Government Unit 2
The most notable failure of Gallup poll in predicting presidential elections came in ______, when it predicted Thomas Dewey would defeat Harry Truman.
1948
Survey methodology did not become a powerful research tool until the
1950's.
Although public opinion overwhelmingly favors the death penalty for murder, there were only _______ executions in 2011 despite the fact that over sixteen thousand murders occurred that year.
43
The only state that still permit the firing squad as a possible form of execution is
Oklahoma
Which of the following activities requires the most initiative?
Running for office.
Which country was the first to provide for the general election of representatives through mass suffrage?
United States
A libertarian is most likely to exhibit the characteristics of
high and income and high education.
Americans contributing money to a candidate's campaign is best defined as a form of
influencing behavior.
Overall, __________ of young American voters identify with the political party of their parents.
more than half
When the Supreme Court declared state application of the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972,
most states rewrote their laws to adjust to the Court's specific orders.
The set of values and beliefs that a person holds about the purpose and scope of government is called
political ideology.
According to the text, all of the following events increased support for the death penalty except
the Vietnam War.
In the current American context, communitarian would tend to promote
both order and equality over freedom.
Children are likely to adopt their parents' party identification when
both parents strongly identify with the same party.
A legal action brought by a person or group on behalf of a number of people in similar circumstances is also known as a(n)
class action suit.
An individual who agrees that by law, abortion should never be permitted and also that government should see to it that every person has a job and a good standard of living, would be a(n)
communitarian.
In the United States, the death penalty
consistently receives high levels of support in public opinion polls.
The purpose of the literacy tests that were used in the southern states after 1870 was to
discourage African Americans from voting.
some studies show that direct political action appeals most to those who ____ the political system and have a ____ sense of political efficiency.
distrust; strong
Petitioning a local government council to rebuild a curb in front of your home is a(n)
example of seeking particular benefits.
The major agents of early socialization in the United States are
family, school, community, and peers
The American emphasis on freedom over equality in political participation works to the benefit of
those with greater resources.
The text defines suffrage and franchise as the right to
vote.
There have been over ________ executions in the United States since the Supreme Court's critical rulings in the 1970's.
1,200
Since 1973, over __________ death row inmates have been exonerated of their crimes by new evidence such as DNA testing.
130
Who is likely to oppose the death penalty?
Democrats, African Americans, Liberals
Which of the following is an unconventional form on political participation?
Chanting slogans outside public official's windows
The _____ to the Constitution prohibits states from denying the right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
Fifteenth Amendment
Which of the following statements reflects the role public opinion should play accordingly to the majoritarian model of democracy?
Government should do what a majority of the public wants.
Which of the following is not characteristic of public opinion in the United States?
Governments do not tend to respond to public opinion.
Which of the following statements concerning Latinos is incorrect?
Latinos are a racial group.
The text defines ______ as the actions of private citizens by which they seek to influence or support government actions.
Political Participation.
Which of the following was the first known ac t of unconventional participation in America?
The Boston Tea Party.
Which means of political participation serves the ideal of equality better than any other?
Voting in elections.
How does education affect voter turnout?
Well-educated people are more likely to vote than are their less-educated counterparts.
Which of the following statements concerning gender and political beliefs is incorrect?
Women are more likely to favor going to war.
Direct action includes
a citizen's group appearing before the city council seeking change in an ordinance
In general today, women politically participate
about the same as men.
As parental and school influences wane in adulthood, _________ emerge as more important socialization agents.
adult peer groups and the mass media
As a general trend, Americans with less education are more likely to
choose equality over freedom.
A practical test of whether or not a government is democratic is whether
citizens can affect its policies by acting through its institutions.
In the 2008 election survey, respondents were asked whether abortion should be outlawed by government or personal choice, and whether government should guarantee people a job and a good standard of living or people should get ahead on their own. People's responses to the two questions:
demonstrated that these choice values cannot be explained by a one-dimensional liberal-conservative continuum.
In the current American context, a liberal would tend to promote
economic equality ahead of freedom, and freedom ahead of social order.
In the presidential elections since 1968, the South has tended to vote
for Republican candidates.
A respondent who agrees with the statement, "By law, a woman should be able to obtain an abortion as a matter of personal choice" values
freedom over order.
As a general trend, college-educated individuals are more likely to choose
freedom over social order.
The contemporary political "gender gap" refers to the tendency of women to
identify more with the Democratic party than men do.
which of the following statements about unconventional participation is not true?
it consists of relatively routine behavior that uses established institutions of representative government.
Political scientists know less about unconventional forms of political participation because
it is easier to collect data on conventional practices and they are biased toward institutionalized, or conventional, politics.
Americans are less likely to _____ than citizens of other countries.
join demonstrations.
Every western European country has banned capital punishment except
neither France, Germany, Italy, or Spain.
As public approval of the death penalty increased, in 1976 the Supreme Court
overturned its previous decision restricting the states' use of the death penalty.
The text defines __________ as the actions of private citizens by which they seek to influence or support government and politics.
political participation.
The process whereby one becomes aware of politics, learns political facts, and forms political values is called
political socialization.
A direct primary is a
preliminary election to choose party candidates.
Which of the following qualifications for voting was virtually eliminated in all states by the 1850s?
property ownership
Public demonstrations by Egyptian women in December of 2011 were waged in order to protest
public beatings of women by Egyptian soldiers and forced virginity tests on female prisoners.
Flying the American flag on holidays is an example of _________ behavior.
supportive
While terrorism is an unconventional political action, it is generally not counted as political participation because
terrorists do not seek to influence government but to attack it.
All of the following are regarded in the text as examples of unconventional participation:
the 1965 Selma- Alabama civil rights march, the Boston Tea Party, the Montgomery bus boycott, and the "occupy" camps in 2011 protesting income inequality.
The country with the lowest voter turnout among eligible voters in national elections is
the United States.
The basic definition of public opinion is
the collective attitudes of the citizens on a given issue or question.
In nearly every other democratic country, the burden of registration is placed on
the government.
Suppose the people held clear, consistent opinions on a policy, and the government moved swiftly to enact that policy into law. This would be consistent with
the majoritarian model of democracy.
The framers of the Constitution left the issue of voter enfranchisement to
the states.
Before the collapse of communism, the former Soviet Union did not function as a democracy because
there was only one political party.
Studies of Americans who engage in "contacting behavior" like complaining to city hall find
they are not more likely to engage in other forms of political activity.
Compared with other nations in the world granting suffrage to women, the United States
was among the first.