Chapter 11 Multiple Choice

Which of the following statements concerning technology and polling is NOT true?

Autodialing is one method of overcoming the problems caused by citizen reliance on cell phones.

Which of the following statements is NOT true?

Blacks are less likely than whites to favor prayer in public schools.

Which of the following is NOT true regarding religion?

Catholics are strongly Republican

In general, which of the following statements is NOT true regarding whether Americans meet the criteria for being considered ideal democratic citizens?

Compared with other countries, the United States has quite high voter participation rates.

Which of the following is NOT an argument put forth by the textbook's authors?

In many ways, less educated people are more tolerant than educated people.

Which of the following statements concerning the roles of ideology and partisanship in shaping public opinion is NOT true?

Most Americans are too moderate or nonpartisan for these concepts to have much influence on them.

Which of the following statements concerning the relationship between age and opinions is NOT true?

People tend to become more conservative as they age

Which of the following statements concerning sampling bias is NOT true?

Pollsters are often unaware of the problem of sampling bias.

The textbook does NOT argue the following:

Self-interest is a source of agreement in public opinion.

Major political and social events are an important source of socialization. Therefore, all of the following statements are true EXCEPT this one:

Socialization does not exist since people learn politics from direct experience.

With respect to constructing survey questions, all of the following statements are true EXCEPT this one:

Surveys tend to underestimate the racial tolerance of the American people.

The collective decisions of citizens reflect a greater level of knowledge than public opinion polls reflect because of all of the following EXCEPT this:

The desire to hide our real views from pollsters

Which of the following statements concerning exit polls is NOT true?

They are a form of pseudo-poll.

If you are to be a critical watcher of polls, among the issues of concern are all of the following EXCEPT this:

Whether the poll agrees with your position

Which of the following statements concerning the relationship between gender and public opinion is NOT true?

Women have become more liberal in the past thirty years.

A plebiscite is ______.

a popular vote on national policy issues

Regarding the impact of the public in American national decision making, the founders wanted ______.

a system legitimated by the public but also protected from the possible dangers of the public's power

Those who favor ______ democracy would be least likely to favor popular votes on national policy issues.

an elite

Education is a source of all of the following EXCEPT this:

apathy

Tracking polls are significant because they ______.

are able to catch daily changes in public opinion that other horse race polls cannot

Public opinion pollsters will often ask respondents their opinions on very complex issues and public policies. Research indicates these questions are most likely used to ______.

ask respondents to express an opinion about something they do not know

A citizen's ability to hold democratic beliefs, including the acceptance that politics is about compromise, is called ______.

democratic enlightenment

Self-interest is a source of ______.

divisions in society

The authors of the textbook argue that Americans behave as ideal citizens as ______, although as ______ they do not.

group;individuals

Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the textbook as an agent of socialization?

internet

Tolerance is a key democratic value because ______.

it is a prerequisite for compromise

A survey question such as, "Do you support or oppose being allowed to take the Life-time Learning Credit during years in which you pay for postsecondary education with a distribution from an education IRA?" is problematic because ______.

it is likely that few people have thought about the issue

The danger of majority tyranny in a democracy most likely would result from ______.

majority rule without the tempering influence of debate and discussion

One advantage of direct contact between elected officials and the public versus the use of public opinion polls is that direct contact ______.

makes it less likely that certain public concerns will be overlooked

Compared to other industrialized nations, the United States ranks ______ in voter participation.

near the bottom

According to studies, Americans tend to be ______.

not very knowledgeable about politics

The sharp decline in trust in government among the public in the 1960s and 1970s is used by the authors to show the effects of ______ on political socialization.

political and social events

Public opinion not only should matter but also does matter in American politics because ______.

politicians and the media act as if it matters

We can conclude from the history of polling that ______.

polls are reliable only when they are timely and have been conducted using the proper procedures

When politicians try to determine public opinion by listening to their supporters and friendly interest groups, they are likely to face the problem of ______.

sample bias

Unscientific polls that are often conducted by newspapers and politicians to determine who is ahead in a political race are called ______ polls

straw

Regarding tolerance, Americans are generally ______.

supportive of general issues such as free speech but less supportive when asked to extend rights to unpopular groups.

The relationship between sample size and sampling error is ______.

the larger the sample, the smaller the sampling error will be

Americans voter turnout for national elections is ______.

the lowest, or among the lowest, among industrialized nations

Of the following, which pair of items concerning socialization is NOT linked properly?

the media; ideological orientation

A survey question such as "How many times in the past few months have you used drugs?" is problematic because ______.

the question is ambiguous and loaded

Rational ignorance refers to ______.

the state of being uninformed about politics because the cost in time and energy does not produce tangible or measurable results

The process by which citizens take their political cues from more well-informed opinion leaders is known as ______.

the two-step flow of information

Good survey questions meet all of the following criteria EXCEPT ______.

they are always short

According to the text, the current process of political socialization in the United States ______.

trains us to support and obey the existing political system

The gender gap is especially large on issues of ______.

violence

All of the following have great influence on public policy EXCEPT this group:

young