Gerrymandering is less likely to occur when
A) only one district is involved.
B) there is racial heterogeneity.
C) political parties are strong.
D) courts control the process.
E) district boundaries are established for ten-year periods.
Texas is one of only seven states that
A) has a bifurcated supreme court level.
B) employs partisan judicial elections with candidates listed on the ballot by party
affiliation.
C) appoints judges based on the merit system.
D) requires all appellate judges be attorneys.
E) uses lethal injection as the form of execution of those convicted of capital murder.
What strategy was MOST likely behind Senators John McCain and Russell Feingold
working together to pass the 2002 campaign finance reform bill?
A) Having senators from different regions of the country would show the widespread
need for electoral reform.
B) McCain was not an influential senator at the time, so Feingold bolstered McCain’s
cause.
C) Having two senators work across the aisle limited accusations of partisanship.
D) McCain was planning on running for president, and Feingold would help his
chances of getting elected.
E) Feingold needed to improve his media image, so he worked very publicly with a
prominent senator from his own party.
The 1999 proposal for constitutional changes to the judiciary included all of the
following EXCEPT
A) reducing the number of courts.
B) establishing a merit system for selecting judges.
C) merging the two supreme courts.
D) setting the number of justices on each bench at seven.
E) vesting all appellate jurisdiction in the newly created Texas Supreme Court.
How was the current structure of the state intermediate courts of appeal determined?
A) By the Constitution of 1876
B) By amendments to the Constitution of 1876
C) By legislation passed by the Texas legislature
D) By legislation passed by the U.S. Congress
E) Through case law and various other forms of legal tradition
Which of the following reasons did NOT contribute to the electoral defeat of the
proposed amendments that resulted from the 1974 Constitutional Convention?
A) The influence of political scandals such as Sharpstown in Texas and Watergate in
Washington on voters attitudes toward government and politics
B) The last minute opposition of Governor Dolph Briscoe to the proposed amendments
C) The campaign against the amendments by several interest groups which benefited
from aspects of the existing constitution
D) A feeling among voters that the proposed amendments justified replacing the
existing constitution
E) Disclosures during trial about the private life and habits of Price Daniel, Jr., the
former House Speaker and president of the 1974 Texas Constitutional Convention who
was murdered by his wife
Distinctions based on which of the following classifications are MOST likely to receive
strict scrutiny?
A) Race
B) Gender
C) Age
D) Sexual preference
E) Wealth
Social conservatives, who now form a large part of the base of the Republican Party,
often are also members of
A) religious organizations.
B) programs seeking to expand welfare programs.
C) groups seeking to keep government out of Americans’ private lives.
D) groups seeking to enhance marriage by allowing domestic partnerships.
E) pro-choice groups.
The civil service system, established in 1883,
A) initially covered only about a third of federal workers.
B) was governed by a partisan board appointed by the president.
C) eventually was replaced by the spoils system.
D) eventually covered 10 percent of all federal employees.
E) was eventually expanded to cover most federal appointees.
In Texas, what is the main source of tax revenue for the state government?
A) Personal income tax
B) Corporate income tax
C) Franchise tax
D) Severance tax
E) Sales tax
Voter turnout in the 2008 presidential election was ________ than in 2004.
A) significantly lower
B) slightly lower
C) about the same
D) higher (62 percent of eligible citizens participating)
E) much higher (70 percent of eligible citizens participating)
Before the Fourteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution, the civil liberties
protections contained in the Bill of Rights were
A) universally applied to the states.
B) rarely applied to the states.
C) limited by Barron v. Baltimore.
D) limited by Plessy v. Ferguson.
E) applied only to state governments.
Addressing a current problem by drawing on previous experiences with similar
problems in the past is known as
A) analogous formulation.
B) creative formulation.
C) routine formulation.
D) problem formulation.
E) historical formulation.
Democrats’ major news source is
A) FOX News.
B) ABC.
C) C-SPAN.
D) NBC.
E) MSNBC.
Visiting numerous localities allows candidates to
A) convince attendees of the rallies, most of whom are on-the-fence, of a candidates’
superiority.
B) saturate media markets with their daily activities.
C) gain in-depth knowledge of the issues facing small-town America.
D) debate opponents repeatedly along the campaign trail.
E) draw a considerable amount of support from people who were planning to vote for
the opponent.
The Women’s Christian Temperance Union was a major force behind passage of the
A) Fourteenth Amendment.
B) Fifteenth Amendment.
C) Seventeenth Amendment.
D) Eighteenth Amendment.
E) Nineteenth Amendment.
“Home rule” status makes it possible for
A) a city to decide its own structure and powers under certain limitations.
B) a city to operate a public school system.
C) two or more cities to consolidate public service provision.
D) the consolidation of special districts.
E) local county government to run the given city.
Which of the following types of interest groups are active in attempting to influence
foreign and defense policy decisions?
I. Business groups
II. Foreign governments
III. Ethnic interest groups
IV. Public interest groups
A) III only
B) I and II
C) III and IV
D) II, III, and IV
E) I, II, III, and IV
In an oligarchy, rule is by
A) the many.
B) the few.
C) one person.
D) all people.
E) people who own property.
The United Nations, created at the end of World War II, had its roots in the
_______________ Conference.
A) Roosevelt
B) Yalta
C) Wilson
D) Dayton
E) Bretton Woods
Elected representatives that listen to their constituents’ opinions and then use their best
judgment to make decisions behave as
A) delegates.
B) trustees.
C) politicos.
D) representatives.
E) statesmen.
Which of the following statements accurately describes the Texas legislature?
A) Members of the Texas House are elected from single-member districts; members of
the Texas Senate are elected at-large in state-wide elections
B) Legislators, both members of the House and the Senate, are elected from
single-member districts
C) Members of the Texas House are elected at-large in state-wide elections; members of
the Texas Senate are elected from single-member districts
D) Member of the Texas Senate are limited to serving a maximum of two four-year
terms of office
E) Members of the Texas House are limited to serving a maximum of four two-year
terms of office
When President George W. Bush signed the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, he was
practicing the doctrine of
A) progressivism.
B) populism.
C) institutionalism.
D) interventionism.
E) activism.