AP Gov Midterm
Which of the following excerpts from the passage best describes the author's reason for opposing an expansion of the scope of the federal government?
"... [I]t is impossible to have a representation, possessing the sentiments, and of integrity, to declare the minds of the people, without having it so numerous and unwieldy, as to be subject in great measure to the inconveniency of a democratic government."
Which of the following quotes from the Federalist Papers best supports the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Blection Commission (2010) ?
"Liberty is to faction what air is to fire. ... But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency."
According to the bar graph, what percentage of children remain Independent/Non-partisan if their parents do not have a consistent orientation toward either party?
50%
In The Federalist 10, which of the following did James Madison argue would best control the negative effects of factions?
A large federal republic
Which of the following is an accurate summary of James Madison's argument in The Federalist 10?
A large republic presents more opportunities for groups to participate, compete, and limit each other.
Which of the following rulings is most likely to cite the Supreme Court's decision in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) as a legal precedent in support of the decision?
A ruling in favor of students to print their opinions in a school newspaper
According to the bar graph, which of the following statements is true about the influence of parents on the political orientation of their children?
About 25% of children whose parents are both Republican will become Independent/Non-partisan.
Which of the following governmental policies would the author most likely support?
Allowing individuals to purchase marijuana for recreational use
Which of the following statements is reflected in the data in the chart?
Among registered voters, there was a steep increase in social media usage to follow political figures across all age groups and party affiliations.
Which best describes a likely reason for the information depicted in the graph?
An increase in concerns over media bias
Based on the dana which of the following is the most liKely consequence for the fegislative process in Congress?
An increase in gridlock and failure to compromise on legislation
Which of the following is the most likely result of the changes in voter registration rates illustrated in the table?
An increase in the number of African American members of Congress from Georgia
Which of the following illustrates a situation that would not be protected by the First Amendment due to time, place, and manner restrictions?
Antibusiness protestors are arrested and prosecuted for shutting down major intersections in New York City's Times Square during rush hour.
Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the table?
Barriers to registration existed in all of the states in the table but were most significant in Mississippi.
Based on the data in the bar graph and your knowledge of presidential elections, how should Hillary Clinton's campaign have responded if Jill Stein's support in the polls had increased significantly as Election Day approached?
By adopting positions on issues similar to Stein's in an attempt to win over those voters before the election
Which of the following is a consequence of candidate-centered campaigns?
Candidates' ability to appeal to voters can outweigh the importance of experience and policy positions.
Which of the following Supreme Court cases is most relevant to the topic of the cartoon?
Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission (2010)
Which of the following scenarios best explains how the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment has influenced political behavior?
Civil Rights leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., cited constitutional arguments as a basis for opposing segregation and inequality.
The case United States y Lopez (1995) struck down the Gun-Free School Zones Act because
Congress exceeded its authority in the use of the commerce clause
Which of the following represents the most likely way the information in the table will be used?
Congress will use the data to suggest that there is support for their legislative proposals.
Which of the following is an accurate comparison of conservative and liberal views concerning social policy?
Conservative : Individuals should not rely on government aid for their economic well-being Liberal : The government should be responsible for helping to improve the economic position of low-income people
Which of the following best describes the message in the political cartoon?
Contributions from special interests have undermined fair and competitive political campaigns.
The language in the first paragraph of the selection most closely parallels that of which of the following documents?
Declaration of Independence
Which Of the followvine sconarios best represents the model for party line voting?
Despite not recognizing the name, a candidate votes for the Democratic Party candidate because he is a Democrat.
Cooperative federalism can best be described by which of the following statements?
Different levels of government are involved in common policy areas
Which of the following is a fundamental element of the United States Constitution?
Division of government authority across political institutions
Which of the following is a potential consequence of the trend illustrated in the bar chart?
Elected officials and candidates running for office are increasingly using social media to reach out to voters and constituents.
Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution does which of the following?
Emphasizes both national sovereignty and federalism
Which of the following cases arose from a state law that mandates public schools to begin the school day with the Teading of a nondenominational prayer by a school official?
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
which of the following is an accurate compartison of constitutional provisions?
Enhance Federal Power: Commerce Clause Enhance State Power: Tenth Amendment
Which constitutional principle best explains the differences in poverty rates presented in the map?
Federalism
Both Gitlow v. New York and New York Times v Sullivan are Supreme Court cases that dealt with which of the following amendments to the Constitution?
First Amendment
Students at a public university hold a peaceful protest to demonstrate against an increase in the cost of college tuition. Which of the following constitutional protections best applies to this scenario?
First Amendment
The police searched a suspect's smartphone without getting a warrant and found photo evidence of criminal activity. After a thorough investigation, the suspect was charged and the evidence obtained from the smartphone was used in the trial. Which of the following amendments contains the Bill of Rights protections that were most likely violated in this scenario?
Fourth Amendment
In Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) how did the Supreme Court's decision address state interests and individual rights?
It balanced the state's interest in compulsory education with the students' free exercise rights.
Which of the following statements about gerrymandering is true?
It can be used by a political party to draw boundary lines to control as many districts as possible
Which of the following statements about Americans' trust in the mass media is best supported by the data in the graph?
It generally decreased over time.
On November 2, 2014, a Gallup poll reported that 51 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana, while 47 percent oppose legalization. The reported margin of sampling error was plus or minus percent. Which of the following inferences can be made from the poll?
It is unclear whether more people support marijuana legalization than oppose it.
Which of the following explanations describes the impact of Jill Stein's candidacy on the 2016 election as depicted by the data
Jill Stein's supporters preferred Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump, hurting the Clinton campaign.
Which of the following statements are supported by the data in the table?
Liberals are more likely than moderates to agree that global warming is a crisis.
Which of the following ideological perspectives is most consistent with the passage?
Libertarian
Which of the following is a correct comparison of libertarians and conservatives regarding social policy?
Libertarians: Support the right of same-sex marriage Conservatives: Oppose the right of same-sex marriage
Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution lists several powers that are denied to the federal governments such as granting titles of nobility and passing ex post facto laws. This best demonstrates which of the following ideals of democracy?
Limited government
Which of the following cases expanded the powers of Congress by defining the necessary and proper clause more broadly?
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the two court cases?
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) : Led to an increase in power for the national government United States v. Lopez (1995): Established limits to Congress' power under the commerce clause
Which of the following scenarios best explains the inclusion of Title IX as part of the Education Amendments of 1972?
Members of Congress added the amendment to the bill in response to social movements seeking to address inequality in education for women.
Which of the following is the best example of a categorical grant?
Money given to states for special education programs
Which of the following statements would the author of the passage most likely agree with?
Nations with extended territory cannot fairly represent their citizens in a republican form of government.
The Declaration of Independence cites specific reasons for separating from British rule, including the British imposing taxes and maintaining a standing army without consent. Which of the following principles or ideas would these grievances be most related to?
Natural rights such as life, liberty, and property
Which of the following amendments to the United States Constitution addresses the grievance that a woman is not permitted "to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise"?
Nineteenth Amendment
In the passage, Brutus is most concerned with the conflict between which of the following political ideas?
Participatory democracy and elite democracy
Which of the following best demonstrates how political parties serve as linkage institutions?
Parties may organize activities to identify supporters, increase registration, and get out the vote.
Which of the following examples best illustrates how the trend in political communications described in the passage will most likely affect campaigns?
Political candidates will seek more data on voters so that their campaigns can create messages designed to attract different demographics.
Which of the following parties would be most likely to support requiring voters to show photo identification when going to the voting booth?
Republican Party
The Supreme Court ruled in McDonald v. Chicago (2010) that a citizen's right to keep and bear arms at hoe for self-defense is protected from state and federal infringement. Which of the following is most relevant to that decision?
Selective Incorporation
Which of the following experiences most likely influenced the perspective conveyed in the passage?
Shay's Rebellion, which was an armed response to the inability of the national government to address unjust economic state policies.
A person accused of a crime cannot afford an attorney, so the state provides the accused with a public defender. Which of the following amendments in the Bill of Rights best applies in this scenario?
Sixth Amendment
The students mentioned in the passage did not have a strong preference in candidates or increased levels of partisanship, despite their exposure to civics education. Which of the following explains this type of political socialization?
Some life experiences that socialize individuals into politics affect specific behaviors but not partisanship or ideology.
Arizona enacted an immigration law in 2010, claiming the legislation complemented existing federal law. The Obama administration disagreed, claiming the state law conflicted with national law. Which clause of the Constitution did the Supreme Court most likely use to strike down a section of the state law?
Supremacy Clause
Which of the following explains how the scenario described in the passage relates to political behavior?
Taking part in civic education affects whether or not an individual participates politically
Which of the following is a difference between the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution that is a response to a problem expressed in the passage?
The Articles of Confederation allowed for the federal government to request revenues from states but did not permit it to tax citizens directly, whereas under the United States Constitution the federal government could tax citizens directly.
Which of the following excerpts from Article 1 of the United States Constitution resolves a problem described by the author?
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States: but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform through the United States"
Which of the following statements regarding political parties is true based on the graphic?
The Republican Party initially emerged as an antislavery political party.
What do the data in the bar graph indicate about how Gary Johnson's candidacy affected the 2016 election?
The data in the bar graph show that since Gary Johnson's supporters were split between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, his candidacy did not have an impact on the outcome of the election.
Which of the following is a limitation of the data when drawing a conclusion about the most important problem facing the country in 2017?
The data were collected in a short time frame, which does not reveal full-year trends.
In McDonald v. Chicago (2010), which of the following sections of the United States Constitution did the Supreme Court use to support its ruling?
The doctrine rise of selective incorporation through the Fourteenth Amendment, holding that state action limiting gun rights deprived persons of "life, liberty, or property, without due process of law"
A woman is arrested for possessing illegal substances that were obtained after a warrantless search of her home by local police. Which of the following best explains whether the evidence could be used in a criminal trial?
The exclusionary rule, derived from the Fourth Amendment, prevents the evidence from being used against the suspect.
Which of the following best captures a portion of the author's argument?
The government has made women subservient by denying them the right to vote.
The Washington Post receives a top secret report that details how the executive branch mishandled a deal made with a foreign nation regarding nuclear weapons. The executive branch attempts to stop the publishing of the report, but the publishers cite the precedent in New York Times Company v. United States (1971) establishing which of the following legal rules?
The heavy presumption against prior restraint
Which of the following factors most likely led to shifts in Supreme Court decision making over time?
The ideological composition of the justices on the Supreme Court shifted to become less liberal over time.
Which of the following statements represents a trend supported by the data in the bar graph?
The number of House members between the most liberal Republican and the most conservative Democrat decreased between 1982 and 2012.
Based on the data in the chart, which of the following is true?
The percentage of liberal decisions made by the Supreme Court on civil rights and civil liberties cases decreased between 1964 and 1996.
Based on the data in the bar graph and your knowledge of the course, which of the following is an accurate statement that can be made about political socialization?
The political orientation of parents has a great influence on how their child will view politics.
A recent poll indicates that 60 percent of all people in the United States support a flat tax system. Which of the following supports the credibility of the poll result?
The poll reported a sampling error.
Which of the following is true based on information on the map?
The poverty rate in the United States varies by state and region.
Which of the following is contained in the Fourteenth Amendment and was likely an inspiration for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"?
The principle that all people should be equal under the law, as embodied in the equal protection clause
Which of the following parts of the United States Constitution is incorporated to the states based on the ruling in McDonald v. Chicago (2010) ?
The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed
The new developments in campaigning described in the passage have the greatest impact on which of the following trends?
The rise of candidate-centered campaigns
Which of the following most likely accounts for the different results?
The sample size was not large enough to be reliable.
The debates between Federalists and Anti-Federalists were primarily about which of the following issues?
The scope of power of the central government
Which of the following conclusions is most supported by the data in the chart?
The voting rights act of 1965 has significantly reduced disparities in voter registration between Whites and African Americans.
Critics of the winner-take-all aspect of the electoral college are most likely to make which of the following arguments?
The winner-take-all system of the electoral college encourages presidential candidates to focus their time and effort disproportionately on battleground states with larger populations.
The graphic illustrates which of the following statements about political parties?
There is an ongoing debate between political parties over the power and scope of the federal government, even as economic and demographic changes have altered party coalitions.
Which of the following is truc of political action committees (PACs)?
They make campaign contributions to gain access to legislators
A political science professor is researching the effects that the Fifteenth and Twenty-Sixth Amendments have had on the American political system. Which of the following is the most likely reason the professor is researching these amendments?
To study the expansion of voting rights
Which of the following statements is most consistent with the author's argument in this passage?
Undermining freedom will extinguish both freedom and equality.
Which of the following is a correct comparison between the United States Constitution and the Articles of Confederation?
United States Constitution: Granted Congress the power to levy taxes Articles of Confederation: Granted states alone the power to levy taxes
Given the evolution of campaign communication described in the passage, which of the following is a way that political candidates most likely would use these tools to reach the broadest possible base of supporters?
Using social media tools to target different demographic and political groups with messages designed to appeal to them
Which of the following scenarios explains how demographic factors affect voter participation in elections?
Wealthier individuals are more likely to become involved in campaigns because they believe that their actions may influence the candidates.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932 after running on the Democratic Party platform that included an expansion of federal programs aimed at pulling the United States out of the Great Depression. The expansion plan, known as the New Deal, substantially increased the voting base of the Democratic Party. As a result, the Democratic Party dominated Congress and many state governments for the next half century. The election of 1932 is considered a critical election because it
changed the base of support in each party
The differences shown in the table demonstrate which of the following?
gender gap
As a compromise, the framers agreed on a bicameral legislature, with the House of Representatives directly elected by popular vote within states and the Senate selected by state legislatures. The method chosen for electing members of the House of Representatives conforms most to which of the following democratic ideals?
government should be based on the consent of the governed
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) was a significant Supreme Court ruling because it
held the "separate but equal" concept to be a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
The idea of having a constitution, which includes a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances, promotes which of the following core American values?
limited government
Which of the following concepts is most closely related to the passage?
political socialization
For decades, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has worked closely with members of Congress to successfully curtail the capacity of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to regulate firearms and track gun crimes. Which of the following statements best explains how the NRA maintains its influence in Washington?
the National Rifle Association outspends its competitors in all elections and stages of policy making.
The free-exercise clause protects
voluntary prayer by student groups before school
