Exam 8: Interest Groups in America

A) work primarily with one's allies.
B) recognize that measures are easier to defeat than to pass.
C) cultivate key committee members.
D) seek out and win over ideological opponents.
E) avoid conflicts on big issues and concentrate instead on writing the details to one's advantage.

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A) The primary function of PACs is to collect money for political candidates.
B) Interest-group members and lobbyists can contribute individually to a candidate and again to PACs that support the candidate.
C) PACs are not the exclusive reserve of one type of interest, but are employed by a variety of different groups.
D) PACs are not allowed to give money to other PACs.
E) The amount of money that PACs can give to candidates is strictly limited.

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A) advocacy groups.
B) trade associations.
C) business groups.
D) education groups.
E) labor unions.

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A) education
B) labor
C) business associations
D) professional associations
E) single-issue groups

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A) intensity and cohesiveness
B) prestige
C) political clout
D) geographical distribution
E) financial resources

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A) Small interest groups cannot affect policy because they cannot gain direct access to members of Congress.
B) Unpopular industries, unable to sway public opinion, try to win concessions through the courts.
C) Although attacking lobbyists and interest groups makes for a good stump speech, lawmakers who try to function without those groups find they can get little done.
D) As the power of a few interest groups increases, it will become increasingly difficult for new interest groups to gain influence in Congress.
E) If interest groups contribute money to both parties, their influence with the winning side declines, but if they contribute to only one party, their access might be closed completely.

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A) "heroes and zeros."
B) "winners and losers."
C) "good and bad."
D) "up and down."
E) "angels and devils."

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A) super PACs and 527s
B) traditional PACs and 501(c) entities
C) candidate committees and traditional PACs
D) party committees and super PACs
E) super PACs and traditional PACs

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A) energy groups
B) communications and electronics groups
C) lawyers and lobbyists
D) labor groups
E) ideology and single interest groups

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A) While many interest groups pursue economic gains, a large number pursue more ideological ends.
B) Some interest groups represent organizations rather than individual citizens.
C) Interest groups have declined in size and influence in conjunction with the general decline in political participation.
D) The well-to-do and well-educated are better represented in interest groups than are the poor and needy.
E) Membership in interest groups tends to compound the political power of already influential groups rather than to give voice to the disenfranchised.

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A) candidates who want to spend their own money in their campaigns.
B) party committees.
C) candidate committees.
D) traditional PACs.
E) super PACs.

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A) A former government worker
B) An average citizen
C) A lawyer
D) A grassroots activist
E) A person with a lot of free time

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A) Strategies focus solely on politics, while tactics embrace society as well.
B) Whereas strategies can be either inside or outside, tactics can only be inside.
C) Strategies are overall goals, and tactics are the means used to accomplish those goals.
D) Strategies are available to any movement, whereas only interest groups can employ tactics.
E) Strategies are employed by flexible pragmatists, whereas tactics are used by rigid ideological groups.

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People join interest groups for a variet...

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A) Interest groups have a vested interest in demonstrating that they represent a large, widespread base.
B) Interest groups sometimes engage in astroturf lobbying, using deceitful practices to rally widespread support behind policies that benefit only a small section of society.
C) Interest groups sometimes rely on mobilizing the grass tops, focusing on the most influential members of a community.
D) Many interest groups build grassroots support by providing citizens with "scorecards" outlining how candidates have voted on key issues in the past.
E) Grassroots mobilization helps an interest group create the illusion of public backing, but this can rarely be translated into true political influence over elected officials.

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A) They typically consist of private interests, members of Congress, and federal bureaucrats.
B) They place a significant degree of influence over legislation in the hands of nonelected persons.
C) They create permanent alliances based on the exchange of mutual benefits.
D) They are linked by shared expertise in a given area.
E) It is fairly common in Washington today for issue networks to dominate policy in a given area.

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A) their large bases of support.
B) their narrow policy goals.
C) advocating positions they believe are for the good of all Americans.
D) their ideological bents.
E) the fact that they clearly speak for the majority of the American people.

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