Chapter 6 Quiz

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

major upheaval.

Selective perception is primarily a result of

partisanship.

Which of the following is NOT a primary socializing agent?

peers

The process by which individuals acquire their political opinions is called

political socialization

The accuracy of a poll is usually expressed in terms of

sampling error.

In general, public opinion

sets limits on government action.

Sources of polling error can include

All of these answers are correct.

Which of the following is true about public opinion polling?

All of these answers are correct.

Which of the following statements about Americans and ideology and political thinking is true?

Most Americans do not demonstrate blind faith in their party of choice.

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.

Identify and discuss the frames of reference that Americans rely upon when forming their political opinions.

Party identification is the referring to a person's ingrained sense of loyalty to a political party. Stays throughout adulthood, yet can be altered by problems seen. Political ideology refers to an individual's coherent set of political beliefs. This can be separated into groups such as, Liberals, conservatives, libertarians, or populists. Group thinking refers to when individuals see politics through the lens of a group affinity. This includes religion, economic class, race, gender and age.

What are the two distinguishing characteristics of political socialization?

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

Explain the difference between the delegate and trustee views of political representation in a democracy.

The trustee normally places the burden of policy making on elected representatives to ascertain what is best for their constituents. The delegate relies more on responding to what representatives constituents say that they want.

Which of the following statements is LEAST likely to apply to economic or social liberals?

They believe that government should be used to promote traditional values.

Party identification refers to

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

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

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

an ideology.

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

church

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.

Libertarians are opposed to governmental intervention

in both the economic and social spheres.

A conservative is opposed to government intervention

in the economic but not the social sphere.

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.