Under the Constitution, senators are elected to ________-year terms.
A) two
B) four
C) six
D) eight
E) ten
Texas joined the United States as the twenty-eighth state and the U.S. Congress
accepted the new constitution for the State of Texas in
A) 1845.
B) 1836.
C) 1828.
D) 1889.
E) 1861.
The ____________ was created after September 11, 2001terrorist attacks to combat
terrorism at home and abroad.
A) Department of State.
B) Department of Homeland Security.
C) Department of Defense.
D) Joint Chiefs of Staff.
E) National Security Agency
The nightly gaggle of “experts” and pundits on the news
A) doesn’t have much effect on viewers’ opinions.
B) has as much impact on public opinion as reports from the field.
C) has led networks to pay outrageous sums to experts.
D) has diminished the degree of partisanship in the media.
E) has helped to eliminate biases in news reporting.
________ said, “I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support
peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside
pressures.”
A) President Harry S Truman
B) George C. Marshall
C) President James Monroe
D) President Theodore Roosevelt
E) President James Madison
An American who is over the age of 65 would rely on which part of Medicare for
hospitalization coverage?
A) Medicare Part A
B) Medicare Part B
C) Medicare Part C
D) Medicare Part D
E) Medicare Part H
One of the biggest reasons why members of Congress are mindful of their votes on
controversial legislation is
A) getting too much publicity.
B) casting the “wrong” vote.
C) angering the president.
D) angering party leaders.
E) fear of Supreme Court reversal.
Reapportionment has moved political power from the Northeast to the
A) Pacific Northwest.
B) Midwest and West.
C) South and West.
D) Mid-Atlantic.
E) Mid-Atlantic and Pacific Northwest.
Texas agency heads appointed by the governor directly, as opposed to those appointed
by boards and commissions, are seen usually as
A) more powerful because of their access to the governor and because they are part of
the governor’s political team.
B) less efficient because of their political obligations to the governor.
C) less responsive to the interests of the public because of their political involvement
with the governor.
D) less capable because governors tend to appoint friends and allies while board and
commissions tend to appoint professional administrators.
E) more capable because governors tend to appoint friends and allies from the private
sector while boards and commissions tend to appoint professional bureaucrats.
Which of the following is/are true about Supplemental Security Income?
I. It is non-means tested.
II. Primary funding is provided by the states.
III. Coverage includes needy people who are permanently disabled.
IV. Beneficiaries can only have limited income.
A) I only
B) I and II
C) I and IV
D) III and IV
E) II, III, and IV
The first time a Texas governor served more than two terms was the
A) 1910s.
B) 1920s.
C) 1930s.
D) 1940s.
E) 1950s.
The World Anti-Slavery Society refused to
A) admit Frederick Douglass as a member.
B) admit more than 200,000 members.
C) accept women’s demands for equality.
D) react to the Missouri Compromise.
E) seat black delegates to its convention.
Because the Texas legislature over the past few decades has met so often in special
session, the National Conference of State Legislatures now considers Texas to be a(n)
A) annual legislature.
B) citizen legislature.
C) biennial legislature.
D) bicameral legislature.
E) hybrid legislature.
Which of the following is NOT among President Abraham Lincoln’s legally
questionable acts?
A) Suspending the writ of habeas corpus
B) Expanding the size of the army
C) Ordering a blockade of Southern ports
D) Treating captured Southerners as prisoners of war
E) Closing the U.S. mail to treasonable correspondence
What factors explain Barack Obama’s successful campaign in 2008?
I. His ambitious campaign promises attracted prospective voters.
II. He linked opponent John McCain to George W. Bush.
III. He appealed to retrospective voters.
IV. He hired only political newcomers.
A) I and III
B) III and IV
C) I, II, and III
D) I, II, and IV
E) I, III, and IV
Suppose Barack Obama decides to appoint a federal judge while Congress is in recess.
What would be the MOST likely explanation for this decision?
A) He ran out of time during the congressional term.
B) He wanted to get around a hostile Senate.
C) He knew Congress would approve the judgeship anyway.
D) The judge had been approved for another position previously.
E) The president needed to keep all judgeships filled at all times.
How are supplemental nutrition benefits distributed to citizens?
A) Food delivery services
B) An electronic debit program
C) Paper coupons
D) Food banks
E) The government eliminated the program entirely.
Cooperative federalism is characterized by
A) a stronger, more influential national government.
B) a stronger state government.
C) a shift in power from national to state government.
D) the increasing power of local government.
E) the increasing power of both state and local governments.
If the president dies in office and the vice presidency is vacant, the next person in the
line of succession is the
A) President pro tempore of the Senate.
B) Secretary of Defense.
C) Speaker of the House.
D) Secretary of State.
E) Secretary of the Treasury.
In 2008, what was the turnover rate for the Texas House?
A) 15 percent
B) 40 percent
C) 59 percent
D) 98 percent
E) 100 percent
Municipal elections in Texas are held on a(n) _____________ basis, while county
elections are conducted on a __________ basis.
A) nonpartisan/partisan
B) annual/biennial
C) partisan/nonpartisan
D) majority-rule/plurality-rule
E) unregulated/state-regulated
Members of the Texas Public Utilities Commission are
A) elected to their positions by a direct, statewide vote of the people of Texas.
B) appointed to their positions by the governor (with the approval of the Texas Senate).
C) appointed to their positions by a vote of the Texas legislature.
D) ex officio officeholders, serving in their PUC positions as a part of their duties as
lieutenant governor, Speaker of the House, and comptroller of public accounts.
E) responsible for generating, transmitting, and distributing electricity in the Texas.
The Telecommunication Act of 1996 sought to
A) provide an optimal balance between corporate and consumer interests.
B) limit opportunities for media consolidation.
C) assure that candidates have the right to buy equal time on broadcast networks.
D) regulate all electronic media.
E) make the Federal Communications Commission obsolete.
Without the supremacy clause,
A) state laws could supersede national law.
B) states could impeach U.S. Supreme Court justices.
C) federal government could enact laws dealing with education.
D) international law would be supreme to acts of Congress.
E) local law could supersede state law.
In Germany, interest groups
I. enjoy a close relationship with the government.
II. are often policy specialists.
III. are very similar to those in the U.S.
IV. are organized into peak associations.
A) IV only
B) I and IV
C) II, III, and IV
D) I, II, and III
E) I, II, III, and IV
Most people get their information about politics from
A) the radio.
B) newspapers and news magazines.
C) scholarly journals.
D) the Internet.
E) television.
Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman argues that the Constitution can be changed
A) by extraordinary times calling for extraordinary measures.
B) only by the formal amendment process.
C) by decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court.
D) by powerful presidential actions.
E) by public opinion polls.
In 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that it was constitutional for a border patrol officer to
stop a suspicious minivan given
A) that the use of satellites is constitutional.
B) the totality of the circumstances.
C) the fact that the Rehnquist Court always decided on the side of law enforcement.
D) that our borders are so porous.
E) the fact that thermal imagers at the border proved probable cause.
The standard that illegally seized evidence cannot not be used at trial is known as the
A) due process clause.
B) procedural rights rule.
C) probable cause rule.
D) Mapp rule.
E) exclusionary rule.
The deliberate use of taxing and spending policies to improve the country’s economic
prospects is called
A) budgetary policy.
B) fiscal policy.
C) socioeconomic policy.
D) discretionary policy.
E) monetary policy.