Deck 6: Public Opinion and Political Socialization

Question 1

The collective attitude of the citizens on a given issue is known as what?

A) Public opinion
B) Gerrymandering
C) Public discord
D) Incumbency
E) Political reform

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In cases where elected officials are attempting to reform policies where people express intense feelings both for and against an issue, the elected officials often choose to do which of the following?

A) Not change policy to favor either of the extreme positions
B) Try to alter public opinion through agenda setting
C) Utilize social media to reach a compromise with people that hold extreme positions
D) Change policy in favor of the public opinion that most closely aligns with their political party
E) Use polls to determine if a nonopinion on the issue can be formed

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following are the most important early sources of political socialization?

A) Family and the media
B) Schools and the media
C) Family and political parties
D) Family and schools
E) Political parties and schools

Answer 3

D

Question 4

A poll indicating that 92 percent of adults believe an education beyond high school is crucial for success in today's job market represents which of the following types of opinion?

A) Consensus
B) Divisive
C) Elite
D) Minority
E) Nonopinion

Question 5

Which of the following is the first agent of political socialization for most people?

A) Family
B) Their peers
C) School
D) Television
E) The Internet

Question 6

Which of the following best describes the influence of parents over their children's political socialization?

A) Only occurs in strongly political families
B) Is due to the declining influence of schools and the media
C) Is due to the rise of homeschooling
D) Is because of children seeing parents as an authority on politics
E) Is due to constant communication and receptivity of children to their parents' views

Question 7

Widely varying attitudes among the citizenry on an issue constitute which of the following?

A) A consensus
B) A divisive opinion
C) A majority opinion
D) Nonopinion
E) Public aggregation

Question 8

Which of the following best describes the transfer of political attitudes and beliefs?

A) It is more likely to occur from children to parents.
B) It is more likely to occur from parents to children.
C) It is just as likely to occur from children to parents as it is to occur from parents to children.
D) It is exceptionally rare in families.
E) It never occurs from children to parents.

Question 9

Which of the following best describes an opinion leader?

A) One who is able to influence the opinions of others because of position, expertise, or personality
B) A pollster
C) Always someone whose job is to sway public opinion, such as a member of Congress
D) A public relations expert
E) Someone who relies on position or expertise, rather than something like personality

Question 10

A poll that indicates 20 percent of respondents approve of the U.S. military assisting in issues of regional violence in Africa, 17 percent disapprove, and a majority do not know enough to answer exemplifies which of the following?

A) Consensus opinion
B) Negative opinion
C) Fluctuating opinion
D) Unresolved opinion
E) Nonopinion

Question 11

The national government is very responsive to the public's demand for action when which of the following exists?

A) The majority of Americans express opinions at the extremes of an issue.
B) Public opinion shows that a majority of Americans have a nonopinion.
C) An election has just occurred.
D) Public opinion shifts dramatically.
E) The issue concerns civil rights.

Question 12

When 46 percent of respondents feel the government is doing a good job, and 52 percent believe it is not, this is an example of which of the following?

A) Consensus
B) Elite opinion
C) Nonopinion
D) Divisive opinion
E) Unified opinion

Question 13

The best example of the generational effect is which of the following?

A) Individuals who are in their early twenties tend to have a more liberal attitude toward social issues.
B) Candidate Hillary Clinton received significant support from women in the 2016 presidential campaign.
C) Many individuals remember where they were the night Barack Obama was first elected.
D) Individuals who came of age during the Watergate scandal have a cynical attitude toward government.
E) Individuals with a high economic status tend to be more politically involved.

Question 14

Which of the following statements regarding political socialization is true?

A) Parents disaffected from the political system are more likely to provide political information to their children than parents who are not similarly disaffected.
B) Although more sources of political information have become readily available in recent decades to most Americans, these sources are not as readily available to most young people.
C) Sources of information about politics have been steadily decreasing in the United States for decades.
D) The family has become the only meaningful source of political socialization in the United States.
E) Scholars believe that greater access to political information may explain why young Americans are more liberal than their parents on many social issues.

Question 15

Because there is no single "public," but rather many different publics, surveying public opinion actually means which of the following?

A) Focusing on one identifiable opinion among competing opinions
B) Describing attitudes typically shared by some portion of the adult population
C) Identifying the issue where opinions aggregate
D) Polling only influential individuals
E) Persuading people to support the policies of the administration in power

Question 16

Which of the following best describes the transfer of political values?

A) Is most likely to occur through the media
B) Is more likely to occur from families to children
C) Is more likely that children will influence their parents
D) Is exceptionally rare in families
E) Only occurs in small families

Question 17

The process whereby one becomes aware of politics, learns political facts, and forms political values is called what?

A) Political indoctrination
B) Ideological awakening
C) Political ideology
D) Political socialization
E) Systems building

Question 18

The process by which people acquire political beliefs and attitudes is called what?

A) Opinion leadership
B) Political socialization
C) Agenda setting
D) Peer grouping
E) Consensus building

Question 19

Demonstrations by Tea Party protesters and other supporters indicated their dislike of government spending, health care reform legislation, and similar government programs on both sides of the aisle. In this case, the ideas expressed are an example of which of the following?

A) Consensus opinion
B) Divisive opinion
C) Negative opinion
D) Nonopinion
E) Polarity opinion

Question 20

What is the general impact of public opinion on government action?

A) It strictly determines government action.
B) It does not impact government action.
C) It sets broad limits on government action.
D) It only affects government action on issues that are part of election campaigns.
E) It impacts only the highest office holders at the national level.

Question 21

Which of the following describes an individual's status that is  based on a combination of education, occupational status, and income?

A) Bimodal
B) Partisan
C) Political
D) Skewed
E) Socioeconomic

Question 22

Today, how are most polls conducted?

A) Face-to-face interviews
B) The telephone
C) Mail surveys
D) Radio broadcasts
E) Straw voting

Question 23

As parental and school influences wane in adulthood, which of the following emerges as a more important socialization agent?

A) Families
B) Political parties
C) Historical references
D) The current presidents
E) Adult peer groups and mass media

Question 24

When was modern polling developed?

A) In the 1890s by Literary Digest
B) In the 1930s by George Gallup
C) In the 1940s at Harvard University
D) In the 1960s at the Census Bureau
E) In the 1970s by Zogby and Nielsen

Question 25

Which of the following best describes the views of African Americans on issues of social welfare, civil liberties, and foreign policy?

A) They are more likely to be Republican than whites.
B) They are more liberal than whites.
C) They are more likely to be politically neutral.
D) They are more conservative than whites.
E) They are more apolitical than whites.

Question 26

To accurately represent the target population, a small sample should be which of the following?

A) Randomly selected
B) Representative of the whole group
C) Representative in terms of demographic traits (age, region, religion, race, etc.)
D) Representative in terms of opinions
E) All of these are correct.

Question 27

Which of the following describes voters who exhibit high degrees of religiosity and attend services regularly, regardless of church affiliation?

A) More likely to vote Republican
B) More likely to vote Democratic
C) More likely to vote for Independent and third-party candidates
D) Less likely to vote at all
E) Similar to the overall population in their political preferences

Question 28

Which of the following statements concerning gender and political beliefs is incorrect?

A) Women are more likely to favor government action to promote equality.
B) Women are more likely to favor affirmative action.
C) Men are less likely to favor increased spending on social programs.
D) Men are more likely to favor the death penalty.
E) Women are more likely to favor the death penalty.

Question 29

In polling, the difference between the sample's results and those that would have been obtained had the entire population been interviewed is known as which of the following?

A) A failure of randomness
B) A sampling error
C) Unlikely to happen at all
D) Likely to be very large
E) A statistical miscalculation

Question 30

Jewish voters tend to do which of the following?

A) Vote for candidates who are politically conservative
B) Vote at a lower rate than Protestants
C) Focus almost totally on domestic issues
D) Have more liberal views than average on economic and cultural issues
E) Have similar views to the overall population on political issues

Question 31

Which of the following best reflects the reason why Literary Digest was incorrect in its prediction of the 1936 presidential election?

A) Its readers were asked to guess as to the outcome, rather than offering up their own opinions.
B) It had not obtained a random sample of the population.
C) Its readers were generally wealthy and not reflective of the population at large.
D) Its readers were asked to guess as to the outcome, rather than offering up their own opinions, and it had not obtained a random sample of the population.
E) It had not obtained a random sample of the population, and its readers were generally wealthy and not reflective of the population at large.

Question 32

Which of the following refers to a challenging issue in the science of research polling?

A) The decline in importance of political polling
B) The lack of scientific research at the university level
C) The relatively low cost of Internet polling
D) The growth of the Hispanic population
E) The growth of cell phones

Question 33

"Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for Congressman Jones, who voted to raise your taxes 22 times?" Which type of poll includes this kind of question?

A) Media poll
B) Quota poll
C) Pull poll
D) Push poll
E) Gallup poll

Question 34

The generational effect refers to which of the following?

A) The way in which political socialization produces opinions
B) Increased tension between the two major political parties
C) Tendency for persons to become more conservative as they grow older
D) Long-lasting impact of significant events of a particular time on the generation that came of age at that time
E) The way in which the family influences opinions

Question 35

Which of the following refers to the principle of randomness in public opinion polling?

A) Every individual sampled decreases the risk of bias error.
B) Every individual can choose to participate or decline participation in the opinion poll.
C) Every individual in the population is sampled.
D) Every individual has a known and equal chance of being sampled.
E) Every individual sampled has a unique perspective on the issues.

Question 36

American women are more likely to support which of the following?

A) Capital punishment
B) Restrictions on access to abortions
C) Social welfare programs
D) Military interventions abroad
E) Legislation restricting the rights of homosexuals

Question 37

Which of the following describes the gender gap?

A) It is the difference in voter turnout among men and women.
B) It is the long-standing history of women favoring Republicans over Democrats.
C) It is the tendency of women to be more conservative than men.
D) It is the tendency of women to be more libertarian than men.
E) It is the difference in the percentage of women voting for a certain candidate and the percentage of men doing the same.

Question 38

The contemporary political "gender gap" refers to the tendency of women to do which of the following?

A) Identify more with the Democratic Party than men do
B) Vote less than men do
C) Favor female candidates for office over male candidates
D) Pay less attention to politics than men do
E) Vote more for Republican candidates than men do

Question 39

The difference between the percentage of women who vote for a particular candidate and the percentage of men who vote for that candidate is called which of the following?

A) The gender gap
B) The generational effect
C) The gendered opinion
D) The lifestyle effect
E) The sexist gap

Question 40

Which of the following are the major agents of early socialization in the United States?

A) Religion and social class
B) Family, religion, and political party
C) Family, school, community, and peers
D) School and social class
E) Economics, television, and the Internet

Question 41

Analyze the distinction between consensus and divisive opinion.

Question 42

The 2012 presidential campaign was noteworthy for the large use of social media to do which of the following?

A) Gather votes that could not be counted in traditional polling places
B) Register new voters from minority communities
C) Mobilize voters between the ages of 54 and 70 to "get out the vote"
D) Promote candidates in place of traditional political campaigns
E) Connect with voters who do not watch television or read newspapers

Question 43

Which of the following is true of push polls?

A) They have been determined to be illegal in twenty-three states.
B) They are always conducted face to face rather than by telephone.
C) They are so controversial that very few candidates have chosen to use them.
D) They were used widely in the 1960s and 1970s, but when they became associated with the dirty politics of those eras, they were disregarded by most candidates.
E) They are designed to disseminate negative information about a candidate.

Question 44

A random sample refers to which of the following?

A) Every person in the target population has an equal chance of being selected.
B) There is no pre-planning in the selection process.
C) Every person in the target population who is encountered is selected.
D) Researchers decide how many persons of certain types they need in the survey.
E) The poll is unscientific.

Question 45

Why are Internet polls not necessarily accurate?

A) Most women are not on the Internet.
B) Most men are not on the Internet.
C) Most African Americans are not on the Internet.
D) They lack a random sample.
E) It is impossible to weight the sample.

Question 46

Which of the following is true as confidence in government falls?

A) Fewer people become more extreme in their ideologies.
B) Fewer people believe that problems facing the country are immediate.
C) Fewer people embrace a shared political culture and norms of political behavior.
D) Fewer people can name an important issue facing the country.
E) Fewer people are interested in the workings of government.

Question 47

Evaluate the extent to which public opinion influences government decision making.

Question 48

Which of the following is the most important principle in sampling?

A) The sample size
B) Randomness
C) Integrity of the pollster
D) Prior experience
E) Population characteristics

Question 49

Those who are most active on social networks urging political action tend to be  which of the following?

A) Individuals in the middle of the political spectrum
B) Individuals at the furthest conservative and liberal ends of the political spectrum
C) Individuals who feel fully disenfranchised from political action
D) Individuals who are generally uninterested in partisan politics
E) Individuals who are older than most elected officials

Question 50

The decline in public support for progressive policies such as welfare and extended health care can be linked to which of the following?

A) Declining political trust
B) Declining political socialization
C) Increasing party identification
D) Increasing unemployment rates
E) Increasing voter turnout

Question 51

Which of the following declined in usage as an essential social media platform in the 2016 election cycle?

A) Tumblr
B) Vine
C) Snapchat
D) Facebook
E) Twitter

Question 52

Which of the following refers to a "poll" where respondents are given misleading information in the questions they are asked in order to persuade them to vote against a candidate?

A) Convention polls
B) Publicity polls
C) Push polls
D) Scientific polls
E) Pundit polls

Question 53

Twitter was utilized during the 2012 presidential election by which of the following?

A) Traditional network media outlets to document voting trends
B) Quinnipiac University to poll voters about their voting behavior
C) The Tea Party to rally voters for President Obama
D) Older voters in support of candidates, rather than young voters under the age of 30
E) Mitt Romney to concede, which was retweeted over 7 million times

Question 54

Why do cell phones present a problem for pollsters?

A) It is impossible to randomly select cell phone numbers.
B) Cell phone companies charge pollsters to make calls.
C) Cell phone owners increasingly do not have landlines.
D) Cell phones are more common among older Americans.
E) Most cell phone users have a landline, thus resulting in being "double polled."

Question 55

About 86 percent of Americans indicated that economic issues were the most important problem facing the United States during which of the following?

A) Every year from 2001 through 2016
B) Every presidential election year
C) The 2008-2009 global recession
D) The 2012 presidential election cycle
E) The 2016 presidential election cycle

Question 56

Technology was used in the Arab Spring to do which of the following?

A) Advance revolution and coalesce public opinion
B) Poll participants on their feelings about the uprisings
C) Permit voters to participate in online elections
D) Allow government leaders in power to deal with threats from revolutionaries
E) Silence oppressive regimes by hacking into government websites

Question 57

A sample size that is which of the following will more accurately represent the population?

A) Neutral
B) Male-oriented
C) Smaller
D) Female-oriented
E) Random

Question 58

To whom is polling important during presidential primary contests?

A) Candidates, contributors, and voters
B) Candidates but not contributors
C) Voters but not contributors
D) Media but not candidates
E) Voters but not candidates or contributors

Question 59

Which of the following factors best determines the accuracy of the sample?

A) Randomness of sample
B) A smaller sample
C) Location of the sample
D) Amount of time during which the sample was conducted
E) Year sample is taken

Question 60

Gallup or Roper pollsters generally interview about how many respondents for a nationwide sample?

A) 150
B) 1,500
C) 10,500
D) 15,000
E) 150,000

Question 61

How does socialization affect partisanship, ideology, and public opinion?

Question 62

Describe how political opinions are formed, and mention at least three major influencers.

Question 63

Evaluate the extent to which demographic variables such and race and education impact public opinion.

Question 64

Regarding public opinion, what is meant by the gender gap?

Question 65

How is gender related to political beliefs and opinion?

Question 66

Explain the ways in which cell phones have affected polling and why this issue is important.

Question 67

What challenges are associated with accurate public opinion polling, and how can these challenges be overcome?

Question 68

Discuss three factors that might distort public opinion results collected through opinion polling.

Question 69

Why is a random sample important in polling?

Question 70

Identify and discuss the factors that can cause poll results to be wrong.

Question 71

What is a push poll? When is it used?

Question 72

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

Question 73

Discuss how assessing public opinion has changed since the 1930s.

Question 74

Explain the principle of randomness in polling, and connect this principle to at least one other technique or problem in polling.

Question 75

Describe two of the earliest sources of political socialization and another source that grows in importance as Americans reach adulthood.

Question 76

Evaluate the extent to which the gender gap impacts voter behavior.

Question 77

Evaluate the extent to which economic issues are the main determinant in voting behavior.

Question 78

Analyze how key demographic factors shape voting behavior.

Question 79

Analyze the ways in which technology has impacted the political process.

Question 80

How do race and ethnicity play a major role in shaping political beliefs and public opinion? Support your response with specific examples.