Texas requires redistricting every two years.
Generally speaking, women are more likely to support stricter emissions standards than
are men.
Over half of Americans believe that the recent health care reforms will improve the
state of health care in the United States.
During Texas’s early, formative years, government focused on providing security.
Some county judges in non-urban areas exercise their judicial power as judge of the
constitutional county court.
The creation and content of the Texas Constitution of 1876 was greatly influenced by
Texans’ reaction to Reconstruction.
Federal occupation of the South following the Civil War ended in 1877.
Literary Digest incorrectly predicted that Alfred M. Landon would sweep the 1936
presidential election.
The system of separation of powers is one reason why Justice Sonia Sotomayor went
through congressional hearings in 2009.
The costs of voting have been reduced significantly in Texas over the past 30 years.
By the late 1800s, relatively few Native Americans remained in Texas.
A press release is a relatively restricted session between a press secretary or aide and
the press.
If you are a Republican candidate for office, you ought to target African Americans and
Hispanics because traditionally, they would be likely to vote against you.
Constitutional county courts have exclusively criminal jurisdiction.
States recovered quickly from the 2007-2010 recession.
The first step of the policy-making process is agenda setting.
Rule-making is a quasi-legislative act performed by the bureaucracy.
The Texas legislature has imposed strict environmental regulations on all major Texas
cities to reduce air pollution.
Bureaucrats do not make policy; they only implement it.
The federal bureaucracy, which is part of the executive branch, can take on a
quasi-legislative role in policymaking.
Two of the most important tasks associated with successfully running candidates for
office are raising money and getting out the vote.
You have been injured in an accident and want to bring a civil suit against the person
who injured you. You may be entitled to damages under the provisions of state law that
deal with torts.
The Equal Rights Amendment (also known as the Women’s Equality Amendment) was
introduced to Congress in 2009.
A higher percentage of PAC money goes to Republicans than Democrats.
Suppose you are president and you wished to have strong, close ties with your party.
Your leadership style would probably be more similar to George H.W. Bush than that of
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
A key function of county governments is administering elections.
Gambling revenue has far outpaced projections.
Before a bill can be debated on the floor of the House of Representatives, it must be
given a rule and then placed on the calendar.
In 2009, the United States ranked lower than Singapore on the Economic Freedom of
the World Index.
Governor Dolph Briscoe announced his support of constitutional revision during the
1974 Texas Constitution Convention.
The news media is frequently referred to as the fifth estate.
The governor’s power to influence the legislature through the threat and use of the veto
power is magnified by the fact that the constitution provides the legislature with no
means to override a veto by the governor.
At the urging of George Washington, the United States immediately asserted its foreign
policy powers.
Republicans and Democrats have been in the White House roughly an equal amount of
time since 1884.
The typical modern American family is easy to describe.
The Seventeenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, began the popular election of U.S.
senators.
A person who is charged with a crime in one state can flee to another state and be
granted refugee status.
After World War I, President Woodrow Wilson put great faith in a concept called
A) engagement.
B) collective security.
C) the Roosevelt Corollary.
D) the League of Security.
E) the Pacific Peace.
The president has a list of enumerated duties of office largely found in _________ of
the U.S. Constitution.
A) Article I
B) Article II
C) Article III
D) Article IV
E) Article V
Individual senators can exercise tremendous power by filibustering
A) unless a majority of the Senate votes to cut her or him off from speaking.
B) unless the party leader tells him or her to stop.
C) unless three-fifths of the senators vote to cut her or him off.
D) unless two-thirds of the senators vote to cut her or him off.
E) unless three-quarters of the senators vote to cut him or her off.
Among the alleged discriminatory practices made illegal under Civil Rights Act of 1964
are
I. paying male orderlies more than nurses’ aides.
II. rules barring males from becoming flight attendants.
III. an acting company hiring only women as mothers.
IV. height and weight requirements.
A) I and II
B) II and III
C) III and IV
D) II and IV
E) I, III, and III
Social capital
A) can be measured by the number of cell phones in a community.
B) can be fostered by Facebook groups.
C) is a measure of voter turnout.
D) always leads to civic engagement.
E) is highest in agrarian societies.
Which of the following is a major weakness of public opinion polls?
A) Only elite opinion is measured.
B) Polls are unable to measure the intensity of feelings about issues.
C) All polls contain far too many errors to ever be reliable.
D) Most polls have too many respondent options.
E) Social scientists have not perfected the sampling process.
The judicial doctrine that prevents government from prohibiting speech or publication
before the fact is called
A) a priori limitation.
B) prior restraint.
C) selective incorporation.
D) the prohibition clause.
E) libel.
Which Texas constitution was the first to provide universal male suffrage?
A) 1835 Constitution (constitution of the Republic of Texas)
B) 1845 Constitution (constitution following admittance to the Union)
C) 1861 Constitution (constitution following admittance to the Confederacy)
D) 1866 Constitution (first constitution following re-entry into the Union)
E) 1869 Constitution (second constitution following re-entry into the Union)
_________ is a keystone of transaction theory.
A) Belief in pluralism
B) Support of Robert Putnam
C) Belief in the role of elites
D) Worry about civil unrest
E) Belief in the importance of political mobilization of the poor
Which of the following best summarizes the primary purpose behind the welfare reform
of the 1990s?
A) Saving money in order to reduce taxes
B) Allowing single mothers to spend quality time with their children
C) Moving welfare recipients from welfare to work
D) Punishing those who abuse the welfare system
E) Encouraging poor and homeless people to sign up for welfare benefits
Calls to reform the bureaucracy were not seriously considered until
A) President John F. Kennedy took office.
B) the Civil War.
C) the Progressive movement.
D) the Great Society.
E) President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal was implemented.
The personal guarantees and freedoms that the federal government cannot abridge by
law, constitution, or judicial interpretation are called
A) civil rights.
B) enumerated rights.
C) civil liberties.
D) privacy laws.
E) incorporated freedoms.
Which of the following is included in the Judicial Campaign Fairness Act of 1995?
A) Penalties for contributors who violate the contribution limits
B) Requiring sitting judges who received a large contribution from an attorney or a
party to a suit before the court to recuse him- or herself from hearing the case.
C) Preventing incumbent judges from amassing large war chests that intimidate
potential candidates in future elections
D) A $1,000 limit on campaign contributions from a single donor
E) None of the above
When both the presidency and Congress are led by members of the same party, the
government is said to be
A) unified.
B) working together.
C) monolithic.
D) uni-party.
E) single cause.
The most common form of government is the
A) county.
B) special district.
C) municipality.
D) town.
E) township.
Which group is most overrepresented in gubernatorial appointments?
A) Women
B) African Americans
C) Hispanics
D) Anglo men
E) Rural residents
How do political parties in Germany differ from those in the United States?
A) Germany does not allow third parties.
B) Members of German political parties pay dues.
C) Germans are limited on how much they can donate to parties.
D) U.S. parties have some means of public funding from the government.
E) German parties cannot accept money from corporations.
What is the MOST likely reason that Senator John McCain chose Governor Sarah Palin
as his vice presidential pick?
A) She had impressive foreign policy experience.
B) Palin was well-known among conservative voters.
C) He hoped to capture some disenchanted former Hillary Clinton supporters.
D) Palin was a liberal balance to McCain’s moderate stances.
E) Her pregnant daughter emphasized her pro-life credentials.
Micro-targeting is
A) a practice pioneered by Democrats.
B) a practice pioneered by Republicans.
C) used only by politicians.
D) now an illegal practice in elections.
E) popularized by interest groups.
In 1921, Congress
I. passed legislation to give it more control over the budget.
II. enacted the Budget and Accounting Act.
III. attempted to move away from the practice of piecemeal budgets.
IV. passed legislation requiring the president to submit a detailed budget to Congress.
A) I and III
B) I, II, and IV
C) I, II, and III
D) II, III, and IV
E) I, II, III, and IV
The presiding officer of the Senate who can vote only in the case of a tie is the
A) president pro tempore.
B) vice president of the United States.
C) majority leader.
D) Speaker.
E) head of the majority party’s campaign committee.
The major news source for Republicans is
A) FOX News.
B) ABC.
C) C-SPAN.
D) CNN.
E) CBS News.
The era of dual federalism ended with the
A) Civil War.
B) Great Depression.
C) Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
D) passage of the Fourteenth Amendment.
E) beginning of World War I.
Thurgood Marshall was the first head of the
A) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
B) Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
C) National Urban League.
D) NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.
E) Texas State University for Negroes.
In writing to a friend, Thomas Jefferson
A) bemoaned that the press had too much power.
B) expressed support for the Alien and Sedition Acts.
C) said he preferred to live with newspapers if need be, in lieu of government.
D) sounded much like Thomas Hobbes.
E) stated that a free press required government censorship in times of crisis.
Which of the following roles does the governor NOT play?
A) Chief of state
B) Chief executive officer
C) Commander in chief
D) Chief budget officer
E) Chief legislator
Among the federal responses to the graying of the bureaucracy have been
I. changing retirement ages.
II. creating affirmative action programs for younger employees.
III. reliance on White House Fellows.
IV. using outside, private contractors.
A) IV only
B) I and III
C) II and IV
D) I, II, and III
E) II and III
Which of the following is a criticism of the partisan process of electing judges in Texas?
A) Individuals running in partisan elections are generally more qualified.
B) Judges elected in partisan elections do not often advertise their qualifications to
voters.
C) Financial contributions to judicial campaigns often come from those who have
business with the court.
D) Partisan elections are an efficient and quick way to select judges.
E) Most Texans support the existing constitutional structures for selecting judges.
What was the result of the 1974 Texas Constitutional Convention?
A) The proposed constitution was passed by the convention but defeated by the voters.
B) The proposed constitution failed on the convention floor but was nonetheless
approved by the Texas legislature and forwarded to the voters.
C) The proposed constitution failed to get the required two-thirds vote necessary to
submit it to the voters.
D) The proposed constitution was adopted, but it was later discarded by the U.S.
Supreme Court for its failure to protect civil liberties.
E) The proposed constitution was adopted by the convention and approved by the
governor; however, the Texas Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional and void.
Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act in 1913 to
A) regulate the national banking system and provide flexibility to the money supply.
B) encourage the production of domestic and offshore oil reserves.
C) wean the United States off the gold standard.
D) ensure that the federal budget was balanced.
E) create a six-month supply of currency backed by gold bullion and stored at Fort
Knox.
The goal of _______________ is to prevent would-be nuclear states from gaining
access to the technology they need to make or deliver nuclear weapons.
A) denial
B) disarmament
C) arms control
D) negotiation
E) defense
Drawing legislative district lines to diminish or enhance the power of one political party
or of one racial or ethnic group is known as
A) redistricting.
B) redlining.
C) gerrymandering.
D) reapportionment.
E) logrolling.