Chapter 4: Making It: The Electoral Game

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following strategies is typically employed by challengers in congressional races?

A. invoking wedge issues

B. stressing partisan loyalty

C. sponsoring drives to increase voter turnout

D. underscoring long-standing partisan values

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Asking the Right Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Which of the following strategies is typically employed by incumbents in congressional races?

A. sponsor get-out-the-vote drives

B. downplay partisan differences

C. highlight personalities

D. exploit factional splits in the majority party

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Asking the Right Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. According to Paul Herrnson, candidates must wage two campaigns. What are these two campaigns?

A. constituents and voters

B. safe seats and competitive seats

C. money and votes

D. Democrats and Republicans

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Campaign Resources

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Which of the following is an example of a campaign activity taking place in “the parallel campaign?”

A. A member of Congress splits time between fund-raising and legislative activities.

B. A super PAC buys ad time criticizing a candidate for their views on abortion.

C. A candidate goes door-to-door to speak with voters directly.

D. Volunteers for a campaign make calls from a phone bank to take a push poll.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Parallel Campaigns

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. What was the Supreme Court’s holding in Buckley v. Valeo (1976)?

A. Campaign speech is protected by the First Amendment even if it is misleading or false.

B. Limits were placed on the amount of time, members can spend campaigning while in office.

C. Campaign ads must be truthful or candidates will be responsible for stiff fines.

D. Campaign contributions and spending are considered free speech protected by the First Amendment.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Campaign Finance Regulations

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. From which of the following sources does the majority of House and Senate campaign money come?

A. individuals

B. PACs

C. political parties

D. personal or family fortunes

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Candidates’ Campaigns

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. Which of the following individuals or groups can contribute unlimited funds to a congressional campaign?

A. no individual or group

B. family members of the candidate

C. political parties

D. PACs

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Candidates’ Campaigns

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Which of the following explains why there is a negative correlation between campaign fund-raising and electoral success for incumbents?

A. FEC rules require this pattern of fund-raising and spending.

B. Challengers tend to have less name recognition, meaning their early spending is more cost-effective.

C. Vulnerable incumbents tend to ramp up fund-raising, while safe incumbents need not spend as much time on fund-raising.

D. Incumbents hope to scare off high-quality opponents by overspending.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Incumbents Versus Challengers

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Which of the following strategies is an example of a negative campaign technique?

A. a TV ad focusing on campaign themes

B. newsletters

C. door-to-door canvassing

D. TV ad focusing on the opponent’s record or personal character

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Air War: Media and Other Mass Appeals

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Which of the following is a legal barrier to voting that may decrease voter turnout?

A. Elections held on weekdays may be inconvenient to voters.

B. Citizens must take the initiative to register to vote.

C. Winner-take-all elections may discourage voters who prefer a minor party.

D. Turnout among young people is estimated to be less than 25 percent.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Reasons for Not Voting

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Which of the following strategies is an example of “pressing the flesh?”

A. walking tours

B. Internet ads

C. push polls

D. “Oppo” research

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Ground War: Pressing the Flesh and Other Forms of Close Contact

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. What is the most common way that voters decide on who to vote for in a particular election?

A. TV ads

B. party loyalty

C. social media

D. attack ads

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Party Loyalties

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. Which of the following groups is least likely to turn out to vote?

A. republicans

B. democrats

C. independents

D. partisan leaners

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Party Loyalties

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. What is the “gender gap” in congressional voting?

A. Women are more likely than men to watch TV ads.

B. Women are more likely than men to run for the US House.

C. Women are more likely than men to turn out to vote in midterm elections.

D. Women are more likely than men to vote for the Democratic candidate.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Issues and Partisanship

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Which of the following is an example of issue uptake?

A. A challenger raises the issue of immigration during a campaign, and the incumbent later sponsors immigration reform.

B. Gun rights activists organize around defeating an assault ban and make independent expenditures in several congressional races.

C. A challenger runs negative campaign ads aimed at a single vote taken by a Senator on campaign finance.

D. A candidate identifies single-issue voters in her district and runs a campaign ad targeted at those voters.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conclusion

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. Wealthy individuals are much more likely to turn out to vote than are poor individuals.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Reasons for Not Voting

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. According to “balance theory,” midterm loss is explained by voters who hold the president’s party responsible for unpopular policies.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Midterm and Presidential Election Years

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. The Republican Party tends to find its highest levels of support in urban areas.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Party Balance

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. The Supreme Court case Buckley v. Valeo held that campaign contributions and spending are considered free speech.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Campaign Finance Regulations

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. PACs are not able to contribute directly to congressional candidates.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Candidates’ Campaigns

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Today’s voters are as loyal to their professed party identification as they have ever been.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Party Loyalties

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. Most people who claim to be independent are “closet” partisans who lean toward one party and share most of the attitudes and behaviors of partisans.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Party Loyalties

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. Old-fashioned campaigns based on armies of volunteers canvassing door-to-door can be effective in contests.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Campaign Resources

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Challengers typically raise more money in congressional races than do incumbents.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Incumbents Versus Challengers

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Candidates are required by law to spend all campaign funds raised in a given electoral cycle on their own campaigns.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Campaign Resources

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Political science research shows that negative campaign ads are ineffective, despite their popularity.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Air War: Media and Other Mass Appeals

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Face-to-face campaign strategies are more effective than television ads.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Ground War: Pressing the Flesh and Other Forms of Close Contact

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. More people vote in presidential elections than in midterm elections.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Who Votes?

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. Presidential “coattails” describe the idea that fund-raising tends to be lower in presidential election years.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Midterm and Presidential Election Years

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Ticket-splitting has plummeted to less than 10 percent in the last six presidential elections.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Partisan Resurgence

Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

1. How do incumbent and challenger strategies differ in congressional campaigns?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Asking the Right Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Why do incumbents have an advantage in congressional elections?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Incumbency Advantage

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. What are the advantages of close-contact campaign strategies compared to mass media appeals?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Ground War: Pressing the Flesh and Other Forms of Close Contact

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. What is “outside money” and how does it differ from other campaign spending?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Campaign Finance Regulations

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. What impact has Citizens United had on independent expenditures in congressional campaigns?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Independent Expenditures

Difficulty Level: Hard

6. Why does it tend to be easier for incumbents to raise money for their campaigns, as opposed to challengers?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Incumbents Versus Challengers

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Is fund-raising related to electoral success in congressional campaigns?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Incumbents Versus Challengers

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Compare the benefits and disadvantages of the major campaign strategies. Suppose you are an incumbent House member in a small, rural district that leans slightly toward the opposite party. Which strategies would you invest in and why?

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Various

Difficulty Level: Hard

9. Political scientists have identified several reasons for low voting participation in the United States. Outline their major theories and explain which you find most convincing and why.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Reasons for Not Voting

Difficulty Level: Hard

10. What explains the pattern of midterm loss? Be sure to discuss the three major political science theories and consider their strengths and weaknesses in making your argument.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Midterm and Presidential Election Years

Difficulty Level: Hard