AP Gov: Practice Test 3

Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the table above?

-The share of FDAP grants allocated to the Department of Health and Human Services increased between 1982 and 2002 -FDAP grants comprised a larger share of state and municipal budgets in 1992 than in 1972

All of the following are true under the system of checks and balances:

-the president's nominees must be approved by the Senate before taking office -two-thirds of the Senate must approve presidentially negotiated treaties -Congress can override a presidential veto -different branches of government share power and must cooperate in order to pass legislation

The Dred Scott decision of 1857 was overturned by the

14th Amendment

Which of the following CANNOT limit the influence of the federal courts?

A national election recalling an unpopular judge

Which of the following statements does NOT accurately describe voting behavior in the US?

A registered voter who has attained his or her General Educational Development (GED) is less likely to vote than a high school dropout

Which of the following is an example of "horse-race journalism"?

A reporter announces which candidate leads in a public opinion poll

Which of the following processes best exemplifies the federal structure of the US government?

Amending the US Constitution

Which of the following statements about voting populations is most accurate?

An individual w/ a graduate degree is more likely to vote than an individual who has only a high school diploma

A presidential veto would most likely be overturned in which of the following situations?

Approximately 30% of the senators are members of the presidential political party

Which of the following may file an amicus curiae brief?

Companies that aren't involved in a court case but wish to affect the outcome

Which of the following accurately describes individual entitlements?

Congress must pay benefits to anyone who qualifies to receive them

Ruled unconstitutional in 1983, the legislative veto allowed

Congress to nullify resolutions approved by the executive branch

Appointments to which of the following positions must be confirmed by the Senate before taking effect?

Director of Homeland Security; Secretary of the Treasury; US Ambassador to the United Nations

The right of American citizens to petition the government for a redress of grievances is protected under the

First Amendment

Which of the following best describes a block grant?

Funds w/ few restrictions that are provided to state or local governments for general purpose use

Which of the following statements regarding approval ratings can be concluded from the table above?

George W. Bush received a higher approval rating in 2005 than they did in 2001

Which of the following conclusions about the 2000 and 2004 election results in the states identified above CANNOT be drawn from the table?

In 2004, John Kerry won the popular vote in all the states where Al Gore won in 2000

Which of the following conclusions is most supported by the accompanying table?

In all years, voters aged 18-24 were more likely to vote Democratic than Republican

Which of the following statement is LEAST true of voters in federal, state, and local elections?

Individuals are most likely to vote when they believe they know which candidate will win an election

Which of the following is generally understood to be the purpose of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution?

It reserves powers to the states

Which of the following is true of the House Committee on Ways and Means?

Its jurisdiction includes the tax system

Which of the following cases established the precedent that a defendant must be informed of the right to remain silent, the right to a lawyer, and protection from self-incrimination?

Miranda v. Arizona

Which of the following is a direct result of an electoral system that features single-member districts?

Only two major parties can successfully be supported

Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the data above?

President Obama appointed the highest percentage of women to the judiciary

Which of the following is NOT true of executive orders?

Presidents avoid using executive orders for controversial actions

Which of the following best describes the SC's doctrine of incorporation?

The Bill of Rights articulates certain rights in order to protect individuals from the federal government, and the 14th Amendment extends most of those rights to protect individuals from the state governments as well

Which of the following was the legal basis for the 1973 Roe v. Wade majority opinion, in which the SC struck down a state ban on abortion?

The Bill of Rights implies a right to privacy

Which of the following best articulates the doctrine of original intent?

The Constitution should be interpreted in light of the intent of those who wrote it

Which of the following is a significant difference between the Senate and the House of Representatives?

The Senate allows unlimited debate, while the House does not

Which of the following conclusions regarding voting behavior can be inferred from the table above?

The majority of voters in a state only rarely change their support from one party to another

Which of the following best states an argument made by James Madison in the The Federalist number 10?

The negative effects of factionalism can be reduced by a republican government

Which of the following statements can be supported by the table above?

The percent of registered voters in Texas who identified as Republican was greater in 2000 than in any other year from 1992-2008. -A larger share of the electorate in Texas identified as Democrats in 2008 than in 2000

Which of the following can be inferred from the accompanying table?

The percentage of Democratic voters in the West grew consistently from 2000 to 2008

Which of the following is the main point of the cartoon above?

The role of the vice president is a limited one

Why do political scientists identify the presidential elections of FDR in 1932 and Richard Nixon in 1968 as well as the midterm election of 1994 as "critical elections"?

Those elections saw major shifts in party alignment that would last for decades

The Reorganization Plan 1 of 1939 and Executive Order 8248 allow the president to select the staff for the

White House Office

Federal election laws require that, in

an area that has a substantial community of non-English speakers, voters be provided w/ ballots in their native language

The majority of SC justices

are appointed by presidents of the same political party

Each of the two main political parties of the US is organized

as a relatively independent organization that exists at all levels of government

Given the structure of the Electoral College system, presidential candidates tend to

campaign more heavily in states w/ large populations

All of the following are constitutionally mandated presidential powers EXCEPT the power to

declare war

In the House of Representatives, the Rules Committee

determines both the rules of the House and conditions for legislative process

All of the following are ways in which lobbyists attempt to persuade legislators:

distributing propaganda to media; endorsing candidates for office; socializing w/ government officials; providing expert testimony before Congress

Which of the following is the largest source of "autonomous spending" for the federal government?

entitlement programs

The separation of church and state is articulated in the

establishment clause

Which of the following principles is realized when the federal government provides most of the funding to a project in which multiple levels of government work together?

fiscal federalism

Of the following interest groups, which has created the largest number of political action committees (PACs) since the 1970s?

for-profit business

An "unfunded mandate" is created when the federal government requires state and municipal governments to

fulfill a particular duty but doesn't provide the finances for doing so

The practice of drawing congressional district lines in an attempt to give one party a benefit over another is referred to as

gerrymandering

Which of the following actions can the president take without congressional approval?

grant reprieves and pardons

All of the following are core values of American political culture EXCEPT

income equality

The Commerce Clause of the Constitution has been used to

increase the power of the national government

Every ten years, the majority of state legislatures are responsible for

redrawing congressional district boundaries

When an appeal is made to the Supreme Court, the Court usually

refuses to hear the appeal

When the Founders met in 1787 to write the Constitution, their primary objective was to

replace the weak central government created by the Articles of Confederation w/ a stronger one

The Voting Rights Act of 1965

suspended the use of literacy tests at voting centers

Which of the following plays the most significant role in forming a child's political views?

the child's family

Members of Congress are allowed to mail letters to their constituents at the government's expense b/c of

the franking privilege

A presidential plurality victory occurs when

the winning candidate receives less than 50 percent of the popular vote

The line-item veto was ruled unconstitutional because it

violated the legislative process by which bills becomes laws