The president may refuse to act upon or sign a bill with which he/she is opposed. If
Congress passes a bill and sends it to the president within 10 days of the end of a
congressional session and the president does not act on the bill, then the bill does not
become law. This procedure is known as
A.the pocket veto.
B.a presidential override.
C.a filibuster.
D.cloture.
E.presidential oversight.
What is a collection of public institutions in a nation that set down and enforce the rules
by which the members of that nation must live?
A.Congress
B.bureaucracy
C.courts
D.civic academy
E.government
Which demographic group tends to benefit more from low voter turnout according to
some experts?
A.the poor and disenfranchised
B.minority groups with less numbers of eligible voters.
C.the youngest of voters, ages 18 to 25
D.women
E.the affluent and higher socioeconomic groups
Under the Articles of Confederation, the office of a chief executive as president of the
United States
A.had limited powers.
B.did not exist.
C.was very much unrestrained in its given powers.
D.was also the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
E.was held by a committee of three appointed individuals.
The federal government’s bureaucracy is ultimately the responsibility of
A.the President of the United States.
B.the Congressional Business Office.
C.the Oversight Committee of the Supreme Court.
D.the White House chief of staff.
E.the bureaucracy itself.
The system of voting, including the mechanisms by which voting procedures are
actually carried out, is a function of
A.political parties.
B.state governments.
C.city and county governments.
D.the candidates’ campaigns.
E.Congress.
In 1972 Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment and sent it to the state
legislatures for ratification. What was the impact of the ERA?
A.Once ratified it opened doors for women in all areas of business and politics.
B.The ERA gave women an avenue by which to sue an employer for gender
discrimination.
C.The ERA had no direct impact because it never garnered the required support of
three-fourths of the states, so it was never enacted.
D.Once ratified the amount of litigation in federal courts skyrocketed.
E.Once ratified the U.S. immediately experienced a significant increase in the number
of women serving as governors and in Congress.
A(n) ______ is a form of government in which a small exclusive class holds supreme
power.
A.republic
B.monarchy
C.oligarchy
D.theocracy
E.civic union
In various opinions over several decades the Supreme Court has protected what it refers
to as ‘symbolic speech.” Which of the following is NOT an example of symbolic
speech?
A.publicly desecrating or burning the American flag
B.burning a draft card during a time of war
C.wearing black armbands in school or work as a sign of political protest
D.invoking symbols or actions that target a particular person or group with the intent of
causing harm
E.flying the American flag upside down
Identify the policy program to help rebuild the economies of war-torn Europe by
sending large amounts of aid.
A.Roosevelt Corollary
B.Truman Doctrine
C.Marshall Plan
D.Harvard Plan
E.Virginia Plan
Which of the following is a reason for the low U.S. voter registration rate?
A.Citizens are responsible for registering themselves; the government does not do it for
them.
B.The time and effort required to register to vote is relatively low.
C.Most states permit Election Day voter registration.
D.The Motor Voter act has made it more difficult to register.
E.Election Day is a national holiday in the United States.
The early 1960s saw increased racial tensions and outright violence, especially in the
Deep South states of Alabama and Mississippi. Due in large part to this civil unrest,
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. What did this powerful legislation
provide?
A.It ruled that states could not use force against racial minorities.
B.It established racial quotas for police departments and state militias.
C.It banned discrimination in all accommodations, both public and private, and banned
employment discrimination as well.
D.It took away state authority to enact any laws related to employment.
E.It reinforced the old Jim Crow laws.
Sovereignty is defined as
A.the power of a governmental unit to control the destiny of another unit.
B.the lack of a centralized government.
C.the supreme political power of a government to regulate its affairs with outside
interference.
D.the political power to control all subordinate governments.
E.a state of anarchy.
The percentage of eligible voters who show up on election day is called
A.democratic participation.
B.foundational democracy.
C.compliance.
D.vote regulation.
E.voter turnout.
The amount of error in a poll that results from interviewing a group of people rather
than the whole population under study is referred to as
A.sampling error.
B.question error.
C.inaccuracy of answers.
D.inconsistent questioning.
E.cultural diversity.
The Seventeenth Amendment was ratified in 1913. What did it change?
A.Prior to 1913 the president was elected by the state legislatures.
B.It provided for direct election of U.S. Senators by the people.
C.It created the sales tax.
D.It created the Electoral College.
E.It lowered the voting age to 18 years of age.
With its ruling in Reno v. ACLU in 1997, the Supreme Court invalidated a federal law
passed to protect minors from “indecent” and “patently offensive” communications via
the Internet. What was the Court’s rationale in its invalidation of the federal law?
A.The Internet is impossible to police.
B.To restrict Internet speech in the United States would also restrict it in other
countries.
C.In denying minors access to potentially harmful speech, the law suppressed a large
amount of speech that adults have a constitutional right to receive.
D.The Internet is no standard group or vehicle by which to define “decency,” much less
to enforce the standard.
E.Control of Internet speech is a role for the state governments, not the federal
government.
In recent years, the Supreme Court has allowed some illegally seized evidence to be
admitted under very narrow circumstances, such as when the police were not at fault
(for example, the judge signing the warrant did not have jurisdiction). Such an example
of the relaxing of rules is referred to as
A.blind obedience.
B.the ignorance rule.
C.the good faith exception.
D.judicial malfeasance.
E.judicial oversight.
State constitutions were initially intended to limit the powers of state-level
governments; the U.S. Constitution was designed to
A.limit the national government.
B.empower the national government.
C.empower the state governments.
D.empower smaller states.
E.check the power of larger states.
It is estimated that _____ people of Hispanic descent currently live in the United States,
which would create the nation’s largest language minority.
A.100,000
B.500,000
C.10 million
D.35 million
E.300 million
Which high-ranking employee of the United States government is responsible for
arguing on behalf of the government before the U.S. Supreme Court?
A.Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
B.White House Legal Counsel
C.District Attorney
D.U.S. Attorney General
E.U.S. Solicitor General
The chairpersons of the powerful congressional committees are
A.chosen in a nationwide election.
B.elected by the full membership of congress.
C.members of the majority party who are appointed by the majority party leadership.
D.evenly divided between majority and minority party members.
E.appointed based solely on seniority regardless of party affiliation.
Walter Lippman was a well-known public opinion scholar of the early twentieth
century. What was Lippman’s primary argument concerning public opinion and
politics?
A.Voting should be left to those who demonstrate an appropriate level of knowledge.
B.Americans are highly capable and are willing to seek the information necessary to
make an informed choice in the voting process.
C.Voters in certain regions lack the ability or desire to effectively learn about the issues
and to seek the necessary information to make an informed choice.
D.Only those who have a formal education should be allowed to vote.
E.Citizens invest very little energy and effort in acquiring information about politics,
and as a consequence, public opinion lacks the necessary knowledge to provide value.
In 1967, Congress provided funding to create the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
(CPB), which is responsible for
A.redirecting some of the profitability of televised media to the U.S. Treasury.
B.creating non-commercial public television and radio programming.
C.creating an in-house news source designed to present the government’s side of issues.
D.providing national entertainment and movies.
E.Internet-based programming and information dissemination.
Leadership positions in Congress, such as Speaker of the House, are determined by
A.appointments by the president, which are confirmed by Congress.
B.the results of the nationwide elections.
C.the preferences of the state legislatures.
D.the laws that dictate who will be in the leadership positions.
E.the elected members of Congress.
Why would the writers of the Constitution have created such a difficult amendment
process?
A.They distrusted the motives of the people to make rational choices.
B.They protected the Constitution from short-lived or temporary passions.
C.They did not want any person or institution to tamper with their original work.
D.They ensured that the branches of government work together.
E.They distrusted the motives and abuses of powers by state governments.
The Twelfth Amendment, ratified in 1804, helped to eliminate what problem that had
existed in two of the earlier elections?
A.It corrected a frequent problem of having a president and vice president who were
political enemies from different political parties.
B.It made the office of vice president an appointed position instead of an elected
position.
C.It eliminated the problem of non-citizens casting votes for president.
D.It ensured that only landholders could vote for president.
E.It pushed elections back to the state level.
Approximately what percentage of convictions in the federal judicial system are the
direct result of a negotiated plea bargain?
A.less than 10 percent
B.about 45 percent
C.approximately 65 percent
D.about 89 percent
E.about 95 percent
One of the prominent political parties in colonial America until the Revolutionary War
was the Tory Party. What was the primary stance of the Tories?
A.control of health care, which should be provided by the government
B.aggressive military intervention in European affairs
C.support of an early form of Communism
D.overthrow of the British control
E.loyalty to Britain and the king
Once the number of representatives in the House of Representatives had been capped, it
was necessary to allocate the appropriate amount of seats in the House to the states.
This process is known as
A.gerrymandering.
B.stabilizing.
C.distribution.
D.reapportionment.
E.reassessment.
As evidenced in James Madison’s Federalist #10, many of the writers of the
Constitution were cautious regarding
A.the right of people to vote because they tended to rely on emotion rather than
rationality.
B.factions, by which he meant groups of people motivated by a common economic
and/or political interest.
C.the office of president.
D.the ability of the people to amend the Constitution and thus, in Madison’s opinion, to
undermine its authority.
E.state powers.
The U.S. Constitution extends certain powers to the president in regard to people who
are convicted of violating federal laws. An executive action that reduces the severity of
a punishment without removing the guilt is called
A.a pardon.
B.a reprieve.
C.power of appointment.
D.writ of habeas corpus.
E.presidential oversight.
A presidential race between a sitting president and a challenger is called
A.a primary election.
B.an incumbent race.
C.a policy referendum.
D.a confirmation election.
E.a tilted race.
The District of Columbia had no electoral votes until
A.1776.
B.1800.
C.1865.
D.1962.
E.2006.
The Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, granted
A.women the right to vote.
B.African American men the right to vote for the first time.
C.the right to equal education regardless of race or gender.
D.the right to affirmative action in employment procedures.
E.eighteen-year-olds the right to vote.
Discuss the major agents of political socialization and how they affect political
attitudes.
Answer:
Answers may vary.
How does Congress, the president, and the judicial branch make bureaucracies
accountable?
Answer:
Answers may vary.
What is meant by the term “New Federalism”? Discuss this era in comparison with
earlier eras, especially regarding the roles of federal and state governments.
Answer:
Answers may vary.
What were the issues involved in McCulloch v. Maryland and Gibbons v. Ogden? What
are the significances of these decisions for understanding the nature of American
federalism? Compare and contrast these two cases.
Answer:
Answers may vary.
Describe the various methods for funding a presidential campaign. How does the
federal government regulate such campaign funding?
Answer:
Answers may vary.
Power is the capacity of getting individuals to do something that they may not
otherwise do. Describe some ways in which a government uses power legitimately and
ways in which it could use power illegitimately, if that is possible. Give an example of
an improper use of power in our nation’s history.
Answer:
Answers may vary.
Discuss the legislative efforts to regulate obscenity and the judicial interpretations that
have attempted to define obscenity.
Answer:
Answers may vary.
Discuss some of the historical trends in women’s suffrage. When did women’s
advocates first organize and what were some of the challenges they faced? Also, what
role did individual states play in women’s suffrage prior to ratification of the Nineteenth
Amendment?
Answer:
Answers may vary.
Pertaining to public policy decision making, compare and contrast the power of state
legislators with that of a state governor.
Answer:
Answers may vary.
How does presidential style affect the nature and success of a given administration?
Answer:
Answers may vary.
The U.S. Supreme Court is the “highest court in the land,” yet it does not have original
jurisdiction in most cases. How does a case from a state court enter the federal system?
Describe the different ways in which cases move on to the Supreme Court.
Answer:
Answers may vary.
In the 1980s President Reagan was an advocate of the “trickle-down” theory of
economics. In comparison, President Roosevelt in the 1930s depression era advocated
the use of Keynesian economic theory. How do the two theories differ and could both
be used successfully?
Answer:
Answers may vary.
Does today’s media continue to serve the public interest? Are journalistic standards and
existing regulations effective in promoting responsible news coverage?
Answer:
Answers may vary.
Describe the major stages or steps that an individual candidate experiences between
his/her first serious interest in the upcoming presidential election to the point of
winning or losing the election.
Answer:
Answers may vary.
How have campaign finance laws evolved? In what ways do current laws influence
campaign finance?
Answer:
Answers may vary.
The American press is often referred to as the fourth branch of government and the
government watchdog. Describe what is meant by these labels. Give some examples of
the press exercising the roles associated with these terms.
Answer:
Answers may vary.
In 1973 Congress passed the War Powers Resolution. Why was this law created? How
have presidents responded to this legislation since its enactment?
Answer:
Answers may vary.
Discuss the impact of two major events and how they changed American foreign policy.
Answer:
Answers may vary.
What is the role of the Cabinet-level departments and why are they important to the
president? How are the heads of these Cabinet-level departments chosen?
Answer:
Answers may vary.
Social security has quickly become a deeply established benefit in American culture,
both politically and socially, since its inception in the 1930s. Politicians from both
major parties have great difficultly in modifying social security in any way. Many
observers refer to social security as the “third rail.” What is meant by this? What are
some recent recommendations that have been suggested for changing the social security
system?
Answer:
Answers may vary.