Govt 2305 Exam 1

The United States' economy operates primarily as a

free-market system.

In a constitutional system,

there are lawful restrictions on a government's power

The most embarrassing Gallup poll failure in predicting a presidential election was

1948 Truman-Dewey.

A properly drawn sample of one thousand individuals has a sampling error of roughly plus or minus

3%

Which of the following statements about cultural or political beliefs in America is FALSE?

America's origins as a wilderness society led to the belief that government is responsible for providing material assistance to its citizens.

Friedrich Engels believed that communism would not take root in the United States because

American workers lacked sufficient class consciousness.

Which of the following is true of Americans' pride in their democracy?

Americans' pride in their democracy has decreased rapidly in recent decades, largely as a result of increasing partisanship.

Which of the following is an accurate description of the prevalence of college education in the United States?

Among adults 25 years of age and older, nearly one in three is a college graduate.

A general belief about the role and purpose of government is called

an ideology.

One consequence of today's high-choice media system is

an increase in the number of people who use partisan outlets as their primary news source.

The United States has certain rules in place to keep politics within peaceful bounds. These rules include all of the following EXCEPT

autocracy.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has regulatory oversight over which of the following?

broadcast radio

Which of the following statements has been shown by scholarly research to be true?

Network journalists tend to be negative.

During the early 20th century, which newspaper developed a reputation as the country's best newspaper?

New York Times

Which of the following is true of age differences in news consumption?

News consumption has declined in all age groups except for those 60 and older.???

Which of the following statements is true?

Objective journalism is based on the communication of facts in a fair manner.

Which of the following is true of the relationship between public opinion and shifts in major government policies?

On highly salient and emotional issues in particular, public opinion tends to affect policy to a greater degree than policymakers' agendas affect public opinion.

What are the two distinguishing characteristics of political socialization?

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

Which of the following is true about public opinion polling?

Polls can be erroneous at times. Sampling error decreases as the size of the sample increases. Opinion polls are the most relied-upon method of measuring public opinion. Polling accuracy diminishes when respondents are unfamiliar with the issues in question.

Students are most likely to hear stories about America's heroes and greatness when they are in

elementary school.

The news provides a refracted version of reality because it

emphasizes dramatic and compelling news stories.

Of the following, the news media are most likely to focus on

events that are timely.

Which of the following groups in the U.S. shows a higher level of support for collective bargaining?

factory workers

In terms of party identification, slightly more than half of adults call themselves

fully Republican or Democrat.

The Bill of Rights

further checked the power of the majority.

The accuracy of polling is diminished when respondents

give what they regard as the socially correct response to certain questions even though they think differently.

The fact that farmers have more influence over agricultural price-supports than do other groups is an example of

pluralism.

The process by which individuals acquire their political opinions is called

political socialization.

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

populist.

________ is the ability of persons, groups, or institutions to influence political developments.

power

The Watergate scandal illustrates the

power of the media to serve as watchdog to safeguard against abuses of power.

The term framing is used to describe the

process of selecting certain aspects of reality and then crafting news stories around those aspects.

The FCC's requirement for radio stations relating to equal airtime

prohibited broadcasters from selling or giving time to political candidates without offering the same to their opponents.

The most powerful religious force in contemporary American society is the

religious right.

Objective journalism is based on the idea that the reporter's job is to

report the facts and present both sides of a partisan debate.

The accuracy of a poll is usually expressed in terms of

sampling error.

In general, public opinion

sets limits on government action.

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

signaling

According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, young adults are substantially more likely than senior citizens to support

stronger environmental regulations.

Historically, the American press has shifted from

telegraph

The reason the news product is designed to fascinate as well as to inform is

that news organizations are fundamentally businesses and must obtain revenue to survive.

What was the primary cause for an increase in the public's support for a military invasion of Iraq during the six-month period leading to the start of the war?

the Bush administration's efforts to press the case for war

The yellow journalism of the late 19th century was characterized by

the emphasis on sensationalism as a way of selling newspapers.

In a democratic society, who or what is responsible for personal development?

the individual

The society of Northern Ireland is presented by the text as a demonstration of what difference with U.S. society?

the lack of crosscutting between groups

The Greek words demos and kratis together mean

the people rule.

The news media's common-carrier role is based on the idea that

the press should provide a channel through which political leaders can communicate their views to the public.

What development brought about a dramatic reduction in television's capacity to generate an interest in news?

the rapid spread of cable TV

To accurately poll the citizens of the United States as opposed to the citizens of a single state,

the sample requirements will be nearly the same.

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.

As described in the text, ________ is a defining characteristic of America politics.

the widespread sharing of power

French philosopher Michel Foucault referred to politics as "________."

war by other means

Europeans have a greater acceptance than Americans of

welfare policies that could relieve people of the responsibility to care for themselves.

What era in American politics is notable for a high level of bipartisanship?

1945-1960 (post-WWII)

Which of the following would be an example of priming in action?

A news viewer expects violent crime to escalate because the evening news starts with a violent crime each night.

Which important aspect of European thought had a big impact on the formation of the political culture of America?

Enlightenment

Which of the following states is a competitive state, meaning that it could potentially vote either Democratic or Republican?

Florida

Which of the following networks pioneered the partisan model for cable news reporting?

Fox News

Staunch conservatives are most likely to pay regular attention to

Fox News.

Which of the following statements is true?

George W. Bush attempted to privatize aspects of Social Security, only to back down in the face of determined resistance

Who among the following was the chief architect of the U.S. Constitution and also one of America's top political scientists?

James Madison

Which of the following statements about party identification is true?

Question options: Currently, more people identify as Democrats than as Republicans.

The process of political socialization in the United States is

Question options: normally cumulative; political beliefs attained earlier in life tend to be retained to a substantial degree

Americans who attend religious services at least once a week are most likely to vote for which political party?

Republican

Which region of the country overall has the LOWEST connectivity to the Internet?

South

Which of the following describes socialism as practiced today in Sweden?

The government does not attempt to manage the overall economy but owns a number of major industries and provides for people's basic economic needs.

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

Their opinions tend to be more extreme than those of the population as whole.

Which of the following is a difference between communism and socialism, as described by the text?

Under communism, the government assumes total management of the economy, whereas under socialism, the government does not try to manage the overall economy.

Which of the following states is solidly Democratic?

Washington

Party identification refers to

a person's sense of loyalty to a political party.

Historically, the American press has shifted from

a political to a journalistic orientation

A member of Congress who wants to act on what the majority of his or her constituency thinks on a particular issue would be advised to respond to which of the following indicators?

a poll based on a random selection sample of constituents

Partisan talk radio got its start

after the abolition of the Fairness Doctrine.

In politics, what is an echo chamber?

an environment in which people only hear what they want to hear

Which of the following would NOT be considered a secondary socializing agent?

church

Which of the following is a major barrier to critical thinking?

citizens' unwillingness to make the effort

Individuals tend to interpret information in ways that reinforce what they already believe. Which term refers to this tendency?

confirmation bias

Early American newspapers

could not have survived without political party support.

Journalist Walter Lippmann suggested that

effective government cannot be run by politicians that base their public opinions on poll results.

What new policy was established by the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Gideon v. Wainwright ruling?

government provision of free legal counsel to the accused if they are too poor to hire a lawyer

Which of the following is a consequence of the high-choice media system?

greater control by people over what they see and hear

Which of the following is associated with people's exposure to partisan news outlets?

greater political interest and engagement

Presidential candidates in the 1960s, compared with today,

had longer sound bites, on average, in broadcast television newscasts.

One special contribution of Internet-based news is that it

has expanded freedom of the press to a larger number of Americans.

A conservative is opposed to government intervention

in the economic but not the social sphere.

The media perform the signaling role by

informing the public of breaking events and new developments.

A government's authority

is evidenced when government officials use their right to exercise power.

Enormous concentrations of wealth and power exist in the U.S. private sector, primarily in the hands of

large corporations.

Historically, dramatic change in party identification is uncommon and is almost always a consequence of

major upheaval.

What has democracy come to mean in practice?

majority rule through the free and open election of representatives

Scholarly research has shown that, overall, the traditional media

may have a slight liberal bias, and it depends on the outlet.

What term do scholars use for a purported opinion offered by a respondent who is unfamiliar with the specific issue?

nonopinion

As an agent of political socialization, the American family will likely have its greatest effect on an individual's

party identification.

Which of the following is NOT a primary socializing agent?

peers