Chapter 10 Practice Test - Political Parties

Name:

Multiple Choice
Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

Which of the following suggests why parties are important in the American political system?

a.	they help to provide experienced and competent leadership for government at all levels of the political system
b.	they help to recruit candidates for public office
c.	party politics plays a major role in organizing and managing the government
d.	All of these are good reasons why parties are important in our system.

Which of the following best describes the relationship between interest groups and political parties in the American system?

a.	interest groups control the heart and soul of the major and minor parties, and use their influence to get new laws passed
b.	interest groups, along with the media and other concerned citizens, are one of the major influences on political parties today
c.	interest groups attempt to do away with the building of coalitions within political movements
d.	interest groups use financial support of young Democrat and young Republican clubs to attempt to raise a "new generation" of politicians that will bend to the will of the interest groups when their support is needed in years to come

The United States political party system is best described as

a.	a multi-party system.
b.	a two-major-party system.
c.	a proportional representation system.
d.	a capitalist, or free enterprise system.

One-party political systems are most typically found in nations with

a.	capitalist economic systems.
b.	authoritarian governments.
c.	democratic governments.
d.	none of these.

Which of the following is an accurate statement about multi-party political systems?

a.	Governments change often over the years when there are multiple parties in a political system.
b.	Most multiparty systems are unstable, with continually changing coalitions of parties competing for power.
c.	Parties are often linked with different religious groups.
d.	All of these are accurate statements about multi-party systems.

Which of the following is true about two-party systems?

a.	There is little consensus among the people about the basic principles of their government.
b.	Most two-party political systems are unstable because they change governments so often.
c.	Smaller parties usually have little trouble competing with the larger parties, since election laws make sure that the large parties have no advantages, politically, over the third parties.
d.	None of these statements are true about two-party systems.

Which of the following is a reason that third parties are important to the U.S. political system?

a.	they may give some people a legitimate outlet for their anger at "the system"
b.	they are often sources of new political ideas and indicators of change
c.	an increase in their support may indicate growing public concern over an issue
d.	all of these are reasons why third parties are important to our political system

Political parties that advocate far-reaching plans for change, usually guided by a rigid, all-important set of ideas are called

a.	personality parties.
b.	third, or minor parties.
c.	ideological, or missionary parties.
d.	none of these

Which of the following would you most likely NOT find in the U.S.?

a.	election of public officials through a system of proportional representation
b.	a two-major-party political system
c.	political consensus and/or compromise
d.	It’s not likely you would find any of these in the U.S.

10.

Which of the following would be classified as an ideological, “missionary” third party in U.S. politics?

a.	American Nazi Party
b.	Communist Party of the U.S.
c.	Prohibition Party
d.	all of these are ideological third parties in the U.S.

11.

The term "solid South" refers to

a.	the post-Civil War era, when voters in southern states overwhelmingly supported Democratic candidates.
b.	the drinking habits of members of Congress from southern states.
c.	the support that candidates get when they sing "Dixie."
d.	all of these

12.

Which of the following events had a long-lasting influence on the evolution of the party system in the U.S.?

a.	the debates that surrounded whether or not to ratify the newly-written U.S. Constitution in the late 1780s
b.	slavery and the abolitionist movement
c.	the Civil War
d.	all of these

13.

Which of the following is an example of a “splinter party” that played a role in a presidential election?

a.	the Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush won the presidency when he was awarded it by the Republican majority sitting on the Supreme Court in 2000
b.	the Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy won the presidency after unlawful election activities by officials in Illinois in 1960
c.	Theodore Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party split the Republican Party vote in the presidential election of 1912, allowing the Democratic candidate to win the election
d.	All of these

14.

Which of the following is a true statement about post-World War Two politics in the U.S.?

a.	As a result of the population increases in the North and East, those states have gained in political power in Congress
b.	Congress and the Republican Party (and even the Supreme Court) have become much more liberal.
c.	There has been an increase in the power of the Republican Party in presidential elections as conservative southern whites gained political strength.
d.	All of these are true statements about politics in the U.S. in recent decades.

15.

Support for political parties has declined in recent decades because

a.	more voters are choosing to vote for a “split ticket.”
b.	more voters are choosing to identify themselves as political independents.
c.	more jobs in government are available through merit employment instead of political patronage.
d.	All of the above

16.

A group of like-minded citizens organized to win elections, control government, and set public policy is called a(n)

a.	political party.
b.	interest group.
c.	single-issue group.
d.	broker party.

17.

A temporary alliance between groups with differing interests or points of view (often, in order to win an election) is called a(n)

a.	consensus.
b.	patronage.
c.	coalition.
d.	interest group.

18.

Which of the following would be the result of a democratic political system that allowed proportional representation?

a.	few, if any, smaller political parties would find themselves able to gain enough votes to be represented in governmental bodies
b.	presidential candidates would have to come from minor (or third) parties, if they hoped to win
c.	it would be easier for smaller parties to elect representatives to the U.S. Congress
d.	all of the candidates for major public offices would come from the two major parties

19.

Which of the following is descriptive of a "broker party" in U.S. politics?

a.	they are more concerned with gaining votes than maintaining rigid ideologies
b.	they are considered to be in the political "moderate" range
c.	parties that are generally in the political center, but still allow room for differing individual viewpoints
d.	None of these describes broker parties in U.S. politics.

20.

Which of the following best describes the difference between Republicans and Democrats in the American political system?

a.	Democrats are all liberal, bleeding-heart do-gooders who want every woman to have an abortion and hope to take away everyone’s firearms; Republicans are not at all like this.
b.	Republicans are all wealthy white folks who love their big mansions and their guns and religion more than anything else; Democrats are not like this at all.
c.	Democrats support all Americans having a welfare lifestyle, living off the taxes of other hard-working Americans; Republicans hope to do away with everyone’s civil rights, civil liberties, and elect extremists like Rush Limbaugh or Glen Beck president.
d.	None of these comes even close to describing the difference between Republicans and Democrats, but they are examples of some of the stereotypes used by people to describe their opponents in the "other party."