CFU #3: Political Parties

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

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

• Most candidates who run for office are recruited by political leaders to do so because they are famous.

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

• Most candidates running for office are selected after earning merit working for the government.

Answer explanation

Political parties usually seek out individuals they know through local networks and recruit them to run for office.

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.

• Parties research how best to frame issues in campaigns.

• Parties determine the leadership of congressional committees.

Answer explanation

Parties actively seek to register voters, which links citizens to the electoral process.

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

• Parties rely primarily on tax revenue.

• By winning elections, parties are able to fund government programs they care about.

• Parties sell posters, stickers, buttons, and other products.

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

Answer explanation

Donations are the largest source of funding for most political parties.

“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.

Answer explanation

The practice of dark advertising described in the passage allows political campaigns to target different coalitions of voters simultaneously, allowing the campaigns to broaden their base of support.

“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 political processes or behaviors is most directly affected by the development described in the passage?

• Partisan voting in Congress

• Voter mobilization

• Campaign finance reform

• Regional party realignments

Answer explanation

The passage describes the effect of targeted campaign messages on different groups of voters, directly affecting voter mobilization efforts.

“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.

The practice of “microtargeting” described in the passage is an even more powerful campaign tool for parties if they are able to

• command greater loyalty to their party platform

• attract a large audience for their national party conventions

• develop a unified message that appeals to a majority of voters

• collect and manage large databases of information on specific groups of voters

Answer explanation

The practice of microtargeting through dark advertising on social media is dependent on parties having sufficient information about different voters to craft messages that appeal to different groups.

Based on the data in the chart, which of the following best explains a likely impact of third-party votes in the 2016 election?

• The third-party vote in the three states depicted in the chart helped Donald Trump acquire enough electoral votes to win the election.

• The third parties were able to gain seats in Congress because of the large number of votes they received in the three states depicted in the chart.

• The third-party vote counts in the three states depicted in the chart forced the election to a tie, forcing the House of Representatives to cast the deciding vote.

• The third-party vote counts forced the three states depicted in the chart into runoff elections to decide who would be the winner of each state.

Answer explanation

The data show that third-party candidates won a substantial number of votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, which could have been one of the major contributing factors to the victory of Donald Trump in 2016.

Based on the data in the chart and your knowledge of presidential elections, which of the following is the best strategy that Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump could have used to pull votes away from the third-party candidates, Jill Stein and Gary Johnson?

• Trump or Clinton could have promised to work with members of third parties in Congress if elected.

• Trump or Clinton could have agreed to appoint Stein or Johnson to Cabinet positions after the election.

• Trump or Clinton could have adopted issues that were popular with Stein’s and Johnson’s voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin as part of their campaigns.

• Trump and Clinton could have agreed to include Stein and Johnson in presidential debates to show that they were open to discussing issue important to third parties.

Answer explanation

The best strategy Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump could have adopted was to incorporate policy issues into their campaigns that were important to Jill Stein’s and Gary Johnson’s voters in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Based on the data in the chart, which of the following strategies would best help third-party candidates like Jill Stein and Gary Johnson increase their chances of winning elected office?

• Allowing third-party candidates to create political action groups to raise money when campaigning in swing states

• Employing campaign managers to develop get-out-the-vote strategies for campaigns in swing states

• Developing strong party platforms that would attract independent and undecided voters in swing states

• Lobbying state legislatures to shift from a winner-take-all system to a proportional voting system

Answer explanation

The best way to help third-party candidates like Jill Stein and Gary Johnson increase their chances of winning elected office is to lobby state legislatures to move from a winner-take-all system to a proportional voting system. A proportional voting system would allow third parties greater chances of winning elected office because they could win votes in the electoral college based on the proportion of votes they captured.