Pols 1100 Final Chapter 5 – Flashcards
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A key requirement of an effective ____ is that it is representative. - caucus - primary - public-opinion sample - push poll
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C - For a public opinion poll to provide accurate results, it must be used on a sample that is representative of the population it is studying. This is achieved by ensuring that the sample is large enough and is chosen randomly.
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A push poll might include a question with the following wording: -How often do you attend religious services? - Are you more likely to think ideologically when you vote? - Do you approve of President Obama's choice of Secretary of State? -Do you think it was appropriate for President Bush to lie to start a war with Iraq?
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Do you think it was appropriate for President Bush to lie to start a war with Iraq? - A push poll asks loaded questions that try to elicit the response sought by the pollster and shape the respondent's answer. In this case, the question about President Bush makes the assumption that he lied, which might provoke a biased response in the respondent.
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As opposed to a value or belief, an attitude represents - a person's goals and aspirations. - a person's basic orientation toward political culture - a general way of thinking about politics. - a person's specific preference on a particular issue.
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D - Values (or beliefs) are the basic principles that shape a person's opinions about political issues and events, but an attitude (or opinion) is a specific preference on a particular issue.
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Big government is ____________ considered a core U.S. value. - definitely - sometimes - not - often
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C - Liberty, equality of opportunity, and democracy are basic political values held by most Americans. Big government is preferred by some Americans—maybe even a sizeable portion of the population—but it is not a core value of most Americans.
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Equality of opportunity is a - political value espoused by about half of Americans. - basic political value held by most Americans. - political opinion largely held by liberals. - cultural value espoused primarily by the working class in the United States.
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B - Liberty, equality of opportunity, and democracy, for example, are basic political values held by most Americans.
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How did the media affect the Bush Administration's decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003? - It helped to disassociate the war in Iraq from the attacks of 9/11. - It made the public more aware of the potentially negative consequences of the war. - It decreased public support for the war by questioning the motives. - It helped to increase the public popularity of the preparations for war.
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D - The media mostly cooperated with the Bush Administration's persuasion efforts, presenting the administration's military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as its domestic antiterrorist efforts, in a positive light.
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If you prefer smaller government, you are probably a - liberal. - socialist. - conservative. - monarchist.
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C - Conservatives believe strongly that a large and powerful government poses a threat to the freedom of individual citizens and they tend to oppose government regulation of business.
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In contemporary politics being liberal has come to imply supporting - social reform. - the economic status quo. - the views of classic liberalism. - a small and weak government.
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A - In contemporary politics being liberal has come to imply supporting political and social reform; extensive government intervention in the economy; the expansion of federal social services; more vigorous efforts on behalf of the poor, minorities, and women; and greater concern for consumers and the environment.
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Political and voting differences between men and women are known as the ____ gap. - Gender - Generational - Ideological - Partisan
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A - Men and women have important differences of opinion on political issues, such as the greater likelihood that women will vote for Democratic candidates. This tendency of men's and women's opinions to differ is known as the gender gap.
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Political socialization is the process through which - political beliefs and values are formed. - public opinion is measured. - political learning happens. - survey research is done.
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A - The processes through which a person's underlying political beliefs and values are formed are collectively called political socialization. There are a number of major agents of socialization that shape political beliefs.
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Selection bias occurs when a sample ____ some opinions. - overrepresents or underrepresents - overrepresents or accurately represents - accurately represents or underrepresents - accurately represents or measures well
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A - Selection bias is a polling error that arises when the sample is not representative of the population being studied, which creates errors in overrepresenting or underrepresenting some opinions.
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The bandwagon effect has been particularly problematic in - state governor elections. - Senate confirmation hearings. - the presidential nomination process. - presidential elections.
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C - The so-called bandwagon effect occurs when polling results influence people to support the candidate marked as the probable victor. This is especially true in the presidential nomination process, where there may be multiple candidates within one party vying to be the party's nominee.
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The most important agent of socialization early in life is - Education - Family - Peers - Race
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B - Most people acquire their initial orientation to politics from their families. Studies find that political party preferences are initially acquired at home.
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The size of the overall population under study is ____ in determining the reliability of a poll. - Very important - Important - Not important - Irrelevant
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C - The size of the overall population that is being studied is not relevant to the reliability of a poll; however, the sample size used for the poll itself is of extreme importance.
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Until recently, the classification of "moderate" would have applied to - few Americans. - most Americans - Few Democrats - Most Democrats
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B- Until recently, most Americans considered themselves moderates, with shades of liberal or conservative values. But as of 2012, only 37 percent of people self-identified as moderate, demonstrating the growth of partisanship in the United States.
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What argument does Nicholas Carr make in his best-selling book on the Internet's effect on political knowledge and participation? - The Internet increases the political knowledge and participation of many more segments of the population. - The Internet helps a higher percentage of the population make informed political decisions. - The Internet reduces depth of thought and analysis regarding political knowledge. - The Internet increases political participation by reducing partisanship among middle-income voters.
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C - In The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, Carr argues that although the Internet may seem to be making us smarter by virtue of giving us access to more data faster than ever, it also threatens the type of intelligence that is measured by depth of thought rather than sheer speed.
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What is the state of political knowledge among Americans? - Low - High - Average Compared to other developed countries - unmeasurable
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A - Individuals with strong political knowledge can recognize their political interests and act consistently to further those interests. Unfortunately political knowledge is generally low in America.
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What kinds of questions are particularly problematic in relation to the social desirability effect? - questions about income redistribution - questions about states' rights - questions about levels of taxation - questions about race or gender
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D - Questions that ask directly about race or gender are particularly problematic with regard to social desirability bias; respondents often hide their preferences about touchy subjects like race from the interviewer for fear of social retribution.
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When a pollster asks a loaded question to shape a respondent's opinion, it is known as a - caucus - Primary - Public-opinion Sample - Push Poll
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D - Push polls are unscientific; they involve asking a respondent a loaded question about a political candidate designed to elicit the response sought by the pollster and, simultaneously, to shape the respondent's perception of the candidate in question.
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Which of the following best describes the characteristics of a "scientific" poll? - digit dialing from a small population with random selection - a sample of at least 1,000 people with no selection bias - random digit dialing with social desirability effect on a sufficiently large population - representative sample from a sufficiently large population with no selection bias
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D -A reference to a "scientific poll" means a poll that is based on a random (representative) sample of the population that is sufficiently large and avoids selection bias.
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Which of the following is one of the two major ways that low levels of political knowledge can shape American democracy? - Party power, particularly by the dominant two parties, will be lessened. - Economic inequality may actually be reduced. - Political power can more easily be manipulated by political elites, the media, and wealthy special interests. - The media will become less dominant over the news cycle.
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C- If American democracy has large numbers of people that lack political information, they cannot effectively defend their own political interests and can easily become losers in political struggles. Political power can more easily be manipulated by political elites, the media, and wealthy special interests.
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Which of the following is true of political polarization in the United States? -Political parties and elected officials have become less polarized in recent decades. - Party polarization may actually reduce levels of political knowledge. - Elite polarization may have positive implications for public-opinion formation. - Polarization tends to increase levels of trust in government over time.
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B - Polarization decreases the impact of substantive information on public opinion, meaning that party polarization may actually reduce levels of political knowledge.
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Which of the following is true of the effect of political party membership or loyalty on political orientation? -Partisan loyalty tends to be more fluid and changeable as age increases. - Political party membership or loyalty is relatively low on the spectrum of factors affecting political orientation. - Differences between Democratic and Republican partisans on a variety of political and policy questions have decreased in recent decades. - Partisans tend to rely on party leaders and the media for cues on the appropriate positions to take on major political issues.
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D - Partisans tend to rely on party leaders and the media for cues on the appropriate positions to take on major political issues. Many scholars of public opinion believe that public opinion simply reflects elite positions on policy issues.
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Which of the following views would a conservative be more likely to hold than a liberal? - concern about law and order - opposing the use of American troops in developing nations - concern about global warming - support for arms control
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A - In terms of social policy, many conservatives support school prayer and traditional family arrangements, and are concerned about law and order.
