Ch13 Political Parties

Which of the following represents a consequence of candidate-centered electoral campaigns?

• A decrease in the role of political parties in campaign management

• A decrease in voter outreach and mobilization efforts

Which of the following best explains how most candidates are recruited to run for office?

• Political parties usually recruit and train people at the local level they believe are most fit to run for office.

• Candidates for office usually first work as lawyers for political parties before running for office.

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

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

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

A major difference between political parties and interest groups is that

• political parties seek to gain control of government, while interest groups seek to influence public policy

• political parties usually focus on one issue, while interest groups focus mainly on many issues

Interest groups and political parties both promote United States democracy by

• lobbying members of Congress

• linking citizens to the political process

Which of the following best explains how parties link citizens to the electoral process?

• Parties send volunteers to knock on doors to register voters.

• Parties recruit candidates to run for election.

Political parties serve which of the following functions in the United States? Check all that apply

• Informing the public about political issues

• Mobilizing voters and getting them to the polls

• Establishing the rules governing financial contributions to political candidates

The primary reason for the current existence of only two major political parties in the United States is that

• a winner-take-all electoral system makes it difficult for new parties to emerge and survive

• voters naturally think of themselves as either liberals or conservatives

All of the following are examples of a linkage institution influencing the policy process EXCEPT

• the Sierra Club lobbying the Environmental Protection Agency

• an exposé by the national media on the housing crisis

• the president delivering the State of the Union speech

• the Republican Party pursuing a balanced budget amendment

In which of the following ways do political parties primarily rely on to finance their election activities?

• Parties solicit funds from private donors who oftentimes contribute large sums of money.

• Parties rely primarily on tax revenue.