AP GOV Tri 2 Final
Which of the following scenarios is an example of the trustee model of representation?
A member of Congress votes to close a popular tax loophole based on the belief that the money would be better spent paying down the national debt.
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates a member of Congress supporting pork-barrel legislation?
A senator from an agricultural state amending legislation to establish a potato research institute in his or her state
Based on the data, which of the following is the most likely consequence for the legislative process in Congress?
An increase in gridlock and failure to compromise on legislation
Which of the following describes the origin of the United States court system presented in the diagram?
Article III of the Constitution established a Supreme Court, while other federal courts were established by Congress.
Which of the following is a result of the electoral college system?
Candidates focus on the states with the largest populations.
Which of the following statements best explains the diagram?
Cases arising at both the state and federal level may be appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
When party members meet to nominate a candidate for office, they participate in which of the following?
Caucus
Which of the following is an accurate comparison of checks on the legislative branch and checks on the executive branch?
Check on Legislative Branch -The president may veto bills passed by Congress. Check on Executive Branch -The Senate must confirm judicial nominees.
Which of the following accurately compares the powers of Congress and the president?
Congress Has Greater Control -Budgetary policy President Has Greater Control -Cabinet appointments
In the last years presidential primacy, so indispensable to the political order, has turned into presidential supremacy. The constitutional Presidency—as events so apparently disparate as the Indochina War and the Watergate affair showed, has become the imperial Presidency and threatens to be the revolutionary Presidency. . . . The imperial Presidency was essentially the creation of foreign policy. A combination of doctrines and emotions—belief in the permanent and universal crisis, fear of communism, faith in the duty and right of the United States to intervene swiftly in every part of the world—had brought about the unprecedented centralization of decisions. Prolonged war in Vietnam strengthened the tendencies toward both centralization and exclusion. So the imperial Presidency grew at the expense of the constitutional order. Like the cowbird, it hatched its own eggs and pushed the others out of the nest. And, as it overwhelmed the traditional separation of powers in foreign affairs, it began to aspire toward an equivalent centralization of power in the domestic polity. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Imperial Presidency, 1973 Based on the passage above, which of the following constitutional provisions would the author most likely identify as a solution to the problem of the imperial presidency?
Congress insisting that it declare war prior to the use of international force
On February 9, 2016, President Barack Obama released his budget proposal for the 2017 fiscal year. Facing a Republican Congress, many declared the plan "dead on arrival." Among the cited issues was Obama's request for $582.7 billion in discretionary spending for defense, which many Republicans believed was not enough. Which of the following most accurately explains the interaction between the president and the Congress regarding the defense budget?
Congress passes a budget for the entire federal government, including defense, but it must consider the president's proposal because the president may veto the bill.
Which of the following is an example of Congress using its implied powers?
Congress passing occupational safety regulations for the private sector
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 the most accurate comparison of the processes that generally facilitate gridlock and those that facilitate governmental action?
Facilitates Gridlock -Checks and Balances Facilitates Action -Executive Orders
Which of the following accurately compares the formal and informal powers of the president?
Formal Power -Acting as commander in chief of the military Informal Power -Signing executive agreements with foreign nations
Which of the following is an accurate description of the powers of the House of Representatives and the Senate?
House of Representatives -Initiates all revenue bills Senate -Confirms presidential appointments
When none of the presidential candidates receives a majority of the votes in the electoral college, the winner is chosen by the
House of Representatives only
The advantages of incumbency in congressional elections include which of the following? I. Incumbents receive more campaign contributions than do challengers. II. Incumbents are able to provide important services for individual voters. III. The government provides campaign funds for incumbents. IV. The President usually endorses incumbents for reelection. v. Most American voters believe Congress does a good job.
I and II only
The use of direct primaries instead of the convention system in selecting presidential candidates results in which of the following? I. A weakening of party control over nominations II. A reduction in the costs of election campaigns III. An increase in the number of people involved in the choice of candidates IV. An increase in voter turnout in midterm elections
I and III only
I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. . . . It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. George Washington's Farewell Address, 1796 Which of the following scenarios illustrates Washington's concerns?
Ideological divisions within Congress can lead to partisan gridlock.
In 2013 a parliamentary procedure was implemented in the Senate that allowed a simple majority vote to end debate on Cabinet member confirmations. Which of the following best explains how the procedural change relates to the information in the graphic?
If the procedural change had not occurred, Republican senators would not have been able to immediately invoke cloture of a filibuster.
Which of the following factors contributes most to the data in the line graph?
Incumbents have an advantage over challengers because of name recognition.
The data in the graph best illustrate which of the following common criticisms of the electoral college?
Individuals in small-population states have a greater impact on the electoral college than individuals in large-population states.
Which of the following is true of the electoral college system?
It encourages candidates to concentrate their campaigns in competitive, populous states.
The primary election system of selecting presidential candidates has had which of the following effects?
It has loosened the hold of party leaders over the nomination process.
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 +/- 4 percent. Which of the following inferences can be made from the poll?
It is unclear whether more people support marijuana legalization than oppose it.
In The Federalist 78, Alexander Hamilton argued that the federal judiciary "is beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power." Which of the following statements represents a reason he gave for this argument?
It must depend on the executive for enforcement of its decisions.
On July 9, 2018, after the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, President Trump, a Republican, nominated Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Many Democrats in the Senate feared that the appointment of Kavanaugh would swing the Court in a more ideologically conservative direction and attempted to block his nomination. After a heated Senate confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh was eventually confirmed by a 50-48 vote in the Senate. The scenario best highlights which of the following statements about court appointees?
Life tenure for appointed justices alongside the power of judicial review increases the stakes in the confirmation process for nominees to the Supreme Court.
"If, therefore, the legislature pass any laws, inconsistent with the sense the judges put upon the constitution, they will declare it void; and therefore in this respect their power is superior to that of the legislature." Brutus 15 Which of the following cases is most related to the quote?
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Which of the following best describes the difference between an open and closed primary?
Only voters who register as members of a political party may vote in that party's closed primary, while independents and others may be eligible to vote in open primaries.
Congress passes a law requiring that all public accommodations provide access for people with disabilities. The United States Supreme Court rules that the law does not apply to the airline industry. Which of the following is the best way for Congress to provide people with disabilities access to the airline industry in light of the Court's ruling?
Pass a new law that specifies that the airlines must provide access for people with disabilities
The majority party in the Senate is concerned that the Supreme Court has made a number of ideologically dangerous and controversial rulings. Which of the following actions could be taken by the Senate to limit the Supreme Court's power?
Pass legislation already passed by the House that would limit the impact of the Supreme Court's recent rulings
In many places, classrooms are overcrowded and curricula are outdated. Most of our qualified teachers are underpaid, and many of our paid teachers are unqualified. So we must give every child a place to sit and a teacher to learn from. Poverty must not be a bar to learning, and learning must offer an escape from poverty. But more classrooms and more teachers are not enough. We must seek an educational system which grows in excellence as it grows in size. This means better training for our teachers. It means preparing youth to enjoy their hours of leisure as well as their hours of labor. It means exploring new techniques of teaching, to find new ways to stimulate the love of learning and the capacity for creation. . . . . . . While our Government has many programs directed at those issues, I do not pretend that we have the full answer to those problems. But I do promise this: We are going to assemble the best thought and the broadest knowledge from all over the world to find those answers for America. I intend to establish working groups to prepare a series of White House conferences and meetings . . . on the quality of education, and on other emerging challenges. And from these meetings and from this inspiration and from these studies we will begin to set our course toward the Great Society. The solution to these problems does not rest on a massive program in Washington, nor can it rely solely on the strained resources of local authority. They require us to create new concepts of cooperation, a creative federalism, between the National Capital and the leaders of local communities. President Lyndon B. Johnson, May 22, 1964 Which of the following explains President Johnson's motivation for the speech in relation to his role as the head of the executive branch?
President Johnson is seeking to use the bully pulpit as a means of promoting his agenda on public education.
Which of the following situations is an example of the president using the bully pulpit as a tool for agenda setting?
President Reagan delivering a televised address urging a reduction in federal taxes
The data in the table illustrate which of the following about United States constitutional government?
Presidential foreign policy can be checked through the legislative power of Congress.
During his confirmation hearing, Chief Justice John Roberts stated that Roe v. Wade (1973) "is the settled law of the land." This statement suggests that in a future case that challenges the constitutionality of legislation restricting privacy and reproductive rights, which of the following should be a key factor in the court's ruling?
Reliance on legal precedent
Congress has exerted the greats influence on the operation of a federal agency by doing which of the following?
Reviewing the annual budget appropriations for the agency
A polling firm tried to predict the results of an election by sampling 1,000 adults within a state for two days prior to the election, using landline telephones of likely voters. After the election, the firm found that their poll results were not close to the actual election results. Which of the following recommendations would be the best for the firm to follow in the future?
Sample people who have cell phones, in addition to those with landlines.
A new president has been elected after running on a campaign of lowering taxes and reducing spending on discretionary programs but now must work with Congress to ensure legislation passes which achieves those goals. Which of the leaders in the diagram plays the most crucial role in shaping the legislation that the president wants passed?
Speaker of the House
Which of the following is an example of the executive branch implementing a public policy passed by Congress?
The Department of Health and Human Services determines eligibility requirements for government assistance.
Which of the following is likely to occur as a result of new legislation regarding automobile safety?
The Department of Transportation will be given discretionary authority to create auto regulations.
How is a president chosen when none of the candidates receives a majority of the electoral college vote?
The House chooses a new president by a majority vote of its state delegations.
A person claiming that the House can pass legislation with a simple majority, but the Senate is unlikely to pass legislation unless a bill has the support of a 60-vote supermajority is most likely to cite which of the following institutional differences as the cause of this trend?
The House has strict limits on debate, while the Senate allows unlimited debate.
Which of the following best explains why the winner of a presidential election usually claims to have a mandate from voters?
The allocation of electoral votes in the winner-take-all system exaggerates the margin of victory.
In a public opinion poll, a polling company used an online survey tool to randomly contact respondents who did not have telephone lines in addition to contacting people over the phone. Which of the following best explains this decision?
The company wanted to ensure that the sample of the population was truly random.
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.
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 is correct based on the bar chart?
The more consistently liberal a person is, the more that person is likely to believe that the Supreme Court should base its rulings on what the Constitution means in current times.
Which of the following clauses serves as the constitutional basis for the federal Real ID Act of 2005, a law that established uniform standards for state-issued identification cards and provided regulation of a state function?
The necessary and proper clause
Over the past 20 years, reforms of the presidential nomination process have had which of the following effects?
The number of female delegates and minority-group delegates at Democratic national conventions has grown substantially.
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.
In the last years presidential primacy, so indispensable to the political order, has turned into presidential supremacy. The constitutional Presidency—as events so apparently disparate as the Indochina War and the Watergate affair showed, has become the imperial Presidency and threatens to be the revolutionary Presidency. . . . The imperial Presidency was essentially the creation of foreign policy. A combination of doctrines and emotions—belief in the permanent and universal crisis, fear of communism, faith in the duty and right of the United States to intervene swiftly in every part of the world—had brought about the unprecedented centralization of decisions. Prolonged war in Vietnam strengthened the tendencies toward both centralization and exclusion. So the imperial Presidency grew at the expense of the constitutional order. Like the cowbird, it hatched its own eggs and pushed the others out of the nest. And, as it overwhelmed the traditional separation of powers in foreign affairs, it began to aspire toward an equivalent centralization of power in the domestic polity. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Imperial Presidency, 1973 Which of the following statements is a correct implication of the author's argument?
The perception of multiple crises has led to the growth of an executive branch that is undermining the separation of powers in the government.
Which of the following scenarios best demonstrates a president avoiding a check from the judicial branch?
The president claims that certain detainees are enemy combatants and thus do not possess the same constitutional protections that the Supreme Court has upheld for the interrogation of criminal suspects.
In the last years presidential primacy, so indispensable to the political order, has turned into presidential supremacy. The constitutional Presidency—as events so apparently disparate as the Indochina War and the Watergate affair showed, has become the imperial Presidency and threatens to be the revolutionary Presidency. . . . The imperial Presidency was essentially the creation of foreign policy. A combination of doctrines and emotions—belief in the permanent and universal crisis, fear of communism, faith in the duty and right of the United States to intervene swiftly in every part of the world—had brought about the unprecedented centralization of decisions. Prolonged war in Vietnam strengthened the tendencies toward both centralization and exclusion. So the imperial Presidency grew at the expense of the constitutional order. Like the cowbird, it hatched its own eggs and pushed the others out of the nest. And, as it overwhelmed the traditional separation of powers in foreign affairs, it began to aspire toward an equivalent centralization of power in the domestic polity. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Imperial Presidency, 1973 Which of the following situations best reflects the author's concern about an "imperial" presidency?
The president issuing an increasing number of executive agreements
Which of the following best explains a reason that a president might use a signing statement to express displeasure with a bill as opposed to issuing a veto?
The president may have objections to provisions of a bill but does not want to risk Congress overriding a veto.
Based on your knowledge and the diagram, which of the following is true regarding the leadership structure of Congress?
The role of the minority leader in both the House of Representatives and the Senate is to coordinate a strategy for the minority party.
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates a formal check on the power of the bureaucracy?
The secretary of defense being called to testify before a congressional committee
Which statement best explains the information in the graphic?
The secretary was confirmed by a party-line vote.
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.
Which of the following statements is most accurately supported by the data in the table?
While President George W. Bush issued fewer signing statements than President Clinton, his included more objections than President Clinton's.
In the last years presidential primacy, so indispensable to the political order, has turned into presidential supremacy. The constitutional Presidency—as events so apparently disparate as the Indochina War and the Watergate affair showed, has become the imperial Presidency and threatens to be the revolutionary Presidency. . . . The imperial Presidency was essentially the creation of foreign policy. A combination of doctrines and emotions—belief in the permanent and universal crisis, fear of communism, faith in the duty and right of the United States to intervene swiftly in every part of the world—had brought about the unprecedented centralization of decisions. Prolonged war in Vietnam strengthened the tendencies toward both centralization and exclusion. So the imperial Presidency grew at the expense of the constitutional order. Like the cowbird, it hatched its own eggs and pushed the others out of the nest. And, as it overwhelmed the traditional separation of powers in foreign affairs, it began to aspire toward an equivalent centralization of power in the domestic polity. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Imperial Presidency, 1973 Which of the following is an accurate comparison of the text by Schlesinger and The Federalist 70 ?
While Schlesinger views centralization of power in the presidency as dangerous, The Federalist 70 views it as vital to the presidency's effectiveness.
Given the information in the graph, in which of the following states would an individual's vote likely have more influence?
Wyoming
A primary election in which voters are required to identify a party preference before the election and are not allowed to split their ticket is called
a closed primary
In The Federalist 70, Alexander Hamilton states that "energy in the executive is a leading character in the definition of good government." In this statement, Hamilton is arguing in favor of the need for
a single executive who can respond quickly to crises
A media organization is interested in reporting election results in a congressional election prior to the final tally of votes which will not occur until later in the evening. The organization randomly selects several polling places across the district asking voters whom they voted for. The type of poll being used in this scenario is known as
an exit poll
Lobbyists from the Airlines for America, an advocacy group that represents commercial airlines, work with members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and officials from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to discuss a new policy that addresses issues of airline safety. This scenario best illustrates
an iron triangle
After extensive polling, a member of the House of Representatives learns that her constituents favor universal background checks for all gun purchases. Based on this information, the representative votes in favor of background checks in a criminal justice bill, although she personally opposes the provision. In doing so, she is acting as a
delegate
In 2012, after negotiations on a bill in Congress failed, President Obama issued an executive order that protected from deportation individuals illegally brought to the United States as children by their parents. The president took this action because
disagreement between congressional leaders and the president on the issue meant that a compromise on a bill was not likely
Typically, presidential candidates implement their campaign strategies by
focusing on larger, competitive states, because they might tip the balance of the electoral college
All of the following are reasons incumbents in the House of Representatives enjoy an electoral advantage over challengers EXCEPT that incumbents
get substantial financial support from their party's national committee
The data illustrate that most conservatives believe that the United States Constitution
outlines a framework for government that the Supreme Court should apply strictly regardless of the political or personal preferences of judges
The Web site healthcare.gov was launched on October 1, 2013, to help citizens purchase health insurance for themselves in accordance with the Affordable Care Act. Within two hours of launch the site crashed. Once it was restored, problems continued, leading to difficulty for users. The following year, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius was called to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee to discuss the issue. The committee held this hearing as part of which of the following functions?
oversight
To get an important bill passed in the House, a provision is added that allocates $500 million to study the impact of global climate change on manatees in Florida. This is an example of
pork barrel legislation
The franking privilege refers to the
right of members of Congress to send mail to their constituents at the government's expense
The process known as front-loading refers to
the tendency of states to choose an early date on the primary calendar
