1999 ap government test and answers

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

A corporate lobbyist would be LEAST likely to have an informal discussion about a pending policy matter with which of the following g

A federal judge in whose court a case important to the corporation is being heard.

Which of the following generalizations about group voting tendencies is true?

African American Democrats tend to support the more liberal candidates within their party.

In which if the following did congress move to regain powers previously lost to the executive branch ?

Budget and Impoundment Control Act

Discrimination in public accommodations was made illegal in the United States as a direct result of what?

Civil Right act of 1964

In a federal system of government, political power is primarily what?

Divided between the central government and regional governments.

Which of the following form an "iron triangle"?

Executive department, Congressional committee, Interest Group

Diversity of public policy throughout the United States is primarily a consequence of

Federalism

The data displayed in the table above best supports which of the following statements

House seats are safer from election turnover than are senate seats

What are the advantages of incumbency in congressional elections?

I and II only: more campaign contributions than challengers and incumbents are able to provide important services for individual voters.

Public monies are used to help finance which of the following campaigns?

I only: Presidential

Registered voters directly elect which of the following?

III and IV only

What is a significant trend in the presidential nominating process over the past three decades?

Increasing importance of presidential primaries rather than state conventions.

What was the importance of Shay's Rebellion to the development of the United States Constitution?

It indicated that a strong, constitutionally designed national government was needed to protect property and maintain order.

Which of the following is true about the right of free speech as currently interpreted by the Supreme Court?

It protects the right to express opinions even without the actual use of words.

Supreme Court justices were given tenure subject to good behavior by the framers of the Constitution in order to ensure that

Justices are free from direct political pressures

All of the following have contributed to an increase in presidential power in the post-1945 era EXCEPT:

Legislation granting the president the power to impound funds appropriated by congress

Interest groups and political parties both promote United States democracy by

Linking citizens to the political process

In the 1992 election, the membership of Congress was altered significantly by an increase in the number of what?

Minorities and Woman

Which of the following is more the most important influence on the choice made by voters in presidential elections?

Partisan Identification

The graph above supports which of the following statements?

People with higher incomes are more likely to think of themselves as conservatist than are those with lower incomes

The request of recent presidents for line-item veto is a challenge to which of the following principles?

Separation of powers

Which of the following is an accurate statement about committees in congress

Standing committees oversee the bureaucracy's implementation of legislation.

In McCulloch v. Maryland, the Supreme Court established which principle?

States cannot interfere with or tax the legitimate activities of the federal government.

Which of the following statements about rules of procedure in the House and senate is correct?

The House operates more by formal rules, while the senate operates more on informal understandings

Which of the following procedures results in the removal of the President from office

The House votes for impeachment and the Senate conducts a trial and reaches a guilty verdict

Which of the following is articulated in the war power resolution

The President must bring troops home from hostilities within 60 to 90 days unless Congress extends the time.

Which event did the most to expand civil rights in the 1950's?

The Supreme court decision declaring state-mandated school segregation to be unconstitutional.

A state has 11 electoral votes. In a presidential election, the Democratic candidate receives 48% of that state's popular vote, the Republican candidate receives 40% of the vote, and an independent candidate receives 12% of the vote. If the state is similar to most other states, how will the electoral votes most likely be allocated?

The democratic candidate will receive all the 11 electoral votes

Most of the individual protections of the Bill of Rights now apply to the states because of the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Constitution's what?

The fourteenth amendment

Which of the following is true about congress?

The legislative process is frequently lengthy, decentralized, and characterized by compromise and bargaining.

Which of the following is the most accurate statement about political parties in the united states ?

The percentage of voters identifying themselves as either Democrats or Republicans has been declining since the 1970"s.

Which if the following is an example of Check and Balances, as established by the constitution?

The requirement that presidential appointment to the supreme court be approved by the state

Which of the following conclusions about income distribution during the Reagan administration is supported by the table above?

The share of income received by the highest fifth increased, whereas the share received by the lowest fifth decrease

Which of the following statements accurately describes the selection of the caseload for the United states supreme court?

The supreme court is free to choose the cases it hears with only few limitations

Which of the following actions can congress take if the Supreme court finds a federal law unconstitutional

Try to amend the Constitution

When 18 to 21 year olds received the right to vote in 1971, in the 1972 national elections they did what?

Tuned out at a lower rate than the rest of the electorate

Presidents have had the most success in changing the direction of decisions of the federal judiciary by doing what?

Using the appointment process to select judges with judicial philosophies similar to those of the President.

Critical elections in the United States typically have occurred

When groups of voters have changed their traditional patterns of party loyalties

An election involving more than two candidates in which the person who receives the most votes is the winner is called

a plurality election

A fundamental source of power for the federal bureaucracy lies in its...

ability to set specific guidelines after receiving a general mandate from Congress.

When selecting a vice-presidential candidate a presidential nominee is usually concerned primarily with choosing a running mate who

adds balance and appeals to the national ticket

One of the formal tools used by congress for oversight of the bureaucracy is

authorization of spending

The largest amount of political coverage in newspapers during presidential campaigns is devoted to

day-to-day campaign activities

A president attempting to influence Congress to pass a legislative program might employ all of the following strategies EXCEPT:

denying campaign reelection funds to legislators who oppose the president's policy stand

All of the following powers are granted to the president by the Constitution EXCEPT

forming new cabinet-level departments

Decisions reached by the Supreme Court under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren (1953-1969) did all of the following EXCEPT:

invalidate state abortion statutes

The most important source of the Supreme Court's caseload is

its appellate jurisdiction

The reserved powers of the state governments can best be described as those powers

not specifically granted to the national government or denied to the states

Congressional standing committees are best described as

permanent subject-matter committees

Political socialization is the process by which...

political values are passed to the next generation

Cabinet members often do not have a dominant influence on presidential decision-making because...

presidential goals often conflict with the institutional goals of individual cabinet-level agencies

The establishment clause in the First Amendment does which of the following?

prohibits the setting up of a state church

The primary function of political action committees (PAC's) is to

raise campaign funds to support favored candidates

The role of a conference committee in congress is to

reconcile differences in bills passed by the House and Senate

The congressional power that has been contested most frequently in the federal courts is the power to

regulate interstate commerce

Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade are similar Supreme Court cases in that both cased are based on what?

right of privacy

The committee system is more important in the House than in the Senate because

the House is so large that more work can be accomplished in committees than on the floor

The boundaries of the United States congressional districts are usually determined by

the state legislatures

The "Miranda warning "represented an attempt to protect criminal suspects against

unfair police interrogation