Units 4 and 5 Review!!

A political science professor is researching the effects that the Fifteenth and Twenty-Sixth Amendments have had on the American political system. Which of the following is the most likely reason the professor is researching these amendments?

• To study the expansion of the right to equal protection under the law

• To study the expansion of voting rights

• To study the expansion of due process rights

• To study the expansion of federal authority over states

Which of the following describes the Twenty-Fourth Amendment?

• It desegregated places of public accommodation.

• It required elections for the United States Senate.

• It reduced barriers to political participation on the basis of gender.

• It eliminated poll taxes.

Which of the following demographic groups has voted most consistently for the Democratic Party in national elections over the last three decades?

• African Americans

• Hispanics

• Protestants

• Wealthy White males

The agenda-setting function of the media refers to the power to

• endorse specific candidates for political office

• favor the position of one interest group over another

• counter the censorship activities of media watch groups

• mobilize economic interests in favor of a particular candidate

• decide which issues are important enough to bring to public attention

Which of the following is true of amicus curiae briefs?

• They are used by interest groups to lobby courts.

• They are used exclusively by liberal interest groups.

• They are used exclusively by conservative interest groups.

• They are now unconstitutional.

• They are the means by which a litigant seeks Supreme Court review of a lower court decision.

A state government places security cameras facing a popular site of protest in a public square in front of its statehouse. This scenario illustrates

• how political attitudes quickly shift in the United States

• the balance of promoting stability and ensuring civil liberties

• the free-rider problem of organizing a civil rights protests

• the impact of globalization on individual political attitudes

In 2002, Congress passed the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act in an effort to regulate campaign finance by limiting the ability of corporations and unions to spend their general treasury funds on election communications. In 2010, the Supreme Court invalidated this provision of the act. Which of the following statements accurately describes the majority decision of the case?

• The First Amendment allows corporations and unions to make independent expenditures regarding candidates for office.

• The Fourth Amendment protects political action committees from excessive searches by protecting their identities during election campaigns.

• The First Amendment allows candidates to spend as much as they want on their own campaigns.

• The Fourth Amendment grants professional consultants and other campaign staff immunity from disclosing donor information.

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (McCain-Feingold) did which of the following?

• It created interest groups known as 527s.

• It made it illegal for unions to donate to presidential campaigns.

• It banned soft money donations to national parties.

• It banned candidates from running negative advertisements.

In response to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold Act), the United States Supreme Court, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), ruled that

• limits cannot be placed upon candidates’ contributions to their own campaigns

• independent campaign expenditures by corporations and unions are protected by the First Amendment

• limits on issue advertisements 90 days before an election are unconstitutional

• limits on campaign contributions by minors are constitutional under the First Amendment

Typically, presidential candidates implement their campaign strategies by

• applying their resources evenly among the states, because they must win popular votes in a majority of the states to be elected

• focusing on larger, competitive states, because they might tip the balance of the electoral college

• focusing on small states, because these states have proportionally more electoral votes than more populous states have

• ignoring the electoral college, because the popular vote determines the outcome of the election