Which of the following is a good formal definition of politics?
a. The process through which individuals and groups reach agreement on a course of common action even as they continue to disagree on he goals of the action
b. A two-party system that governs
a. The process through which individuals and groups reach agreement on a course of common action even as they continue to disagree on he goals of the action
Which of the following is an example of collective action?
a. A person choosing to purchase a new cell phone
b. A member of Congress writing a letter to a constituent
c. A king imposing a tax on his subjects
d. A neighborhood watch group deciding how to p
d. A neighborhood watch group deciding how to patrol the streets
Political institutions include which of the following?
a. Training centers for party operatives and campaign workers
b. The official buildings where government employees work
c. The places where the formers Yugoslav government put dissidents
d. A set of r
d. A set of rules prescribing a political process for reaching and enforcing collective agreements
Which of the following is true of the constitution of a nation?
a. It creates barriers to collective agreements so as to ensure that the political process does not get captured by special interests
b. It creates the governing institutions and set of rules
b. It creates the governing institutions and set of rules prescribing the political process these new institutions must follow to reach and enforce collective agreements
The U.S. Constitution was intended to do which of the following?
a. Resolve a contested election that occurred under the Articles of Confederation
b. Permanently advantage some economic interests over others
c. Reassure diverse interests that they would b
c. Reassure diverse interests that they would be better off under the new system
Which of the following is a formal definition of government?
a. Any institution that relies on force to implement its decisions
b. Those institutions created by a constitution and the legally prescribed process for making and enforcing collective agreemen
b. Those institutions created by a constitution and the legally prescribed process for making and enforcing collective agreements
The difference between authority and power is which of the following?
a. Authority is seized and power is given
b. Power describes the formal parameters of influence while authority describes the informal parameters of influence
c. Authority is the right
c. Authority is the right to make a particular decision and power is the actual influence the institution has over that action
Institutions tend to be:
a. subject to public referenda for purposes of approval
b. stable and resistant to change
c. completely revamped with each change in power
d. easy to reform and relatively easy to abolish
b. stable and resistant to change
Which of the following does not explain why institutions are stable and resistant to change?
a. People affected by institutions make plans on the assumption that current arrangements will remain
b. Authority is assigned to the institutions not to individu
c. The specific authority of each institution prevents any changes from occurring
Collective action" refers to which of the following?
a. Whether people participate in their government
b. The efforts of a group to reach and implement agreements
c. Action by an individual on behalf of the collective, usually without the collective's pe
b. The efforts of a group to reach and implement agreements
Coordination problems:
a. generally decrease as groups get larger because the stakes are lower
b. represent a trade-off with the prisoner's dilemma
c. can never be solved
d. can be solved by larger groups by delegation and self-enforcing rules
d. can be solved by larger groups by delegation and self-enforcing rules
A "prisoner's dilemma" arises in which of the following instances?
a. Whenever individuals who ultimately would benefit from cooperating with each other also have a a power and irresistible incentive to break the agreement and exploit the other side
b. Wh
a. Whenever individuals who ultimately would benefit from cooperating with each other also have a a power and irresistible incentive to break the agreement and exploit the other side
The free-rider problem describes:
a. the tendency of individuals to defect from group activity in favor of their own interests
b. the challenges associated with balancing transaction and conformity costs
c. the costless consumption of public good by a lar
d. the decision of an individual to withhold his or her contribution from collective group action
The problem that arises from the costless consumption by a large number of individuals of a public good that results in its ruination is called
a. a perfectly elastic supply curve
b. institutional rigidity
c. tragedy of the commons
d. an imperfect market
c. tragedy of the commons
The tragedy of the commons can be solved through
a. regulation and public goods
b. regulation and privatization
c. transaction costs and privatization
d. conformity costs and free riding
b. regulation and privatization
What are transaction costs?
a. the costs only associated with the enactment of laws
b. the money necessary to inhibit specific types of actions
c. the costs only associated with buying and selling of goods
d. the time, effort and resources required to mak
d. the time, effort and resources required to make collective decisions
A parliamentary system is different from a presidential system primarily for which of the following reasons?
a. There is no difference; they are essentially the same
b. In a parliamentary system, the executive and legislative branches are separate
c. In a
d. In a presidential system, the executive and legislative branches are separate
Which of the following are two features of public goods?
a. They are provided according to the demands of the market and they are excludable
b. They waste taxpayers' money and provide goods no one wants
c. They are finite and paid for by individuals
d. Th
d. Their costs are borne collectively and no one can be excluded from their benefits
What was the name of the practice where Britain ceded control to the colonists to manage their own domestic affairs including taxation?
a. a parliamentary system
b. Republicanism
c. home rule
d. command authority
c. home rule
Britain responded to the Boston Tea Party with the Restraining Acts and Coercive Acts. What did these acts do?
a. Effectively declared war on the colonies
b. In part closed the Boston Harbor to all commerce, dissolved the Massachusetts Assembly, forced Am
b. In part closed the Boston Harbor to all commerce, dissolved the Massachusetts Assembly, forced Americans to quarter or house British soldiers, and ordered Americans charged with protest crimes be sent to England for trial
Thomas Jefferson articulated the real rationale for throwing off British rule in the Declaration of Independence as
a. mandating that all government officials should always be elected for fixed terms
b. embracing the divine right of kings
c. allowing slav
d. the fundamental right of self-governance
The first American Constitution created a confederation, which can best be described as which of the following?
a. A presidential system featuring a very strong executive with broad police powers
b. A highly centralized governmental system in which the na
c. A highly decentralized governmental system in which the national government derives limited authority from the states rather than directly from the citizens
Which of the following was one of the events that mobilized states behind reforming the Articles of Confederation?
a. the Boston Tea Party
b. Shays's Rebellion
c. the 1786 Annapolis Convention
d. patrick Henry's famous "Give me Liberty or Give Me Death" s
b. Shays's Rebellion
The "necessary and proper clause" of the Constitution
a. provides the judicial branch with jurisdiction over any matter the Supreme Court deems to be "necessary and proper."
b. is a historical artifact dictating the minimally proper dress code for the Hou
d. provides Congress with the authority to make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers enumerated by the Constitution
Modern presidents have asserted that the "take care clause" of Article II allows them to take whatever action the nation's well-being requires provided that which of the following is true?
a. The action is also ratified by the Senate
b. The action is not
b. The action is not expressly forbidden by the Constitution or public law
The ability of the Supreme Court to overturn federal laws and executive actions as unconstitutional is known as:
a. judicial review
b. judicial activism
c. judicial supremacy
d. judicial fiat
a. judicial review
For the purposes of representation in the House of Representatives, slaves would be:
a. counted as one-half a citizen
b. counted as a full citizen
c. counted as two-fifths a citizen
d. counted as three-fifths a citizen
d. counted as three-fifths a citizen
In short, which of the following is true about Federalist No. 51?
a. It argues that the Articles of Confederation were perfectly designed
b. Ironically, it was written by a leading Federalist who was actually opposed to the adoption of the Constitution
c.
d. It deals with the problem of how does a government control itself
Who is the ultimate arbiter of controversies involving American federalism?
a. The U.S. Department of the Interior
b. The U.S. Supreme Court
c. The President of the United States
d. The U.S. Congress
b. The U.S. Supreme Court
Which of the following is not one of the general conditions of a federal system?
a. The same people and territory are included in both levels of government
b. Each level of government must have identical powers to foster the greatest possible competition
b. Each level of government must have identical powers to foster the greatest possible competition
American federalism is which of the following?
a. A unitary form of government
b. A two-tiered system comprising the national government and the state governments
c. A three-tiered system comprising the national government, the state governments and the l
b. A two-tiered system comprising the national government and the state governments
In unitary government systems, which of the following is true?
a. Various ethnic groups are proportionally represented in a "united" parliament
b. The national government monopolizes constitutional authority
c. Local governments dictate policy to the nati
b. The national government monopolizes constitutional authority
___ occurs when national and state governments jointly supply services to the citizenry.
a. Nullification
b. Unitary government
c. Shared federalism
d. Consociationalism
c. Shared federalism
The original intent of the supremacy clause was the ensure which of the following?
a. The President was the supreme commander of the military
b. The Supreme Court had the final say on what is or is not constitutionally permitted
c. The national government
c. The national government would prevail over states when both governments were acting in a constitutionally correct manner
Which clause has the federal government utilized to expand its jurisdiction over policymaking as the scope of economic transactions has increased?
a. Supremacy
b. Necessary and proper
c. Commerce
d. Advise and consent
c. Commerce
Which amendment provides the most explicit endorsement of federalism found in the Constitution?
a. Fifth
b. Tenth
c. Fourth
d. First
b. Tenth
In the case of McCulloch v. Maryland, Chief Justice John Marshall upheld the right of the national government to create a bank based on which of the following?
a. Maryland's previous waiver of its sovereign right to prohibit the bank's establishment
b. th
c. the elastic clause in the Constitution
The net effect of the Supreme Court decisions in McCulloch v. Maryland and Gibbons v. Ogden was
a. protecting the policy responsibilities of the states via the Tenth Amendment
b. creating a powerful precedent that allowed further expansion of the national
b. creating a powerful precedent that allowed further expansion of the national government at the expense of the states
Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty are both examples of:
a. federal responses to foreign policy decisions by state executives
b. election platform slogans that did not result in policy changes
c. Republican Party initiatives
d. sudden bursts of national policymaking in which the federal government assumed jurisdiction over public policy once reserved to the states
Roosevelt's New Deal was which of the following?
a. The institutional reformation that allowed him to be elected President more than twice
b. A restructuring of the Constitution similar to the Philadelphia Convention
c. A restructuring of the distribution
d. A comprehensive set of economic regulations and relief programs intended to fight the Great Depression
To justify the New Deal's unprecedented intervention in the economy, the Roosevelt administration invoked which of the following?
a. the free commerce clause
b. the commerce clause
c. the Tenth Amendment
d. the equal protection clause
b. the commerce clause
Which of the following is a compelling strategic reason for a group to prefer national policy to state policy?
a. The national arena may be the only place in which it can hope to prevail
b. The costs of the policy are always more obvious to the public at
a. The national arena may be the only place in which it can hope to prevail
While supporters of policies often try to move decision making to the national level, recent developments surrounding abortion rights and gun rights illustrate that
a. supporters of these rights have tried to move the fights to the national level so there
d. groups losing at the national level seek smaller victories in states where they enjoy majority support
Which of the following is not a type of collective action dilemma that prompts states to ask Washington for help?
a. cutthroat competition
b. executive orders
c. coordination problems
d. reneging and shirking
b. executive orders
The use by the national government of cross-cutting requirements, crossover sanctions, direct orders and partial preemption are all examples of which of the following?
a. home rule
b. electoral rules
c. grants-in-aid
d. unfunded mandates
d. unfunded mandates
The federal government's policy of conditioning funds for highways on a state's willingness to enforce the minimum drinking age of 21 is an example of a(n):
a. imperial dictum
b. cutthroat competition
c. administrative adjudication
d. crossover sanction
d. crossover sanction
The difference between civil liberties and civil rights is best summarized by:
a. Civil liberties only apply to non-citizens
b. Civil liberties are protections from government action. Civil rights are protections by government action
c. Civil rights are t
b. Civil liberties are protections from government action. Civil rights are protections by government action
What are the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution called?
a. Decile provision
b. Bill of Rights
c. Bill of Liberties
d. Incorporated rights
b. Bill of Rights
What is the name of the process that uses the Fourteenth Amendment to make the Bill of Rights binding on the actions of state governments and not just the federal government?
a. Socialization
b. Enumeration
c. Polarization
d. Incorporation
d. Incorporation
Although the Antifederalists lost their battle against ratification of the Constitution, which of the following is true?
a. They ultimately prevailed when they orchestrated the impeachment of John Marshall
b. They ultimately prevailed when the Court struc
c. They salvaged a major political concession in the Bill of Rights, which is their chief legacy to future generations of Americans
In 1833, in the case of Barron v. Baltimore, the Supreme Court reasoned that the whole thrust of the Bill of Rights was
a. directed exclusively at restraining federal power
b. advisory in nature, directed at neither the federal government nor the states
c
a. directed exclusively at restraining federal power
Currently, the most accurate statement about the application of the Bill of Rights to the states is which of the following?
a. The Bill of Rights has been added by formal amendment to the constitution of each state
b. All of the provisions of the Bill of
c. Some of the provisions of the Bill of Rights are still not applied to the states
Which of the following statements about Supreme Court rulings on freedom of speech is most accurate?
a. The Supreme Court has provided a high level of protection to speech that is expressly political, but there are limits to even this kind of speech
b. Th
a. The Supreme Court has provided a high level of protection to speech that is expressly political, but there are limits to even this kind of speech
Which court case addressed the government's attempt to block publication of materials it deemed harmful?
a. Near v. Minnesota
b. Roe v. Wade
c. Far v. North Dakota
d. Near v. Far
a. Near v. Minnesota
The government attempting to block publication of materials it deems harmful or libelous is called:
a. Prior restraint
b. Unrealized inoculations
c. Manchurian run-around
d. Rational actor behavior
a. Prior restraint
The Supreme Court has interpreted the Fourth Amendment to allow for police searches and seizures of evidence without a warrant under all of the following circumstances, except which for which of the following?
a. When the search occurs in "hot pursuit" of
d. When using a thermal imaging device to conduct a blanket sweep of neighborhoods to search for basement marijuana fields
Which of the following is not part of the Lemon test, which addresses when government can be involved with religion? The government's action:
a. does not create excessive entanglements
b. has a secular purpose
c. neither advances nor inhibits religion
d.
d. cannot involve taking Communion
The effect of the Supreme Court's decision in Gideon v. Wainwright has been to:
a. prevent the use of the death penalty because it is cruel and unusual punishment
b. limit the admission of evidence at trial that was illegally collected
c. prevent those ac
d. ensure that defendants in criminal cases have the right to counsel through all stages of the legal process
The constitutional right to privacy is to be found in the Constitution's penumbras, which are best defined as:
a. those rights incorporated into the Constitution from the state constitutions
b. implicit zones of protected privacy rights on which the exist
b. implicit zones of protected privacy rights on which the existence of explicit rights depend
Which of the following is true about the Supreme Court's 1973 opinion in Roe v. Wade?
a. It legalized abortion despite the fact that all fifty states at the time had laws prohibiting abortion
b. It was the first case to recognize a constitutional right to
c. It ended abortion's varying legality across the states
The Dred Scott decision:
a. imposed abolition on the southern states
b. recognized the ability of the federal government to regulate slavery
c. forbid the federal government from regulating slavery in the territories
d. required the northern states to fol
c. forbid the federal government from regulating slavery in the territories
Which amendment provided that the right to vote should not be denied on account of race?
a. Fifteenth
b. Thirteenth
c. Sixteenth
d. Fourteenth
a. Fifteenth
Jim Crow laws" were which of the following?
a. Laws that created separate but clearly equal facilities for different races
b. Laws that integrated public accommodations like water fountains and schools
c. Laws adopted throughout the South to disenfranchi
c. Laws adopted throughout the South to disenfranchise black citizens and to institutionalize segregation
The poll tax, literacy tests, and grandfather clause were all mechanisms by which:
a. African Americans were ensured of their right to vote
b. African Americans were deprived of the right to vote
c. the North imposed its will on the South during Reconstru
b. African Americans were deprived of the right to vote
Which Supreme Court decision established the doctrine of "separate but equal"?
a. Plessy v. Ferguson
b. Shelley v. Kraemer
c. Dred Scott v. Sandford
d. Brown v. Board of Education
a. Plessy v. Ferguson
The Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka is most notable for which of the following reasons?
a. It struck down the separate but equal doctrine established by Plessy v. Ferguson
b. It marked the Supreme Court's first acceptance
a. It struck down the separate but equal doctrine established by Plessy v. Ferguson
The 1970 extension of the Voting Rights Act required which of the following with regard to ballots?
a. Ballots be available in Spanish where at least 5 percent of the population is Hispanic
b. Ballots be available in Mandarin Chinese where at least 5 perc
a. Ballots be available in Spanish where at least 5 percent of the population is Hispanic
In short, two-year terms in the House of Representatives were designed by the Framers of the Constitution to do which of the following?
a. Ensure that incumbents would always lose reelection
b. Keep the House subordinate to the other branches of governmen
c. Keep the House as close to the people as possible
Which institution of government does the U.S. population tend to trust the least?
a. Supreme Court
b. Congress
c. Presidency
d. Environmental Protection Agency
b. Congress
One aspect of the Senate designed to insulate it from transient shifts in public mood is which of the following?
a. The President can veto any business on the Senate agenda
b. Senators cannot simultaneously run for other offices
c. The entire Senate stand
d. Only one-third of the Senate's membership stands for reelection every two years
One major difference between the House of Representatives and the Senate is which of the following?
a. The members of the House of Representatives were originally chosen by the executive cabinet; senators were elected
b. The Senate allocates seats by popu
c. The House allocates seats by population; the Senate is composed of two members from each state
The qualifications for office for the Senate and the House of Representatives contained in the Constitution differ by which of the following?
a. Whether a felony conviction disqualifies a candidate
b. Age and length of citizenship
c. The limitations on nu
b. Age and length of citizenship
Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution contains:
a. the specific powers of the U.S. House of Representatives
b. the specific powers of the Supreme Court
c. the specific powers of the U.S. Senate
d. the specific powers of the U.S. Congress
d. the specific powers of the U.S. Congress
The "necessary and proper clause":
a. limits Congress to only performing the essential acts of government
b. provides lawmakers with the single most expansive grant of power in the Constitution so lawmakers have authority over many different spheres of pu
b. provides lawmakers with the single most expansive grant of power in the Constitution so lawmakers have authority over many different spheres of public policy
All of the following are among the powers explicitly given to Congress except:
a. the power to declare war
b. the power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce
c. the power to coin and borrow money
d. the power to override a presidential veto with a s
d. the power to override a presidential veto with a simple majority vote
In distributing power between the House and the Senate, the final compromise regarding the authority to raise or spend money required that bills raising revenue originate in which of the following?
a. The Senate, with the house having an unrestricted righ
c. The House, with the Senate having an unrestricted right to amend them
Which of the following is NOT a way in which the executive branch can further the balance of power between branches?
a. recommending new laws
b. the president only invites his/her friends to parties at the White House
c. calling Congress into special sess
b. the president only invites his/her friends to parties at the White House
Proportional representation gives a party which of the following?
a. A limited ability to be represented in the legislature, as the party only gets to be involved in a small proportion of the votes cast
b. A share of seats in the legislature matching the
b. A share of seats in the legislature matching the share of votes it wins on election day
Which of the following statements about the differences between presidential and parliamentary systems is true?
a. Most parliamentary systems use plurality voting
b. Members of Congress are elected separately from the president
c. A monarch makes laws in
b. Members of Congress are elected separately from the president
Which of the following statements about congressional districts in the House of Representatives is accurate?
a. The Constitution requires that the geographic size of each congressional district needs to be substantially similar
b. Population movements hav
b. Population movements have meant that states in the south and the west have gained seats at the expensive of industrial states in the northeast and Midwest
The term gerrymander refers to which of the following?
a. The exclusion of reelection as a consideration in a congressional redistricting
b. Establishing randomly drawn districts to ensure that no party has an unfair advantage
c. The electoral strategy us
d. The extensive manipulation of the shape of a legislative district to benefit a certain incumbent or party
Which of the following is true about the way U.S. senators are now chosen?
a. They continue to be chosen by state legislatures today, although many states hold elections that guide the legislatures regarding the people's choice
b. Since 1913, senators hav
d. Since 1913, senators have been elected by the people because of the Fourteenth Amendment and the gerrymander
Which of the following statements about congressional elections is most accurate?
a. Reelection matters very little since there is frequent turnover in Congress.
b. Reelection only matters for members of the majority party
c. Reelection matters in the Hou
d. Winning reelection is essential to everything members want to achieve in office as is the party winning the majority
The two broad categories of types of Congressional elections are:
a. elite and mass centered
b. salient and irrelevant
c. Jacobian and Hessian
d. candidate and party centered
d. candidate and party centered
Holding a political office for which one is running is called:
a. Incumbency
b. Infanticide
c. Corruption
d. Absolutism
a. Incumbency
While each member of Congress pursues a strategy that makes them better off individually, but they wind up shackled with collective blame for the overall consequences. What is this an example of?
a. Free-rider problem
b. Agency loss
c. Coordination proble
d. Prisoner's dilemma
In midterm elections:
a. the President runs for reelection so it provides a boost to all of the candidates from his party running for reelection
b. the President's performance or that of the economy has little effect on explaining the outcome of midterm e
c. the President's party often loses seats, but the size of the losses depends on the performance of the economy and the President
Because candidate-centered electoral processes give members of Congress far more incentive to be individually responsive than collectively responsible, which of the following is also true?
a. The pursuit of reelection makes logrolling an attractive strate
a. The pursuit of reelection makes logrolling an attractive strategy
Which of the following is NOT an example of the incumbency advantage:
a. immunity from prosecution
b. patronage
c. casework
d. name recognition
a. immunity from prosecution
Despite a sharp increase in diversity in the 1990s, Congress remains overwhelmingly white and male because of which of the following?
a. White males still predominate in the lower-level public offices and private careers that are the most common stepping-
a. White males still predominate in the lower-level public offices and private careers that are the most common stepping-stones to Congress
The Speaker of the House:
a. is largely a ceremonial position filled by the Secretary of State
b. is elected by the reigning majority and serves as the party's leader and agent with the power to appoint committees, make rules, and manage the legislative p
b. is elected by the reigning majority and serves as the party's leader and agent with the power to appoint committees, make rules, and manage the legislative process
Political parties in Congress
a. have witnessed the Democratic Party become more unified and more ideologically homogeneous while Republicans remain fractured into competing coalitions
b. have grown more unified with higher levels of support on party unit
b. have grown more unified with higher levels of support on party unity votes as well as becoming more polarized along ideological lines
What type of committee exists from one Congress to the next unless it is explicitly disbanded?
a. Select
b. Conference
c. Standing
d. Ad hoc
c. Standing
Which of the following statements about parties in Congress is accurate?
a. Article I of the Constitution dictates the establishment of political parties to make it easier to resolve differences between the chambers
b. Organizational reforms have reduced
c. Party leaders assemble and maintain party coalitions, but they need tools to encourage cooperation, and members have to sacrifice some independence
Which is true of most bills proposed in Congress?
a. Most bills require unanimous approval
b. Most bills die in committee
c. Most bills are ceremonial
d. Most bills get passed easily
b. Most bills die in committee
Which of the following is required for a congressional override of a presidential veto?
a. A simple majority vote in each chamber
b. A two-thirds vote in at least one chamber and a simple majority in the other
c. A two-thirds vote in each chamber
d. A thr
c. A two-thirds vote in each chamber
In order to end a Senate filibuster it requires 60 votes. This is called:
a. Rule making
b. Cloture
c. Logrolling
d. Gerrymandering
b. Cloture
The desire to hold the office of the president presents a paradox in that:
a. Presidents are always more popular when they leave office than when they entered
b. Presidents usually leave office less popular than they were when they entered office
c. Presi
b. Presidents usually leave office less popular than they were when they entered office
Who was the first president to take an expansive view of presidential powers under the "take care" clause?
a. Barack Obama
b. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
c. Theodore Roosevelt
d. Richard Nixon
c. Theodore Roosevelt
The Constitutional basis of the presidency is found in:
a. Article II
b. There is no Constitutional basis of the presidency
c. Article XV
d. Article 1
a. Article II
In order to be elected president, one must be:
a. younger than 78
b. at least 35 years old
c. there are no age restrictions
d. at least 50 years old
b. at least 35 years old
Compared with its nineteenth-century counterpart, which of the following is true about the modern cabinet?
a. It is much more powerful and more of a stepping-stone to the White House
b. It has lost much of its luster as offices with real political clout
c
b. It has lost much of its luster as offices with real political clout
The most important limitation of the president in foreign affairs is:
a. that a two-thirds majority of both chambers is required to ratify treaties
b. that a two-thirds majority of the Senate is required to ratify treaties
c. that a two-thirds majority of
b. that a two-thirds majority of the Senate is required to ratify treaties
Congress's authority to declare war is, in most respects, a hollow check, for which of the following reasons?
a. Because presidents can order an extended military engagement without a declaration of war
b. Because a declaration of war must be submitted to
a. Because presidents can order an extended military engagement without a declaration of war
Presidents can sidestep treaty rejections through
a. the supremacy clause of the Constitution
b. the necessary and proper clause of the Constitution
c. executive agreements which are exempt from Senate ratification
d. the privileges and immunities clause
c. executive agreements which are exempt from Senate ratification
The institutionalized presidency describes:
a. the set of offices and staff created to assist the President
b. the various Cabinet positions created to manage the executive branch
c. the formal powers of the President
d. the division of powers among vario
a. the set of offices and staff created to assist the President
The Constitution gives presidents a modest role in the legislative arena including which of the following?
a. Signing statements
b. The veto and the ability to call Congress into special session
c. The right to dissolve Congress and schedule new elections
b. The veto and the ability to call Congress into special session
What is the name of the strategy presidents use to promote their policies by engaging in intensive public relations to induce cooperation fro other elected officeholders?
a. Plebiscitary politics
b. Veto bargaining
c. Home styles
d. Going public
d. Going public
When the president's opposition party controls one or both legislative chambers, this is called:
a. Divided government
b. Unified government
c. Illustrious deference
d. Corrupt bargaining
a. Divided government
The model bureaucracy is best described as which of the following?
a. an economic market
b. a hierarchical structure in which commands flow upward and information flows downward
c. a purposive machine with interchangeable human parts designed to facilitat
c. a purposive machine with interchangeable human parts designed to facilitate collective action while enabling principals to control agents
Bureaucracies are involved in all of the following EXCEPT:
a. implementation
b. confirming Supreme Court nominations
c. service regulation
d. policy making
b. confirming Supreme Court nominations
Originally, the first three departments in the executive branch were which of the following?
a. Interior, Treasury, and HUD
b. War, Interior, and Justice
c. Treasury, Energy, and Justice
d. Treasury, Foreign Affairs, and War
d. Treasury, Foreign Affairs, and War
Which president is credited with introducing the spoils system for staffing the bureaucracy?
a. Abraham Lincoln
b. Andrew Jackson
c. Millard Filmore
d. Hubert Humphrey
b. Andrew Jackson
The Pendleton Act, the basis for the modern civil service, initially did which of the following?
a. Put about 10 percent of federal jobs under the merit system
b. Put all federal jobs under the merit system
c. Removed about 85 percent of federal jobs from
a. Put about 10 percent of federal jobs under the merit system
What does the history of the President's Cabinet tell us about the political history of the United States?
a. it paints a picture of the succession of social and economic interests that have become powerful enough to command this level of political recogn
a. it paints a picture of the succession of social and economic interests that have become powerful enough to command this level of political recognition
Why was the creation of the Department of the Interior a major victory for members of Congress from the western states?
a. It meant that the government would pay more attention to their constituents' concerns: public lands, natural resources, and Native A
a. It meant that the government would pay more attention to their constituents' concerns: public lands, natural resources, and Native American affairs
Why did the Departments of Agriculture, Labor, and Commerce represent a new type of agency?
a. Unlike prior departments, which served general social purposes, each of these departments was established to serve the particular clientele indicated by its tit
a. Unlike prior departments, which served general social purposes, each of these departments was established to serve the particular clientele indicated by its title
Which of the following is true about the Department of Energy?
a. It was abolished by President Ronald Reagan and its duties moved to the Department of the Interior
b. It was created by President Jimmy Carter as a political response to the energy shortage
b. It was created by President Jimmy Carter as a political response to the energy shortage of the 1970s and a declaration of his administration's commitment to securing adequate supplies of energy for the nation
The CIA is an example of which of the following?
a. A non-Cabinet-level department
b. A Cabinet-level department
c. An independent executive agency
d. A department under control of the military
c. An independent executive agency
Independent government corporations
a. provide most public services in the United States and do so free of any political interference
b. represent decisions by the government to take over the means of production during national emergencies
c. deliver the
c. deliver the kinds of services usually provided by private corporations
One problem with the top-down approach in the bureaucracy is that it is difficult for the top of the hierarchy to effectively direct the actions of those at the bottom. This problem is referred to as:
a. known unknowns
b. disruptive malfunctions
c. prelim
d. agency leakage
Which of the following is true about the rules that agencies make?
a. They are advisory only and do not bind the agencies
b. They are subject to confirmation by the Senate and authorization by the President
c. They can be vetoed by the executive but not c
d. They have the force of law; however, the agencies give Congress official advance notice of possible political fallout through the public notice of proposed rules
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is best described as which of the following?
a. The accounting subdivision of the Department of Homeland Security
b. The President's primary control instrument over the bureaucracy
c. An independent agency charged
b. The President's primary control instrument over the bureaucracy
Which of the following is considered a classic example of an iron triangle?
a. labor regulations
b. civil rights cases
c. agriculture, water, and public works
d. defense procurement
c. agriculture, water, and public works
Issue networks are which of the following?
a. Ever-changing sets of politicians, lobbyists, experts, and entrepreneurs who shape policy domains
b. News-oriented social media sites such as the Facebook page of MSNBC or Fox News
c. The formal channels of co
a. Ever-changing sets of politicians, lobbyists, experts, and entrepreneurs who shape policy domains
What purpose does 'red tape' serve in the policy process:
a. it helps principals control and monitor their agents
b. it makes reforming the bureaucracy easier
c. it serves no purpose other than to annoy interested parties
d. it helps hold policies togethe
a. it helps principals control and monitor their agents
Which of the following is a simple definition of public opinion proposed by the political scientist V.O. Key Jr.?
a. "Policy positions determined primarily by the media and political elites"
b. "Those opinions held b private persons which governments find
b. "Those opinions held b private persons which governments find it prudent to heed
Regular elections, broad suffrage, freedom of speech and the press, and freedom to join or form political organizations are significant because
a. they ensure that government leaders can simply do their jobs without worrying about public opinion
b. they a
d. they compel government leaders to take the public's opinion into account if they want to keep their jobs
What lessons about public opinion can we draw from The Federalist Papers?
a. American public opinion from the beginning has been treated as a political force to alternatively be shaped, mollified, or exploited
b. Public opinion has only played a role in A
a. American public opinion from the beginning has been treated as a political force to alternatively be shaped, mollified, or exploited
Which of the following statements about sampling is true?
a. Pollsters who can draw good samples can virtually eliminate any errors in polling
b. It is pretty easy to draw a random sample of the population in order to measure public opinion accurately
c.
d. The larger the sample the more closely the sample's answers will closely approximate the answers if the entire population could be asked
What affects the margin of error in a poll?
a. The representativeness of the sample
b. The size of the population
c. The size of the sample
d. The length of the survey
c. The size of the sample
The fact that some people in the United States may not have a telephone or only have a cell phone or refuse to participate in polls illustrates what about scientific polling?
a. No poll is completely free of the biases they introduce in drawing the sample
a. No poll is completely free of the biases they introduce in drawing the sample
Because the fit between the words and concepts used in polling questions and how people actually think about issues is never perfect, even the most carefully designed question:
a. is only right about 47 percent of the time
b. can result in an essentially
d. is subject to some measurement error
Like the vote, public opinion has its political effect as an aggregate phenomenon, but it also shares which of the following similarities to the vote?
a. It is no more than the sum of its individual parts
b. There is no need to understand the basis of ind
a. It is no more than the sum of its individual parts
Most scholars who study public opinion believe that expressed opinions
a. are solely the result of media framing
b. cannot be trusted and are not accurate
c. reflect underlying attitudes
d. seldom represent underlying attitudes
c. reflect underlying attitudes
Which of the following statements about attitudes is correct?
a. It combines feelings, beliefs, thoughts, and predispositions to react in a certain way
b. When stating opinions or casting votes, americans rarely respond in ways that express their underlyi
a. It combines feelings, beliefs, thoughts, and predispositions to react in a certain way
What is the term used to describe elaborately organized sets of political attitudes?
a. Political partisanship
b. Political socialization
c. Political ideologies
d. Political realignments
c. Political ideologies
The terms liberal and conservative
a. are the ideological labels commonly used in American politics
b. are the partisan labels commonly used in American politics
c. are the ideological labels common across the world, but not in the United States
d. have n
a. are the ideological labels commonly used in American politics
What ideological label do we use to describe those who distrust government, have greater faith in private enterprise and free markets, and are more willing to use government to enforce traditional and moral standards?
a. Liberals
b. Keynesians
c. Conserva
c. Conservatives
What is the political attitude that shapes opinions and organizes other political attitudes most consistently for most Americans?
a. Partisanship
b. Homeland security
c. Morality
d. Separation of church and state
a. Partisanship
The process of acquiring political attitudes is known as
a. political substantiation
b. political socialization
c. political reification
d. political coordination
b. political socialization
Which of the following statements about political information is true?
a. The public is surprisingly informed of basic political facts, concepts, and issues
b. People are cognitive misers who are reluctant to pay the cost of acquiring information that has
b. People are cognitive misers who are reluctant to pay the cost of acquiring information that has no practical payoff so their opinions appear to be uninformed and unstable
What is the effect of ambivalence on people's expressed opinions?
a. People discount the importance of opinion leaders and prefer to gather as much information as possible so they can make a firm decision
b. It tends to result in respondents being less li
d. The response to the pollster's questions depends on which considerations come to mind first and seem most weighty
Individual opinions sometimes may be badly informed and unstable,
a. and aggregate public opinion is uninformed and unstable
b. although only informed and stable individual opinions are considered for the purposes of aggregate public opinion
c. but aggreg
c. but aggregate public opinion is both stable and coherent
Which of the following accurately describes public opinion on economic issues?
a. Large majorities of the public believe that the private businesses should be unregulated and the things people value should be allocated by an unfettered free market
b. Ther
d. Large majorities typically support stable or increased government spending on programs that will serve or eventually serve almost everyone
Aggregate public opinion on abortion is
a. highly stable but not responsive to framing
b. unstable but acutely responsive to framing
c. unstable but also not responsive to framing
d. both highly stable and acutely sensitive to how the issue is framed
d. both highly stable and acutely sensitive to how the issue is framed
Foreign policy issues tend to be remote from the everyday experiences of most Americans, and few people pay sustained attention to foreign affairs except
a. during all election years
b. during presidential election years
c. when they live in towns with ma
d. when Americans are dying overseas
Candidates and parties trying to win elections have no choice but to
a. ignore their own differences so they can always appeal to every social group
b. ignore social groups that do not fully agree with those groups already in any given coalition
c. pick a
d. piece together coalitions out of the major social groups that constitute the raw material of politics
Elections allow ordinary citizens to, in aggregate,
a. express how they feel about government although elected officials do not take the voters' views into account when they make policy choices
b. avoid working for the duration of election day
c. essentia
d. reward or punish elected officials for their performance in office
A republic differs from a democracy because
a. republics are generally small and the people are generally responsible for making all of the major decisions
b. democracies have a large number of interests and one person is selected to mediate between the c
c. republics delegate power to a smaller number of elected citizens and republics often have a greater number of citizens and a greater sphere of country
Which of the following is true about voting in the United States prior to the American Revolution?
a. There were robust laws protecting the voting rights for blacks, Catholics, and Jews
b. Most of the colonies allowed women to vote
c. Voting was not intro
d. Every colony imposed a property qualification for voting
When was universal suffrage for white men achieved?
a. In the 1840s, in the wake of the triumph of Jacksonian democracy
b. In the early 1800s with Jefferson's first term as President
c. In the 1860s at the outset of the Civil War
d. In the 1780s at the en
a. In the 1840s, in the wake of the triumph of Jacksonian democracy
Universal suffrage for women was achieved
a. at the end of World War II with the adoption of the Universal Women's Suffrage Act
b. after the Civil War with the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment
c. in 1920 with the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment
d
c. in 1920 with the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment
Lowering the voting age to 18 in 1971 reflected
a. Supreme Court decisions that the drinking age and the voting age needed to be the same
b. a deep desire among political reformers to increase electoral turnout
c. political needs provoked by the Vietnam W
c. political needs provoked by the Vietnam War as antiwar activists were young, but supporters of the war wanted to enfranchise the troops fighting for the country
Why is it logical for citizens to not vote?
a. The benefits are collective and they enjoy the payoff even if they have not helped to produce them by voting
b. The benefits are individual, but since governments do not provide many tangible benefits, the co
a. The benefits are collective and they enjoy the payoff even if they have not helped to produce them by voting
In general, voter turnout in the United States has
a. increased drastically over time
b. stayed about the same over time
c. far exceeded turnout in other countries
d. decreased over time
d. decreased over time
What factors have the strongest influence on voting?
a. age and education
b. race and gender
c. income and race
d. race and education
a. age and education
Voters who coalesce around causes such as gun control or gun rights are
a. single-issue voters
b. typically just manipulated by a special interest group
c. not frequent voters
d. irrational supporters of politicians
a. single-issue voters
What is the most important information shortcut voters use to make predictions?
a. Party label
b. Endorsements
c. Religious affiliation
d. Advertisements about specific policy proposals
a. Party label
Issue voting is
a. made easier by party labels because the typical positions of Republicans and Democrats differ in predictable ways on many issues
b. made more difficult by party labels because the typical positions of Republicans and Democrats do not di
a. made easier by party labels because the typical positions of Republicans and Democrats differ in predictable ways on many issues
Pointed personal criticism of a candidate's opponent is called
a. negative campaigning
b. business as usual
c. I'm rubber and you're glue
d. focus group analysis
a. negative campaigning
The effect of the Supreme Court decision in Buckley v. Valeo (1976) was that
a. Congress did not have the authority to establish campaign finance laws because elections were regulated by the states
b. limits on aggregate contributions from individuals was
c. reporting requirements and contribution limits were constitutional, but limits on spending violated the free speech protections of the First Amendment
The trends in campaign spending are
a. spending has increased in presidential elections along with House and Senate elections
b. spending has decreased in presidential elections but increased in House and Senate elections
c. spending has increased in pres
a. spending has increased in presidential elections along with House and Senate elections
Spending in presidential campaigns
a. has decreased substantially since all candidates accept public financing
b. is increasingly devoted to efforts that will mobilize voters more effectively
c. is focused on television advertising especially in the battl
c. is focused on television advertising especially in the battleground states
The ultimate barrier to a more egalitarian campaign finance system is which of the following?
a. The parties oppose it
b. Such a system is expressly prohibited by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution
c. The First Amendment to the Constitution as it is
c. The First Amendment to the Constitution as it is currently interpreted by the Supreme Court is the ultimate barrier to such a system
In An Economic Theory of Democracy, Anthony Downs defined as political party as
a. a body of men united for promoting by their joint endeavors and the national interest, based on some particular principle on which they are all agreed
b. any organization t
c. a team of men seeking to control the governing apparatus by gaining office in a duly constituted election
The first American political parties emerged in Congress because
a. Article I of the Constitution required the House of Representatives be organized around the development of two parties.
b. The President was a nonpartisan figure who did not want to set a
c. legislative leaders found it advantageous to cultivate a stable group of supporters by forming durable alliances that sharply reduced the transaction costs of negotiating a winning coalition on each new proposal
Party labels
a. no longer mean anything to most members of the electorate or candidates
b. are usually downplayed during elections so voters do not normally know the party affiliation of the candidates
c. are basically misleading and tend to confuse voter
d. offer a serviceable shorthand cue that keeps voting decisions cheap and simple for the voters
The "party in government" refers to one part of a connected three-part system that is
a. dedicated to electing the party's candidates
b. an alliance of current officeholders cooperating to shape public policy
c. only the party that is affiliated with the
b. an alliance of current officeholders cooperating to shape public policy
The "party organization" refers to one part of a connected three-part system that is
a. dedicated to electing the party's candidates
b. composed of those voters who identify with the party and regularly vote for its nominees
c. an alliance of current offi
a. dedicated to electing the party's candidates
The "party in the electorate" refers to one part of a connected three-part system that is
a. only the party affiliated with the majority of the population
b. dedicated to electing the party's candidates
c. an alliance of current officeholders cooperating
d. composed of those voters who identify with the party and regularly vote for its nominees
Duverger's law explains
a. why the Electoral College is so frequently unable to choose the President
b. why in any election in which a single winner is chosen by plurality voting, there is a strong tendency for serious competitors to be reduced to two
c.
b. why in any election in which a single winner is chosen by plurality voting, there is a strong tendency for serious competitors to be reduced to two
Which of the following is true about the two-party system in the United States?
a. It is mandated by Article Ii of the Constitution
b. It is like most other modern democracies in the world
c. It was a condition before most of the original states would agr
d. It has continued with a few exceptions since shortly after the nation's founding
The system of proportional representation
a. has declined in popularity around the world because having too many legislative parties creates too much uncertainty in government
b. guarantees that no party will receive a majority
c. tends to produce more le
c. tends to produce more legislative parties, but it has never been tried in the United States on any significant scale
The earliest political parties in the United States developed around
a. the decision to purchase the Louisiana Territory and whether the United States should try to form a political union with Canada to counter European influence in North America
b. measu
b. measures designed to foster economic development and disagreements over whether the United States should have stronger ties with England or France
The Federalists, one of the first two major parties, faded as a national force when which of the following occurred?
a. Their opposition to judicial review led Congress to ban them
b. President Washington denounced them from the well of the Senate
c. Thei
c. Their pro-British leanings put them on the wrong side of the War of 1812
The years of the Monroe presidency were dubbed the Era of Good Feelings because
a. they represented the most robust economic situation ever experienced by this country
b. Monroe was reelected by acclamation and elected to a third term with no serious oppo
d. they lacked any significant party conflict
Responsibility for nominating presidential candidates during the first party system rested with the
a. party conventions
b. parties' legislative caucuses
c. state nominating conventions
d. individual candidates
b. parties' legislative caucuses
Which of the following is true about the Democratic national party convention that convened to renominate President jackson in 1832?
a. It was such a failure that no party held a national convention again until the early twentieth century
b. It was so con
d. It is considered to be the first national party convention
What was the significance of the 1840 presidential election?
a. It marked the first peaceful transfer of presidency following an election and cemented the stability of the two-party system in the United States
b. This was the first time in the history of
c. It extended organized two-party competition to every state in the nation, framing not only the contest for president but also competition for offices at all levels of government
Which of the following statements about the establishment of the Republican Party is not true?
a. It drew support from a variety of existing parties such as the Know-Nothings and dissident Democrats
b. It appealed to business and commercial interests by p
d. It was at its core a single-issue party that was devoted to the abolition of slavery
What were two of the more important reforms of the Progressive Era?
a. The "coal brigade" and the provision of civil war pensions
b. Patronage and the provision of national pensions
c. The Australian ballot and primary elections
d. The poll tax and the sp
c. The Australian ballot and primary elections
What type of election allows the party's voters to nominate candidates?
a. Realigning
b. Selection
c. Primary
d. Presidential
c. Primary
One consequence of the electoral reforms of the Progressive Era was to
a. shift the focus of electoral politics from parties to candidates
b. dramatically increase voter turnout
c. shift the focus of electoral politics from candidates to issues
d. shift t
a. shift the focus of electoral politics from parties to candidates
Which of the following issues did not cause the New Deal coalition of Democrats to begin to unravel?
a. Civil rights for African Americans
b. New economic initiatives such as housing subsidies and school nutrition programs
c. Maintaining the gold standard
c. Maintaining the gold standard
The most salient difference between the current and the New Deal party system is which of the following?
a. The newly gerrymandered Electoral College
b. The Republican Party's increased strength
c. The absence of party loyalty among voters
d. The decline
b. The Republican Party's increased strength
Over time, men have become more Republican, while women have not. This is called the
a. female prerogative
b. affirmative action
c. gender gap
d. party loyalty
c. gender gap