1. Political parties enhance democratic governance by
Group of answer choices
a. organizing expenditures with interest groups.
b. dividing the electorate.
c. nominating candidates.
d. reducing accountability mechanisms.
2. Realigning elections - also known as
Group of answer choices
a. top-two primary elections - in which the two candidates with the most votes, regardless of party, become the nominees for the general election.
b. critical elections - represents a sudden, clear, and long-term shift in voter allegiances.
c. special elections - involving a turning point in how voters identify with parties.
d. white primary elections - in which only whites are allowed to vote.
3. Which of the following is a characteristic of realigning elections?
Group of answer choices
a. A high level of voter apathy
b. Limited public support for policy change
c. Coordination between the major political parties.
d. Intense voter involvement
4. The United States has had a history of minor parties, but only the two major parties have dominated most elections. What mechanisms of the U.S. political system contribute to the dominance of two parties?
Group of answer choices
a. multimember districts and a proportional voting system
b. single-member districts and a nonpartisan blanket primary system
c. single-member districts and a winner-take-all voting system
d. multimember districts and a winner-take-all voting system
5. Which term describes an electoral “earthquake,” where new coalitions supplant old ones, new political issues surface, and a minority party often dislodges a majority party?
Group of answer choices
a. decisive election
b. an upheaval election
c. a revolutionary election
d. a critical election
6. In the 1840s, two minor parties were the
Group of answer choices
a. Free Soil and Liberty
b. Democrats and Whigs
c. Republicans and Whigs
d. Know-Nothing and Whigs
7. In the 1860s, two minor parties were the
Group of answer choices
a. Whig-American and Constitutional Union.
b. Liberal Republicans and Whig-American.
c. Constitutional Union and Southern Democrats.
d. Republican and Democrats.
8. As practiced in the U.S., majoritarian two-party systems are not common. Nevertheless, they tend to produce governments that are
Group of answer choices
a. unstable and decentralized.
b. invariable and conservative.
c. insecure and ideologically driven.
d. stable and centrist.
