The majority of employees in the federal civil service are male.
Barack Obama holds the record for most money raised in a single day.
The adoption of the 1876 Texas Constitution was shaped by demands placed on Texas
for entry into the Confederacy.
The media has little effect on overall public opinion during election cycles.
Following a Supreme Court decision in the 1970s, citizens under twenty-one were
eligible to vote in national elections in some states.
John Jay accentuated the similarities among Americans in Federalist No. 2.
The most recent effort to significantly revise the Texas Constitution occurred during the
1999 Texas legislative session and failed to even reach a vote in the legislature.
In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has been more willing to allow the mingling of
church and state.
The Tea Party is a political party.
State of the Union Addresses provide presidents with an opportunity to advance policy
ideas in a fashion envisioned by the Framers.
If you vote for a Republican for president because you are unsatisfied with President
Barack Obama’s agenda, you are voting retrospectively.
A gender gap exists in views toward the military and security.
Communism fell in Eastern Europe in 1979.
Women account for the majority of the U.S. electorate.
Under the elite theory, if multibillionaire Warren Buffett were to be accused of tax
evasion, then his influence on public policy may be affected.
Many of the first national groups to form in America were rooted in mid- to late-1800s
Christian revivalism.
The number of first-year college students identifying themselves as middle-of-the-road
is increasing.
In some cases, the only full-time employee of the campaign is the campaign manager.
Microsoft’s almost total control over the computer software industry in the 1990s
showed similarities to the era of trusts in the late nineteenth century.
The Supreme Court has ruled that police do not need a search warrant to search a
person if items are in plain view.
A limitation of free media coverage is that campaigns cannot control the content of the
coverage.
Surges in presidential popularity due to international events are fairly long-lasting.
Most state appellate courts are presided over by a single judge.
When considering tenure, appointment power, and other constitutional powers, the
Texas governor is one of the strongest governors in the United States.
The average number of people in a congressional district in 2010 was 713,000.
The Texas economy is unrelated to the Mexican economy, despite the long shared
border.
Many of the goals of the Contract with America were fulfilled.
Those who wish to participate in their precinct conventions can return to their polling
place after the polls have closed on the date of the primary election to do so.
The Supreme Court appears to believe that there is a place for some preferential racial
and ethnic treatment until greater racial and ethnic parity is achieved.
If you wanted to start an official fundraising arm to make large contributions to
campaigns, you can only participate in the elections if you form a political action
committee.
Both Tejanos (native Texans of Mexican descent) and Anglos typically interpret the
Alamo as a symbol of liberty and freedom.
A discharge petition gives a majority of the House of Representatives the authority to
bring an issue to the floor in the event of committee inaction.
The judiciary’s control over the federal bureaucracy is indirect and less apparent than
the president’s and Congress’s control.
Common Cause was established before the Moral Majority.
The first significant application of fiscal policy theory occurred in 1890.
A Federal Communications Commission fine to CBS for showing indecent content on
network television is an example of authoritative policy implementation.
What was the Sharpstown scandal?
A) An election scandal involving intimidation by the police
B) A sex scandal involving the lieutenant governor
C) A fistfight that broke out on the Senate floor involving moderate and conservative
Republicans
D) A tax scandal involving the Speaker’s failure to pay taxes on rental income for a
property he owned in the Bahamas
E) An ethics scandal involving the use of taxpayer funds for electoral purposes
Money raised under the FECA guidelines is known as
A) soft money.
B) hard money.
C) individual money.
D) public funding.
E) real money.
In the 111th Congress, there were ____ African Americans in the Senate.
A) zero
B) two
C) five
D) seven
E) ten
Black sites are
A) places in Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden may be hiding.
B) in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
C) holes in the universe.
D) secret offshore prisons.
E) unconstitutional.
What is a likely problem associated with making Election Day a holiday?
A) People might choose not take the holiday.
B) The Constitution prohibits it.
C) People might leave town for the holiday.
D) Democrats would never support such a move.
E) Significant amounts of money would be lost as a result of closing businesses.
The Judiciary Act of 1789
A) created the Supreme Court and its jurisdiction.
B) established the state court systems.
C) established the basic structure of the federal court system.
D) granted the Supreme Court the power of judicial review.
E) established local court systems within the thirteen states.
As early as 1937, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that
A) fundamental rights should be subject to a higher standard of review.
B) there should be three standards of review when examining state civil rights
infringements.
C) some unpopular rights such as homosexuality would never be constitutionality
protected.
D) all rights should be subject to the same level of consideration.
E) race should be subject to the rational basis test.
The franchise tax was implemented in response to
A) mounting consumer debt among Texans.
B) complaints that fast food franchises encouraged unhealthy eating choices.
C) pressure from the public.
D) the increasing number of financial services headquartered in Texas.
E) a Texas Supreme Court decision requiring a new way to finance public schools.
According to Article III, the salaries of federal judges
A) must be greater than the salaries of their former clerks working in private law firms.
B) must be the same as members of the Senate.
C) cannot be reduced while they are serving on the bench.
D) must remain competitive with lawyers in private practice.
E) can only be raised once during their tenure on the bench.
President Barack Obama worked to solve the intelligence failure following the
attempted bombing of an airplane by
A) firing the head of the Transportation Safety Administration.
B) meeting with the heads of sixteen intelligence agencies.
C) revamping the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s terrorism unit.
D) hiring a new director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
E) invading Nigeria, the birthplace of the attempted bomber.
Voter registration in the United States
A) is automatic at age 18.
B) must be done by the individual.
C) is required by law for everyone over age 21.
D) is not necessary to vote in any state.
E) was made more difficult by the Motor Voter Act.
Based on your knowledge of the Constitution, the concept of inclusion is MOST likely
derived from which of the following ideas?
A) Sovereign immunity
B) Supremacy clause
C) Full faith and credit clause
D) Equal protection
E) Freedom of speech
What three political cultures did political scientist David Elazar identify?
A) Individualistic, traditionalistic, and moralistic
B) Individualistic, communistic, and traditionalistic
C) Moralistic, socialistic, and individualistic
D) Constitutionalism, legalism, and moralism
E) Libertarianism, egalitarianism, and paternalism
Which of the following is NOT a way in which Texas cites generate their finances?
A) Sales tax
B) Property taxes
C) Excise taxes
D) State and federal revenues
E) Bond sales and user fees
When Texas seceded from the United States and joined the Confederacy in 1861, it
A) made English the official language of Texas.
B) legalized prostitution and slavery.
C) wrote a new constitution.
D) recognized the federal government as the highest legal authority.
E) adopted provisions making extensive changes to existing laws.
In ________, a record number of women were elected to Congress, doubling the
number of women elected to that institution in the previous decade.
A) 1990
B) 1992
C) 2000
D) 2004
E) 2006
What is the only statewide elected office created by the legislature instead of the
constitution?
A) Comptroller of public accounts
B) Railroad commissioner
C) Attorney general
D) Agriculture commissioner
E) Lieutenant governor
According to the text, a powerful national government is likely to meet opposition in
which of the following regions of the United States?
I. South
II. Northeast
III. Midwest
IV. West
A) I and II
B) II and III
C) I and IV
D) I, II, and II
E) I, II, and IV
Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has adopted a/an ________ approach when
dealing with issues involving freedom of speech and of the press.
A) laissez-faire
B) illogical
C) strict interpretation
D) restrained
E) hierarchical
President Harry S Truman used an executive order to
A) justify the Korean War.
B) establish affirmative action.
C) avoid charges of adultery.
D) segregate the U.S. Army.
E) seize private U.S. steel mills.
Senatorial courtesy
A) refers to the norm in the Senate to be cordial to other senators.
B) describes the historical deference of the president to senators of the same political
party to approve the nomination of federal district court judges within their states.
C) refers to the right of senators to bar the nominations of any federal judge from their
home state.
D) refers to the Senate’s refusal to confirm Supreme Court nominees who do not meet
the approval of their home state Senators.
E) describes a process used during the filibuster.
Interest groups provide all of the following benefits to American society EXCEPT
A) providing an avenue for participation.
B) increasing representation.
C) increasing public awareness of issues.
D) helping to frame the public agenda.
E) streamlining the amount of information provided to legislators.
The use of ________, which led to the release of some innocent inmates on death row,
prompted some governors to halt executions in their states.
A) DNA testing
B) blood type testing
C) lethal injections
D) faulty electric chairs
E) firing squads
A so-called “right-to-work” provision states that
A) membership or non-membership in a union cannot be a condition of employment.
B) non-union members cannot benefit from the union’s collective bargaining actions.
C) only union members can pay union dues.
D) employers can prevent employees from organizing union membership.
E) employment cannot be denied an individual because of race, color, or national
origin.
Which of the following is NOT part of the sentencing phase of a capital murder trial?
A) Determining whether the defendant is likely to commit further violent crimes and is
a threat to society
B) Deciding whether the defendant actually caused, intended to cause, or anticipated
that a human life would be taken
C) Deciding on whether mitigating circumstances warrant a sentence of life
imprisonment rather than death
D) Deciding on the guilt or innocence of the defendant
E) Listening to testimony about the defendant’s prior convictions, if any
The first Hmong person elected to any state legislature in the country was in California.
Modern tabloids are MOST similar to
A) populist journalism.
B) blue dog journalism.
C) the penny press.
D) yellow journalism.
E) The Morning Star.
In general, the U.S. population is
I. mostly under the age of thirty.
II. getting older.
III. becoming less diverse.
IV. less affected by immigration than in earlier years.
A) I only
B) II only
C) III only
D) II and IV
E) III and II
The plight of immigrants and the poor during the Progressive era
A) led to the growth of pro-business groups.
B) led upper- and middle-class women to form groups to help them.
C) hastened the formation of the Department of Labor.
D) did not lead to the creation of new groups.
E) was ignored at the time but influenced group formation in the 1960s and 1970s.
If a poor family has a child with mental health problems, in which of the following
states would it be LEAST fortunate for the family to live, based on the generosity of the
services provided by the state?
A) Alabama
B) New York
C) Texas
D) Alaska
E) Utah
The Missouri Compromise of 1820
A) abolished slavery.
B) kept slavery legal south of 36 degrees latitude.
C) was opposed by the World Anti-Slavery Society.
D) allowed freedmen to go to Liberia.
E) required Missouri to become a free state.