Fed Gov Test 3

What does a presidential candidate need to win an election?

270 electoral college votes

What is C-SPAN?

network with unfiltered coverage of Congress

What is party-line voting?

members of Congress vote the way their party tells them to, whether or not it's what they might personally want to do, had increased a ton in the last 20 years

What would happen if election day was a holiday?

more people would probably vote

percentage of Americans that vote in presidential elections

55%

example of a sampling error?

leaving homeless and poor people out of your sample for your poll

what do the democratic and republican national committees do?

give us their vision, so that we may decide which party we identify with

what does it mean when a candidate wins an election and claims a mandate?

since they won, they now get to carry out their (and their party's) agenda.

what kind of interest group is the AARP?

economic interest group

what’s an exit poll?

when pollsters stand outside polling places and ask people who are leaving who they voted for after they've voted

People who follow this religion are more likely to vote for Democrats.

Judaism

When a representative from the NRA talks to members of Congress about supporting gun rights and the 2nd amendment, they are doing what?

lobbying

why is the consolidation of media ownership is a huge problem?

for being able to get fair and balanced news reporting

when can political parties change their platforms?

during their national party convention

Why do political knowledge and political participation have a reciprocal relationship?

when you know more, you are more likely to vote

what’s a margin of error?

one measure of accuracy of a poll; below 4% is considered good.

what’s agenda setting?

This is also known as a media effect and happens when the media gets to decide for us what is important enough to report on.

why can’t we vote online?

security concerns

what is an example of a narrowcasting news channel?

telemundo

How many years must you wait to walk through the revolving door?

2

what has happened to union membership in the past 20 years?

membership has declined

why was the FDR’s election in 1932 a critical election?

there was a big party realignment around the issue of the state of the economy and the role of the government in economic matters.