Chapter 11 Quiz: The American Voter and Beyond

15 questions: 10 multiple choice, 5 short answer. Answer key at the bottom.

Multiple Choice

1. The concept of party identification as a "perceptual screen" in the Michigan model means that:

A) Party identification determines which candidate appears on the ballot B) Party identification shapes how voters interpret and evaluate political information C) Party identification is invisible to the voter themselves D) Voters with strong party ID refuse to consider opposing viewpoints

2. The "funnel of causality" in the Michigan model places party identification:

A) At the narrow tip of the funnel, closest to the vote B) At the wide mouth of the funnel, as a long-term background factor C) In the middle of the funnel, after candidate evaluations but before issue attitudes D) Outside the funnel entirely, as an exogenous force

3. Philip Converse's central finding about ideological constraint in the 1950s American public was:

A) Most Americans held tightly constrained, ideologically coherent belief systems B) Ideological constraint had increased substantially since the New Deal C) Most Americans showed little constraint — their issue positions on different topics were weakly correlated D) Only voters in Southern states lacked ideological constraint

4. The main methodological objection to Nie, Verba, and Petrocik's argument that ideological constraint increased from the 1950s to the 1970s was:

A) Their survey samples were unrepresentative of minority populations B) Changes in survey question wording artificially inflated apparent constraint C) They used a different definition of "ideology" from Converse D) Their data only covered presidential elections, not congressional races

5. V.O. Key's concept of "retrospective voting" holds that voters primarily:

A) Evaluate candidates based on their future policy promises B) Choose the candidate whose issue positions are closest to their own C) Reward or punish the incumbent based on past performance D) Vote based on their inherited group loyalties

6. Sociotropic economic voting, as opposed to pocketbook voting, focuses on:

A) The voter's own personal financial situation B) National economic conditions assessed as a whole C) Economic policies proposed by candidates D) The economic interests of the voter's social group

7. In the Downsian spatial model, rational candidates should converge toward:

A) The position of their party's most activist donors B) The median voter's position in the ideological space C) The most extreme position that wins a primary election D) The position of the largest demographic group in the electorate

8. The distinction between "symbolic" and "positional" issues is most associated with which theorist?

A) V.O. Key B) Philip Converse C) Donald Sears D) Anthony Downs

9. Lipset and Rokkan's cleavage theory argues that the party systems of Western European democracies were "frozen" around:

A) Economic inequality and redistribution preferences B) Social divisions produced by the national and industrial revolutions C) Geographic differences between urban and rural populations D) Individual ideological positions on a left-right spectrum

10. The contemporary debate about whether party ID is a "cause or effect" of political attitudes is most closely associated with which concept?

A) The funnel of causality B) Affective polarization C) Endogeneity D) Valence voting

Short Answer

Answer each question in 3-5 sentences.

11. Explain Morris Fiorina's "running tally" concept of party identification and how it modifies the original Michigan model. What does "running tally" mean, and why is it a different claim from the Michigan scholars' view of party ID as a stable psychological attachment?

12. Describe social identity theory and explain how it differs from a purely rational-choice account of why people vote for candidates of their own party. What does social identity theory predict about the emotional dimensions of partisan behavior that rational-choice theory misses?

13. What is the "directional theory" of voting proposed by Rabinowitz and Macdonald, and how does it differ from the proximity model in the Downsian spatial framework? Give an example of a political issue where directional voting seems to fit voter behavior better than proximity voting.

14. Using the framework from this chapter, how would you classify Tom Whitfield's appeals to border security in the Garza-Whitfield race — as symbolic issue voting or positional issue voting? Explain your reasoning and discuss what this classification implies for how Maria Garza's campaign should respond.

15. Explain what valence politics is and how it differs from positional competition. Give an example of a political argument that is primarily a valence claim rather than a positional claim. Why might valence claims be particularly effective with voters who don't follow policy debates closely?

Answer Key

Multiple Choice:

  1. B — The perceptual screen metaphor captures how party ID shapes interpretation of political information, not simply what voters know or see.

  2. B — Party ID sits near the wide mouth of the funnel as a long-term, prior force; candidate evaluations and issue attitudes are more proximate (closer to the narrow tip).

  3. C — Converse's landmark finding was that most Americans showed very little ideological constraint — their positions on one issue were poor predictors of their positions on others.

  4. B — Critics pointed out that the 1964 ANES changed how issue questions were asked, and the higher apparent correlations were at least partly an artifact of the measurement change, not a real increase in ideological coherence.

  5. C — Key's retrospective voting model holds that voters render a verdict on past performance, not primarily on future promises.

  6. B — Sociotropic voting is driven by assessments of national economic conditions, as opposed to pocketbook voting which focuses on personal financial circumstances.

  7. B — Downs's spatial model predicts that rational vote-maximizing candidates will converge toward the median voter's position in the ideological space.

  8. C — Donald Sears and colleagues developed the symbolic politics framework distinguishing symbolic issues (rooted in values and identity) from positional issues (rooted in specific policy preferences).

  9. B — Lipset and Rokkan argued that social cleavages produced by the national revolution (center-periphery, church-state) and industrial revolution (land-industry, worker-employer) froze party systems.

  10. C — Endogeneity is the central concept in the debate: if party ID and issue positions are mutually determining, establishing which is cause and which is effect requires special methods.

Short Answer Guidance:

  1. Key points: Fiorina's running tally means party ID is updated over time based on evaluations of party performance, not fixed at socialization. The Michigan model treated party ID as largely stable and prior to issue evaluations; Fiorina argued it is partially constituted by those evaluations — more recursive and dynamic.

  2. Social identity theory grounds partisan behavior in group membership and the need for positive in-group identity, not just policy preference matching. It predicts emotional investment in party success, hostility to out-party members, and motivated reasoning in ways that rational-choice models don't capture well.

  3. Directional theory holds that voters don't care about proximity to candidates — they care which side of a symbolic line the candidate is on and how intensely they hold that position. Issues like immigration enforcement often fit directional logic: voters who want strong enforcement prefer whichever candidate takes the strongest position on "their side," not the candidate who is merely closest on a point scale.

  4. Border security in Whitfield's campaign is best classified as symbolic issue voting — it functions primarily as a cultural identity signal rather than a specific policy proposal. The implication for Garza's campaign is that detailed policy counter-proposals may be ineffective, since the appeal is to identity rather than policy reasoning. Garza might be more effective by reframing security in terms of her own community-based public safety record rather than engaging the substance of border policy.

  5. Valence politics involves competition over who can best deliver goals everyone shares — competence, integrity, effective management. Whitfield's "I'll run government like a business" claim is a classic valence argument: it doesn't propose a different set of objectives than Garza, it claims he will achieve shared objectives better. Valence claims are effective with low-information voters because they don't require processing complex policy information — just an assessment of who seems more trustworthy and capable.