Deck 11: Public Opinion and the Media

Question 1

Why did the nation's founders discourage a plebiscitary presidency?

A) They feared the executive would inflame popular prejudices in order to advance goals for the larger public good.
B) They wanted to ensure that the executive would tell people what they wanted to hear in the name of the larger public good.
C) The Articles of Confederation had demonstrated to them how important it would be to avoid appointing an independent executive.
D) They were afraid of executive power being put to the wrong use, especially for private gain.

Answer 1

They were afraid of executive power being put to the wrong use, especially for private gain.

Question 2

Which address would be designed to avoid demagoguery?

A) an address to confirm for the public what they want to hear
B) an address to instruct and not appeal to the broad emotions of citizens
C) an address to mobilize the citizens to press for policy actions
D) an address to inflame the passions of the public spirit in a call to action

Answer 2

an address to instruct and not appeal to the broad emotions of citizens

Question 3

The Gettysburg Address best reflects the president's role of __________.

A) administrative clerk
B) political partisan
C) policy advocate
D) national historian

Answer 3

national historian

Question 4

The shift to modern public relations began with which president?

A) Ronald Reagan
B) Franklin Roosevelt
C) Theodore Roosevelt
D) Andrew Jackson

Question 5

The __________ was legitimized by the actions of Theodore Roosevelt.

A) practice of giving the annual State of the Union address in person before Congress
B) principle that Congress should be the primary force for setting the policy agenda
C) notion that the president must make him- or herself routinely available to the media
D) commitment to using public relations as a way to chronicle the nation's history

Question 6

Theodore Roosevelt used __________ to win passage of legislation that would give the ICC power to regulate railroad shipping rates.

A) the bully pulpit
B) fireside chats
C) executive orders
D) demagogic appeals

Question 7

The __________ is the unique position occupied by presidents that allows them to shape public opinion.

A) electoral mandate
B) bully pulpit
C) presidential immunity
D) executive privilege

Question 8

With respect to the plebiscitary presidency, what distinguishes Woodrow Wilson from Theodore Roosevelt?

A) Wilson established the plebiscitary presidency while Roosevelt established its conventions.
B) Roosevelt established the plebiscitary presidency while Wilson established its conventions.
C) Roosevelt rejected the plebiscitary presidency while Wilson embraced it.
D) Wilson defied the conventions of the plebiscitary presidency while Roosevelt adhered to them.

Question 9

Following Jefferson, who was the first president to give the State of the Union address in person?

A) Andrew Jackson
B) Abraham Lincoln
C) Theodore Roosevelt
D) Woodrow Wilson

Question 10

In the structure of the modern press conference, reporters __________.

A) address specific questions to the president and the president provides a response
B) submit written questions to the president and the president provides written responses
C) listen to the president as he or she makes public statements about policy proposals
D) present questions to the president that have been approved in advance by the White House Press Office

Question 11

Wilson conceived the relationship between the press and president as __________.

A) irrelevant
B) conflicted
C) adversarial
D) a partnership

Question 12

Franklin Roosevelt transformed the president's relationship with the public by being the first president to __________.

A) give a press conference
B) use the bully pulpit
C) commission large-scale public opinion polls
D) engage in demagoguery

Question 13

Franklin Roosevelt leveraged the power of __________ and his fireside chats to speak to the American people about pressing policy issues and also about their everyday lives.

A) radio
B) television
C) opinion polls
D) press conferences

Question 14

With respect to the media, the goal of Ronald Reagan's press team was to control __________.

A) editorial content
B) the number of stories
C) what reporters said
D) what people saw

Question 15

Which statement is an institutional explanation for the rise of public appeals by presidents?

A) Presidents are becoming more charismatic, which increases their likeability and the responsiveness of the public to their message.
B) Presidents are becoming more dependent on political elites, who always advise them to go public to advance the political message of the party.
C) The importance of political elites has declined, and thus presidents cannot remain isolated but must appeal to a diversity of interest groups and political actors.
D) Presidential power has grown so much that it now dominates the political world, making all other actors irrelevant.

Question 16

If systematic studies are correct, public appeal by the president for a policy change on an important issue will most likely __________.

A) not resonate broadly with the American public and will have little effect on what citizens think about that issue
B) connect with a very narrow subset of the public and serve to mobilize them to political action on that issue
C) speak to a broad swath of the American population and have a significant effect on how they think about that issue
D) lead to a dramatic reframing of the issue in the media that will substantively change the thoughts of the public regarding the issue

Question 17

In general, when should we expect a president's approval ratings to be at their highest?

A) early in the president's term
B) during a midterm election
C) toward the end of the president's term
D) following a primary challenge

Question 18

Some political scientists hold that presidential success can contribute to a drop in approval ratings because as presidents engage in successful actions, they __________, which lowers their approval ratings.

A) increase the opportunities for critiques by the opposition party
B) invariably alienate the coalition of minorities that brought them into office
C) become arrogant and cause voters to dislike them personally
D) inevitably expand their power, making citizens nervous

Question 19

Why is the argument that a president's approval ratings decline over time because of presidential policy failure subject to critique?

A) It implies that every president is doomed to policy failure around the midterm elections.
B) Although the argument is supported by a considerable amount of data, those data were not collected by political scientists.
C) It implies that presidents who are successful should maintain strong approval ratings, and the data do not bear this out.
D) It does not take into account the drop in approval ratings caused by the rally effect.

Question 20

What usually happens in the aftermath of a foreign policy crisis?

A) Citizens blame the president for failing to protect the nation.
B) Congress seeks to begin impeachment proceedings against the president.
C) The press is highly critical of the president and his or her policies.
D) The public rallies behind the president and supports his or her policy actions.

Question 21

Rally effects are always __________.

A) temporary
B) enduring
C) minor
D) irrelevant

Question 22

Which statements regarding the rally effect is most accurate?

A) It affects partisans in identical ways.
B) It occurs only following a domestic crisis.
C) It creates different trajectories for partisans.
D) It has a lasting effect on approval ratings.

Question 23

A divided public will promptly unite behind a president following a foreign policy crisis because the public __________.

A) responds positively to the leadership performance of the president
B) follows the lead of political elites who are supporting the president
C) realizes patriotism is not sufficient and wants to force the president to take action
D) follows the lead of international opinion, which is always positive

Question 24

The dramatic drop in the public approval ratings of George W. Bush can be attributed to __________.

A) his personality
B) rising interest rates
C) rapidly increasing unemployment
D) the conclusion of the Iraqi war

Question 25

The fact that the US trade deficit with Japan had a negative effect on Bill Clinton's approval ratings while a similar trade deficit with Canada had no effect illustrates the important role played by __________ in the public's evaluation of the president.

A) international economic conditions
B) political knowledge of the economy
C) domestic economic conditions
D) perceptions of economic conditions

Question 26

Which group is more likely to evaluate a president harshly if the overall rate of inflation is increasing in the economy?

A) Democrats
B) Republicans
C) Independents
D) Progressives

Question 27

According to political scientist John Zaller, opinion surveys reflect __________.

A) a bias in favor of supporting the president
B) internal perceptions of economic performance
C) recent exposure to elite opinion through the media
D) inconsistency with regard to the content of public opinion

Question 28

The __________ period is characterized by a reluctance of the press and public to criticize the president.

A) honeymoon
B) rally
C) favorability
D) approval

Question 29

The findings of Zeller and Brody suggest that public opinion is __________.

A) irrational
B) incoherent
C) static
D) malleable

Question 30

The ability of political elites to manipulate public opinion is illustrated by __________.

A) the decline in perceptions of George W. Bush as a strong leader in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
B) the drop in support by for FDR following Republican critiques of his fireside chats
C) the surge in Barack Obama's approval ratings following his Twitter town halls
D) the decline in Clinton's approval ratings due to the trade deficit with Japan

Question 31

What shapes a good deal of the advice given to presidents throughout their tenure?

A) media pundits
B) congressional committees
C) campaign advertising
D) public opinion

Question 32

According to one study, the Reagan administration acted in line with public opinion on major domestic issues __________ percent of the time.

A) 60
B) 70
C) 80
D) 90

Question 33

The effect of public opinion on the content of a president's policy has been demonstrated by polls showing __________.

A) consistently low approval ratings for the federal bureaucracy during the Clinton administration
B) that citizens were opposed to the United States engaging in a conflict with Iraq during the Bush administration
C) that citizens blamed Republicans for failing to reach an agreement in the budget debates during the Clinton administration
D) high levels of support for the privitization of Social Security during the Bush administration

Question 34

Which political scientist made a name for himself by predicting the fall of Nixon based on his character traits?

A) Philip Converse
B) Stephen Skowronek
C) James Barber
D) John Zaller

Question 35

If you were applying Barber's model and wanted to evaluate the personality of Barack Obama, to which of the following would you look?

A) political engagement
B) worldview
C) regime affiliation
D) policies

Question 36

What was a key component of Barber's typology of presidential personalities?

A) style
B) policy
C) dress
D) birthplace

Question 37

Using Skowronek's model, if a president appears open-minded and receptive to competing claims while he or she is in office, we could assume that the president was affiliated with a __________ regime.

A) weak
B) strong
C) moderate
D) declining

Question 38

The media is sometimes colloquially known as the __________ estate.

A) first
B) second
C) third
D) fourth

Question 39

Which of the following would support the claims made by Phillip Converse?

A) a man calling himself a socialist while simultaneously supporting private enterprise
B) the dramatic spike in George Bush's approval ratings following the 9/11 attacks
C) the downfall of Richard Nixon as a result of his character traits
D) a woman changing her views of the president following a press conference by opposition party leaders

Question 40

If you were a president seeking to augment your bargaining position with Congress, what would you need to do with respect to the press?

A) ignore it
B) manage it
C) censor it
D) vilify it

Question 41

As a reporter, what would make covering the president challenging?

A) Reporters are often deluged by the massive amounts of fully disclosed information issued by executive branch agencies.
B) Presidents routinely revoke the press credentials of journalists, making access difficult.
C) Most of the news coming out of the executive branch is mundane, boring, and not worth writing about.
D) The executive branch offices cannot be counted on to fully brief reporters on everything that is happening.

Question 42

Media coverage of the presidency is best described as __________.

A) supportive
B) adversarial
C) cordial
D) deferential

Question 43

Which statement best describes the change in the relationship between the press and the president as a consequence of the Watergate scandal?

A) Journalists can reap professional rewards by exposing scandals in the executive branch, even if those scandals shake the faith of Americans in their political institutions, and thus they no longer adopt a deferential stance toward the actions of presidents.
B) Investigating the executive can exact an exceedingly high toll on journalists' personal and professional lives, and thus they have adopted a deferential stance toward the actions of presidents.
C) The American public has little interest in the investigation of scandals within American government, and so journalists have returned to the basic journalistic practice of reporting the facts provided by the government.
D) Journalists have the ability to bring down entire presidencies, reaping personal and professional fame in the process, and thus they now focus exclusively on investigative journalism and ignore mundane and nonscandalous events.

Question 44

Who is the primary spokesperson for the president?

A) first spouse
B) vice president
C) White House chief of staff
D) press secretary

Question 45

If you were a president who wanted to assess how the public was going to respond to your new policies regarding gun control in the United States, what would you be likely to do?

A) Write an opinion piece.
B) Float a trial balloon.
C) Put it in the State of the Union address.
D) Enact the policy and wait for a response.

Question 46

Which statement best characterizes the use of strategic leaks by presidents?

A) It always embarrasses the administration.
B) It is helpful for distracting the media from more serious scandals.
C) It is useful for getting information into the public sphere.
D) It is damaging to presidential appointment efforts.

Question 47

How has the rise of the polarized media affected the ability of the president to use the media to advance his or her policy goals?

A) It has significantly limited the ability of the president to change the minds of citizens.
B) It has increased the opportunity for presidents to influence hardcore partisans.
C) It has diminished the importance of presidential media management.
D) It has greatly improved the chances of policy success for presidents.

Question 48

Which area still receives press deference?

A) personal life of the president
B) health policy proposals
C) foreign policy actions
D) actions of the first spouse

Question 49

The decision by the New York Times to delay publication of a story on post-9/11 domestic surveillance is an example of __________.

A) media deference
B) investigate journalism
C) the media watchdog role
D) a media trial balloon

Question 50

What is the plebiscitary presidency, and how did it develop? Discuss the presidents who contributed to its establishment.

Question 51

How have television and the rise of social media affected the relationship that the president has with the American public? Use examples where appropriate.

Question 52

What distinguishes the arguments about leadership style advanced by James Barber from those put forward by Stephen Skowronek?

Question 53

Evaluate the statement that the Watergate scandal has fundamentally transformed presidential-media relationships in the United States. Use examples to support your claims.

Question 54

Using specific examples, demonstrate the changing nature of the relationship between the press, the public, and the modern presidency.