Deck 6: Public Opinion

Question 1

Political trust has __________ over the past fifty years.

A) increased
B) stayed the same
C) decreased
D) increased only in election years
E) decreased only in election years

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The__________ is the job performance evaluation for the president, Congress, or other public official or institution that is generated by public opinion polls and typically reported as a percentage.

A) presidential election
B) exit poll
C) likability score
D) approval rating
E) midterm election

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The results of Harrisburg Pennsylvanian and Literary Digest polls suggest what about nonscientific polling?

A) The results are totally inaccurate.
B) The results can vary widely.
C) The results are just as accurate as scientific polling.
D) The results are unbiased.
E) The results are biased.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

In the 1800s, newspapers and other organizations used __________ polls to assess public opinion.

A) straw
B) tracking
C) exit
D) opinion
E) push

Question 5

Political opinion that tends to come from the most active and wealthy members of a political community is called

A) public opinion.
B) elite opinion.
C) public trust.
D) efficacy.
E) conservatism.

Question 6

Prior to the creation of scientific polling in the 1930s, politicians relied on _________ to garner information about the general mood of the nation.

A) elite opinions
B) straw polls
C) the Internet
D) push polls
E) exit polls

Question 7

The primary way that the electorate expresses its opinion is through

A) polls.
B) letters.
C) voting.
D) protests.
E) surveys.

Question 8

Writing more than one hundred years ago, James Bryce, a noted observer of U.S. politics, contended that __________ is (are) "the greatest source of power" in the United States.

A) public opinion
B) the media
C) Congress
D) the president
E) political parties

Question 9

__________ is a method of selection that gives everyone who might be selected to participate in a poll an equal chance to be included.

A) Telephone sampling
B) Random sampling
C) Chance sampling
D) Equity polling
E) Selective sampling

Question 10

Other sources of public opinion include

A) the size of rallies and protests.
B) the tone of letters sent to elected officials.
C) the tone of letters sent to newspapers.
D) the amount of money given to particular causes.
E) all of the above.

Question 11

By the time he left office, President George W. Bush had the ________ popularity rating for any president since the start of scientific polling in the 1930s.

A) lowest
B) highest
C) average
D) above average
E) none of the above

Question 12

Historically, politicians have gauged public opinion by looking at

A) letters.
B) newspaper articles.
C) attendance at rallies.
D) willingness to sign petitions.
E) all of the above.

Question 13

In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln expressed the idea that democratic government must be responsive to

A) corporate interests.
B) the will of the people.
C) economic interests.
D) the legislature.
E) international interests.

Question 14

Public opinion suggests that overall, Americans' commitment to the country and its core institutions is

A) weak.
B) strong.
C) average.
D) below average.
E) mediocre.

Question 15

Surveys of public opinion, or __________, are the most reliable indicator of what the public is thinking, and an entire industry and science have grown up around measuring opinion on everything from presidents to toothpaste.

A) questionnaires
B) interrogatories
C) polls
D) testimonials
E) all of the above

Question 16

After the so-called "honeymoon" period, presidents normally see their popularity

A) rise.
B) fall.
C) remain consistent.
D) wax.
E) wane.

Question 17

__________ is (are) the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs about certain issues or officials.

A) Political socialization
B) Public opinion
C) Voter turnout
D) Political agenda
E) Mass media

Question 18

George Gallup accurately predicted the outcome of the 1936 election by using a(n) _________ to generate a way to select people to participate in surveys

A) straw poll
B) push poll
C) exit poll
D) random sample
E) group of students

Question 19

__________ is the extent to which people believe the government acts in their best interests.

A) Efficacy
B) Public opinion
C) Political trust
D) Legitimacy
E) Approval rating

Question 20

__________ is the extent to which people believe their actions affect the course of government.

A) Efficacy
B) Public opinion
C) Public trust
D) Legitimacy
E) Approval rating

Question 21

In order for a sample to be representative, a population must have a(n) _________ chance of being asked to participate.

A) equal
B) better than half
C) less than half
D) unequal
E) absolute

Question 22

A(n) __________ poll is designed to manipulate opinions by providing misleading information about a candidate or subject.

A) straw
B) tracking
C) exit
D) opinion
E) push

Question 23

During presidential elections, nightly polls gauge changes in voters' preferences for the major contenders. These surveys are called __________ polls.

A) straw
B) tracking
C) exit
D) opinion
E) push

Question 24

Current research suggests that people without landlines vote ________ than those with them.

A) differently
B) no differently
C) more
D) less
E) equal to

Question 25

One of the ways that Millennials appear to be politically distinct from previous generations is that

A) they tend to identify Republican.
B) they tend to identify socialist.
C) they are more trusting in government.
D) they are less trusting in government.
E) they generally want to see government dissolve.

Question 26

The wording of a question can create _________ in the results of a poll.

A) accuracy
B) options
C) regression
D) bias
E) unbiased

Question 27

People's worldview about how they feel about work, family, and politics is crystallized between the ages of

A) 14 and 18.
B) 25 and 30.
C) 10 and 15.
D) 30 and 35.
E) 18 and 24.

Question 28

The most famous and consequential exit poll took place in Florida during the _____ presidential elections, fueling one of the most controversial electoral struggles of all time.

A) 1984
B) 1992
C) 2000
D) 2004
E) 2008

Question 29

The typical size of a national sample survey is __________ people.

A) 50
B) 100
C) 1,000
D) 10,000
E) 100,000

Question 30

Which of the following is one of the problems with Internet polling?

A) Not enough people use the Internet.
B) Too many people use the Internet.
C) It is too slow.
D) Older and poor Americans lack access to computers.
E) It is expensive.

Question 31

The census is a constitutionally mandated count of the population conducted every __________ years.

A) 2
B) 5
C) 10
D) 15
E) 20

Question 32

The statistical range, with a given probability, that takes random error into account is called the

A) random sample.
B) confidence interval.
C) hypothesis interval.
D) sampling error.
E) random error.

Question 33

Whether through family socialization or genes, parents have the biggest impact

A) on economic issues.
B) on social issues.
C) during a child's early life.
D) during an individual's teenage years.
E) during an adult's life.

Question 34

If a child's parents differ on partisanship, there is a high likelihood that their children will identify as

A) Independents.
B) Democrats.
C) Republicans.
D) socialists.
E) Libertarians.

Question 35

The book suggests the future of survey research lies with

A) in-person interviews.
B) telephone polls.
C) postal polls.
D) Internet polls.
E) written surveys.

Question 36

Partisanship is most likely determined by _________ through a person's parents.

A) socialization
B) brainwashing
C) democratization
D) behavior
E) actualization

Question 37

Polls that survey a sample of voters immediately after exiting the voting booth are called _________

A) exit polls
B) push polls
C) straw polls
D) random polls
E) soft polls

Question 38

Scientific polls provided for the __________ of public opinion.

A) democratization
B) elite opinion
C) removal of error
D) socialization
E) none of the above

Question 39

Effects on opinion from the era in which one lives are called __________ effects.

A) socioeconomic
B) generational
C) occupational
D) age
E) rational

Question 40

A truly representative sample should be ______.

A) random
B) scientific
C) unscientific
D) personal
E) elite

Question 41

__________ people are more likely than wealthier people to favor more government programs to help the poor and provide child care, more funding for public education, and more protection for Social Security.

A) Working-class
B) College-educated
C) Under-employed
D) Religious and young
E) None of the above

Question 42

The public wants society to be open but yet realizes that security demands some __________.

A) privacy
B) restrictions
C) obligations
D) secrecy
E) scrutiny

Question 43

President Ford not knowing how to eat a tamale and President H.W. Bush not knowing the price of milk hurt both candidates in connecting with voters and are examples of

A) low information rationality.
B) high information rationality.
C) modicum information rationality.
D) verbose information  rationality.
E) brief information rationality.

Question 44

The measurement of how ideologically coherent individuals are in their political evaluation is called

A) levels of conceptualization.
B) self-interest.
C) the Likert scale.
D) socialization.
E) social prompting.

Question 45

Elites' ability to change public opinion is a product of

A) the truth of the message.
B) the intensity and consistency of the message.
C) the promotion of the message.
D) the ideology of the message.
E) the timing of the message.

Question 46

Liberals tend to be __________ and conservatives tend to be __________.

A) weak; strong
B) Democrats; Republicans
C) rural; urban
D) rich; poor
E) educated; uneducated

Question 47

In 2009, Senator Arlen Specter

A) left the Republican Party and became a Democrat.
B) left the Democratic Party and became a Republican.
C) left the Democratic Party and became an Independent.
D) retired from the Senate.
E) retired from the House of Representatives.

Question 48

In general, women are more __________ than men, and gender gaps are also evident on specific issues.

A) conservative
B) independent
C) liberal
D) third party
E) none of the above

Question 49

Individuals often rely on cues and instincts to make decisions, rather than on an analysis of detailed information. Scholars have termed such thinking as

A) self-interest.
B) low attention span.
C) high attention syndrome.
D) low information rationality.
E) high information rationality.

Question 50

A set of coherent beliefs that offers a philosophy for thinking about the scope of government is called __________

A) political ideology
B) socialization
C) partisanship
D) self-interest
E) political brinkmanship

Question 51

In 1948, about one in seven Americans had gone to college for at least one year; however, by 2014 more than __________ had attended college.

A) one in two
B) one in three
C) one in seven
D) one in nine
E) none of the above

Question 52

Over time, the amount of input by citizens has

A) decreased.
B) increased.
C) remained constant.
D) gradually increased and then recently decreased.
E) gradually decreased and then recently increased.

Question 53

The psychological attachment that a person feels to a political party is called ________.

A) socialization
B) party identification
C) manipulation
D) party direction
E) Duverger's law

Question 54

The reason that people tend to vote Republican as their income rises is due to the fact that most people act based upon __________

A) self-interest
B) lack of empathy
C) socialization
D) partisanship
E) ideology

Question 55

__________ is a combined measure of occupation, education, income, wealth, and relative social standing or lifestyle.

A) Socialization
B) Level of conceptualization
C) Polarization
D) Socioeconomic status
E) All of the above

Question 56

The fact that older, less-educated citizens die, and the average level of education of the American public has thus increased is an example of

A) brain drain.
B) generational replacement.
C) affirmative action.
D) low information rationality.
E) polarization.

Question 57

Which of the following is NOT true of American voters?

A) Only 10 percent know the name of the Speaker of the House.
B) Only about one-third can name one U.S. Supreme Court justice.
C) Only about half know which party controls Congress.
D) Only about half know the name of the vice president.
E) Fewer than half know the name of their own congressional representative.

Question 58

A condition in which differences between parties and/or the public are so stark that disagreement breaks out, fueling attacks and controversy is known as

A) partisanship.
B) socialization.
C) brinkmanship.
D) compromise.
E) polarization.

Question 59

Policies that grant racial or gender preferences in hiring, education, or contracting are called __________ programs.

A) racial profiling
B) faith-based
C) affirmative action
D) reverse discrimination
E) discrimination avoidance

Question 60

As education is connected to public opinion, the views on the controversial issue of immigration reform is an instructive example. Among college graduates, __________ favored making it possible for those here illegally to become citizens.

A) 65 percent
B) 75 percent
C) 85 percent
D) 95 percent
E) none of the above

Question 61

How does party identification relate to ideology?

Question 62

Explain how the electorate expresses its opinions and holds elected officials accountable.

Question 63

Identify three types of polls.

Question 64

Define public opinion .

Question 65

Today, what does a decline in efficacy and public trust mean for democracy in the United States?

Question 66

Explain potential errors in polls.

Question 67

Discuss how an individual such as Nate Silver, who loves working with numbers, can apply those skills to participate in the American political system.

Question 68

Explain how polling can provide a fairly precise reading of public opinion.

Question 69

How do political scientists measure the public's faith in the political system?

Question 70

Explain how party identification influences a person's view.

Question 71

Define political ideology .

Question 72

Describe how politicians measured public opinion before there were polls.

Question 73

Does polarization prevent good policy making?

Question 74

How do individuals form their political opinions?

Question 75

Does every citizen have an equal chance to be heard?

Question 76

Detail how partisanship is influenced.

Question 77

Define scientific polling .

Question 78

Explain the purpose of push, exit, and tracking polls .

Question 79

Explain how partisanship relates to public opinion.

Question 80

State the reasons public opinion has a powerful impact on the presidency.