Chapter 9 Key Terms Test Form A

a process of cooperation through compromise

• bipartisanship
• minority party
• party-in-the-electorate
• two-party system

an election that represents a sudden, clear, and long-term shift in voter allegiances

• critical election
• majority party
• party polarization
• party realignment

a condition in which one or more houses of the legislature is controlled by the party in opposition to the executive

• divided government
• first-past-the-post
• party-in-government
• reapportionment

a system in which the winner of an election is the candidate who wins the greatest number of votes cast, also known as plurality voting

• divided government
• first-past-the-post
• party-in-the-electorate

the manipulation of legislative districts in an attempt to favor a particular candidate

• first-past-the-post
• party-in-government
• two-party system
• gerrymandering

a type of election in which the winning candidate must receive at least 50 percent of the votes, even if a run-off election is required

• gerrymandering
• majoritarian voting
• party organization
• party platform

the legislative party with over half the seats in a legislative body, and thus significant power to control the agenda

• majority party
• majoritarian voting
• party organization

the legislative party with less than half the seats in a legislative body

• bipartisanship
• majority party
• minority party
• moderate

an individual who falls in the middle of the ideological spectrum

• first-past-the-post
• gerrymandering
• moderate
• third parties

individuals who represent themselves in public as being part of a party

• majoritarian voting
• moderate
• party identifiers
• party organization