Timeline City: Party Realignment

A political science professor is researching the effects that the Fifteenth and Twenty-Sixth Amendments have had on the American political system. Which of the following is the most likely reason the professor is researching these amendments?

• To study the expansion of the right to equal protection under the law

• To study the expansion of voting rights

• To study the expansion of due process rights

• To study the expansion of federal authority over states

Which of the following describes the Twenty-Fourth Amendment?

• It desegregated places of public accommodation.

• It required elections for the United States Senate.

• It reduced barriers to political participation on the basis of gender.

• It eliminated poll taxes.

Compared to voters in a general election, voters in presidential primary elections are

• less likely to be members of political parties

• less likely to be well educated

• likely to be a larger percentage of the voting-age population

• more likely to be members of ethnic or racial minority groups

• more likely to be affluent

Critical elections in the United States typically have occurred

• as a result of a temporary shift in the popular coalition supporting one or both parties

• whenever a third party has secured more than fifteen percent of the presidential vote

• each time a Republican has been elected President

• when groups of voters have changed their traditional patterns of party loyalties

Which of the following scenarios explains how demographic factors affect voter participation in elections?

• Wealthier individuals are more likely to become involved in campaigns because they believe that their actions may influence the candidates.

• Individuals who belong to marginalized groups are likely to participate in elections because their issues are often highlighted by political party leaders.

• Political action committees (PACs) raise money from their donors, which they use to run television advertisements during campaigns.

• Gerrymandered districts are likely to produce competitive districts, which leads to lower turnout rates in elections.

Since the 1960s, support for the Democratic Party has declined the most among which of the following groups?

• Labor union members

• Business leaders

• African Americans

• White southerners

“Any candidate using Facebook can put a campaign message promising one thing in front of one group of voters while simultaneously running an ad with a completely opposite message in front of a different group of voters. The ads themselves are not posted anywhere for the general public to see (this is what’s known as ‘dark advertising’), and chances are, no one will ever be the wiser.

That undermines the very idea of a ‘marketplace of ideas,’ says Ann Ravel, a former member of the Federal Election Commission who has long advocated stricter regulations on digital campaigning. ‘The way to have a robust democracy is for people to hear all these ideas and make decisions and discuss,” Ravel said. ‘With microtargeting, that is not happening.’”

Julia Carrie Wong, "'It Might Work Too Well:' the Dark Art of Political Advertising Online," The Guardian, March 19, 2018.

Which of the following scenarios reflects the most direct effect of the practice described in the passage on the electoral process?

• State legislatures will redraw the boundaries of electoral districts to group like-minded voters together.

• Political parties will rely increasingly on social media advertising to reach different coalitions of voters.

• Political campaigns will operate with greater transparency regarding the sources of their financing and advertising.

• Political parties will play a greater role in recruiting qualified candidates capable of effectively communicating their party’s policy agenda to potential voters.

Since the advent of the television and the elections of the 1950s-1970s, voters in presidential elections have

• become more focused on individual candidates

• increasingly based their votes on televised candidate debates

• become more influenced by party platforms

• become more likely to focus on local rather than national conditions

Since the early 1980s, the Republican Party platform has been increasingly influenced by

• environmental activists

• evangelical Christians

• civil libertarians

• labor unions

Which of the following is LEAST characteristic of the history of political parties in the United States during the twentieth century?

• An increase in the number of organized interest groups

• An increase in the influence of political action committee (PAC) money in congressional elections

• State adoption of direct primary elections

• The splitting of the two major parties into a multiparty system