Deck 4: Public Opinion and the Mass Media

Question 1

Generally, people with higher incomes, more education, and higher job status tend to vote

A)Democratic.
B)Republican.
C)Independent.
D)Green Party.
E)They don't generally vote.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

If each individual in the entire population has an equal opportunity to be selected for analysis, this is an example of a

A)tracking poll.
B)lottery system.
C)focus group.
D)random sample.
E)exit poll.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT a powerful influence on one's political socialization?

A)media
B)peer group
C)voting
D)history and political events
E)family.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Today, the most important method used to measure public opinion is

A)straw polling.
B)status polling.
C)stratified polling.
D)scientific polling.
E)blogging.

Question 5

Which one of the following is true of the influence of place of residence on political opinion?

A)Since the 1970s many suburbs of America's cities have been Democratic.
B)The Rocky Mountain states have always been a Democratic stronghold.
C)Since the 1950s the Republican party has become the majority or competitive in all southern states.
D)Since the 1950s the South has shifted away from the Democratic party and toward independent candidates.
E)Since the 1960s the suburbs of America's cities have shifted away from the Republican party and toward independent candidates.

Question 6

With regard to political socialization, the earliest and perhaps most powerful influence on a person is

A)social class.
B)race and religion.
C)place of residence.
D)family.
E)the media.

Question 7

If a political opinion is held by a small portion of society, it is said to be

A)stable.
B)intense.
C)concentrated.
D)salient.
E)populated.

Question 8

Generally, people with lower incomes, less education, and lower job status:

A)are more conservative in their political opinions.
B)are more liberal in their political opinions.
C)are more moderate in their political opinions.
D)are more supportive of democracy and the rule of law.
E)are more supportive of equality and individual opportunity.

Question 9

Why is it difficult to gauge the effect of the Internet on the American political system?

A)Only certain types of people use the Internet.
B)Use of the Internet is still too new to measure its full effects.
C)Hackers and viruses can undermine the political process.
D)The Internet's effect on the American political system has been too small to measure.
E)Cell phone and other devices are more popular than computers.

Question 10

Which one of the following would be a salient issue for most Americans?

A)Aid for farmers growing corn in Illinois
B)Anti-trust laws
C)Policies toward small business
D)Aid to a small island nation in Asia
E)The state of the economy

Question 11

Scientific polling:

A)Originated in the late 1780s
B)Originated following World War II
C)Was not used on a wide scale until the 1970s
D)Was not used until the advent of computers
E)Became popular with the internet

Question 12

Political culture is

A)the culture reflected from elections, popular media, and the president.
B)the widely supported political mores of a society that fail to be reflected in the political institutions.
C)the values supported by a society that conflict with the body politic.
D)the fundamental, widely supported values that hold a society together and give legitimacy to its political institutions.
E)the sharply divisive, partisan views toward current political issues, such as health care, abortion, and prayer in schools.

Question 13

If you participated in a public-opinion poll by direct questioning through a face-to-face interview, what method of data collection was used?

A)survey research
B)case study
C)experimental research
D)naturalistic observation
E)muckraking.

Question 14

How can media socialize in subtle ways?

A)Television news can broadcast coverage of political campaigns.
B)Television news can broadcast profiles of various political candidates.
C)Television news can report decisions of the federal courts.
D)Television news can report the results of exit or tracking polls.
E)Television shows for children can encourage tolerance of people of other races or religions

Question 15

The American public has become __________ unpopular political ideas in recent decades.

A)more tolerant of
B)less tolerant of
C)more militant toward
D)uninterested with
E)hostile toward.

Question 16

Media polls use two basic methods: the exit poll and the

A)random sample.
B)public opinion poll.
C)focus group.
D)telephone poll.
E)tracking poll.

Question 17

The transmission of political culture from one generation to the next is an example of

A)rhetoric.
B)political socialization.
C)political education.
D)political party preference.
E)public opinion.

Question 18

The process of political socialization begins

A)when college professors begin speaking of politics.
B)in high school as young adults begin forming their opinions on politics.
C)in early childhood when children begin to acquire a general orientation toward political issues.
D)as an adult once one has a vested interest in government when s/he begins to pay taxes.
E)once people begin using the internet and sampling other media sources.

Question 19

Although almost all Americans support the basic goals of democracy, there is less agreement when it comes to the application of

A)election laws.
B)fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the founders.
C)democratic procedures.
D)American civil law.
E)separation of powers and checks and balances.

Question 20

Which method is used to choose a representative sample?

A)chance
B)computer simulation
C)double-blind study
D)random sampling
E)political opinion.

Question 21

Television advertising is essential in today's campaigns. In fact, television advertising accounts for how much of the budget in a typical statewide campaign?

A)10 percent
B)two-thirds
C)one-half
D)practically all
E)20 percent

Question 22

In the 2000 primary campaigns, the Internet helped Senator John McCain's campaign primarily by

A)providing more access to people he otherwise never would have met.
B)permitting him to answer more questions about his candidacy in one day than others had done in one year.
C)permitting him to raise large amounts of money in a relatively short time.
D)encouraging Internet users to develop his campaign slogan.
E)permitting him to launch numerous websites.

Question 23

The Internet permits candidates to conduct what traditional campaign practices electronically?

A)attract volunteers and advertise
B)fundraising and meeting voters at the polls
C)voter registration and getting out the vote
D)voter polling and intimate conversation
E)creating numerous websites.

Question 24

Borrowing an advertising industry technique, campaigns recognized that people are likely to remember short, punchy messages; this technique is called (a)

A)commercial.
B)market segment.
C)sound bite.
D)saturation.
E)socialization.

Question 25

The term intensity refers to how strongly a political opinion is held.

Question 26

Media bias is an accusation that

A)the media is biased in favor of liberals.
B)the media is biased in favor of conservatives.
C)reporters have a liberal bias and the ownership has a conservative bias.
D)media owners have a conservative bias and won't hire any reporters disagreeing with their views.
E)a bias exists in favor of foreign countries.

Question 27

The process by which a society's political culture is transmitted from one generation to the next is known as political socialization.

Question 28

Reporter, agenda-setter, and investigator are terms used to describe

A)the roles of spin doctors that attempt to use the media to gain exposure.
B)campaign moles that are used to infiltrate opposing campaigns.
C)the roles of the media in the political sphere.
D)the roles of senior campaign advisors in presidential elections.
E)the roles of those who perform research on opposing political campaigns.

Question 29

Participation rates for Americans in the political system beyond mere voting are generally

A)below 3 percent.
B)below 10 percent.
C)above 50 percent.
D)consistently above 75 percent.
E)nearly 100 percent.

Question 30

In scientific polls, pollsters consider their analysis to be accurate if the margin of error:

A)is zero only.
B)is 10 to 20 percent.
C)is 6 to 9 percent.
D)is 5 to 8 percent.
E)is 3 to 4 percent.

Question 31

A typical exit poll collects information from roughly ___________ or more voters throughout the day.

A)15,000
B)25,000
C)100,000
D)1,000,000
E)500

Question 32

Which one of the following is true with respect to cell phones and polling?

A)Pollsters have been contacting people on their cell phones since cell phones were first introduced.
B)By 2007, more than 85 percent of American homes possessed only cell phones.
C)It is doubtful polling organizations will contact people on their cell phones.
D)Cell phones are automatically disqualified from participation in scientific polls.
E)The first pollster did not contact people on cell phones until January 2008.

Question 33

How did the use of focus groups to gather information on public opinion affect the Clinton campaign in 1996?

A)The campaign appealed more to the left to win the support of environmental groups.
B)The campaign became more conservative to appeal to moderate voters.
C)The campaign decided that it needed to solidify its Democratic base.
D)The campaign hired James Carville in an attempt to win the Southern vote.
E)The campaign used more straw polls to gauge public opinion.

Question 34

The rise and fall of public interest in the issue of American dependence upon foreign oil is an example of:

A)the reporter function of the media.
B)the agenda-setter function of the media.
C)the investigator function of the media.
D)the consolidation function of the media.
E)the muckraker function of the media.

Question 35

Family tends to have the greatest effect on a person's later interest in politics.

Question 36

In terms of political participation, people from lower socioeconomic classes tend to

A)participate the most.
B)participate at the average rates of all Americans.
C)participate the least.
D)participate at different rate, depending on their race.
E)participate at different rates, depending on place of residence.

Question 37

As a reflection of the fast pace at which campaigns mirror society, the average length of a political sound bite decreased from 42.3 seconds in 1968 to approximately ________ in today.

A)3 seconds
B)10 seconds
C)20 seconds
D)30 seconds
E)14 seconds

Question 38

Which one of the following is true with respect to newspapers in the United States presently?

A)Newspaper circulation has remained relatively stable.
B)Newspapers and television remain the most popular sources of news in America.
C)Newspaper circulation and advertising revenues have dropped slightly in recent years.
D)Newspaper circulation and internet usage have both risen in recent years.
E)Newspaper circulation has fallen and some major papers have gone bankrupt.

Question 39

Which "new" media has changed the face of national politics in the 1990s?

A)call-in radio shows
B)cable television
C)network news shows
D)community access cable
E)satellite television.

Question 40

The term salience refers to a political opinion held by a small portion of society.

Question 41

Many media experts believe that longer advertisements and news spots would solve the
problem of negative advertising.

Question 42

A sample is any group or organization that shares the same views.

Question 43

Focus groups are an example of scientific polling.

Question 44

Choosing a relatively small number of cases to be studied for information about the larger population is a process known as sampling.

Question 45

Today, the internet is the most influential agent of political socialization.

Question 46

People in lower economic brackets have the highest voting rate.

Question 47

The American public's trust in the news media remains high.

Question 48

Over the past five decades, the majority of people have gotten their news from television.

Question 49

The exit poll indicates changes in voter preferences from election to election.

Question 50

In addition to voting, working for a political party or belonging to a political club are forms of political participation.

Question 51

Evaluate the role of political socialization on the formation of political culture in America.What is the function of political socialization in a democracy?

Question 52

Polling organizations allow themselves a margin of error of 5 to 10 percent.

Question 53

Explore the influence of the Internet - and more specifically websites - on presidential campaigns in the future.Evaluate what you think the Internet's role should be.Will it advance or hinder political participation? Democracy?

Question 54

The creation of election websites favors emerging candidates with a strong message.

Question 55

Explain how scientific polls work, and discuss the pros and cons of public-opinion polling.

Question 56

For most Americans, U.S.policy toward small business is a salient issue.

Question 57

The term sound bite was developed out of the advertising industry's recognition that people are likely to remember short, punchy messages.

Question 58

The use of negative advertising or "attack ads" has increased in current election campaigns.

Question 59

The number of people who watched the CBS, NBC, and ABC evening news shows in 2008 was about half that of 1980.

Question 60

The Internet allows candidates to reach a growing portion of the public twenty-four hours a day, at little cost, and without reliance on the traditional media.

Question 61

Discuss how the emergence of blogs and the Internet has affected the idea of "media bias."

Question 62

State the differences between the various roles of the news media.How has the media performed these roles? Explain.