5.3 & 5.4 - How Political Parties Change and Adapt

Which of the following statements best describes the organization of the two major political parties in the United States?

• Parties have no organization except at the national level.

• Parties are centrally organized to provide a smooth transition from one national campaign to the next.

• Parties are organized much like a large corporation, in that decisions flow from national to state and local levels.

• Local and state parties have virtually no power in the party system.

• Separate and largely independent party organizations exist at national, state, and local levels.

Which of the following statements about political parties and the United States Constitution is true?

• According to the Constitution, only two major political parties may exist at any time.

• The Constitution requires political parties to be restricted by both federal and state law.

• The Constitution indicates that political party leaders at the national level be elected by political party leaders at the state level.

• The Constitution specifies that political party leaders must be native-born United States citizens.

• The issue of political parties is not addressed in the Constitution.

Which of the following factors best accounts for the rise of interest groups and the decline of political parties in recent years?

• National parties have become too closely identified with controversial issues.

• Court decisions have restricted the political parties' abilities to recruit new-members.

• It is less expensive to join an interest group than to join a political party.

• Interest groups have been more successful in avoiding negative press coverage than have political parties.

• Interest groups are better able to articulate specific policy positions than are political parties.

Which of the following describes a fundamental difference between political parties and interest groups?

• Political parties are prohibited from sponsoring campaign advertisements, and interest groups are not.

• Political parties represent broad arrays of issues, whereas interest groups are more likely to focus on narrow sets of issues.

• Political parties are more likely to focus on national politics, whereas interest groups focus on local politics.

• Political parties tend to have strength in particular regions, whereas the power of interest groups is more consistent across states.

• Political parties are required to disclose their campaign finance activities, whereas interest groups are not.

Political parties serve which of the following functions in the United States?

I. Informing the public about political issues

II. Mobilizing voters and getting them to the polls

III. Organizing diverse interests within society

IV. Establishing the rules governing financial contributions to political candidates

• II only

• I and II only

• III and IV only

• I, II, and III only

• I, III, and IV only

Which of the following is the most accurate statement about political parties in the United States?

• Parties increasingly identify themselves with coherent ideologies to attract large blocs of voters.

• The percentage of voters identifying themselves as either Democrats or Republicans has been declining since the 1970's.

• National party organizations are generally the strongest party organizations.

• It is increasingly difficult for third parties to gain more than two percent of the popular vote.

• Most candidates prefer to run as independents rather than as Democrats or Republicans.

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 loss of party patronage power

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

The concept of realignment refers to changes in

• the United States system of international alliances

• the social bases of the parties’ voting support

• the media’s criticism of the president and Congress

• spending priorities in the federal budget

• the rate of voter participation

The concept of “critical elections” is most closely associated with

• the electoral college process

• elections during wartime

• the nomination process

• economic recession

• party realignment

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

• environmental activists

• evangelical Christians

• civil libertarians

• labor unions

• active military officers