Download Chapter 12: Political Parties Reading Comprehension Quiz

Chapter 12: Political Parties
Reading Comprehension Quiz
Multiple Choice Questions
1) The first organized political party in the United States was the ____ Party.
A) Democratic-Republican
B) Whig
C) Federalist
D) National Republican
E) Anti-Federalist
2) The Republican Party nominated its first presidential candidate, ____, in 1856.
A) Thomas Jefferson
B) John C. Frémont
C) Abraham Lincoln
D) Andrew Jackson
E) Stephen A. Douglas
3) Party politics were nearly suspended at the national level during the
A) Roaring Twenties.
B) Era of Good Feeling.
C) Progressive era.
D) Populist era.
E) Post-World War II era.
4) The pinnacle of the party system in the United States is
A) the president.
B) the national party chair.
C) local party precincts.
D) the Senate.
E) state party headquarters.
5) Party conventions generally
A) serve only symbolic purposes.
B) are contentious due in part to the negotiation of the platform.
C) are brokered by political leaders.
D) have several unexpected occurrences.
E) are covered gavel-to-gavel by every media outlet.
6) Think tanks influence
A) party policy positions.
B) campaign funding.
C) party reformation.
D) party networks.
E) party organization.
7) What is the main reason the Republican Party has historically raised more money than the
Democratic Party?
A) Republicans have more wealthy donors.
B) Republicans are better at grassroots campaigning.
C) There are more Republicans than Democrats in the United States.
D) Democrats are largely inept at fundraising.
E) More third party organizations bundle money for Republicans.
8) The differences between the Democratic and Republican Parties are MOST evident in
A) the selection of chairpersons.
B) the structure of the conventions.
C) the party platforms.
D) the selection of delegates.
E) their organizational structure.
9) One particularly party-oriented president was
A) Dwight D. Eisenhower.
B) Richard M. Nixon.
C) Jimmy Carter.
D) Ronald Reagan.
E) Lyndon B. Johnson.
10) The single greatest influence on an individual’s first party identification is
A) parents.
B) age.
C) race.
D) gender.
E) income.
11) Most researchers now study the gender gap by
A) considering why women don't care about military issues.
B) considering why men don't care about social welfare issues.
C) considering why Republicans have trouble attracting women.
D) considering why Democrats have trouble attracting white men.
E) considering why women are unconcerned about social justice.
12) African Americans, in general, strongly identify with the
A) Republican Party.
B) Green Party.
C) Democratic Party.
D) Independents.
E) Libertarian Party.
13) The American Independent Party, founded in 1968, took root as a result of what issue?
A) Desegregation
B) Tax reform
C) Social justice
D) Prohibition
E) Factionalism within the Republican Party
14) Third parties do best when
A) there is a major scandal.
B) trust in the major parties is low.
C) they have a dynamic candidate.
D) major parties are more similar in their issue positions.
E) they concentrate on winning national office, not state and local elections.
15) Independent voters
A) sometimes have stronger partisan leanings than “not very strong” party identifiers.
B) are generally on the fence about their presidential candidate preferences.
C) are decreasing in number over the past ten years.
D) vote most frequently for independent candidates.
E) are always disinterested in politics.
16) James Madison's chief concern at the inception of the United States was
A) the development of a too-powerful Congress.
B) giving the states too much power vis-à-vis the federal government.
C) the formation of political factions.
D) the need for a national judiciary.
E) the failure of citizens to join the parties of their choice.
True/False Questions
1) Andrew Jackson was the first president who was elected as a nominee of a national, popularly
based political party.
2) The 1990s brought a secular realignment of Republicans toward the Democratic Party.
3) In 2010, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele fully supported the actions of
Tea Party favorite Rand Paul.
4) Historically, people have always known which candidate would receive the party’s formal
nomination before the conventions even occurred.
5) Typically, Democrats have been better fundraisers than Republicans.
6) A party platform must not only outline its own policy but also compare it to that of the other
party, whether explicitly or implicitly.
7) Perhaps in an attempt to appeal to African American voters, President George W. Bush
appointed a record number of African American federal judges.
8) Wealthy individuals are more likely to vote for Republicans than Democrats.
9) A common argument against the creation of third parties is that they take away votes from the
major national parties, but do not gain enough momentum to actually win a race, thus “spoiling”
the results of elections.
10) Generally, the platforms of prominent third parties are folded into the platforms of the
parties with which they share similar ideologies.
11) Republicans and Democrats have been in the White House roughly an equal amount of time
since 1884.