of voters a politician tries to sway away from the opposition candidate
C) the general name for the group of campaign workers who keep the candidate focused on the message of the campaign
D) a targeted segment of voters that politicians believe are crucial for victory

Question 38

Campaign messages ______.

A) tend to have little effect on elections in the United States because the effects cancel out
B) are chosen to match the strengths and interests of the candidate so it is easier to remain on message
C) depend on two things: the national context and who is running against them
D) are developed on an ad hoc basis and are very rarely rooted in any type of research

Question 39

Casting a vote is making a prediction about the future ______.

A) that electing one particular candidate will produce a better outcome
B) that one candidate will implement the policies you want exactly as you would like
C) that your preferred candidate is going to win
D) that if you do not vote, your preferred candidate is going to lose

Question 40

Which of the following is not part of how voters assess performance efficiently?

A) Personal experiences supply a good deal of politically relevant information.
B) Voters can compare the future policy options each party represents.
C) The news media can influence voters' information by giving a greater emphasis to certain issues.
D) Voters systematically collect information because each voter has the potential to be decisive.

Question 41

If there is no real chance that a vote will be decisive, it is of no consequence whether the vote is right or wrong. Ignorance, like abstention from voting, is rational.

Question 42

Broadly speaking, campaign finance operates through two parallel systems: ______.

A) money given directly to candidates, which is regulated, and money spent outside of the candidate's campaign, which generally is unregulated
B) negative advertising and positive advertising
C) grassroots systems and Astroturf systems
D) money given directly to candidates, which is regulated, and money donated to the candidate from outside the United States, which is generally regulated

Question 43

Which of the following did not happen as a result of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act?

A) Parties responded by raising even larger amounts of hard money.
B) It significantly weakened the parties and allowed interest groups to play a more influential role in elections.
C) Soft money donors redirected the contributions to 527 and 501(c) committees.
D) There was a significant increase in nonparty independent expenditures in elections.

Question 44

The experiences of Michael Dukakis in 1988 or Mitt Romney in 2012 illustrate that ______.

A) candidates can be successful even without having a particularly memorable message
B) the actions of candidates can convey a message subverting the one intended
C) a campaign cannot succeed if they do not spend a significant amount of money promoting their message
D) it is important to develop a message and communicate it before your opponent does

Question 45

Which of the following statements about campaign spending is true?

A) All political consultants know the most effective way to use scarce campaign resources.
B) Free media describes the campaign coverage candidates receive from news media.
C) House and Senate candidates utilize the same strategies for reaching voters.
D) Candidates spend most of their budget on campaign literature that is delivered to voters' doorsteps.

Question 46

Why has campaign spending increased in the United States?

A) Eliminating restrictions on campaign contributions has made it easier for candidates to raise more money.
B) The shift from television advertising to labor-intensive mobilization efforts requires more resources.
C) The stakes represented by elections are so high because decisions from the federal government affect every aspect of American social and economic life.
D) New campaign finance laws that provide full public financing for all federal candidates has increased the competitiveness of elections since each side is equally matched.

Question 47

Which of the following is not considered one of the staples of political advertising?

A) repetition
B) simplicity and symbolism
C) exaggeration
D) sophistication

Question 48

The effect of the Supreme Court decision in Buckley v. Valeo (1976) was that ______.

A) limits on aggregate contributions from individuals was unconstitutional
B) reporting requirements and contribution limits were constitutional, but limits on spending violated the free speech protections of the First Amendment
C) Congress did not have the authority to establish campaign finance laws because elections were regulated by the states
D) corporations were entitled to the same free speech protections in the First Amendment as individuals

Question 49

Financing the major campaigns for federal offices in the United States privately creates what kind of dilemma?

A) Meaningful elections require money, but the pursuit of money can subvert the purpose of elections.
B) Candidates need to raise so much money for their campaigns that they have little time to interact with voters.
C) Money has become so important that the candidates who can raise the most money always wins.
D) The pool of candidates is limited to the wealthy who can self-finance their own campaigns.

Question 50

Presidential campaigns begin shortly after the midterm elections, if not earlier, because ______.

A) it is important for the candidates to engage the public while the public is still excited about politics-like right after the midterm elections
B) most presidential primaries now take place very early in the election year
C) the public is especially tuned in to politics during the fall because of the free time associated with the Thanksgiving Holiday
D) presidential candidates are often members of the House, so once the election for the House has ended, the members of the House who want to run for president can focus on that race

Question 51

When does campaign money matter?

A) It is essential in presidential elections because there is a declining amount of free information.
B) It is critical in presidential primaries because rationally ignorant voters cannot rely on party labels and the calendar has been compressed.
C) It is important in House and Senate elections because which candidate raises the most money always wins.
D) It is especially important in Court elections because they are the only true national elections in the United States.

Question 52

Spending in presidential campaigns ______.

A) is increasingly devoted to efforts that will mobilize voters more effectively
B) is distributed nationally because that is the only way to win the national popular vote
C) is focused on television advertising especially in the battleground states
D) has decreased substantially since all candidates accept public financing

Question 53

What role do debates play in modern campaigns?

A) They are especially important for independents and candidates from minor parties who may not have enough financial resources for television advertising.
B) The debates provide an invaluable opportunity for frontrunners to work on developing their message.
C) With the growth of television and Internet advertising, few voters watch debates so they are becoming increasingly rare.
D) They rarely cover new ground but remain popular because they show presidential candidates up close under sustained pressure.

Question 54

The argument for limiting suffrage boiled down to this: Only the independent and virtuous were fit to govern, and the best evidence of independence and virtue was being a property-holding, White, Protestant male.

Question 55

Many Americans today do not feel faithfully represented even though the United States holds more elections for public offices than any other nation in the world.

Question 56

Successful political campaigns ______.

A) rely exclusively on television advertising to reach voters because this is the way most voters acquire political information
B) try to win every vote so that the candidate can claim a mandate for the policies highlighted in the campaign
C) work to frame the choice in a way that underlines their candidate's strengths and plays down his or her weaknesses
D) must rely on publicly available information because the use of any commercial information violates federal privacy laws

Question 57

The decline in participation between the 1960s and the 1990s resulted from a dramatic increase in public cynicism and mistrust since the 1960s.

Question 58

The United States replaced its republican government with a democratic one.

Question 59

Which of the following statements about spending in House elections is true?

A) The more challengers spend, the more likely they are to win, but few spend enough to be competitive.
B) House incumbents have such an advantage that no matter how much money challengers raise it is not enough.
C) The more money incumbents spend, the greater their chances of winning reelection.
D) The only route to success for challengers is raising and spending more money than incumbents.

Question 60

What does research say about the influence of negative ads in campaigns?

A) They significantly diminish voter turnout because people say they dislike the ads.
B) They inform people about both candidates and may also increase interest in elections.
C) The overall effect of negative ads is outweighed by candidates running positive ads.
D) Negative ads are rare because there is little evidence that voters remember the ads.

Question 61

Why do Americans insist on the right to vote but then frequently not vote in elections? Make sure you frame your answer in terms of collective action and collective benefits.

Question 62

Explain the importance of party identification for voting behavior.

Question 63

How do individual and institutional forces affect turnout in the United States?

Question 64

Proponents of the original Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 hoped to rein in the cost of campaigns, and the flow of campaign money has started lagging behind the pace of inflation.

Question 65

As negative ads have proven effective, campaigns counter their effect by trying to respond as quickly as possible before they could sink in.

Question 66

Elections allow citizens, as principals, to pick their agents and to fire and replace those whose performance falls short.

Question 67

Explain the effect of negative advertising in the U.S. elections.

Question 68

Explain de Tocqueville's argument that once electoral rules are extended, universal suffrage is the ultimate outcome.

Question 69

U.S. elections do not work well in preserving American democracy.

Question 70

Compare and contrast the manner in which House and Senate campaigns allocate campaign resources.

Question 71

Does the quality of House and Senate candidates vary with the prospect of success in a given election? Explain why or why not.

Question 72

There are not enough independents and partisan defectors to keep party identification alone from determining who wins or loses elections.

Question 73

Most voters drastically simplify their electoral evaluations and decisions by developing a consistent bias in favor of the candidates of one of the major parties, making the party label the most influential "endorsement" of all.

Question 74

A select minority of races attract heavy independent spending.

Question 75

Elections also create incentives for entrepreneurs and organizations to solve the free-rider and coordination problems that beset citizens acting as collective principals.

Question 76

How have Supreme Court decisions affected campaign spending?

Question 77

Typically, half of Senate incumbents and 70-80% of House incumbents win by default because their opponents spend too little money to make a race of it.

Question 78

The Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission imposed significant limitations on independent spending.

Question 79

Explain why both those in favor of and opposed to the Vietnam War supported lowering the voting age to 18.

Question 80

Discuss the logic behind and the risks associated with the decision to make the American system, in Madison's words, a "republic," and explain the role of regular, free, and competitive elections as a solution to the problems of delegation.