Deck 5: Public Opinion

Question 1

___________ are also known as the instruments by which beliefs and attitudes are conveyed to individuals in society.

A) Agents of socialization
B) Political attitudes
C) Political responsibilities
D) Social information stores
E) Political cultures

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The Gulf of Tonkin incident

A) turned public opinion against the war in Vietnam.
B) led Congress to reduce the president's role in waging war in Vietnam.
C) increased the level of public support for the Vietnam War.
D) encouraged greater oversight by Congress on presidential war power.
D) was clearly a provocation by the North Vietnamese.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The Vietnam case study illustrates

A) how government officials can sometimes lead or manipulate public opinion.
B) how little influence the mass media have on public opinion.
C) how little influence public opinion has on policymaking.
D) the weak relationship between what government officials do and public opinion.
E) how lack of communication between the president and Congress can affect policy solutions.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which statement best describes the relationship between public opinion and policymaking?

A) Rarely does public opinion truly affect policymaking.
B) Public opinion and policymaking are unrelated.
C) Public opinion can have a strong impact on policymaking.
D) Public opinion often affects domestic policymaking, but rarely affects foreign policymaking.
E) Public opinion often affects foreign policymaking, bur rarely affects domestic policymaking.

Question 5

The Founders of the United States government

A) had more confidence in the mass public than contemporary public opinion scholars.
B) had little confidence in the ability of ordinary citizens to lead the government.
C) tried to develop a system that would allow ordinary citizens to control much of the government.
D) encouraged democratic institutions like the House of Representatives to control less democratic ones like the Senate.
E) none of the above

Question 6

Which of the following are potential problems associated with political polling?

A) close-ended questions
B) word choices
C) Americans are less willing to answer surveys
D) cell phones limit available respondents
E) all of the above

Question 7

The ________ is probably the most important agent of political socialization.

A) family
B) school
C) political party
D) entertainment industry
E) media

Question 8

By January 1969, when the new Nixon administration took office,

A) a substantial majority of the public favored monthly reductions in the number of soldiers in Vietnam.
B) unilateral troop withdrawal from Vietnam was already underway.
C) public pressure for withdrawal from Vietnam had not yet begun to escalate to any substantial degree.
D) decreased American military action in Vietnam was opposed by a majority of the American public.
E) public support for the Vietnam war was at its highest level since 1966.

Question 9

In a perfect democracy,

A) organized groups would balance each other out in competing for the government's attention.
B) the government would do what its citizens want.
C) the government would lead public opinion on most policy matters.
D) the government would balance the competing demands of public opinion and organized groups.
E) organized groups would be the primary vehicle through which the public could express its wishes to the government.

Question 10

A generational effect

A) occurs when the impact of major events is most pronounced on young people who are coming to a sense of political awareness.
B) is most likely to result in socialization agent.
C) occurs as people age and become more socially conservative.
D) affects the affluent more than the poor.
E) is most likely to be generated during times of relative calm in politics.

Question 11

____________ is the process by which individuals acquire their core beliefs about a society's political culture.

A) Political efficacy
B) Political socialization
C) Party identification
D) Political development
E) Political acquisition

Question 12

The most important factor in constructing an accurate poll or survey is that

A) a large number of people must be interviewed in order to avoid skewing the sample with distorted viewpoints.
B) the survey must be completed several weeks in advance of the election or event that is being measured.
C) the sample of people interviewed must be representative of the population being measured.
D) the questions must contain broad generalities so that the person being interviewed will not be influenced.
E) there must be less than ten questions for each survey so as not to bore the respondent.

Question 13

Which of the following factors is extremely important to evaluating public opinion through surveys??A) People interviewed must be representative of the entire population.
B) Asking questions of only those people who have a real stake in the political system.
C) Survey responses that do not follow popular opinions are to be thrown out of consideration.
D) The more people surveyed leads to more reliable assessments of public concerns.
E) Asking the same questions to the same people again and again to ensure that they understand the question.

Question 14

For a survey to be accurate, it must

A) include every person in the city, state, or nation.
B) be representative of the population and respondents are best chosen randomly.
C) be able to predict attitudes and opinions extremely well, with no margin of error.
D) always be done in person and not by mail or phone.
E) none of the above

Question 15

Philip Converse claimed that most Americans display ________ in their survey responses

A) sophisticated opinions
B) core attitudes
C) dysfunctional beliefs
D) nonattitudes
E) democratic attributes

Question 16

____________ ensures that each member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen

A) Sampling error
B) Survey response
C) Random sampling
D) Digit dialing
E) Non attitudes

Question 17

Generally, as people get older they

A) tend to become less involved in politics.
B) become less aware of the importance of politics.
C) differ in their expectations of government.
D) become less politically efficacious.
E) none of the above

Question 18

The American public tends to

A) be extremely rigid in its attitudes toward politics.
B) be fairly ignorant about political affairs.
C) know political "buzzwords" as well as the concepts behind them.
D) switch party loyalties almost randomly.
E) reflect thoughtfully to survey questions.

Question 19

___________ plays a crucial role in democratic government because democracy concerns how closely government policy corresponds to the wishes of its citizens.

A) Public opinion
B) Political efficacy
C) Party identification
D) Political culture
E) Political ideology

Question 20

Public opinion is defined as

A) opinion polling data.
B) the political attitudes and beliefs expressed by ordinary citizens.
C) the political behavior of ordinary citizens.
D) an elite perception of the views of ordinary citizens.
E) the public interest.

Question 21

The Democratic Party lost part of its appeal in the South because

A) it embraced liberal social policies and anti-war foreign policy.
B) it was helped by evangelical Christians.
C) it became conservative on social policy.
D) Republicans began to attract a majority of Southern blacks.
E) it opposed civil rights advances.

Question 22

Figure 5.1 shows that

A) Republicans tend to lose support as education level increases.
B) Democrats tend to gain support as education level increases.
C) those with a post-graduate degree are most likely to be independent.
D) Republicans tend to gain support as education level increases.
E) those with less than a high school education are equally weighted between the Democratic and Republican parties.

Question 23

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A) Southerners are not very different from Northerners in political opinions.
B) Blacks tend to be more conservative in economic matters than whites.
C) Older Americans are more concerned about environmental policies than younger Americans.
D) Evangelical Christians are more staunchly conservative than most major religious groups.
E) Younger Americans tend to participate more in politics than older Americans.

Question 24

In the U.S., women got the Constitutional right to vote in

A) 1789.
B) 1865.
C) 1920.
D) 1960.
E) 1968.

Question 25

_________ is arguably the strongest predictor of participation in politics.

A) gender
B) region
C) education
D) religion
E) occupation

Question 26

Figure 5.1 shows that

A) there is a higher percentage of whites than blacks who see themselves as Democrats.
B) Hispanics are more likely to be Democratic than Independent.
C) there are more Independent than Democratic Hispanics.
D) whites are more likely to be Republican than Independent.
E) whites are more likely to be Republican than Democratic.

Question 27

Of various Hispanic groups, which tends to be the most conservative and Republican?

A) Cubans
B) Mexican-Americans
C) Puerto Ricans
D) El Salvadoran
E) South Americans

Question 28

Compared to the average American, individuals with high education tend to be

A) more tolerant of extreme views.
B) less tolerant of extreme views.
C) less politically active.
D) less attuned to the news.
E) unlikely to vote.

Question 29

Which of the following demographic factors is the strongest single predictor of political participation?

A) Race
B) Gender
C) Social class
D) Education
E) Income

Question 30

Which of the following are among the biggest differences between white and black Americans?

A) Black voters constitute a solid core of support for the Republican party.
B) Black Americans have tended to be much more conservative than white Americans on economic issues.
C) Black voters are more solidly identified with the Democratic party than any other group in the population.
D) Black Americans are more liberal than whites on social issues that reflect religious values.
E) Black voters are more likely to be Independent than Democratic or Republican.

Question 31

Figure 5.1 illustrates that

A) more Protestants are Democrat than Republican.
B) those with no religious preference are most likely to be Democrat.
C) mainline protestants are most likely to be Republican.
D) those who are Jewish tend to be Democrat.
E) all of the above

Question 32

Figure 5.1 illustrates that

A) there are more Republicans than Democrats.
B) there are more Democrats than Independents.
C) there are more Republicans than Independents.
D) there are more Democrats than Republicans.
E) all of the above

Question 33

Compared with people in most other industrialized countries, fewer Americans are likely to

A) consider themselves independent voters.
B) consider themselves members of a social class.
C) oppose strong social programs.
D) consider class conflicts unimportant.
E) run for political office.

Question 34

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A) African Americans are more likely than whites to believe that working hard can help get one ahead.
B) More African Americans identify themselves as socially conservative rather than socially liberal, while the reverse is true for white Americans.
C) On most core beliefs about the American system, few differences are discernible between black Americans and other Americans
D) More African Americans identify themselves as socially liberal rather than socially conservative, while the reverse is true for white Americans.
E) More African Americans support Republicans, while the reverse is true for white Americans.

Question 35

A partisan gender gap, which first appeared in the 1980s

A) shows that men identify with the Democratic party more than women do, by about 10 percentage points.
B) no longer persists in American politics.
C) shows that men identify with the Democratic party more than women do, about 20 percentage points.
D) shows that women identify with the Democratic party more than men do, about 10 percentage points.
E) may relate to party identification, but has no relation to vote choice.

Question 36

Which of the following statements is true?

A) Blacks tend to be more liberal than whites on economic issues.
B) Highly educated people tend to be less tolerant of extreme political views than the rest of the country.
C) People from the Mountain States tend to be more liberal on economic issues than Northeasterners.
D) Wealthy people tend to be Democrats.
E) Whites tend to be more liberal than blacks on economic issues.

Question 37

In America, a higher level of formal education is closely related to

A) greater political socialization.
B) the lack of a sense of political efficacy.
C) a higher income level.
D) political ignorance.
E) low voter turnout

Question 38

Hispanics as a group

A) are almost uniformly liberal on economic and social issues.
B) are divided along ethnic lines, representing different political tendencies.
C) are like blacks in their homogeneous political opinions.
D) vote overwhelmingly Republican.
E) tend to participate in politics more than white Americans.

Question 39

Poor people are more likely than wealthy people to be

A) conservatives.
B) independents.
C) Democrats.
D) Republicans.
E) socialists.

Question 40

A gender gap is the notion that

A) men and women differ substantially in terms of which political party they are likely to support in an election.
B) men are much more likely to vote than women.
C) women are less likely to hold political office than men.
D) Republicans tend to support men for office much more than women.
E) Democrats are more likely to be supported by men than women.

Question 41

The authors of Struggle for Democracy conclude that

A) lack of detailed knowledge does not mean that public opinion is unstable or irrelevant.
B) public opinion, as a whole, is unstable and irrelevant.
C) the percentage of Americans that favor a particular policy fluctuates tremendously over time.
D) public opinion is unrelated to public policy, so it matters little if people know much about politics.
E) public opinion is difficult to understand and, thus, should not be followed by governmental officials.

Question 42

Polling data reveals that

A) individual citizens tend to have very stable and reliable opinions about politics.
B) the collective opinions of the mass public are very unstable.
C) the collective opinions of the mass public are remarkably stable.
D) public opinion tends to react strongly to unimportant events heavily covered by the mass media.
E) social liberals tend to support the Republican party.

Question 43

________ is a primary issue at the center of America's culture wars.

A) Freedom of expression
B) Inequality of representation
C) Prayer in public schools
D) The role of federal influence through spending
E) Civil rights

Question 44

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A) Education is not a good predictor of whether people will participate politically.
B) Gender is no longer a good predictor of whether people will participate politically.
C) The Protestant majority in America is almost uniformly Republican.
D) Southern whites are more liberal on social issues than Northern whites.
E) Jewish Americans tend to support the Republican party.

Question 45

Social change often occurs when old ideas die off with old people, a process known as

A) population development.
B) policy inception.
C) issue reinstatement.
D) generational replacement.
E) population regeneration.

Question 46

Polls and surveys administered during the last five or six decades reveals that most Americans

A) are rather sophisticated in their level of political knowledge
B) have difficulty naming the president of the United States.
C) are able to identify protections listed in the First Amendment.
D) have particular trouble with technical terms, abbreviations, and geography.
E) give sophisticated responses to even the more detailed questions on policy.

Question 47

Compared to other regions (except perhaps the Mountain West on racial issues), Southerners tend to be

A) conservatives.
B) liberals.
C) Republicans.
D) socialists.
E) Independents

Question 48

Evangelical Christians played a vital role in ________ presidential campaign.

A) President Truman's
B) President Clinton's
C) Michael Dukakis's
D) George W. Bush's
E) George H.W. Bush's

Question 49

One thing we have learned about public information polls and surveys administered during the last five or six decades is that

A) most Americans can name their senators, representatives, and governors.
B) most Americans are unable to even name the president of the United States.
C) most ordinary Americans are very knowledgeable about politics.
D) most Americans have particular trouble with technical terms, abbreviations, and geography.
E) most Americans give sophisticated responses to even the more detailed questions on policy.

Question 50

According to Table 5.2, a majority of Republicans and Democrats agree that

A) government should help needy people, even if the national debt increase.
B) we should have a smaller government with fewer services.
C) the best way to ensure peace is through military strength.
D) we should restrict people coming into our country more than we do now.
E) poor people have become too dependent on government programs.

Question 51

In the 2004 presidential election, evangelical Christians voted

A) overwhelmingly for John Kerry.
B) about equally for John Kerry and George W. Bush.
C) for Ralph Nader.
D) overwhelmingly for George W. Bush over John Kerry.
E) in lows numbers and, thus, did not influence the outcome.

Question 52

A system of interrelated and coherently patterned beliefs and attitudes is called

A) political affiliation.
B) party affiliation.
C) political ideology.
D) political socialization.
E) political efficacy.

Question 53

Lower income Americans favor more government help with jobs and education; they also

A) favor conservative positions on social issues
B) favor free trade positions of Republicans
C) oppose conservative positions on social issues
D) oppose government intervention in health care
E) none of the above

Question 54

Discussion of a "culture war" typically involves divisions between

A) voters and nonvoters.
B) Christians and Muslims.
C) those who support life and those who support death.
D) the least and the most religiously observant.
E) labor and free-trade interests.

Question 55

Figure 5.2 shows

A) a wider variation in ideology among Republicans.
B) a wider variation in ideology among Democrats.
C) a decrease in ideological conservatism in the Republican party.
D) a decrease in ideological liberalism in the Democratic party.
E) none of the above

Question 56

Public opinion polls demonstrate that

A) only about two-thirds of adults know which party has the most members in the House of Representatives.
B) Only about 30 percent know that the term of a U.S. House member is two years
C) only about one-half know that there are two U.S. senators from their state
D) one in four Americans can explain what is in the First Amendment. E) All of the above is true

Question 57

Republican and Democratic identifiers who not only vote but are engaged in other party, candidate, and party-support activities, such as making campaign contributions, and attending candidate meetings are often called

A) party leaners.
B) active partisans.
C) surge generators.
D) party contributors.
E) party socializers.

Question 58

Which of the following factors has had arguably the more enduring, long-term impact on Republican and Democratic parties?

A) income levels
B) education
C) race
D) gender
E) level of political socialization

Question 59

Much research demonstrates that ___________ policy preferences are reasonable.

A) individual
B) capitalistic
C) socialistic
D) collective
E) wordly

Question 60

In defense of the general lack of political knowledge by the citizenry, scholars remind us that

A) a single citizen has almost no chance of determining the outcome of an election.
B) all votes are important because some elections have been won by only a few votes.
C) elections should be decided on the basis of issues and not personality or party loyalty.
D) voters cannot make intelligent choices because they do not have adequate levels of information.
E) information is irrelevant to democratic politics.

Question 61

According to the text, presidential approval ratings

A) are relatively stable over time.
B) start low but gradually rise over the course of a president's term.
C) are not an accurate representation of presidential popularity
D) are strongly influenced by specific events.
E) typically decline at the outset of war or foreign conflict.

Question 62

Figure 5.3 shows that

A) confidence in the press has increased since the 1980s.
B) confidence in the military has increased since 9/11.
C) confidence in Congress was at its lowest in 2006.
D) confidence in medicine is the highest, on average.
E) all of the above

Question 63

"Leaners"

A) are also strong party identifiers.
B) have a more extreme political ideology than party supporters.
C) have declined as a category over time.
D) are those who claim to be independent, but also favor slightly one party over another.
E) are synonymous with independent voters.

Question 64

Party identification refers to

A) the act of voting for a political party.
B) paying dues to a political party.
C) an expressed sense of belonging to a political party.
D) a political party platform.
E) a belief in a two party or multi party system of government.

Question 65

The sense of belonging to a political party is known as party

A) cohesion.
B) sponsorship.
C) identification.
D) indoctrination.
E) association

Question 66

According to the authors of Struggle for Democracy, "presidential popularity"

A) has very important consequences.
B) is something only the media pay any attention to.
C) remains fairly stable throughout a president's term in office.
D) is so volatile and unpredictable that it serves little use.
E) is usually low, until the public gets to know a new president.

Question 67

Those preferring government enforcement of order and traditional values are usually called

A) liberals.
B) conservatives.
C) socialists.
D) libertarians.
E) none of the above

Question 68

Recent surveys reveal which of the following about party identification among Americans?

A) More independents "lean" toward the Republican than Democratic party.
B) Those who claim to be independent have decreased over time.
C) There are slightly more Democrats than Republicans.
D) There are slightly more Republicans than Democrats.
E) After 9/11 Republicans gained a substantial edge among Americans.

Question 69

Survey research reveals that opinions related to __________ are highly stable.

A) energy
B) social security reform
C) foreign and international aid
D) economic policy
E) environment programs

Question 70

What do we mean when we speak of the "rational public"?

A) Americans' collective policy preferences react rather sensibly to events, to changing circumstances, and to new information.
B) Most people vote according to a well-established political ideology.
C) People understand that politics is irrational.
D) People vote for candidates that focus almost exclusively on "bread and butter" issues.
E) Americans tend to vote only when two parties field candidates in a political contest.

Question 71

Which of the following statements is true about party identification over the past thirty years?

A) The Republicans were the majority party from the 1950s to 1990.
B) The percentage of people expressing loyalty to the Democrats has increased.
C) There has been a decrease in the proportion of people who identify with either one of the two major parties.
D) Party identification rarely changes, even in response to major political events.
E) none of the above

Question 72

In the past thirty years, the proportion of people who consider themselves to be ________ has increased the most.

A) Democrats
B) independents
C) Republicans
D) socialists
E) third party supports.

Question 73

The use of a party label

A) helps individuals organize their thinking about politics.
B) has no real value.
C) is the same thing as political efficacy.
D) is an absolute predictor of the way a person will vote.
E) has similar effects as civic duty.

Question 74

A system of interrelated attitudes and beliefs is the definition of

A) political socialization.
B) partisanship.
C) ideology.
D) political efficacy.
E) party identification.

Question 75

When survey researchers ask people whether, generally speaking, they consider themselves Republicans, Democrats, independents, or what, most Americans

A) say they are independents.
B) pick one of the two major parties.
C) say they are apolitical.
D) say they do not know enough about politics to belong to a political party.
E) say they are independent leaners.

Question 76

Figure 5.4 shows that

A) Republicans are becoming more conservative.
B) Democrats are becoming more conservative.
C) Democratic identification is currently at its high point.
D) Republican identification is currently at its low point.
E) There are more Democrats than Republicans, as of 2004.

Question 77

The idea that collective public opinion is stable and useful to the government relies on the idea that

A) randomness in individual responses averages out.
B) elites construct a consensus using polls as instruments for domination.
C) individuals, responses are stable and rational.
D) collective public opinion rarely moves, even in response to changes in the world and major political events.
E) politicians typically ignore individual poll results.

Question 78

Ideology is defined as a

A) system of opinions espoused by a political party.
B) coherent set of values that often leads to totalitarianism.
C) system of interrelated attitudes and beliefs.
D) set of prejudices and fears about the world.
E) a sense of belonging to a political party.

Question 79

In measuring how stable collective public opinion generally is, we find high and stable support given to

A) foreign aid.
B) environmental programs.
C) space program.
D) arms sales abroad.
E) economic issues.

Question 80

Americans' collective policy preferences

A) fluctuate randomly.
B) never change.
C) are quite stable over time.
D) respond dramatically to trivial events.
E) are as stable as Americans' individual policy preferences.