Question 1
2.5 / 2.5 pts
Prior to the creation of scientific polling in the 1930s, politicians relied on conversations with political observers and the content of newspapers, letters and petitions to gauge public sentiment. These were really a form of
elite opinion.
uneducated opinion.
scientific polling.
public opinion.
random sampling.
Question 2
2.5 / 2.5 pts
__________ is a method of selection that gives everyone who might be selected to participate in a poll an equal chance to be included.
Telephone sampling
Random sampling
Chance sampling
Straw polling
Man-on-the-street
Question 3
2.5 / 2.5 pts
Our worldview about how we feel about work, family, and politics begins to crystallize between the ages of
4 and 10.
10 and 16.
36 and 42.
30 and 36.
18 and 24.
Question 4
2.5 / 2.5 pts
Bias in a poll, particular regarding a controversial topic such as abortion, can result from
random sampling.
high confidence intervals.
scientific polling.
question wording.
exit polling.
Question 5
2.5 / 2.5 pts
Effects on opinion from the era in which one lives are called __________ effects.
socioeconomic
generational
occupational
age
rational
Question 6
2.5 / 2.5 pts
The typical size of a national sample survey is __________ people.
50
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
Question 7
2.5 / 2.5 pts
The most famous and consequential exit poll took place in Florida during the ________ presidential elections, fueling one of the most controversial electoral struggles of all time.
1992
2000
2004
2008
2012
Question 8
2.5 / 2.5 pts
Surveys of public opinion, or __________, are the most reliable indicator of what the public is thinking, and an entire industry and science have grown up around measuring opinion on everything from presidents to toothpaste.
questionnaires
interrogatories
polls
testimonials
all of the above
Question 9
2.5 / 2.5 pts
One of the ways that Millennials appear to be politically distinct from previous generations is that
they tend to identify mostly as Republican.
they tend to have a patient and long-term view.
they are more trusting in government.
they are less trusting in government.
they generally want to see government dissolve.
Question 10
2.5 / 2.5 pts
Individuals often rely on cues and instincts to make decisions, rather than on an analysis of detailed information. Scholars have termed such thinking as
self-interest rationalization.
low attention span.
high attention syndrome.
low information rationality.
high information rationality.
IncorrectQuestion 11
0 / 2.5 pts
Generally speaking, ________ are supportive of the Democratic Party and ________ are supportive of the Republican party.
gun rights supporters; gun control supporters
business groups; environmental groups
environmental groups; unions
unions; business groups
Tea Party members; independents
Question 12
2.5 / 2.5 pts
Minor political parties that present an alternative to the two dominant political parties in the American political system are known as
factions.
third parties.
alternative parties.
right wingers.
choice parties.
Question 13
2.5 / 2.5 pts
A(n) __________ is a group of individuals who join together to choose candidates for elected office, whether by informal group voting or a formal nominating process.
interest group
political party
labor union
lobby
special interest
Question 14
2.5 / 2.5 pts
An electoral system, known as __________, means that whoever wins the most votes in an election actually wins the election.
proportional representation
winner-take-all
golden rule
majority rules
party nomination
IncorrectQuestion 15
0 / 2.5 pts
After the 2012 reelection of Barack Obama, as well as the 2014 midterm elections, the United States has continued to experience
widespread partisan unity.
divided government.
strong bipartisan cooperation.
a governing mandate for the Republican Party.
a governing mandate for the Democratic Party.
Question 16
2.5 / 2.5 pts
An election in which voters directly choose their elected officials is known as a
primary election.
caucus.
general election.
referendum.
town hall.
Question 17
2.5 / 2.5 pts
If political parties can develop a solid majority of the party in the electorate, they can translate this into a solid majority of the
party system.
party as an organization.
party in government.
party platform.
party in state.
Question 18
2.5 / 2.5 pts
Political parties used the patronage system as a way to
shrink party loyalty.
gain access to Congress.
build party loyalty.
increase party disunity.
gain access to interest groups.
Question 19
2.5 / 2.5 pts
James Madison, writing in Federalist 10 and 51, predicted the rise of ________, groups of individuals who share a common political goal and ally with each other on a temporary basis to accomplish that goal.
cohorts
factions
militias
anarchists
unions
Question 20
2.5 / 2.5 pts
From 1832 to 1856, which two parties dominated American politics and presidential elections?
Democrats and Democratic-Republicans
Democrats and Republicans
Democrats and Whigs
Republicans and Democratic-Republicans
Republicans and Whigs
Question 21
2.5 / 2.5 pts
A ________ is a document that lays out a political party’s core beliefs and policy proposals for each presidential election.
mandate
political agenda
party platform
candidate strategy
strategic attack
Question 22
2.5 / 2.5 pts
Once a candidate decides to run for president, he or she enters what has been called the __________ in which no votes are cast, but candidates are jockeying for position so they can be ready to do well in the initial primaries and caucuses.
shadow election
invisible primary
midterm election
open primary
strategic primary
Question 23
2.5 / 2.5 pts
The congressional elections that occur in-between the four-year presidential election cycles are called
caucuses.
invisible elections.
midterm elections.
gubernatorial elections.
primary elections.
IncorrectQuestion 24
0 / 2.5 pts
Originally, the Electoral College did not account for
independent decision makers.
the office of vice president.
rivalries.
political parties.
interest groups.
Question 25
2.5 / 2.5 pts
States that are not clearly reliable to vote for one of the two major political parties, but that are of great interest to presidential candidates, are referred to as
swing states.
bipartisan states.
undecided states.
purple states.
fly-over states.
Question 26
2.5 / 2.5 pts
During a presidential debate in 1992, President George H.W. Bush gave viewers the impression that he was
truly concerned about their welfare.
the natural legacy to Ronald Reagan.
shifty-eyed and dishonest.
bored, and thus, out of touch.
ill and unfit to serve as president.
IncorrectQuestion 27
0 / 2.5 pts
A congressional seat that is considered to be reliably held by either a Democrat or Republican is called a ________ seat.
defined
lost
safe
landslide
marginal
Question 28
2.5 / 2.5 pts
All except two states, _________ and ________, use a winner-take-all system in the Electoral College.
Maine; Ohio
Nebraska; Maine
Nebraska; Delaware
Michigan; Maine
Nevada; Nebraska
IncorrectQuestion 29
0 / 2.5 pts
In the contested 2000 presidential election, the ultimate deciding factor turned out to be
the concession by candidate Gore.
the Supreme Court decision on Florida’s electoral votes.
the Supreme Court decision on suspected voter fraud.
the recount of the national popular vote.
the recount of the Florida electoral votes.
Question 30
2.5 / 2.5 pts
To win a primary election, a congressional candidate generally shapes campaign messages to please
local citizens.
local interest groups.
grassroots organizations.
core party members in the Senate.
core party members in the district.
Question 31
2.5 / 2.5 pts
In 1944, the U.S. Supreme Court, in __________, ruled a primary in which only white people can vote as unconstitutional.
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Gideon v. Wainwright
Smith v. Allwright
United States v. Ryan
United States v. Stanley
Question 32
2.5 / 2.5 pts
The ________ measurement corrects the rate of participation by accounting for those who are ineligible to vote.
declining voter population
real-time voting population
voting-age population
exit poll voting population
voting-eligible population
Question 33
2.5 / 2.5 pts
Compared to other democracies, voter turnout in the United States is
about the same.
rising rapidly.
extremely high.
moderate.
low.
Question 34
2.5 / 2.5 pts
The__________ model of voting starts with the assumption that all choices involve a calculation about self-interest that balances costs and benefits.
institutional
economic
Jacksonian
Jeffersonian
psychological
IncorrectQuestion 35
0 / 2.5 pts
The first campaign to successfully use the Internet to raise money was the presidential nomination campaign of
Ron Paul.
Barack Obama.
Howard Dean.
John Kerry.
John McCain.
IncorrectQuestion 36
0 / 2.5 pts
During the country’s earliest years, voters were mostly made up of
the public.
elite white men and women.
elected officials.
southern property owners.
white male war veterans.
Question 37
2.5 / 2.5 pts
In 1869, the first territory to grant women the right to vote was
Alabama.
Montana.
Tennessee.
West Virginia.
Wyoming.
Question 38
2.5 / 2.5 pts
The incentive to extend the right to vote to 18-year-olds was sparked by
the Civil Rights Act.
the Voting Rights Act.
the Jim Crow era.
the soaring youth population.
the Vietnam War.
Question 39
2.5 / 2.5 pts
To strengthen protections of the franchise, in 1965, Congress passed the __________ Act, which effectively ended literacy tests and other strategies that had discriminated against African Americans at the polls and gave the Justice Department the authority to supervise voter registration in locales that had discriminated.
Civil Rights
Equal Voting
Federal Rights
Motor Voter
Voting Rights
Question 40
2.5 / 2.5 pts
The _____ granted women the right to vote.
Thirteenth Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment
Fifteenth Amendment
Nineteenth Amendment
Twenty-First Amendment
