POS2041 Midterm Study Guide, Chapters 6-9

Which of the following stories would an American news outlet that relies primarily on advertising revenue be LEAST likely to cover?

an economics professor providing testimony to a congressional committee on the effect of tariffs

How many Americans have no religious affiliation?

approximately 25%

Superdelegates

are currently used in the Democratic Party presidential primary only.

A push poll involves

asking loaded questions in order to subtly shape the respondent's opinion.

Individuals with home high-speed internet access and the skills to use it are called

digital citizens.

Activities designed to influence politics using the internet are best described as

digital political participation.

What is the most important factor in predicting whether an individual votes?

education level

A person who enjoys the benefits of a group's collective efforts but does not contribute to those efforts is called a

free rider.

Suppose more and more states wish to increase their political influence by holding their nominating processes earlier and earlier. This causes the process for nominating the president to become

front-loaded.

During the 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton received

half the amount of media coverage as Donald Trump.

A consequence of the limited public broadcasting available in the United States relative to other Western democracies is the American public

has less political knowledge than people in other Western democracies.

The fact that many middle-class and lower-middle-class citizens who did not stand to benefit from President George W. Bush's tax cuts seemed to favor them is an example of the

importance of political knowledge.

"Selective benefits" are

incentives that interest groups make available only to those people who are members of their organizations.

The media landscape for news has seen remarkable shifts in a short period of time. Which media sources have gained wider audiences and which have lost some of their audience? Which platform do U.S adults cite as their most frequent source of news?

internet

Lobbying is often easier on which kinds of issues?

issues that the public does not care about

The fact that a decreasing number of companies owns an increasingly large share of the American media is a concern primarily because

it increases the risk of that politicians and citizens who express less popular or minority viewpoints will have difficulty finding a public forum.

Party activists are ________ likely to contribute time to party affairs and ________ likely to hold more extreme views than the party's rank-and-file voters.

more; more

A ________ is the best example of an informational benefit provided by many interest groups.

newsletter

Which of the following groups is most likely to affiliate with the Republican Party?

older White voters

Between 1812 and 1830, the United States had

one political party: the Jeffersonian Republicans.

Which of the following is not a problem that pollsters encounter?

only getting a 75 percent response rate

Which of the following requires an FCC license in order to legally broadcast in the United States?

over-the-air television stations

Which of the following are the three most major factors that influence a voter's choice?

partisan loyalty, issues, and the characteristics of candidates

Jane is a volunteer for Trump's 2020 campaign, knocking on doors and persuading voters to vote for Trump and other Republican candidates in the election. Her efforts best characterize her as a

party activist.

Liberalism and conservatism are examples of

political ideologies.

An election held to select the party's candidate for the general election is called a

primary election.

Which of the following is the best definition of the media?

print and digital forms of communication that include everything from websites, newspapers, television, and radio

Policy feedback occurs when

public opinion shifts in response to changes in government policy.

Which of the following statements about women's suffrage is most accurate?

A number of state and territorial governments adopted women's suffrage before the federal government granted women the vote through the Nineteenth Amendment.

Which agency regulates broadcast media in the United States?

Federal Communications Commission

Which U.S. president promoted his policy agenda to the American people through "fireside chats"?

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Which statement best characterizes Asian American voter turnout in the United States?

It is similar to Hispanic turnout.

Which of the following best describes the relationship between the government and the media in the United States today?

The government does not own but regulates the content and ownership of broadcast media.

The New Deal coalition was severely strained and ultimately broken apart by the

Vietnam War and the issue of civil rights.

Which statement about party identification and gender in the United States is most accurate?

Women are significantly more likely than men to identify with the Democratic Party, whereas more men identify as Republicans.

The Jeffersonian Republicans were best known for their support of

a weak national government, with the states retaining most powers.

The frequent reporting on the federal investigation by Robert Mueller regarding whether anyone close to Trump participated in Russia's 2016 election interference is an example of the media's commitment to

adversarial journalism.

During the 2000 South Carolina Republican primary, George W. Bush supporters telephoned conservative White voters to ask if they would be more or less likely to vote for John McCain if they knew he had fathered an illegitimate Black child. This was an example of a

push poll.

During the 1980s, the Republicans added ________ to their coalition.

religious conservatives and working-class Whites

Despite its widespread availability, ________ typically report(s) on the narrowest range of topics and provide(s) the least depth of news coverage.

television

What is a media monopoly?

the concentration of media ownership by a few large corporations

Who is an incumbent?

the current officeholder running for re-election

The Populist Party appealed to which of the following groups?

western mining interests, small farmers, and urban workers

Most national campaigns in America are conducted through which kind of politics?

wholesale

The gap in access to the internet due to differences in education, income, age, geographic location, and race/ethnicity is known as

the digital divide.

A distinctive pattern of voting behavior reflecting the differences in views between women and men is known as

the gender gap.

In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) the Supreme Court ruled that

the government could not restrict independent expenditures by corporations or unions on behalf of candidates or issues.

When we say the media have the power of framing, we mean that

the media shape can affect how people view a topic or form opinions on a topic.

When we say the media have the power of agenda setting or filtering, we mean that

the media shape which topics the government must deal with.

What is turnout?

the percentage of eligible individuals who actually vote

Suppose you were hired to work on the campaign of a 2020 presidential candidate. Your job was to reach out to the group of people most likely to vote. Which group should you target first?

women

Approximately ________ is needed for a candidate to have a reasonable chance of winning a seat in the House of Representatives.

$1 million

Participation in political campaigns and elections depends on many different variables, but two of the most important are age and education. What are some of the results of these differences when it comes to certain behaviors? This graph shows how people participate in various ways according to age and education. Which grouping shows the smallest differences in participation within its category?

. worked or volunteered for a campaign by age OR attended a political rally or event by age

________is the single-most important political act for most Americans.

.Contributing to political campaigns wrong b.Voting WRONG c.Writing a letter to the editor d.Peaceful protest

Which of the following sample sizes is sufficient to have a reasonably accurate poll?

1500

Women won the right to vote in

1920.

Party identification has changed over time, with the number of Democrats, Republicans, and independents gaining or losing supporters at different periods. Study this chart on party identification and answer the questions that follow. During what period did the Democrats have the largest group of supporters?

1976-1982

Party identification has changed over time, with the number of Democrats, Republicans, and independents gaining or losing supporters at different periods. Study this chart on party identification and answer the questions that follow. During what period did the Democrats lose the most supporters?

1982-1988

The media landscape for news has seen remarkable shifts in a short period of time. Which media sources have gained wider audiences and which have lost some of their audience? In which year was newspaper readership the highest?

1995

Party identification has changed over time, with the number of Democrats, Republicans, and independents gaining or losing supporters at different periods. Study this chart on party identification and answer the questions that follow. In which of the following periods were people most likely to identify as independents?

2012-2019

During early national periods of American history, suffrage was generally restricted to White males over the age of

21

Large media conglomerates, such as the Hearst, McClatchy, and Gannett corporations, own approximately ________ of daily newspapers.

75%

Which of the following statements best characterizes media ownership in the United States?

A small number of giant, privately owned corporations control most of the country's television networks, movie studios, record companies, cable channels, book publishers, magazines, newspapers, and digital media sites.

Which of the following statements about socioeconomic status and political participation is accurate?

Americans of higher socioeconomic status participate more in politics, including voting. maybe??? a.Americans of both higher and lower socioeconomic status vote at roughly equal rates. OR d.Americans of higher socioeconomic status participate more in politics, including voting.

Which of the following groups was NOT part of the New Deal coalition?

Asian Americans

Public opinion polls show wide partisan differences on the importance of key issues. Study the following figure that contrasts policy beliefs of those who identify with the Republican party or lean toward it with those who identify with the Democratic party or lean toward it. On which issue is there the largest difference in opinion between Republicans and Democrats?

Black Lives Matter or military

Large cities have predominantly ________ populations, while ________ are more numerous in rural and suburban areas.

Democratic; Republicans

Which of the following is the best characterization of digital political participation?

Digital political participation includes activities like visiting a candidate's website or signing an online petition.

Which of the following is a good example of a media monopoly?

Disney

The media landscape for news has seen remarkable shifts in a short period of time. Which media sources have gained wider audiences and which have lost some of their audience? Which statement about news sources is accurate?

More people used the radio for news in 2017 than in 2007.

________ states currently require all voters to show some form of ID before voting at the polls.

More than half of all

Party identification has changed over time, with the number of Democrats, Republicans, and independents gaining or losing supporters at different periods. Study this chart on party identification and answer the questions that follow. A majority of Americans have which political identification?

No identification has a majority of Americans.

Primary elections were introduced by

Progressive reformers at the start of the 1900s

From the end of the Civil War to the 1890s, the ________ Party was the party of the North, while the ________ Party was the party of the South.

Republican; Democratic

Public opinion polls show wide partisan differences on the importance of key issues. Study the following figure that contrasts policy beliefs of those who identify with the Republican party or lean toward it with those who identify with the Democratic party or lean toward it. Suppose you were running in a nonpartisan campaign and were trying to appeal to voters from both sides of the political divide. Which issues would you emphasize in your campaign?

Social Security, the economy, and health care costs

Which statement best describes the relationship between public opinion and government policy?

The relationship between government policy and public opinion is dynamic, wherein government policy responds to public opinion but public opinion also shifts based on new government policies.

Which statement about the distribution of fake news on Facebook in the 2016 election is most accurate?

The top 10 fake news stories circulated on Facebook were shared more widely than the top 10 authentic news stories about the election.

What is one of the main differences between people who have gone to college and people who have not?

There is a higher level of political participation among those with a college education.

Which of the following is a good example of broadcast media outlet?

a local television station

In the 2018 midterm elections, youth turnout

b.decreased significantly. c.increased significantly. maybe? d.remained as in 2016.

The difference between a political value and a political attitude is that values are

basic principles, while attitudes are specific preferences.

Independent expenditures by Super PACs

can raise and spend an unlimited amount of money on political campaigns.

If a national survey finds candidate A leads candidate B by 5% in the upcoming election and the margin of error in the survey is 3%, it means that

candidate A leads candidate B by anywhere between 2 and 8 percentage points.

Under current federal campaign finance rules, as long as they do not coordinate with a candidate, a national political party committee

cannot spend any money advocating support for its own presidential candidate. OR may make unlimited "independent expenditures" supporting its own presidential candidate.

A(n) ________ occurs when a voter must be registered with a party prior to voting in that party's election.

closed primary

A benefit that is sought by an interest group and that once achieved cannot be denied to nonmembers is called a

collective good.

An individual who strongly supports military intervention and the maintenance of American military power is more closely associated with which political ideology?

conservatism

In recent years, response rates for random digit dial surveys have been

declining steadily and now average less than 10%.

During the last decade, the number of newspaper journalists working in the United States has

decreased by 50%.

Public opinion polls show wide partisan differences on the importance of key issues. Study the following figure that contrasts policy beliefs of those who identify with the Republican party or lean toward it with those who identify with the Democratic party or lean toward it. On which of the following issues are Republicans and Democrats in closest agreement?

jobs

The vast majority of Americans describe themselves as

liberals, conservatives, or moderates.

In classical political theory, a liberal was closest to what we would today refer to as a

libertarian.

Which of the following sets of terms best describes America's fundamental political values?

liberty, equality of opportunity, and democracy

The tendency for black Americans to perceive other blacks as members of a group with a common identity and a shared political interest is called

linked fate.

The fact that public support for government policies declines dramatically when calling the policies "welfare" rather than "assistance for the poor" illustrates that

seemingly minor differences in the wording of a question can convey vastly different meanings to survey respondents.

In order for a public opinion poll to accurately generalize to the entire population, the survey must

select respondents randomly and everyone in the target population must have an equal chance of being selected.

A(n) ________ is a method used by pollsters to select a representative sample in which every individual in the population has an equal probability of being selected as a respondent.

simple random sample

What are agents of socialization?

social institutions, like family and school, that shape an individual's basic political beliefs and values

In the American federal system, the responsibility for running elections rests largely with

state and local governments.

Under the Constitution, ________ the power to control over voter registration.

state legislatures have

Public opinion polls show wide partisan differences on the importance of key issues. Study the following figure that contrasts policy beliefs of those who identify with the Republican party or lean toward it with those who identify with the Democratic party or lean toward it. Suppose you were running for office as a Republican and you wanted to focus on the issues that matter most to Republicans. Which issues would you emphasize in your campaign?

terrorism, immigration, and the economy

A political party is an organization

that tries to influence the government by getting its members elected to office.

During the early nineteenth century, the main base of strength for the Jeffersonian Republican Party under Andrew Jackson was in

the South.

The Federalist Party disappeared, in part, as a result of

the War of 1812.

During the 2020 Democratic presidential primary elections, candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden received favorable national coverage showing his lead in the South Carolina polls. Despite losses in the previous four states, Biden went on to become the party's presumptive nominee in weeks. The increased public support for Biden is partly explained by

the bandwagon effect.

The free-rider problem occurs because

the benefits of a group's actions are broadly available and cannot be denied to nonmembers.

Imagine that national surveys showed that over a period of 30 years racist attitudes towards African Americans in the United States drastically declined, yet studies showed ample evidence of persistent racism in the states. The disparity between the public opinion polls and the real word is best explained by which of the following?

the social desirability bias

Pollsters use random digit dialing to gather national samples for public-opinion polls because

there is not a complete list of all Americans that can be used to identify the population.

The media are sometimes referred to as the "fourth branch of government" because

they provide a check on the power of government and political leaders.

If a number of newspapers published stories exposing an elected official's acceptance of monetary bribes from a corporation in exchange for passing a particular law, it would be an example of the media serving in their role as a

watchdog.