Ch. 6 – Public Opinion and Political Action
1) Define “demography”
2) In what ways is the United States an "immigrant society"?
3) What waves of immigration has the nation experienced?
4) How has this changed the demographic and politics of the United States?
5) What has been the "regional shift" in America, and what are its political effects?
6) What is meant by the term "minority majority"?
7) Describe two major minority groups identified in the text, including their relative size, political power, and
socioeconomic status.
8) What have been the main consequences of the "graying of America"?
9) What effect do each of the 3 major agents of political socialization have on American’s political learning?
a. Family
b.
Media
c.
School
10) Define “Sampling error”
11) What is random-digit dialing, and why are most polls conducted this way?
12) What are exit polls, and why have they been so severely criticized?
13) What are the primary differences between liberals and conservatives? Consider the following areas:
a. scope of government
b.
the military, social welfare policy
c.
criminal justice
14) What is a political ideology?
15) What are the four categories into which The American Voter divided the American electorate?
16) What are some of the ways in which people participate in politics?
17) How do conventional and unconventional political participation affect policy in different ways?
18) Which form of participation has more influence, why?
Ch. 7 – The Mass Media and the Political Agenda
1) What are media events and how are they used?
2) How has the use of media affected public perception of U.S. political leaders?
3) What effect did the events surrounding the Vietnam War and Watergate have on the news media and its
relationship to politics and the American people?
4) How has the Cable News Network (CNN) changed television news reporting?
5) How does government regulate the news media? In what ways, if any, does government regulation of media
affect reporting of the news?
6) What is the FCC and what are its purposes?
7) How has the Internet changed news reporting?
8) What effect does the Internet have on other news medium?
9) In what ways do the media habits of young Americans differ from older Americans?
10) In what ways does investigative journalism both harm and provide good for American democracy?
11) How does the use of sound bites influence the nature of the news?
12) How do news organizations get most of their news?
13) When speaking of the news media, what are the role of…
a. Beats
b.
trial balloons
c.
leaks
14) What are policy entrepreneurs, and how do they try to get their issues on the government's agenda?
15) Explain how the media determine what is news, and how it is presented to the public. How does this influence
public knowledge? What are the implications for democracy?
Ch. 8 – Political Parties
1) What major tasks do the parties perform?
2) What is the "three-headed giant"? What role does it play in the politics?
3) What recent trends are occurring in party identification?
4) What is meant by "ticket splitting" and what is its impact?
5) In what ways do parties serve as linkage institutions?
6) What is the difference between a closed primary and an open primary? What are some disadvantages and
advantages of each?
7) What are the basic precepts of a critical election? Provide examples of at least two critical elections from American
political history.
8) What is meant by the process of party realignment?
9) What was Nixon's "Southern Strategy"?
10) What was the importance of the election of 1896?
11) Compare and contrast the phenomena of party dealignment and party realignment?
12) What is divided government? What is the connection between divided government and party dealignment? How
does this affect the way the government functions?
13) What are the consequences for political parties of a winner-take-all electoral system?
14) What is the difference between a winner-take-all system and a proportional representation system? What are the
advantages and disadvantages of each?
15) In what ways do third parties appeal for support? Describe the different types of third parties in your answer.
16) How does the United States fail or meet the requirements of responsible party government?
17) Compare and contrast the two major-party platforms on the following issues:
a. Abortion
i. Democrat:
ii. Republican:
b.
the environment
i. Democrat:
ii. Republican:
c.
health care
i. Democrat:
ii. Republican:
d. Taxes
i. Democrat:
ii. Republican:
e.
defense spending
i. Democrat:
ii. Republican:
f.
education.
i. Democrat:
ii. Republican: