AP Government 5.5-Third Party Politics

An emerging third party is struggling to get congressional candidates elected to office. Which of the following is a feature of the American political system that would explain why the party is struggling to achieve its goal?

• Free-rider problem

• Candidate centered campaign

• Voter identification laws

• Single-member districts

The development and persistence of the two-party system in the United States is best accounted for by

• proportional representation

• multimember legislative districts

• single-member legislative districts

• strong party loyalty of elected representatives

An election involving more than two candidates in which the person who receives the most votes is the winner is called

• a majority election

• a proportional election

• a proportional election

• a simple election

Which of the following describes the result in a winner-take-all, single-member-district plurality system?

• The candidate who receives the most votes in the election wins.

• The candidate must receive at least 51% of the votes to win.

• The top two vote-getters compete in a run-off election.

• A political party must receive 51% of the votes to win all of the seats in the district.

An electoral system based on single-member districts is usually characterized by

• strong, centralized political parties and a weak executive

• higher rates of voter turnout than are common in other systems

• legislative representation of each party in proportion to the number of votes it receives

• domination of the legislature by two political parties

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

• the Constitution puts severe restrictions on other parties

• third parties are usually far to the right or left, and Americans are moderates

• 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