ANSWER KEY – FINAL EXAM
1) Answer: D
Page Ref: 119
2) Answer: B
Page Ref: 120
3) Answer: B
Page Ref: 126-127
4) Answer: D
Page Ref: 128-129
5) Answer: A
Page Ref: 131-133
6) Answer: C
Page Ref: 141
7) Answer: D
Page Ref: 138
8) Answer: C
Page Ref: 140
9) Answer: B
Page Ref: 142
10) Answer: A
Page Ref: 185-186
11) Answer: D
Page Ref: 186-187
12) Answer: B
Page Ref: 188-189
13) Answer: C
Page Ref: 191
14) Answer: C
Page Ref: 191
15) Answer: B
Page Ref: 192-193
16) Answer: D
Page Ref: 194
17) Answer: B
Page Ref: 195
18) Answer: C
Page Ref: 197
19) Answer: A
Page Ref: 200
20) Answer: C
Page Ref: 238
21) Answer: B
Page Ref: 241
22) Answer: C
Page Ref: 243
23) Answer: B
Page Ref: 244
24) Answer: A
Page Ref: 245-246
25) Answer: D
Page Ref: 246-249
26) Answer: A
Page Ref: 249
27) Answer: D
Page Ref: 251
28) Answer: C
Page Ref: 258
29) Answer: B
Page Ref: 255
30) Answer: A
Page Ref: 270
31) Answer: C
Page Ref: 271
32) Answer: A
Page Ref: 274-275
33) Answer: A
Page Ref: 277
34) Answer: D
Page Ref: 280
35) Answer: C
Page Ref: 280-281
36) Answer: B
Page Ref: 285
37) Answer: C
Page Ref: 288
38) Answer: A
Page Ref: 291
39) Answer: A
Page Ref: 295
40) Answer: D
Page Ref: class
41) Answer: C
Page Ref: class
42) Answer: C
Page Ref: class
43) Answer: A
Page Ref: class
44) Answer: D
Page Ref: class
MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers
the question.
1) The term coined by Philip Converse to describe the views of many Americans is
A) leaners. B) realigning. C) dysfunctional. D) nonattitudes.
2) Most opinion polls in the U.S. interview approximately __________ randomly sampled
people to get a fairly accurate view of what most Americans are doing and thinking.
A) 200 B) 1500 C) 10,000 D) 50,000
3) When survey researchers ask people whether, generally speaking, they consider themselves
Republicans, Democrats, independents, or what, most Americans
A) say they are independents.
B) pick one of the two major parties.
C) say they are apolitical.
D) say they do not know enough about politics to belong to a political party.
4) Most Americans express support for liberty in principle, but they often support suppression of
certain minorities they consider dangerous. Therefore, many Americans are willing to sacrifice
A) morality for order and liberty.
B) good government for liberty.
C) certain people's liberty for democracy.
D) certain people's liberty for morality and order.
5) In the most recent surveys, Americans think we are spending "too little" for all of the
following programs/activities EXCEPT
A) foreign aid. B) Social Security. C) crime. D) education.
6) As a general rule, as people get older they
A) tend to become less involved in politics.
B) become less aware of the importance of politics.
C) become more involved in politics.
D) become less politically efficacious.
7) Evangelical Christians played a vital role in __________ presidential campaign.
A) President Truman's B) President Clinton's
C) Michael Dukakis's D) President Reagan's
8) In America, a higher level of formal education is closely related to
A) greater political socialization. B) the lack of a sense of political efficacy.
C) a higher income level. D) political ignorance.
9) According to the authors of Struggle for Democracy, changes in public opinion most often
A) are unrelated to public policymaking.
B) bring about changes in policy.
C) are ignored by the president.
D) are largely discounted by members of Congress.
10) Pluralists believe that interest groups
A) are an important instrument for obtaining both democracy and the public interest.
B) occur only in societies where multiple competing interests exist, and will result in the
destruction of all but the largest interests.
C) lead to corruption and manipulation of government institutions, and therefore are essentially
undemocratic.
D) damage both democracy and popular sovereignty by alienating one segment of society against
another.
11) Which of the following is an example of a "public-interest"?
A) civil rights B) environmental protection
C) consumer protection D) All of the above.
12) According to some political scientists who focus on individual incentives to join groups,
A) people will join groups when they share an interest with others.
B) people will not join groups unless they are provided with a selective benefit.
C) people will join groups when similar types of people join them.
D) interest groups will never form.
13) Public interests are
A) associated with benefits for some fraction of the community.
B) the only interests that suffer from the so-called "free rider" problem.
C) connected in one way to the general welfare of the community.
D) socialist in orientation.
14) The great upsurge of public interest groups has taken place since the
A) 1930s. B) turn of the century.
C) late 1960s. D) beginning of the 1990s.
15) The "inside game" of interest group activity concerns
A) bribing members of Congress.
B) lobbying; the politics of one-on-one persuasion.
C) educating the public about the goals of an interest group.
D) publishing the voting records of members of Congress.
16) Interest groups focus attention on the executive branch because
A) Congress generally does not respond to lobbying.
B) Congress does not allow personal lobbying of its members.
C) executive branch officials are usually former lobbyists.
D) executive branch officials can have a great deal of control over policy.
17) Going to court is a secondary strategy for most groups because they must have "standing,"
which means
A) it is expensive and most groups cannot afford the costs.
B) the groups must be a party to the case.
C) the court docket is too crowded to make it practical.
D) courts are generally not sympathetic to the needs of interest groups.
18) If there is an upper-class bias in the interest group system, then the concept of __________
is violated.
A) popular sovereignty B) elitism
C) political equality D) political independence
19) "Iron triangles" are
A) alliances among a private interest group, a bureaucratic agency, and a congressional
committee or subcommittee.
B) arrangements among the Defense Department, an American embassy, and a foreign
government.
C) agreements among three or more states to share the costs of a project that impacts on all three
states.
D) negotiations involving the federal government, the states, and local governments.
20) Political parties are by nature
A) exclusive. B) elitist. C) inclusive. D) restrictive.
21) The first political party was formed in the 1790s by
A) George Washington. B) Alexander Hamilton.
C) Thomas Jefferson. D) James Madison.
22) The GOP is another name for the
A) Democratic party. B) Socialist party.
C) Republican party. D) Progressive party.
23) The New Deal coalition included not only Catholics, Jews, blacks, workers, Southerners,
and farmers, but also
A) big manufacturers like the auto industry.
B) urban dwellers, and unionists.
C) raw mineral industries like the coal industry.
D) commercial banks.
24) A plurality, winner-take-all electoral system tends to
A) discourage the formation of minor parties.
B) encourage the formation of new major parties.
C) encourage many voters to support minor parties as protest votes.
D) discourage voters from voting.
25) Which of the following is an example of why minor-party candidates might have trouble in
running a candidate for the presidency?
A) Major-party candidates automatically qualify for federal funding once they are nominated;
minor-party candidates must attract a minimum percentage of the votes in the general election to
be eligible for funding.
B) Federal funding is given to the Democrats and Republicans to run their conventions; minor
parties receive none.
C) Television networks are no longer required to give equal time to parties other than the
Republicans and the Democrats.
D) All of the above.
26) Compared with those in most other countries, American political parties are
A) undisciplined. B) led by party professionals.
C) well organized. D) rigidly hierarchical.
27) Which group is primarily responsible for providing money and services to congressional
candidates?
A) congressional caucuses B) congressional leadership
C) the national party committees D) congressional campaign committees
28) __________ are the people who do the most important organizational work of the parties.
A) Party irregulars B) Party officeholders
C) Party activists D) Party voters
29) Most Americans see the
A) Democrats as the more conservative party, in the sense of opposing government activism.
B) Democrats as the more liberal party, in the sense of favoring an active federal government.
C) Republicans as the more liberal party, in the sense of opposing government activism.
D) Republicans as the more conservative party, in the sense of favoring an active federal
government.
30) The electoral competition model assumes that
A) parties should take the most popular positions that they can.
B) each of the two parties lacks cohesion and unity.
C) the winning party will compromise with the losing party on major decisions.
D) citizens will vote on the basis of candidate style rather than issues.
31) The theory of electoral reward and punishment predicts that in elections,
A) political parties will take similar positions.
B) political parties will take clear, unambiguous positions.
C) voters will vote based on how well the incumbent party satisfied them.
D) voters will vote mostly according to party identification.
32) __________ is realized almost completely in the United States.
A) Full suffrage
B) Political equality
C) Full voter turnout
D) Government responsiveness to ordinary voters
33) Popular election of U.S. senators did not come until 1913, with the
A) Seventeenth Amendment. B) Eighteenth Amendment.
C) Nineteenth Amendment. D) Twenty-sixth Amendment.
34) Despite the low voter turnout in the United States, Americans
A) still have a higher rate of voter turnout than most other Western nations.
B) are much more aware of issues and of their candidates' positions than voters in most other
countries.
C) will soon bypass other Western democracies since voter turnout is rising rapidly in the United
States.
D) are more likely than people in other countries to participate actively in campaigns.
35) Which of the following groups is most likely to participate in politics?
A) 18- to 20-year-olds
B) Hispanics
C) those with higher-than-average incomes
D) blacks
36) Most of the delegates to national party conventions are chosen by
A) party caucuses. B) state primaries.
C) the national committee. D) the candidates themselves.
37) Incumbent presidents seeking reelection have an advantage over challengers mainly because
they
A) do not rely on public funding for their campaigns.
B) do not have to run in primaries or caucuses.
C) can use the machinery of government for their purposes.
D) nearly always have positive media attention.
38) PACs in American politics are
A) organizations that give money to candidates for political office.
B) politically attractive candidates.
C) congressional committees that deliver pork-barrel benefits to large industries.
D) laws to provide public funding for candidates for president.
39) Elections serve as a major conduit by which many people and institutions at the
__________-level influence policymakers.
A) political B) governmental C) structural D) demographic
40) Which of the following general trends have been revealed by public opinion research over
the last three decades?
A) Americans generally express high levels of (diffuse) support for the system.
B) Americans generally trust their government less today than in the mid-1960s.
C) Americans demonstrate low levels of knowledge of their political system compared to people
in other countries.
D) all of these.
41) Which of the following periods of life appears to be MOST important to political
socialization?
A) adulthood B) retirement age
C) early childhood D) voting age
42) In class, we noted that a political system must have some mechanism to generate support.
Which of the following argues that political elites deliberately manipulate or propagate values in
support of the political regime?
A) systems theory B) encultration theory
C) hegemonic theory D) authoritarianism
43) At the systems-wide or macro level, political socialization [if it is successful]
A) generates the diffuse support necessary for the stability of the political system.
B) fosters authoritarian government.
C) undermines patriotism.
D) erodes the trust that Americans have in their government.
44) At the individual or micro level, political socialization is
A) a social event sponsored by a political party to acquaint voters with a particular candidate or
issue.
B) the distribution of opinions on an issue.
C) the process by which individuals become aware of which groups to associate with to
maximize political impact.
D) the process whereby individuals come to form their opinions and attitudes on particular
political issues such as their party affiliation.
45) Generally speaking, a person is FIRST exposed to which agent of socialization?
a. schools b. family c. peers d. media
46) Childhood learning is important to socialization because
a. values learned early in life form the core of an individual's value system and tend to
structure later learning.
b. children have far better memories than adults do.
c. small children tend to think that politics are interesting.
d. most parents are ACTIVELY committed to raising their children to be responsible,
informed citizens.
47) Which of the following values taught by the family has an indirect effect on the formation of
political attitudes?
a. conformity b. respect for authority figures c. work ethic
d. all of these
48) A child’s party identification is usually consistent with the party identification of
a. friends.
b. teachers.
c. parents.
d. figures of authority.
49) A person's sense that what he or she thinks or does will have an impact on what government
does is
a. political power. b. political efficacy. c. political socialization.
d. political participation.
50) In order to win a plurality election, a candidate must
a. receive a majority of the popular vote.
b. win a run-off election.
c. receive more votes than any other candidate does.
d. appeal to the most extreme groups.
51) In the United States, what fraction of eligible voters actually casts ballots in presidential
elections?
a. ¼
b. ½
c. 2/3
d. ¾
52) In the United States, what percentage of eligible voters actually casts ballots in “off-year” or
midterm congressional elections?
a. ¼
b. ½
c. 2/3
d. ¾
53) The major source of political information for the vast majority of citizens is
a. newspapers. b. radio. c. television. d. books.
54) Instead of political parties, campaigns are generally directed by the
a. individual candidate him/herself.
b. party leaders
c. professional campaign management firms.
d. special interest groups.
55) Primary elections in which a voter may cast a ballot in both parties’ primaries are
a. closed primaries.
b. open primaries.
c. blanket primaries.
d. general elections.
56) A person who votes for candidates of different parties for different offices in a general
election is called
a. maverick.
b. absentee voter.
c. ticket splitter
d. party activist.
57) An electoral system that allocates seats in a legislature based on proportion of votes the
parties receive in a national election is
a. equal representation.
b. bipartisan representation.
c. proportional representation.
d. disproportionate representation,.
58) Individuals and organizations that contribute to candidate campaigns show a strong
preference for
a.
b.
c.
d.
members of Congress over state legislators.
incumbents over challengers.
Republican candidates over Democratic candidates.
Democratic candidates over Republican candidates.
59) It is widely believed that television’s focus on personal character and private lives – rather
than on policy positions and governmental experience – encourages
a. More qualified candidates to run for office.
b. negative campaigning.
c. muckraking coverage.
d. campaign exposes.
60) The most expensive aspect of the campaign is
a. recruiting talented staff.
b. renting centralized office space.
c. paying professional staff.
d. television advertising.
61) Political contributions to a party for activities such as party-building or voter registration, but
not directly for campaigns is called
a. quiet money.
b. soft money.
c. party money.
d. hush money.
62) People who perceive the economy as getting worse are likely to vote against the
while people who think the economy is getting better support the ___ .
a. challenger, incumbent.
b. incumbent, challenger.
c. challenger, challenger.
d. incumbent, incumbent.
_____,
63) The Constitution provides that a candidate must receive a majority of Electoral College votes
to be elected president. There are a total of 538 electoral votes. How many electoral votes
(minimum) must the winning candidate receive?
a. 254 b. 270 c. 538 d. at least one more than any other candidate
64) What happens if no presidential candidate receives a majority of the Electoral College vote?
a. There is a run-off election.
b. The president is elected by the House of Representatives.
c. The president is elected by the Senate.
d. The entire process must start over, beginning with the nomination of new candidates by
the two major parties.
65) In the Electoral College, each state is accorded a number of electoral votes
a. equal to the number of the state's senators and representatives in Congress.
b. equal to the number of delegates it sends to the national party conventions.
c. equal to the number of representatives in the state legislature.
d. equal to the number of registered voters in the state.
66) Suppose that in the presidential election in the year 2004, the Republican Party’s candidate
gets 20 million popular votes and 241 electoral votes. The Democratic party’s candidate
receives 18 million popular votes and 265 votes in the Electoral College. The Green Party’s
candidate manages to get 16 million popular votes and 32 votes in the Electoral College.
Who becomes president?
a. the Republican
b. the Democrat
c. the Green candidate
d. cannot be determined given the above facts.
67) The Electoral College operates according to the "unit rule." The "unit rule"
a. is prescribed by the Constitution.
b. increases the chances that no candidate will receive a majority of the electoral vote.
c. encourages third party candidates.
d. means that all of a state's electoral votes go to the candidate who won a plurality of the
popular vote.
68) More than influencing policy, political parties are concerned with
a. recruiting people to hold positions in the party organization.
b. winning public office in elections.
c. soliciting funds from large corporations.
d. selecting the site for the next presidential nominating convention.
69) One of the two main parties in American politics which traces its origins to the antislavery
and nationalist forces that united in the 1850s is now the
a. American-Republican Party.
b. Federalist Party.
c. Democratic Party
d. Republican Party
70) Despite the erosion of many of their functions, American’s political parties survive as the
principal institutions for
a. running campaigns.
b. recruiting candidates.
c. organizing elections.
d. raising campaign funds.
71) A statement of principles adopted by a political party at its national convention is the
a. statement of party procedures
b. party’s writ of principles.
c. party’s platform.
d. party’s planks.
72) The approximate percentage of eligible Texans who voted for governor in 1998 was
a. ¼
b. ½
c. 2/3
d. ¾
73) Which of the following is not likely to be a factor in low voter turnout in Texas?
a. low levels of campaign spending by candidates
b. too many and too frequent elections
c. negative campaigning
d. feelings of isolation from government
74) Primary elections in Texas are classified as
a. blanket primaries.
b. open primaries.
c. closed primaries.
d. general election primaries.
75) In Texas, political parties are required to conduct primaries if
a. they expect to run candidate for more than 3 statewide offices.
b. they will have a slate of presidential electors.
c. their candidate for governor received 20% or more of the votes cast in the most recent
gubernatorial election.
d. one of the presidential candidates is from Texas.
76) The approximate number of registered lobbyists for the 1999 regular session of the Texas
Legislature was
a. 150. b. 181. c. 700. d. 1,600.
77) The Texas Association of Builders is an example of a(n)
a. trade association. b. labor union. c. umbrella organization. d. public interest group.
78) Studies of lobbying in Texas indicate that the most commonly employed strategy in
attempting to influence legislation is
a. publicly ridiculing legislators in an attempt to shame them into supporting the interest
group’s position.
b. providing legislators with information.
c. abandoning the legislator and lobbying the executive branch.
d. filing lawsuits.
79) Texas has
a. weak parties and weak interest groups.
b. strong parties and strong interest groups.
c. strong parties and weak interest groups.
d. weak parties and strong interest groups.
80) According to the author of the article “Democrats and LaRouchites: the Direct Primary
Caused It,” in the United States, most Democratic and Republican Party candidates are
currently nominated
a. through a patronage system where potential candidates must demonstrate loyalty to party
"bosses."
b. by the national committees of each party.
c. through direct primaries.
d. at state and local conventions.
81) According to the author of the article “Democrats and LaRouchites: the Direct Primary
Caused It,” the purpose of introducing the direct primary as a means of nominating
candidates for public office was to
a. strengthen control of party leaders in selecting party candidates.
b. help the Republican Party win more elections.
c. open the nomination process to ordinary party members and to weaken the influence of
party bosses.
d. none of these.
82) According to the author of the article “Democrats and LaRouchites: the Direct Primary
Caused It,” the direct primary produces candidates who are
a. largely members of the Republican Party.
b. largely members of the Democratic Party.
c. self-recruited, self-motivated, and not particularly loyal to the party whose nomination
they seek.
d. recruited by party leaders and therefore beholden to party “bosses.”
83) The implied argument of the article “Democrats and LaRouchites: the Direct Primary Caused
It” is that, while the direct primary has permitted ordinary voters to participate in the
nomination process, it has also had the effect of seriously
a. increasing the cost of political campaigning.
b. decreasing the control of congressional leaders.
c. eliminating the responsibility of state committees.
d. undermining the control that the parties can exert over their nominees – weakening the
political parties and, thus, American democracy.