Gov 6-10

Which of the following is true about public opinion polling?

1) Polls are the most relied-upon method of measuring public opinion. 2) Polls can be erroneous at times. 3) Most large news organizations have their own in-house polls. 4) The Gallup pollsters have correctly predicted the winner of presidential elections most of the time since 1936.

Which of the following is NOT a typical interest-group function? 1) working to influence policymakers Correct Response 2) addressing a broad and diverse range of public issues 3) working to influence legislators 4) promoting public policies 5) supporting candidates for public office

2

Which of the following are key players in the modern campaign? 1) pollsters 2) media producers 3) fundraising specialists 4) campaign consultants Correct Response 5) All these answers are correct.

5

Which of the following is true of the nation's early newspapers? 1) They were read by mass audiences. 2) They were independent of the new political parties. 3) None of these answers is correct. Incorrect Response 4) They were committed to objective news reporting. Correct Answer 5) They were too expensive for the average citizen and they contained a lot of propaganda.

5

The ________ is the only minor party to have achieved majority status.

Republican Party

During the era of objective journalism, the commitment of newspapers to two-sided news reporting

did not extend to their editorializing.

About 95 percent of all political activists in the United States work at

local level

U.S. political parties are

loose associations of national, state, and local organizations, which are organized from the bottom up.

If a minor party gains a large following, it is almost certain that

one or both major parties will absorb its issue, and the minor party will lose support.

Whigs were united by their

opposition to the policies of the Jacksonian Democrats.

As an agent of political socialization, the American family has its greatest effect on individuals'

party identification

A person who favors government intervention in both social and economic affairs is a(n)

populist

"Agency capture" occurs when

regulatory agencies side with the industries they are supposed to regulate rather than with the public.

The key factors in determining the accuracy of an opinion poll are the

size of the sample and whether the sample was selected from the population by a random method.

A pluralist could be expected to argue that

society is best seen as a collection of separate interests.

In recent decades, lobbyists in Washington, D.C. have increasingly

targeted the executive branch in their efforts to influence policy decisions.

What technology led editors to substitute news reports for opinion commentary?

telegraph

Which citizens' group did a Fortune magazine survey rank as the nation's most powerful lobbying group?

AARP

Which of the following groups primarily uses litigation as its lobbying method?

ACLU

The limits of interest groups' influence might be gauged by the Democratic backlash against the ________, which tried to block the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993.

AFL-CIO

At which of the following times did the American media step back from their watchdog role?

After September 11

All of the following ideological types are prevalent in the United States EXCEPT

Communists

At some point in their lives, a majority of Americans engage in unconventional political activism.

F

In a test of "civic literacy" conducted in 2007, the average college senior scored a grade of ________.

F

Low voter turnout is characteristic of democracies that have extended suffrage to virtually all adults.

F

Participation in community-based and local political organizations or actions, and volunteering for political campaigns, is lower in the U.S. than in Europe, which reduces political interest among voting-age groups.

F

States with lenient registration requirements have not proven to show higher voter turnout than those with stringent requirements.

F

Rupert Murdoch launched which news organization in 1996?

FOX

Most lobbyists receive support from elected officials in direct exchange for

Information

An informal grouping of officials, lobbyists, and policy specialists who come together temporarily around a policy problem is

Issue Network

Of the following states, ________ typically has the highest voter turnout in a presidential election.

Minnesota

What are the two distinguishing characteristics of political socialization?

Political socialization is cumulative, and is most heavily developed during childhood.

Agenda-setting is an action that falls under which of the major roles played by the press?

Signaling

Protest movements are an American tradition, but they do not generally receive strong public support.

T

The historical trend in voting qualifications in the U.S. has been to create barriers to political participation by some demographic groups.

T

Trends from 2004 through the 2008 elections included a substantial increase in turnout among younger voters from that of previous recent presidential elections.

T

U.S. political parties are loose associations of national, state, and local organizations.

T

Of the following nations, citizens in ________ are more likely to contribute money and time to election campaigns.

The U.S.

________ holds more elections than other nations.

The U.S.

Which of the following is true of letter writers and demonstrators?

Their opinions tend to be atypical of the population as whole.

Party identification refers to

an emotional attachment to a political party.

During the era of objective journalism,

broadcasters were prohibited by law from editorializing.

Economist Mancur Olson concluded that groups

exercise too much power in the American system.

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

found corporations and unions could not be banned from spending money on campaigns.

Most successful Internet blogs

have a liberal bias

The median voter theorem holds that

if there are two parties, the parties can maximize their vote only if they position themselves at the location of the median voter.

A conservative is opposed to government intervention

in the economic but not the social sphere.

Which of the following characteristics does the Internet have that traditional media lack?

the ability to allow readers to interact with news reporting

The federal government's licensing of broadcasting is based primarily on

the scarcity of broadcasting frequencies.

Candidates' first priority in a close election is to

win over the "swing voters".