question

A plebiscite is ______.

answer

e. a popular vote on national policy issues

question

Public opinion not only should matter but also does matter in American politics because ______.

answer

d. politicians and the media act as if it matters

question

One advantage of direct contact between elected officials and the public versus the use of public opinion polls is that direct contact ______.

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b. makes it less likely that certain public concerns will be overlooked

question

If you are conducting a horse race poll, you want your sample to comprise ______. a. an overrepresentation of those with more education

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b. likely voters

question

According to studies, Americans tend to be ______.

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b. not very knowledgeable about politics

question

Regarding tolerance, Americans are generally ______.

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a. supportive of general issues, such as free speech, but less supportive when asked to extend rights to unpopular groups

question

Which of the following is NOT an argument put forth by the textbook's authors?

answer

d. In many ways, less educated people are more tolerant than educated people.

question

Tolerance is a key democratic value because ______.

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e. it is a prerequisite for compromise

question

Compared to other industrialized nations, the United States ranks ______ in voter participation.

answer

a. near the bottom

question

American voter turnout for national elections is ______.

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c. the lowest, or among the lowest, among industrialized nations

question

According to the text, the current process of political socialization in the United States ______.

answer

b. trains us to support and obey the existing political system

question

Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the textbook as an agent of socialization?

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f. all of the above are mentioned

question

Of the following, which pair of items concerning socialization is NOT linked properly?

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e. the media and ideological orientation

question

The textbook does NOT argue the following:

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b. Self-interest is a source of agreement in public opinion.

question

Self-interest is a source of ______.

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a. agreement in society

question

Education is a source of all of the following EXCEPT this:

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b. apathy

question

A plebiscite is a popular vote on national policy issues.

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a. True

question

Which of the following statements concerning the roles of ideology and partisanship in shaping public opinion is NOT true?

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e. Most Americans are too moderate or nonpartisan for these concepts to have much influence on them.

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A citizen's ability to hold democratic beliefs, including the acceptance that politics is about compromise, is called ______.

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b. democratic enlightenment

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Which of these statements concerning the relationship between age and opinions is NOT true?

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a. People tend to become more politically engaged as they become middle aged and older.

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Compared to other industrialized nations, the United States ranks in the top five percent in voter participation.

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b. False

question

Which of the following statements is NOT true?

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b. Blacks are less likely than whites to favor prayer in public schools.

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Which of the following is NOT true regarding religion?

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d. Catholics are strongly Republican.

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The collective decisions of citizens reflect a greater level of knowledge than public opinion polls reflect because of all of the following EXCEPT this:

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b. the desire to hide our real views from pollsters

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The portion of the population selected to participate in a poll is known as the ______.

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e. sample

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The relationship between sample size and sampling error is ______.

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b. the larger the sample, the smaller the sampling error will be

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When politicians try to determine public opinion by listening to their supporters and friendly interest groups, they are likely to face the problem of ______.

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c. sample bias

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Unscientific polls that are often conducted by newspapers and politicians to determine who is ahead in a political race are called ______ polls.

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a. straw

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With respect to constructing survey questions, all of the following statements are true EXCEPT this one:

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e. Surveys tend to underestimate the racial tolerance of the American people.

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Sampling error refers to ______.

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e. a number that indicates within what range the results of a poll are accurate

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Today, the most likely cause of sampling bias in polls is ______.

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e. when a person is picked for the sample and he or she cannot be contacted or refuses to participate

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One concern about the wording of questions in polls is that the person being sampled will be unfamiliar with a subject and thereby ______.

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e. give responses solely based on cues picked up from the context of the interview or the question

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Benchmark polls ______.

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b. are instrumental in designing campaign strategy

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Benchmark polls and tracking polls are two types of ______.

answer

a. campaign polls

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Rational ignorance refers to ______.

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b. the state of being uninformed about politics because the cost in time and energy does not produce tangible or measurable results

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The process by which citizens take their political cues from more well-informed opinion leaders is known as ______.

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a. the two-step flow of information

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The role of public opinion in government today is strongly debated because ______.

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a. on the one hand, we want our opinions to be heard, but on the other hand, we don't want politicians to blindly follow public opinion

question

The authors of the textbook argue that public opinion matters because ______.

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e. politicians and the media treat public opinion as if it matters

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The authors of the textbook argue that Americans behave as ideal citizens as ______, although as ______ they do not.

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a. a group; individuals

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We can conclude from the history of polling that ______.

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d. polls are reliable only when they are timely and have been conducted using the proper procedures

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If you are to be a critical watcher of polls, among the issues of concern are all of the following EXCEPT this:

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b. Does the poll agree with your position?

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Good survey questions meet all of the following criteria EXCEPT this one:

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b. They are always short.

question

Which of the following is NOT true regarding polling?

answer

e. A poll that showed Candidate A with 48 percent of the vote and Candidate B with 45 percent of the vote, with a sampling error of 3 percent, means that we can be 95 percent sure that Candidate A is leading.

question

Which of the following statements concerning sampling bias is NOT true?

answer

b. The chief source of sampling bias today is nonresponse.???

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Public opinion pollsters will often ask respondents their opinions on complex issues and public policies. Research indicates these questions are most likely used to ______.

answer

d. ask respondents to express an opinion about something they do not know

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A survey question such as, "Do you support or oppose being allowed to take the Lifetime Learning Credit during years in which you pay for postsecondary education with a distribution from an education IRA?" is problematic because ______.

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c. it is likely that few people have thought about the issue

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Tracking polls are significant because they ______.

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a. are able to catch daily changes in public opinion that other horse race polls cannot

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Which of the following statements concerning exit polls is NOT true?

answer

b. They are a form of pseudo-poll.

question

Internet polls are ______.

answer

a. unreliable

question

The authors conclude that, in general, the accuracy of election polls is ______.

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a. quite good

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Which of the following statements concerning technology and polling is NOT true?

answer

e. Autodialing is one method of overcoming the problems caused by citizen reliance on cell phones.

question

he danger of majority tyranny in a democracy most likely would result from ______.

answer

a. majority rule without the tempering influence of debate and discussion

question

citizen's ability to hold democratic beliefs, including the acceptance that politics is about compromise, is called ______.

answer

a. democratic enlightenment.

question

The gender gap is especially large on issues of ______.

answer

b. violence

question

According to the text, the current process of political socialization in the United States trains us to support and obey the existing political system.

answer

a. True

question

In recent years, ideology has become a more important factor in creating political divisions in American society.

answer

B. False

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