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37 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Issue publics are subsets of the population that are:
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better informed about an issue than everyone else because it touches them more directly and personally
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What was the support of the Nicaraguan contras by the Reagan and the first Bush administrations:
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The support of the contras was opposed by majorities of Americans
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In theory, ideologies promote consistency among political attitudes by connecting them to a more general principle or set of principles. In practice, ideologies:
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Often combine attitudes linked more by coalitional politics than by principle
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By and large, Americans seem to support a wide range of economic and social policies that commonly are classified as:
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Liberal
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The sharpest differences of opinion between major groups in U.S. politics occur between which group:
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African Americans and whites
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26 percent of the public support increased spending on:
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"welfare"
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60 percent of the public support support increased spending on:
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"aid to the poor"
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Because of the basic constitutional guarantees that allow citizens to express their views and compel government leaders to take those views into account, it is both possible and essential for political leaders and policy advocates to try to:
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Shape and mobilize public opinion on behalf of their causes
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Foreign policy issues tend to be remote from the everyday experiences of most Americans, and few people pay sustained attention to foreign affairs except:
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When Americans are dying overseas
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When asked to place themselves on a scale from very liberal to very conservative, about half the people classify themselves as liberal or conservative. Of the rest:
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About a quarter position themselves in the middle and another quarter do not place themselves at all
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Because the fit between the words and concepts used in polling questions and how people actually think about issues is never perfect, even the most carefully designed question:
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Is subject to some measurement error
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Americans seem to support a wide range of economic and social welfare policies and programs that commonly are classified as __________________ and classify themselves as ________________ when it comes to principles.
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liberal/conservative
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Every president since ________________ has had an in-house pollster taking regular readings of the public's pulse.
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Carter
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Unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise, Americans interpret political phenomena:
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In ways that favor their preferred party
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_________________ is called the third rail of American politics by politicians because, like the high-voltage tracks that power subway trains, if you touch it you are dead.
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Social Security
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Experience with liberal policies moves public opinion in a conservative direction, and experience with conservative policies makes the public more liberal because:
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The inevitable shortcomings of both the liberal and conservative approaches to government eventually make the opposition's ideas more attractive
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The ___________ is the candidate's answer to the voter's question: Why should I vote for this candidate?
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Message
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In predicting the likely results in a presidential general election, the best indicator of success is...
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How voters respond to the competing campaign messages
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When candidates form relatively stable coalitions with other would-be leaders--that is, combine into political parties--they...
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Narrow voter choices to a manageable number and simplify voters' choices across offices and over time
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Systematic evidence suggests that the variations in policy preferences between voters and nonvoters are:
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Not very different and few elections would have different outcomes even if every eligible voter voted
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Most candidates and parties have replaced labor-intensive, door-to-door campaigns with:
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Money-intensive television and direct-mail campaigns
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Taxpayers partially finance which campaigns?
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Presidential campaigns
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The evidence for the claim that campaign money buys influence and elected officials ignore voters to please donors is:
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Tenuous
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A highly competitive election for the House of Representatives is defined as a race in which the winner received:
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55 percent or less of the major-party vote
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One political consultant explained this campaign tactic by saying: "People say they hate _________________. But [this tactic] works. They hate it and they remember it."
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Negative campaigning
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These arrived with the settlers from England, and many of the suffrage restrictions survived the Revolution.
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The practices of selecting leaders by ballot and limiting suffrage
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The Civil War amendments did what?
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Did not effectively extend the vote to African Americans
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Because races tend to be much closer when the advantages of incumbency do not apply:
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Candidates for open seats usually are in a better position to raise funds
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_____________________ was a sign put up by Bill Clinton's campaign manager in 1992 to keep focus on the campaign's most powerful message.
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"the economy, stupid"
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Casting a vote is making a prediction about the future:
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That electing one candidate will produce a better outcome in some relevant sense than electing another candidate
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The national party organizations are best characterized as _____ organizations controlled by _____.
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fragmented...elected officials
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Ultimately, how did many early observers expect presidential elections to be conducted?
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By the House of Representatives (after failure in the Electoral College)
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How many parties do most modern democracies have?
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Three or more
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“Proportional representation” is the name given to ________________.
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An electoral system in which legislative seats are awarded to candidates or parties in proportion to the percentage of votes received
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Why did voter turnout drop so drastically during the Era of Good Feelings?
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Party networks disintegrated under one-party rue and there was little effort to get out the vote.
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The term caucus refers to __________________.
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A closed meeting of a political or legislative group to choose candidates for office or decide issues of policy.
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What triggered the end of the Fourth Party System?
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The Great Depression
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