In recent years, polls show that ______ of respondents have favorable opinions about
Congress as a whole.
a. fewer than 5 percent
b. as few as 9 percent
c. about 50 percent
d. about 75 percent
e. more than 90 percent
A poll tax was used to
a. prevent northern immigrants from moving to the South and voting in local elections.
b. determine who was intelligent enough to vote.
c. exclude poor African Americans, as well as poor whites, from voting.
d. force individuals to buy property in order to be eligible to vote.
e. raise funds for voter registration among the minority community.
Harold Lasswell defined politics as
a. a necessary evil.
b. the way conflict in society is perpetuated.
c. who gets what, when, and how.
d. promoting equality among citizens.
e. a system for guiding individuals’ decisionmaking.
An economic downturn, usually characterized by a fall in the GDP and rising
unemployment, is called
a. a Keynesian economy.
b. “hidden unemployment.”
c. inflation.
d. a depression.
e. a recession.
To ensure that majority rule does not become oppressive, modern democracies
a. limit political participation to individuals who are properly educated.
b. provide guarantees of minority rights.
c. make voting mandatory.
d. apply term limits to elected officials.
e. require two-thirds support of the legislature before a law can be enacted.
The number of members each state will have in the Electoral College
a. cannot exceed fifty members.
b. cannot be changed without a constitutional amendment.
c. changes every four years.
d. equals that state’s number of senators plus its number of representatives.
e. is the same so as to ensure that each state plays an equal role in selecting the
president of the United States.
Which of the following happens with a progressive tax system?
a. All taxpayers pay taxes at the same percentage rate.
b. People with higher incomes pay taxes at a higher rate.
c. People with higher incomes pay taxes at a lower rate.
d. The tax burden consists mostly of property and sales taxes.
e. The tax rates increase by a set percentage every year.
Which government system is the most popular, both historically and today?
a. A unitary system
b. A confederal system
c. A federal system
d. A bicameral system
e. A grassroots system
The granting of release from the punishment for a crime is called
a. a reprieve.
b. a congressional sanction.
c. a pardon.
d. executive privilege.
e. impeachment.
In the 1930s and subsequent decades, the ______ became the primary constitutional
basis for national government regulation.
a. commerce clause
b. Bill of Rights
c. necessary and proper clause
d. Treaty of Versailles
e. Work Projects Administration (WPA)
The ideological, political, and economic confrontation between the United States and
the Soviet Union following World War II was called
a. the Iron Curtain.
b. the Red Scare.
c. the Orange Revolution.
d. East-meets-West.
e. the Cold War.
Which of the following statements about Arizona’s 2010 immigration law is false?
a. Other states made tougher immigration laws soon afterward.
b. Opponents of the law claimed the act would lead to harassment of Latinos.
c. It required police to stop and question anyone suspected of being in the country
illegally.
d. It criminalized the failure to carry immigration documents.
e. The decision that the Supreme Court made about it left the door open for future
challenges to the law based on equal protection principles.
The term amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief refers to
a. a legal argument supporting a desired outcome of a case, filed by an interested third
party not directly involved in the case.
b. a request that the Supreme Court order a lower court to send up the records of a case.
c. a Supreme Court order barring further testimony during oral arguments.
d. the belief that the Supreme Court should actively practice judicial review.
e. a legal argument made regarding a hypothetical or purely academic question.
Bureaucracy is the name given to
a. a large organization, structured hierarchically, that carries out specific functions.
b. any organization that has major problems when attempting to accomplish its goals.
c. a group of people who work to enforce policies in a way that prevents quick results.
d. any large branch of a government that has power to interpret laws.
e. government organizations, but not to corporate or university organizations.
Most of the actual work of legislating is
a. performed by interest groups and then acted on by Congress.
b. done in the Rules Committee of the Senate.
c. performed on the floor of the House of Representatives.
d. performed by the committees and subcommittees within Congress.
e. done when the president signs it.
The power of the courts to determine whether a law or action is constitutional is called
a. judicial review.
b. appellate review of fact.
c. precedent.
d. the writ of judicial appeal.
e. habeas corpus.
As commander in chief, the president is
a. only a symbolic leader of the military.
b. the ultimate decision maker in military matters.
c. allowed to make military decisions, but only with the approval of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff.
d. not responsible for military decisions.
e. one of five people with the power to order the use of nuclear force.
The framers of the Constitution assumed that most national power would be held by the
a. executive branch.
b. legislative branch.
c. Department of Defense.
d. bureaucracy.
e. judicial branch.
Many observers consider the ______ to be the beginning of the feminist movement.
a. founding of American Woman Suffrage Association
b. passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1968
c. passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
d. founding of the Congressional Union
e. founding of the National Organization for Women (NOW)
Congress’s main function is to
a. enforce the laws.
b. make laws.
c. impeach high government officials.
d. use its oversight power.
e. decide whether or not laws are constitutional.
Superdelegates are
a. party leaders or elected officials who are given the right to vote at the party’s national
convention.
b. the five delegates who raise the most money for the party.
c. no longer permitted at national conventions.
d. elected at the state level.
e. appointed by the president.
A writ of certiorari by the Supreme Court orders
a. both parties in a case to reach agreement without further litigation.
b. state courts to abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court.
c. a lower court to send up the record of a case for review.
d. Congress to rewrite unconstitutional legislation.
e. that a prisoner be brought before the court and the reasons for the detention be
provided.
Many basic guarantees of liberty are found in
a. the protection of personal property rights.
b. the broadly defined rights of criminals, including protection from self-incrimination.
c. the Bill of Rights.
d. the rights of minorities.
e. national security.
Which of the following statements best generalizes United States foreign policy during
the 1800s?
a. The United States mostly stayed out of European conflicts and politics, but pursued
an expansionist policy in the Western Hemisphere.
b. The United States expanded around the globe.
c. The United States intervened in Europe, but stayed isolated from the Western
Hemisphere.
d. The United States acted completely isolationist.
e. The United States did not engage in any wars in the 1800s.
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.
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 facetoface polls or mail surveys of readers’ opinions.
d. fabricating poll results.
e. conducting accurate representative surveys of Americans’ opinions.
What characterizes an opinion per curiam (“by the court”)?
a. When the Supreme Court’s written opinion is unsigned
b. When a ruling is invalidated
c. When an opinion is ruled temporary, pending future decisions
d. When an opinion is valid only for academic use
e. When an opinion is an indication that the Court plans to review the case at a later
date
The two categories of bureaucrats are _____ and _____ .
a. partisan appointees; nonpartisan appointees.
b. congressional appointees; presidential appointees.
c. civil servants; private employees.
d. political appointees; patronage employees.
e. political appointees; civil servants.
The following statement was probably made by a ______: “The government should
have no role in providing health care for the country. It would be best to provide a tax
rate cut to stimulate businesses to provide more people with health care insurance.”
a. liberal
b. conservative
c. communist
d. socialist
e. populist
Which of the following best describes a focus group?
a. A poll carried out on a regular basis to analyze long-term trends
b. When professional consultants organize a discussion about candidates or certain
political issues among small groups of ordinary citizens
c. Phone calls that are made to certain likely voters
d. A group that measures the national mood
e. A census taken of a group
In 1978, the ______ was created to oversee promotions, employees’ rights, and other
employment matters.
a. Civil Service Commission
b. Office of Personnel Management
c. Ministry of Personnel
d. Civilian Employment Agency
e. Merit Systems Protection Board
Justices who believe in ______ look to the “letter of the law” when they attempt to
interpret the Constitution or a particular statute.
a. Democratic ideology
b. Republican ideology
c. judicial activism
d. broad construction
e. strict construction
A month after invading Iraq in 2003, U.S. and British forces
a. still had not had any effect on Saddam Hussein’s regime.
b. had ended Saddam Hussein’s decadesold dictatorship.
c. were finally able to convince the UN Security Council that military force was
necessary in Iraq.
d. were able to withdraw.
e. formally recognized that the war had been a mistake.
Which of the following statements regarding the federal budget is true?
a. The federal government has spent more than it has received every year since it began.
b. The federal budget deficit amounts to almost nothing.
c. The United States had a budget surplus each year from 1998 to 2002.
d. The budget deficit peaked during World War II and has continued to decrease since
then.
e. The federal budget deficit was helped by President Bush’s tax cuts.