The United States entered World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in
A) 1922.
B) 1938.
C) 1935.
D) 1941.
E) 1949.
Political culture
A) directly affects the rate of population growth in the state.
B) affects the adoption and implementation of political reforms.
C) is defined in the Texas Constitution.
D) is defined in laws passed by the legislature.
E) has little significance in contemporary Texas.
Each time the Texas legislature meets in a regular session they must write a
A) one-year budget.
B) two-year budget.
C) certification that the budget is balanced.
D) five-year plan.
E) three-year budget.
Candidate-centered politics MOST likely came about as a result of
A) party dissolution.
B) the emergence of issue politics.
C) the decrease in the importance of political machines.
D) the dwindling effects of lobbyists.
E) urban population explosions.
Push polls are
I. becoming increasingly common.
II. becoming a greater source of public objection.
III. an element of all good polls.
IV. decreasing as a result of Internet polls.
A) III only
B) I and III
C) II and III
D) III and IV
E) II and IV
Parties have been affected, and in general weakened, by
A) the movement of people to urban areas.
B) a decline in the number of lobbyists.
C) decreases in district size.
D) candidate-centered politics.
E) voters emphasizing the importance of political issues.
Party conventions generally
A) serve only symbolic purposes.
B) are contentious due in part to the negotiation of the platform.
C) are brokered by political leaders.
D) have several unexpected occurrences.
E) are covered gavel-to-gavel by every media outlet.
Enlargement of a city’s corporate limits by incorporating surrounding territory into the
city is known as
A) annexation.
B) extraterritorial jurisdiction.
C) hostile takeover.
D) redistricting.
E) reclamation.
A new Congress is seated every ________ years.
A) two
B) three
C) four
D) six
E) eight
With regard to the No Child Left Behind Act, President Barack Obama
A) appears to be opposed to some of its provisions.
B) seems to be satisfied overall with the requirements of the law.
C) seeks to expand the provisions of the law substantially.
D) wants to completely eliminate it.
E) has done little else for education besides promoting the law.
President James A. Garfield was assassinated by a disgruntled person who had sought a
patronage position in his administration.
Senator Barack Obama outshined Senator John McCain in fundraising in 2008, mainly
because
A) McCain’s micro-targeting strategy was faulty.
B) Obama did not accept public funds.
C) Obama was a better fundraiser.
D) McCain lost significant support from wealthy voters.
E) Obama targeted fewer states at higher intensity.
________ contains the privileges and immunities clause.
A) Article I
B) Article III
C) Article IV
D) Article VI
E) Article VII
Which of the following are NOT agents of political socialization for children in their
formative years?
A) books and magazines
B) parents
C) peers
D) children’s programming on channels such as Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network
E) the Pledge of Allegiance
The first session of the U.S. Supreme Court took place in
A) Philadelphia Hall.
B) the current Supreme Court building.
C) the Senate.
D) Boston.
E) New York City.
To facilitate communication and the flow of information among independence-minded
colonists, colonial leaders formed the
A) Sisters of Liberty.
B) Committees of Correspondence.
C) Continental Congress.
D) Stamp Act Congress.
E) Thomas Paine Society.
During the early years of the New Deal, the attitude of the Supreme Court toward
federal economic intervention could be best characterized as
A) encouraging.
B) inconsistent.
C) interventionist.
D) activist.
E) obstructionist.
Which Supreme Court decision mandated that all legislative districts within a state have
the same number of people?
A) South Dakota v. Dole
B) U.S. v. Lopez
C) Baker v. Carr
D) Gibbons v. Ogden
E) Virginia v. Edwards
Which of the following countries does NOT have a president serving a four-year term?
A) United States
B) Russia
C) Mexico
D) Nigeria
E) Iran
George Gallup was so confident about his polling methodology that he
A) offered his first-born child if he was incorrect about the winner of the 1936 election.
B) had a money-back guarantee if his results were not closer than those of the Literary
Digest.
C) claimed he would retire if he was wrong about election results by more than a
5-point margin.
D) wrote several books about using public opinion polling in politics.
E) offered $10,000 to any pollster who could come closer than him.
Suppose Congress passes a law requiring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
to decrease the amount of copper used in household appliances. The EPA has several
different ways they can enforce this directive, but they choose to impose fines on
companies who use over a certain amount. This choice is an example of
A) quasi-legislative choice.
B) administrative discretion.
C) selective implementation.
D) implementation prerogative.
E) an iron triangle.
Nullification
A) was used to justify South Carolina’s refusal to abide by federal tariff laws.
B) is a political maneuver where Congress purposefully invalidates state laws by
passing national laws.
C) is a principle that allows states to invalidate laws from other states.
D) played no part in the development of the Civil War.
E) was deemed unconstitutional after the Supreme Court invalidated the Alien and
Sedition Acts.
What establishes the formal organization of political parties?
A) State law
B) The U.S. Constitution
C) Federal law
D) Common law
E) The governor’s office
What was the primary motivation for the reorganization of the Texas health and human
services agencies in 2003?
A) Protecting the agencies from takeover attempts by private industry
B) Saving money
C) Dissatisfaction among those who relied on the services provided by the agencies
D) An influx of money from the tobacco settlement
E) Expanding the scope of services provided and reaching a greater number of needy
families
A significant discrepancy between Gallup’s prediction and the election outcome
occurred in which year?
A) 1960
B) 1964
C) 1984
D) 1992
E) 2004
Allegations of state-sanctioned sex discrimination are judged using
A) the rational basis test.
B) strict scrutiny.
C) the intermediate standard of review.
D) the suspect classifications test.
E) the rational-intermediate test.
Disturbance theory posits that
A) groups form to counter the activities of other groups.
B) groups regularly compete for scarce resources.
C) incrementalism leads to poor public policy.
D) citizens need governmental support to succeed.
E) political power is concentrated in politically disadvantaged groups.
Race neutral laws enacted by southern states that resulted in segregation by race
included
I. Black Codes.
II. poll taxes.
III. Jim Crow laws.
IV. grandfather clauses.
A) I and II
B) II and III
C) III and IV
D) I and IV
E) II and IV
The governor’s ability to control the agenda of special sessions does NOT extend to
A) impeachments.
B) environmental legislation.
C) tax bills.
D) appropriation bills.
E) school finance legislation.
Efforts by individuals to influence policies of the legislature and the executive branches
is known as
A) lobbying.
B) log-rolling.
C) pork-barreling.
D) co-option.
E) ear-marking.
You are the treasurer for a candidate running for state office in Texas. Where must you
submit regular contribution and expenditure reports for the candidate?
A) U.S. Secretary of State’s office
B) Comptroller of Public Accounts
C) Texas Bar Association
D) Ethics Commission
E) Legislative Redistricting Board
Former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger cannot become president because
A) governors from large states often find it difficult to be elected.
B) the Constitution prohibits those who are not natural-born citizens from running for
the presidency.
C) voters are likely to be suspicious of his motives as a naturalized citizen.
D) he first would have to serve in Congress for fourteen years.
E) he does not meet the age requirement to be president.
Assume you are a member of the Texas legislature. Why would you probably be
unlikely to support constitutional reform?
A) My constituents are more interested in issues other than constitutional reform.
B) I am fearful that a new constitution might increase the power of the legislature.
C) My constituents are highly interested in and informed on aspects of constitutional
reform but are in one of two fanatical and diametrically opposed camps on the issue; I
do not want to offend either group.
D) I want to run for governor and a new constitution might give more power to the
governor’s office and I do not want more political power.
E) A new constitutional convention would be extensively covered by the news media
and as a politician I do not like to be on TV.
The idea of equality expressed in the Texan Creed that developed in Texas during the
nineteenth century has its roots in ___________ but was limited to __________.
A) social welfare; education and health care
B) land ownership; Anglo men
C) egalitarianism; fraternity
D) the abolition of slavery; property owners
E) the Texas Constitution; Texas Bill of Rights
The 2008 Iowa Caucuses brought unprecedented competition between the five major
television and cable networks for the most accurate polling data.