1. Which of the following BEST describes public opinion?
a. When a number of people generally feel the same way about something
b. Polling data
c. How people feel about something
d. What people think
e. The aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs shared by some portion of the adult population
2. BecausesomanypeopleareintheUnitedStatesandit’simpracticabletopolleveryone,peopleinterested
professionally in looking at public opinion describe the ______ of opinions about a particular question.
a. number
b. reliability
c. validity
d. distribution
e. standard deviation
3. When people generally agree on an issue, the agreement itself is called
a. a consensus.
b. an opinion.
c. unanimity.
d. reliability.
e. validity.
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4. If the results of an opinion poll look like the following: (Favor: 44%; Oppose: 45%; No opinion: 11%), the results
show an example of _______ opinion.
a. consensus
b. divided
c. dubious
d. favorable
e. unified
5. Private opinion becomes public opinion when
a. that opinion, regardless of its subject matter, is publicly expressed.
b. it is publicly expressed and concerns public issues.
c. an individual is polled by a major polling organization.
d. it is not divided.
e. it is articulated to at least ten other people.
6. Political socialization is
a. what people think about something.
b. the process by which people acquire political beliefs and attitudes.
c. whenpeople’sbeliefsandattitudesgivepoliticiansanideaofwhentoaddressthoseissues.
d. when people are categorized based on what they believe.
e. when people generally agree on an issue.
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7. Transmitting political values
a. is more likely to happen from parents to children.
b. is less likely to happen from educators to students.
c. is equally likely to happen from educators as from parents.
d. most likely happens when children, influenced by educators, influence parents in turn.
e. never happens from children to parents.
8. Which of the following best explains the relationship between education and interest in politics?
a. The less education a person has, the more likely s/he will be interested in politics.
b. The more education a person has, the more likely s/he will be interested in politics.
c. The more interest a person has in politics impacts the amount of education s/he will receive.
d. Uneducated people vote the most.
e. Highly educated people are the most apathetic about politics.
9. Political attitudes are more likely to be shaped by peer groups when
a. people are over the age of fifty.
b. it is not an election year.
c. people within the peer group do not have strong party identification.
d. the peer groups are involved directly in political activities.
e. members of the peer group are all of the same gender.
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10. An opinion leader is
a. one who is able to influence the opinions of others because of position, expertise, or personality.
b. a pollster.
c. always someone whose job is to sway public opinion, such as a member of Congress.
d. a public relations expert.
e. someone who relies on position, or expertise, rather than something like personality.
11. Determining which public policy questions will be debated or considered is a process known as ______.
a. roll call
b. subconscious influence
c. lobbying
d. media dominance
e. agenda setting
12. Manypeoplecontendthatthemedia’sinfluenceonpublicopinion
a. has remained constant.
b. is decreasing.
c. has grown to equal the influence of the family.
d. is negligible.
e. is not, nor has it ever been, a significant factor.
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13. New forms of media
a. have decreased the polarization that characterizes American politics.
b. are all Internet based.
c. were made possible by the enforcement of the Fairness Doctrine.
d. include talk radio and cable television.
e. are all equally influential.
14. Which of the following is true regarding political socialization?
a. Older Americans tend to be more liberal than younger Americans.
b. The experience of marriage and raising a family has a measurable liberalizing effect.
c. A more important factor than age is the impact of momentous political events that shape the political attitudes
of an entire generation.
d. Voters who grew up during the Great Depression were likely to form lifelong attachments to the Republican
Party.
e. The years of economic prosperity under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s led many young people to identify with
the Democratic Party.
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15. The generational effect in politics refers to
a. the way in which political socialization produces opinions.
b. the increased tension between the two major political parties.
c. the tendency for persons to become more conservative as they grow older.
d. the long-lasting effect of the events of a particular time on the political opinions of those who came of age at
that time.
e. the way in which the family influences voting.
16. Recently,havingmorethanabachelor’sdegree
a. is associated with a greater tendency to vote for Republicans.
b. is associated with a greater tendency to vote for Democrats.
c. is associated with a greater tendency to vote for Independents.
d. has no influence on voting behavior.
e. is associated with a greater tendency to abstain from voting.
17. Those with high incomes tend to
a. lean toward the left.
b. vote Democratic.
c. favor government action to promote economic equality.
d. oppose government intervention in the economy.
e. favor government action to benefit the poor.
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18. Which of the following groups are more likely to vote Republican?
a. Factory workers
b. Union members
c. Small-business owners
d. Attorneys
e. College instructors
19. Jewish voters are notably
a. more likely to vote for candidates that are politically conservative.
b. more liberal than members of other groups on cultural issues, but more conservative on economic issues.
c. focused almost totally on domestic issues.
d. more liberal than members of other groups on both economic and cultural issues.
e. similar to the overall population in their political preferences.
20. In recent years, Protestants and Catholics have
a. both become more likely to abstain from voting.
b. both become more likely to vote Democratic.
c. moved toward Jewish voters politically.
d. moved farther apart from each other politically.
e. grown closer to each other politically.
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21. African Americans of all religious tendencies have been
a. more likely than Catholics, but less likely than Protestants, to vote Republican.
b. in line with non-African American religious voters with regard to their voting tendencies.
c. evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.
d. strongly supportive of Democrats.
e. strongly supportive of Republicans.
22. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
a. The majority of Hispanic Americans vote Democratic.
b. Cuban Americans are usually Republican.
c. Most Asian American groups lean toward the Democrats.
d. A majority of Muslim Americans of Middle Eastern ancestry voted Republican in 2000.
e. African Americans have voted principally for Democrats since the 1880s.
23. The difference between the percentage of women who vote for a particular candidate and the percentage of men
who vote for the candidate is called
a. the feminization of politics.
b. political socialization.
c. the ideology spectrum.
d. an opinion poll.
e. the gender gap.
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24. Politically speaking, American women are
a. more likely than men to support capital punishment.
b. less likely than men to be concerned about the environment.
c. more likely than men to support social welfare programs.
d. more likely than men to support interventions abroad.
e. less likely than men to support extending civil rights to gay men and lesbians.
25. Scholars began to detect the gender gap following the election of
a. Ronald Reagan.
b. Gerald Ford.
c. Jimmy Carter.
d. George W. Bush.
26. Currently, which of the following regions are more supportive of the Republicans than the Democrats?
a. The West Coast and the Northeast
b. The South and the Northeast
c. The South, the Great Plains, and several of the Rocky Mountain states
d. The Midwest and the West Coast
e. The West Coast, the Great Plains, and several of the Rocky Mountain states
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27. People in large cities tend to be
a. evenly split between Republican and Democratic voters.
b. conservative and Republican.
c. liberal but vote Republican.
d. conservative but vote Democratic.
e. liberal and Democratic.
28. During the 1800s, certain American newspapers and magazines spiced up their political coverage by
a. letting a coin flip determine the outcome of elections.
b. republishing the poll results of the magazine Literary Digest.
c. conductingfacetofacepollsormailsurveysofreaders’opinions.
d. fabricating poll results.
e. conductingaccuraterepresentativesurveysofAmericans’opinions.
29. Which of the following best describes an opinion poll?
a. The amount of deviation in the sample of the population chosen from the real opinion
b. A method of systematically questioning a small, selected sample of respondents who are deemed
representative of the total population
c. The total number of people surveyed
d. When the people surveyed have an inherent bias that affects the results of the poll
e. When pollsters take voter information and analyze it to predict other trends than simple opinions
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30. The principle of randomness in sampling means that
a. every person should have a known chance, and especially an equal chance, of being sampled.
b. there is no preplanning in the selection process.
c. every person in the target population who is encountered is selected.
d. researchers decide how many persons of certain types they need in the survey.
e. the poll is unscientific.
31. Which of the following best describes sampling error?
a. Any given poll will result in as certain percentage point variation from the true answer as pollsters could not
really interview everyone.
b. Researchers take a random number of people and survey them.
c. Pollsters get a sample of people using demographic or geographical software to yield a high level of accuracy.
d. Researchers take a sample of voters and slant the results in order to influence future polls.
e. Pollsters make up the survey results.
32. Usually, the Gallup and Roper polls interview
a. 3 percent of the U.S. population.
b. about 1,500 individuals.
c. over 100,000 individuals in each random sample for presidential elections.
d. people who have been selected based on their intelligence.
e. using quota samples.
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33. Sampling error occurs when
a. a whole generation of voters uniformly believe that something is based on a commonly shared experience.
b. socioeconomic status influences what types of answers are given in a survey.
c. an interviewer presents survey questions with a good deal of bias.
d. there is a difference between the sample result and what the sample really responded.
e. there is a difference between a sample result and the true result if the entire population had been interviewed.
34. Which of the following methods is most likely to control sampling error?
a. Surveying the least educated
b. Processing survey results quickly
c. Conducting a telephone poll
d. Taking a large random sample
e. Taking a large quota sample
35. The answers given by respondents to poll questions are influenced by all of the following EXCEPT
a. the order in which questions are asked.
b. wanting to please the interviewer.
c. ayes/noformatthatrestrictstherespondents’choices.
d. the size of the sample.
e. the possible answers from which the respondents are allowed to choose.
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36. Critical consumers should watch out for surveys with ______ and other types of skewed samples.
a. margins of error greater than one percent
b. large numbers of respondents
c. quota-sampled respondents
d. randomly-sampled respondents
e. self-selected respondents
37. All of the following about American political culture is true EXCEPT
a. it is a set of attitudes and ideas about the nation and government.
b. it consists of symbols such as the American flag, the Liberty Bell, and the Statue of Liberty.
c. it supports the political system.
d. it is only shared by Americans of similar backgrounds.
e. shared beliefs exist about values such as liberty, equality, and property.
38. Which of the following best describes political trust?
a. People identifying themselves as Democrats, Republicans, or independents
b. Degree to which individuals express trust in political institutions
c. Everyone having the right to vote
d. People’sthinkingaboutsomethings.
e. Huge majority of Americans demanding the nation do something about a given issue
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39. Political culture, to some extent, consists of symbols, such as
a. the American flag.
b. the Liberty Bell.
c. the Empire State Building.
d. Both options A and B are true.
e. None of the above is true.
40. The public tends to emphasize problems that are
a. long-term.
b. immediate.
c. education-related.
d. easily solved.
e. most likely to affect future generations.
41. Today, ______ of Americans use television news as their primary source of information.
a. less than 10 percent
b. 25 percent
c. 55 percent
d. 78 percent
e. 69 percent
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42. By far, the greatest number of radio and television hours are dedicated to
a. identifying public problems.
b. reporting the news.
c. entertaining the public.
d. providing a political forum.
e. educating the public.
43. The public agenda is
a. decided by the public through ballot initiatives.
b. issues that are perceived by the political community as meriting public attention and governmental action.
c. never influenced by the mass media.
d. also called the Massachusetts ballot.
e. an explicit agreement among media providers about what topics to cover and how.
44. The media tends to depend on ______ for their income.
a. subscriptions
b. Internet taxes
c. government spending
d. advertisers
e. contributions
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45. A brief, memorable comment that can easily be fit into news broadcasts is a
a. falsehood.
b. story line.
c. multimedia platform.
d. sound bite.
e. unit of analysis.
46. Negative political ads can backfire when
a. there are only two candidates in the race.
b. there are three or more candidates in the race.
c. they mention atomic attacks.
d. they decrease the profitability of television station owners.
e. they are run by Democratic candidates.
47. A political advisor who tries to convince journalists of the truth of a particular interpretation of events is called a
a. news consultant.
b. flip-flopper.
c. spin doctor.
d. fact checker.
e. win engineer.
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48. Blogs and the Internet have
a. improvedcandidates’managementofsoundbites.
b. made it more difficult for candidates to manage the news coverage of their campaigns.
c. prevented news organizations from using video clips and other online materials.
d. had little effect on campaigns.
e. made it more difficult for campaigns to raise funds.
49. Which of the following best describes bias?
a. An inclination or preference that interferes with impartial judgment
b. Information that is the personal property of someone
c. The news media injecting opinions into reporting to reflect the political attitudes of its consumers
d. Networks such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
e. None of the above
50. Studies of bias in the media have reached
a. different conclusions: some found a liberal bias, whereas others found a conservative bias.
b. a clear conclusion: there is a liberal bias in the media.
c. a clear conclusion: there is a conservative bias in the media.
d. a clear conclusion: there is no bias in the media.
e. the conclusion that it is impossible to test for bias.
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51. Describe the difference between consensus and divided opinions. Can politicians use either one more effectively
than the other to form public policy? Why or why not?
52. How does political socialization occur in the United States? Explain the various means by which Americans obtain
their political beliefs.
53. How do demographic influences shape voting behavior? Use specific examples in your answer.
54. When conducting a public opinion poll, what things must be taken into consideration and what problems might there
be? What measures help ensure accurate results?
55. What trends can be seen in public opinion about institutions? Describe factors that drive these trends.
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56. Identify the functions performed by the mass media in the United States. Are certain functions more important than
others? Why or why not?
57. How important is it that newspapers are struggling? Are online sources of news such as blogs a good replacement
for print news? Why or why not?
58. Describe the ways television has been used in, and influenced, political campaigns.
59. Provideanexampleofmedia“spin”aboutacurrentpoliticalissueorcampaign.Whattacticshavebeenmost
effective in shaping public opinion?
60. Describe the ways in which the government is involved in regulating the media. Why is regulation necessary? What
effects does it have on what information we receive?
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