Deck 6: Public Opinion

Question 1

The fact that Americans strongly support minimal governmental interference with individuals' lives and property illustrates their commitment to ________.

A) anarchy
B) democracy
C) liberty
D) socialism

Answer 1

C

Question 2

________ is the most important core value of liberalism.

A) Liberty
B) Democracy
C) Equality
D) Justice

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The belief that government is wasteful and should be limited to as few activities as possible is an example of a political ________.

A) culture
B) value
C) ideology
D) interest

Answer 3

C

Question 4

"Affective intelligence" refers to the

A) fact that people often determine their policy preferences and voting decisions through rational calculations of costs and benefits.
B) skill that some political leaders and media communicators have to make their audiences feel empathy for others.
C) fact that individuals will often quickly form opinions in response to current events by using their emotions as a guide.
D) belief that one's feelings are right, even if well-accepted facts contradict these feelings.

Question 5

A political ideology is best defined as

A) the specific preferences individuals contemplate while discussing an issue.
B) a cohesive set of beliefs that form a general philosophy about the government.
C) the concrete interests that people try to defend through public policy.
D) the various attitudes that citizens possess toward political issues, events, and people.

Question 6

________ is the core political value most highly prioritized by American conservatives.

A) Liberty
B) Equality
C) Family
D) Justice

Question 7

George W. Bush called himself a "compassionate conservative" in order to show that he favored

A) regressive tax policies.
B) programs that assist the poor and needy.
C) the elimination of the earned income tax credit.
D) drastically cutting the size of the American military.

Question 8

Which of the following statements best describes current controversies about immigration among conservatives?

A) There is a division of opinion among conservatives, with pro-business conservatives opposing immigration and social conservatives strongly supporting immigration to the United States.
B) There is a division of opinion among conservatives, with pro-business conservatives accepting immigration and social conservatives strongly opposing immigration to the United States.
C) There is no division of opinion among conservatives because almost all conservatives accept immigration.
D) There is no division of opinion among conservatives because almost all conservatives strongly oppose immigration.

Question 9

The difference between a political value and a political attitude is that values are

A) conservative, while attitudes are liberal.
B) liberal, while attitudes are conservative.
C) held for a short term, while attitudes are held for a long term.
D) basic principles, while attitudes are specific preferences.

Question 10

Which of the following statements about the ideological preferences of Americans is true?

A) More Americans have identified themselves as liberals than as conservatives over the last 20 years.
B) The percentage of Americans identifying themselves as liberals has increased significantly since the 1990s.
C) More Americans have identified themselves as liberals than as moderates over the last 20 years.
D) More Americans have identified themselves as socialists rather than as conservatives over the last 20 years.

Question 11

________ generally support abortion rights and oppose state involvement with religious institutions.

A) Liberals
B) Conservatives
C) Socialists
D) Internationalists

Question 12

Libertarianism is a political ideology that

A) argues governments are inherently repressive and should be abolished entirely.
B) argues a single ruler should have total control over every aspect of people's lives.
C) argues for the need to place strict limitations on voting rights and civil liberties.
D) emphasizes freedom and voluntary association with small government.

Question 13

Support for freedom of speech, a free Internet, and the press is

A) higher in the United States than in most other countries in the world.
B) lower in the United States than in most other countries in the world.
C) roughly the same in the United States as most other countries in the world.
D) nearly nonexistent in the United States.

Question 14

Which of the following sets of terms describes America's fundamental political values?

A) liberal and conservative
B) internationalist and isolationist
C) independent and moderate
D) liberty, equality of opportunity, and democracy

Question 15

Which of the following statements about political opinions is correct?

A) Race, income, and education are not factors that lead to differences in opinion.
B) The poor are generally more supportive of economic and social programs than the wealthy.
C) Whites and blacks generally have the same views on racism.
D) Men are more opposed to military intervention than women.

Question 16

Opposition to legalized abortion is a position most likely supported by ________, while support for legalized abortion is a position most likely supported by ________.

A) liberals; conservatives
B) conservatives; liberals
C) libertarians; conservatives
D) conservatives; libertarians

Question 17

________ is one of the most important mechanisms for promoting equality of opportunity.

A) Public education
B) Affirmative action
C) Transportation
D) Commerce

Question 18

In international affairs, conservatism has come to mean

A) support for military intervention and the maintenance of American military power.
B) opposition to military intervention and the ramping down of American military power.
C) opposition to the United States' membership in the United Nations.
D) opposition to the continued existence of the European Union.

Question 19

The term public opinion is used to describe

A) the president's collected speeches and writings during his term in office.
B) the analysis of events broadcast by reporters during the evening news.
C) beliefs and attitudes toward different issues, events, and people.
D) the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions.

Question 20

Liberalism and conservatism are examples of

A) public opinions.
B) political attitudes.
C) political ideologies.
D) political preferences.

Question 21

What did the framers identify as the greatest source of political conflict for the United States?

A) racial inequalities
B) geographic differences
C) differences between the rich and poor
D) conflicts between central and local governments

Question 22

A liberal would most likely support

A) an expansion in governmental social services.
B) an increase in the federal military budget.
C) prayer in the public schools.
D) a reduction in foreign aid for poor countries.

Question 23

A wealthy businessperson who is very liberal is an example of the

A) fact that group memberships can fully explain all of an individual's political views.
B) fact that group memberships never fully explain all of an individual's political views.
C) power of the bandwagon effect.
D) negative consequences of the power of the mass media.

Question 24

Between 1970 and 2013, the number of first-generation immigrants living in the United States has

A) remained relatively unchanged.
B) more than doubled in size.
C) more than tripled in size.
D) more than quadrupled in size.

Question 25

Latinos currently make up approximately ________ percent of the U.S. population.

A) 3
B) 6
C) 10
D) 17

Question 26

What is the "gender gap"?

A) differences in political opinions between men and women
B) differences in education and income levels for men and women
C) differing levels of political participation between men and women
D) differences in fundamental political values held by men and women

Question 27

Approximately ________ percent of immigrants legally living in the United States are from Mexico and other Latin American countries.

A) 8
B) 25
C) 35
D) 50

Question 28

Approximately ________ percent of immigrants legally living in the United States are from South and East Asian countries.

A) 8
B) 25
C) 35
D) 50

Question 29

Which of the following is true of trust in government?

A) People have more trust in government today than in the 1960s.
B) Republicans have more trust in government than Democrats.
C) Very low trust in government is a reality in contemporary politics.
D) Very high trust in government is a reality in contemporary politics.

Question 30

The process by which political values are formed is known as

A) political socialization.
B) ideological education.
C) brainwashing.
D) value enhancing.

Question 31

Large cities have predominantly ________ populations, while ________ are more numerous in rural and suburban areas.

A) Republican; Democrats
B) Democratic; Republicans
C) Socialist; Democrats
D) Democratic; Socialists

Question 32

Which U.S. president ushered in the tax revolt and the deregulation of many government policies in the 1980s?

A) Jimmy Carter
B) Richard Nixon
C) George W. Bush
D) Ronald Reagan

Question 33

Conservatives are more likely than liberals to support

A) government regulation of business.
B) abortion rights.
C) school prayer.
D) the expansion of government programs, such as Medicaid.

Question 34

Which of the following statements about agencies of socialization is correct?

A) Family, membership in social groups, and education are not significant agents of socialization.
B) An individual's religion has a significant effect on his or her political views.
C) Attending college makes people less likely to participate in politics.
D) Voluntary social groups have an effect on their members' political views, while involuntary social groups have no effect.

Question 35

Which of the following statements best describes opinions on affirmative action policies among African Americans and whites?

A) African Americans are more likely than whites to support affirmative action policies.
B) Whites are more likely than African Americans to support affirmative action policies.
C) Whites and African Americans are equally likely to support affirmative action policies, with both groups expressing very high levels of support.
D) Whites and African Americans are equally likely to support affirmative action policies, with both groups expressing very high levels of opposition.

Question 36

The percentage of Americans without any religious affiliation has

A) risen from 5 percent of the population in the 1990s to more than 20 percent today.
B) risen from 25 percent of the population in the 1990s to more than 50 percent today.
C) remained relatively constant since the 1990s.
D) declined from 20 percent in the 1990s to less than 5 percent today.

Question 37

What is one of the main differences between those who have gone to college and those who have not?

A) Those with a college education are less likely to believe that women and men should have equal roles.
B) Those with a college education are more likely to believe that abortion should never be allowed.
C) There is a higher level of political participation among those with a college education.
D) There is a lower level of political participation among those with a college education.

Question 38

The transition many white southerners made from the Democratic to the Republican Party in the 1960s is a good example of the

A) changes in political conditions and circumstances in the South, rather than in opinions or values.
B) growing conservative ideology in the South.
C) growing liberal ideology in the South.
D) rise of labor unions and other associations in the South.

Question 39

A person's political party preferences are primarily acquired through the influence of the

A) person's family.
B) region of the country the person inhabits.
C) person's education.
D) media.

Question 40

The tendency for black Americans to perceive other blacks as members of a group with a common identity and a shared political interest is called

A) reverse racism.
B) symbolic racism.
C) linked fate.
D) intergroup commonality.

Question 41

Which of the following organizations has a conservative orientation?

A) Sierra Club
B) National Organization for Women
C) World Wildlife Federation
D) Chamber of Commerce

Question 42

Which of the following statements about the political opinions of Democrats and Republicans in the public is the most accurate?

A) Differences between the political opinions of Democrats and Republicans are smaller today than during any other period in the last 40 years.
B) Differences between the political opinions of Democrats and Republicans are greater today than during any other period in the last 40 years.
C) The differences between the political opinions of Democrats and Republicans have been the same throughout American history and have not become more intense over the last 40 years.
D) Republicans and Democrats have similar opinions on all political issues with the exception of national security.

Question 43

Why does the marketplace of ideas often have a moderating effect on people's opinions?

A) Given constant exposure to other people's ideas, it is almost impossible for one not to modify one's own viewpoints.
B) Moderate ideas usually have the best financial backing and the greatest publicity.
C) Those who shop in the marketplace of ideas typically start with moderate viewpoints.
D) Moderate ideas are always closest to the truth and are therefore most successful in the marketplace of ideas.

Question 44

Which of the following statements is true about the news media?

A) The mass media are neutral messengers for ideas.
B) The mass media have an enormous impact on public opinion.
C) National journalists tend to avoid investigating political scandals.
D) Journalists tend to provide negative coverage of a president during a crisis.

Question 45

Journalists at the ________ exposed the Watergate scandal.

A) Washington Post
B) Boston Globe
C) Indianapolis Star
D) Los Angeles Times

Question 46

Which of the following statements about the marketplace of ideas is true?

A) The British created the marketplace of ideas in the seventeenth century.
B) Private groups and the news media play important roles in shaping opinions in the marketplace of ideas.
C) Exposure to the marketplace of ideas rarely leads people to change their minds about political issues.
D) Government officials are legally prohibited from promoting ideas in the marketplace of ideas.

Question 47

The concept of a marketplace of ideas refers to

A) important changes in copyright and patent laws that have restricted Americans' access to free information.
B) the competition between varying opinions and ideas that are aired in public forums.
C) the use of opinion pollsters who market a politician's speeches, ideas, and votes.
D) the explosion of information brought on by the Internet and other advances in electronic communication.

Question 48

Which of the following statements is true about the forces that shape public opinion?

A) Groups with public or private institutional support are less successful in marketing their ideas than groups who do not have such support.
B) The news media are neutral messengers for the ideas developed by others.
C) Presidents often attempt to influence public support for the policies they are promoting.
D) The ways in which the news media frame or interpret events have little influence on how the public responds to these events.

Question 49

Which of the following is true about current trends in public opinion?

A) Public opinion can be difficult to manipulate.
B) Support for abortion rights has decreased in the past 30 years.
C) Fewer Americans favor gun control today than in the 1990s.
D) Most Americans support same-sex marriage today.

Question 50

Which U.S. president promoted his policy agenda to the American people through "fireside chats?"

A) Warren Harding
B) Franklin D. Roosevelt
C) Harry Truman
D) John F. Kennedy

Question 51

Support for same-sex marriage has

A) remained at a constant level since 1996.
B) dramatically increased since 1996.
C) dramatically decreased since 1996.
D) dramatically decreased between 1996 and 2008, but increased significantly between 2008 and 2015.

Question 52

The fact that Democratic Party leaders have become more liberal and Republican Party leaders more conservative is important because

A) Republicans have become less hawkish over time.
B) Democrats have become more hawkish over time.
C) partisans in the public tend to rely on party leaders for cues on the appropriate positions to take on major political issues.
D) partisans in the public no longer rely on party leaders for cues on the appropriate positions to take on major political issues.

Question 53

The ________ states that individuals keep a running tally of information and use that tally to form their opinions.

A) online processing model
B) "receive," "accept," "sample" model
C) memory model
D) motivated reasoning

Question 54

The three steps of John Zaller's model of opinion formation are

A) receive, accept, and sample.
B) listen, consider, and adapt.
C) receive, repeat, and react.
D) listen, respond, and sample.

Question 55

Research into public opinion and public policy has shown that

A) every citizen has an equally strong influence over politics and public policy decisions.
B) more affluent and more educated citizens have a disproportionate influence over politics and public policy decisions.
C) less affluent and less educated citizens have a disproportionate influence over politics and public policy decisions.
D) nonvoters have a disproportionate influence over politics and public policy decisions.

Question 56

Which of the following statements about political parties is true?

A) The Tea Party movement is more popular in New England than in the South.
B) The Democratic Party is becoming more popular in the South.
C) California is a solid Democratic state today.
D) Political elites are not very polarized today.

Question 57

The fact that many middle-class and lower-middle-class citizens who did not stand to benefit from President George W. Bush's tax cuts seemed to favor them is an example of the

A) importance of political knowledge.
B) importance of self-interest.
C) importance of political efficacy.
D) "spiral of silence."

Question 58

Which of the following statements about public opinion in America is most accurate?

A) Political knowledge is fairly high in America.
B) Citizens with low levels of knowledge are generally better able to evaluate new information and determine its relevancy to their beliefs.
C) Citizens with high levels of knowledge are generally better able to evaluate new information to determine its relevancy to their beliefs.
D) Politically knowledgeable citizens are more likely to consider themselves independent and not have a liberal or conservative ideology.

Question 59

Which of the following did the George W. Bush administration use to maintain support for the war on terror?

A) presidential speeches
B) press conferences
C) both presidential speeches and press conferences
D) media appearances by celebrities

Question 60

"Policy feedback" occurs when

A) government policy shifts in response to changes in public opinion.
B) public opinion shifts in response to changes in government policy.
C) interest groups provide congressional testimony during the lawmaking process.
D) members of the federal bureaucracy report to Congress about a law's effectiveness.

Question 61

In 1936, pollsters at the Literary Digest were guilty of ________ when they mistakenly predicted a presidential victory for Alf Landon over Franklin Roosevelt by polling people whose names came from the telephone book and automobile registration records.

A) probability sampling
B) random dialing
C) selection bias
D) push polling

Question 62

Pollsters use random digit dialing to gather national samples for surveys because

A) sampling errors are typically too low when other techniques are used.
B) sampling errors are typically too high when other techniques are used.
C) there is not a complete list of all Americans that can be used to identify the population.
D) it is the only method that generates high levels of measurement error.

Question 63

In public opinion surveys, a sample of the total population

A) must be at least 50 percent of the targeted population.
B) need be only 25 percent of the targeted population.
C) must be representative in that the views of those in the sample must accurately and proportionately reflect the views of the whole population.
D) must be based on all the registered voters in the targeted population.

Question 64

Which statement best describes the relationship between public opinion and government policy?

A) Government policy never influences public opinion because most Americans pay very little attention to politics.
B) Public opinion always influences government policy because lawmakers are legally bound to enact the majority's preferences.
C) The relationship between government policy and public opinion is dynamic, wherein government policy responds to public opinion but public opinion also shifts based on new government policies.
D) Government policy almost never influences public opinion.

Question 65

Which of the following statements is true about public opinion today?

A) Technology has eliminated the challenges of "filter bubbles" in the United States.
B) The Internet has reduced the amount of political information available to the public.
C) Digital citizenship offers the promise of a more informed electorate.
D) The problem of "bomb-throwers" on the Internet has been eliminated.

Question 66

The increased importance that politicians have placed on public opinion polls over the last 50 years is due in part to the fact that

A) public opinion polling is provided to political leaders free of charge.
B) the Supreme Court has struck down a number of state and federal laws that made public opinion polling illegal.
C) it has become very difficult for political leaders to experience public opinion directly.
D) media organizations no longer cover political issues as much as they once did.

Question 67

The typical margin of error in a sample survey of 1,500 respondents is ________ percent.

A) 0.1
B) 0.5
C) 1.0
D) 2.5

Question 68

A frequent cause of measurement error in polls is due to ________.

A) Unresponsiveness
B) poorly worded questions
C) push polling
D) the increased use of cell phones

Question 69

The fact that survey respondents overreport voting in elections and the frequency of their church attendance is an example of the ________ effect.

A) Hawthorne
B) coattail
C) social desirability
D) bandwagon

Question 70

The Lincoln-Douglas debates took place

A) through a series of competing newspaper editorials.
B) on radio, making it the first political broadcast in the United States.
C) outside, in the cornfields and town squares of Illinois.
D) in Madison Square Garden during the Republican Convention of 1860.

Question 71

What is the "social desirability effect"?

A) The bias in surveys that comes from the failure of pollsters to interview respondents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
B) The strong desire that people have to express their opinions to survey researchers.
C) The fact that respondents report what they think the interviewer wishes to hear or whatever they think is socially acceptable rather than what they actually believe.
D) The impression conveyed by polls that something is important to the public when actually it is not.

Question 72

Using the aggregate preferences and viewing habits of millions of Netflix subscribers to make predictions about how someone will feel about political issues is an example of

A) a framing experiment.
B) a list experiment.
C) process tracing.
D) data mining.

Question 73

In the 2012 presidential election, Gallup surveys significantly overestimated

A) Latino support for Mitt Romney.
B) African American support for Barack Obama.
C) Caucasian support for Mitt Romney.
D) Native American support for Mitt Romney.

Question 74

The small group selected by pollsters to represent the entire population is called a ________.

A) validity quotient
B) reliability quotient
C) sample
D) quota

Question 75

The practice of push polling involves

A) polling services attempting to sell their polling data to major news media organizations at higher prices during election seasons.
B) the procedure of asking loaded questions in order to subtly shape the respondent's opinion.
C) the effect of polls having to push politicians into adopting policy proposals they would not otherwise adopt.
D) the system of repeatedly calling people in the sampling frame until they respond to the survey.

Question 76

During the 2000 South Carolina Republican primary, George W. Bush supporters telephoned conservative white voters to ask if they would be more or less likely to vote for John McCain if they knew he had fathered an illegitimate black child. This was an example of a

A) push poll.
B) bandwagon poll.
C) saliency illusion.
D) nonresponse bias.

Question 77

Which of the following statements about public opinion is true?

A) Shifts in public opinion on particular issues can lead to changes in public policy.
B) Elected officials are rarely constrained by public opinion.
C) Liberal states have no conservative laws.
D) Public opinion is generally well informed in the United States.

Question 78

"Retail politics" refers to

A) attempts made by political machines in the nineteenth century to buy votes from citizens through cash payments.
B) debates about how extensively government should regulate the manufacture and sale of consumer goods.
C) campaigns in which candidates meet citizens face-to-face to discuss politics.
D) government-run auctions to sell public property.

Question 79

If a person supports a candidate because he or she is the front-runner in a poll, it is an example of the ________.

A) bellwether effect
B) illusion of saliency
C) bandwagon effect
D) "bounce" effect

Question 80

Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between public opinion and government policy?

A) Public opinion always shifts in opposition to government policy once the policy has been implemented.
B) Public opinion always shifts in favor of government policy once the policy has been implemented.
C) Shifts in public opinion always lead to changes in government policy.
D) Although there is no one-to-one correlation between public opinion and government policy, shifts in public opinion on particular issues frequently lead to changes in government policy.