AP Government Fall Semester Final Review

______ privileges refers to the free use of mail enjoyed by Congress.

Franking

The United States Senate has ________ memebers.

100

One must be at least ___ years of age to serve in the House of Representatives.

25

Incumbents are those

already holding office.

Which of these candidates would most likely get elected?

a representative running for reelection

in most congressional elections, challengers

lose

Which constitutional amendment shifted the power to elect senators from senate legislators to popular elections?

Seventeenth

The ____________ is the list of federal projects, grants, and contracts available to cities, businesses, colleges, and institutions which members of Congress seek to locate in their district to promote the interests of their constituency.

pork barrel

The pork barrel and casework are examples of

opportunities for credit-claiming by members of Congress.

The United States Constitution requires that the government conduct an “actual enumeration” of the population every

ten years

After each federal census,

the membership of the House is reapportioned.

________________ occurs after every census to reallocate the 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives, reflecting shifts in the population of the states and, thus, how many seats each state is allotted.

Reapportionment

Bicameral means that a legislative body is one

with two houses, providing checks and balances on policymaking.

To be sent to the president, a bill must be passed by

both the House and the Senate.

The most powerful person in the Senate is

the Majority Leader.

The House ______ Committee reviews most bills coming from other committees before they go on to the full House, thus performing a traffic cop function.

Rules

According to the Constitution, revenue (tax) bills must originate in the

House.

When the House and the Senate pass different versions of the same bill

a conference committee is appointed to resolve differences.

Nominees to the United States Supreme Court must be confirmed by

the Senate.

The filibuster is a technique used in the

Senate to prolong debate in order to kill a bill.

________ members present and voting can halt a filibuster by coting for “cloture.”

Sixty

A _______ committee is one appointed for a limited, specific purpose, such as that set up to investigate the Watergate scandal.

select

Which of the following CONGRESSIONAL offices is mandated by the Constitution?

Speaker of the House

Articles of impeachment must be passed by

the House.

According to the Constitution, once impeached, federal offices are then tried in the

Senate.

Which of the following accurately describes the information based on the graph above?

Favorable opinions of both Democrats and Republicans are decreasing over time

Which of the following generalizations about the party in the electorate are true?

Independents are unaffiliated with either party but often vote partisan

In a winner-take-all system,

unless a party wins, there is no reward for the votes it gets.

The most important single reason why the United States has a two party system is:

the winner take all plurality system of voting

Which of the following scenarios is an accurate comparison of the Democratic and Republican Parties

Democrats: Favors government spending on social welfare programs

Republicans: Favors government spending on defense

In the description of political parties as “three-headed political giants,” which of the following is NOT considered one of those three heads?

the party-out-of-power

According to the text which of the following is the most important component of the party organization?

County and local committees

What is the primary duty of the national party chairperson?

All of the above (attending to the daily duties of the party, objecting to the policies and priorities of the party in power, raising money)

Using the graph above, which of the following is a possible explanation for why favorable opinion of the Democratic Party never dips below 40?

More demographic groups have a favorable view of the Democratic Party due to the Party’s stance on social issues

The first party system in the United States consisted of the

Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.

Keeping the party operating between conventions is the job of the

national committee

Which of the following is TRUE about most third-party campaigns in American history?

They almost never win office.

A party era begins, or is made more certain, with

a critical election.

As ______________, political parties serve the role of translating inputs from the public into outputs from policymakers.

linkage institutions

A critical election involves and accelerates a process called

party realignment

Ticket-splitting is best understood as

voting with one party for one office and another for other offices.

The largest segment of an American political party is described as

the party-in-the-electorate.

A party era refers to

a period of history in which there is one dominant majority party that wins most elections.

The power of political parties has weakened mainly due to:

the establishment of primary elections to choose party candidates

The Depression of the 1930s gave rise to what is called

the New Deal coalition

The people who keep the party running between elections and make its rules are members of which “head” of the party?

party as an organization

People gradually moving away from both parties is referred to as

dealignment

Which of the following CORRECTLY pairs the party with their ideology or belief system?

Libertarian: Libertarians strongly oppose any government interference into their personal, family, and business decisions

Every political party depends upon what the text calls a ________, meaning a set of individuals or groups supporting it.

coalition

Which of the following is NOT a function of political parties?

Selecting key members of the White House staff

Each party holds a national convention every

four years

Andrew Jackson was the first president identified as a

Democrat

A political party is

a team of men and women seeking to control the government by gaining office in elections.

The graphic above represents which defining feature of political organization int eh U.S?

Largely independent organizations at the state and local level that function independently from the national committee

Which of the following generalizations about the party in the electorate are ture?

Independents are unaffiliated with either party but often vote partisan.

An organization of people with similar policy goals entering the political process to try to achieve those aims is called

an interest group.

One of the main differences between American political parties and interest groups is that

political parties run candidates for office.

According to __________ theorists, interest groups compete and counterbalance one another in the political marketplace.

pluralist

Which of the following statements about pluralism is TRUE?

All of the above (the extensive organization of competing groups provides evidence that power is widely dispersed among them, groups serve as a key linkage institution in pluralist theory, pluralists assume that no single group will become too powerful.)

The idea that too many groups are getting too much of what they want is associated with

hyperpluralist theory.

Which of the following theories offers the most positive interpretation of the effect of interest groups on American democracy?

pluralist

Which of the following is NOT one of the major elements of the Iron Triangle system at the national level?

federal court

The free-rider problem refers to

potential members of a group failing to join the actual group, as they know they will receive the same benefits whether they are active members or not.

________ is a communication by someone other than a citizen acting on his or her own behalf, directed to a government decision maker, particularly in the legislative and executive branch, with the hope of influencing his or her decision.

Lobbying

Many interest groups involve themselves in ______ to help get those they consider to be the right people elected into office or to keep them there.

electioneering

Political Actions Committees are primarily a means used by interest groups for

electioneering

The most successful tactic that civil rights and environmental groups have used to influence policy is

litigation

_________ are written arguments submitted to the courts in support of one side of a case.

Amicus curiae briefs

Iron Triangles are composed of key interest group leaders interested in policy X, the government agency in charge of administering policy X, and the ______ handling policy X.

congressional committees and subcommittees

American political parties differ from interest groups in that parties

are policy generalists

What can be described as the key role of Political Action Committees (PAC)?

raising funds in support of a favored candidate’s election

Which of the following best represents the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizen’s United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)?

Federal bans on corporate and union expenditures violated an organization’s right to free speech.

Which of the following explains why politicians and citizens oftentimes criticize interest groups?

Interest groups may over represent the interests of elites, thus limiting representative democracy.

Which of the following CORRECTLY pairs a theory or representative democracy and the actions of a interest group?

Pluralism: interest groups representing oil companies and environmental groups work to help pass a compromise bill from Congress on global warming

In Federalist No.10, James Madison described how a government could be designed to control the effects of ______

factions.

In which way are interest groups most likely to influence decisions of the Supreme Court?

By filing amicus curiae briefs supporting one side of a case that the Court is deciding.

Which of the following is the best explanation of an amicus curiae brief?

a written argument submitted to the courts in support of one side of a case.

In the 2016 election, the top PAC’s contributed approximately hundreds of millions of dollars to the two main presidential candidates. Which of the following PACs most likely donated more heavily to Democrats than to Republicans?

American Federation of Labor

Which of the following interest groups would be least likely to donate heavily to Republican candidates?

The American Federation of Labor

Individuals join interest groups for a wide variety of reasons. Which of the following scenarios represents an example of a solidary or purposive benefit that members receive for joining an interest group?

Members of the Sierra Club meet monthly for a hike at a local national park to mingle with like-minded members who care about the environment.

Why do interest groups support incumbents at a much higher rate than challengers or in open seats?

Incumbents usually win elections.

(quote from Citizens United v. FEC) Which of the following phrases would most likely be associated with this case?

political speech is protected speech

Louise Overacker, a political scientist, wrote this in 1932: “Any effective program of control must make i possible to bring into the light the sources and amounts of all funds used in political campaigns, and the way in which those funds are expended.” Q: Ms. Overacker would most likely support which of the following?

the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act

Which of the following answers represent the best example of an effective and well-connected iron triangle?

chairwoman of the Armed Services Committee, the chief lobbyist for Boeing, the Secretary of Defense