Deck 10: Public Opinion

Question 1

Which president encouraged and empowered the rise of the "common man"?

A) John Adams
B) Warren Harding
C) John Quincy Adams
D) Andrew Jackson
E) Franklin Pierce

Answer 1

D

Question 2

In which of the following ways is public opinion expressed in the United States?​

A) news media
B) ​voting in elections
C) ​referendums
D) ​public opinion polls
E) All of these choices are correct.

Answer 2

E

Question 3

What is the term for an item on a state or local ballot that seeks to determine accurate public opinion for use in resolving a pressing political issue without creating widespread public dissatisfaction?

A) public opinion poll
B) solicitation
C) referendum
D) political canvass
E) survey

Answer 3

C

Question 4

An orientation for translating values into specific opinions and a philosophical guide that people use to help translate their values and beliefs into specific political preferences is known as _____________________.

A) social filtering
B) conservatism
C) partisanship
D) political ideology
E) political posturing

Question 5

Which of the following is not a constitutionally protected means of expressing a political opinion?

A) free, open, and regular election of House members
B) direct election of U. S. senators
C) political rallies
D) silencing opposing political parties
E) protest rallies

Question 6

Political scientist V. O. Key was more specific in his definition of public opinion when he described it as, _______________

A) "the measure of guaranteed success."
B) "collective opinions that are dangerous for a politician to follow."
C) "inaccurate results of inaccurate ideology."
D) "those opinions held by private persons which government finds it prudent to heed."
E) "the general feeling of the American public that is actually irrelevant to a government policymaker."

Question 7

Political scientist Samuel Huntington has identified four politically relevant values that are widely accepted by a great consensus in our political culture and serve as a basis for defining political beliefs. Which of the following is not one of the four values?

A) wealth
B) liberty
C) individualism
D) equality
E) rule of law

Question 8

Public opinion exists at three basic levels. One of the highest levels of public opinion is seen in the beliefs of the American people. In this sense, how is the term beliefs defined?

A) laws and statutes of the American government
B) religious denominational understandings
C) facts that derive from values that people take for granted about the world
D) vague feelings that people perceive as applying to the world at large
E) political orientations and preferences

Question 9

Today, the most common method used to determine public opinion is ___________________.

A) a nationwide election
B) the sales reports from nationwide marketing agencies
C) the public opinion poll
D) letters to representatives
E) telephone and e-mail contacts to the White House Press Office

Question 10

Many scholars use which of the following as a general definition of public opinion?

A) the official results of an election
B) the summation of individual opinions on any particular topic or issue
C) the results of a Gallup opinion poll
D) the views of elected officials as to the direction of the nation
E) the collective political preferences of the voters

Question 11

All of the following philosophers advanced the role of the people in government, except __________.

A) Plato
B) Aristotle
C) Montesquieu
D) Locke
E) Hobbes

Question 12

Which of the following concepts is most closely aligned with America's contemporary conservative ideology (associated with the current Republican Party)?

A) prefers sharply increased government regulation for environmental issues
B) advocates government owned and operated health care
C) advocates government regulation on social issues in order to maintain traditional moral values
D) promotes an increase in free education to all college students
E) promotes an increase in Medicaid and Medicare benefits

Question 13

The translation of values and beliefs into a systematic way of assessing the political environment is referred to as _______________.

A) political isolation
B) political orientation
C) ideological interpretation
D) religion
E) the electoral process

Question 14

Which of the following is a means in which members of the public can freely express their political opinions?

A) writing an e-mail or letter to an elected official
B) blogging or commenting on another's blog
C) writing letters to the editor of a newspaper
D) calling in to a radio show
E) all are examples of expressing free public opinion.

Question 15

Which of the following is most closely aligned with contemporary American liberal ideology (associated with the current Democratic Party)?

A) prefers states' rights over the rights of the federal government
B) prefers that government take a more assertive role in the redistribution of economic resources
C) believes that there should be no economic distinctions in society
D) strongly advocates governmental regulation of morality
E) advocates that government take a hands-off approach to economic matters

Question 16

Liberals and conservatives actually do agree on many ideals, though they differ on how these values and beliefs should be written into policies. Which of the following is not an ideal that tends to be mutually accepted by liberals and conservatives?

A) the rule of law
B) majority rule
C) the rights of minorities
D) the free enterprise system as a process that will generally guarantee the most robust economy
E) socialized health care

Question 17

Political partisanship receives much bad press in our modern times, but partisanship serves a purpose. Which of the following is a benefit of political partisanship?

A) It eliminates third party interference.
B) It exposes the hypocrisy of the opposing party.
C) It provides a framework for individuals to translate broad values and beliefs into preferences for issue positions and political candidates.
D) It divides the electorate and forces voters to take a stand.
E) It discourages excessive voting.

Question 18

Why is public opinion central to America's system of government?​

A) ​The constitution requires a majority of the public to approve legislation.
B) ​Representatives must vote according to the majority opinion of their constituents.
C) ​America has a democratic type of government and public opinion can influence government decision making.
D) ​The First Amendment requires Congress to listen to the "speech" of the people.
E) ​Public opinion does not play a role in America's system of government.

Question 19

Which of the following is true concerning the political orientations of Americans?

A) Americans tend to swing back and forth in their political orientations.
B) Political orientations are embedded in Americans as youths and never change.
C) Americans tend to follow the lead of European nations when determining their political orientations.
D) Political orientations tend to be very stable and lasting.
E) Political orientations tend to change with every election.

Question 20

Unlike the goals of many news conglomerates, most bloggers openly don't aspire to provide ___________________.

A) personal commentary
B) up-to-date perspectives
C) partisan perspectives
D) references to data
E) objective commentary

Question 21

College graduates ______________________.

A) tend to be more likely to follow news and engage in political campaigns
B) turn away from democracy and move toward other forms of government
C) are less likely to vote
D) disregard the news media
E) avoid politics

Question 22

The process by which an individual acquires values, beliefs, and opinions about politics is called ______________.

A) indoctrination
B) political branding
C) partisan molding
D) political socialization
E) political demeanor

Question 23

Probably the most consistent influence on the development of values and beliefs, including political values, is provided by _____________________.

A) coworkers
B) elementary schools
C) parents
D) religions
E) party affiliations

Question 24

Often there are many factors and institutions that have a particularly relevant impact on one's socialization to politics. These factors and institutions are known as _______________________.

A) agents of political socialization
B) factors of character development
C) collective culturalization
D) building blocks
E) cultural foundations

Question 25

As one of the framers of our constitution, Alexander Hamilton was very vocal in his fear of "tyranny of the masses," which he believed could lead to instability in governance. Hamilton's answer to this challenge was ___________.

A) a republican form of government, in which the public chooses leaders to run the government, rather than direct democracy
B) to limit the right to vote to the highly educated
C) to limit the number of political parties that were allowed to function in the political arena
D) a single, unified political party in which the party leaders were actually the elected officials
E) a direct democracy form of government, in which all adult males would have a right to directly vote on legislation

Question 26

Children who grow up in a home in which parents regard politics as important generally tend to ______________.

A) reject any reference to politics in adult life
B) return to their parents for guidance about voting or taking a stand
C) become rigid and unyielding in their political beliefs
D) also regard politics as important throughout their lives
E) seek mates with dominant political views

Question 27

Political scientist V. O. Key Jr. argued that voters behave about as rationally and responsibly as we should expect. His rationale was that ________________________________________.

A) political leaders are to blame because they don't rationally discuss the issues or provide a framework for voters to understand the issues
B) voters have limited collective intelligence
C) political issues are quite complex and are beyond the level of expertise of most ordinary citizens
D) the electorate is not at all interested in the issues, but seeks the "path of least resistance" by voting on appearance and demeanor
E) there is not an adequate level of media sources to effectively disseminate information

Question 28

According to most research, how long is the process of acquiring political values, beliefs, and opinions?

A) at least one month
B) about one year
C) a generation
D) until retirement age, though this is rarely the case
E) a lifelong process that begins in childhood

Question 29

According to psychologists, __________ is the stage of socialization when impressions and information acquired are the most influential and the longest lasting.

A) branding
B) initialization
C) primacy tendency
D) coding
E) politicalization

Question 30

At which stage in life is political learning the greatest and has the most profound impact?​

A) ​during childhood
B) ​between the ages of 18 and 22
C) ​adulthood
D) ​after retirement
E) political socialization has the same impact at each of these stages

Question 31

Researchers, such as Samuel Kernell, have investigated the indirect links between public opinion and public policy. According to Kernell, when the president is seeing a high level of positive public opinion, what is the link in regard to policy development?

A) Congress will attempt to damage this high approval level by refusing to enact any policies favorable to the president.
B) The opposition party will become more aggressive and committed to bringing down the president.
C) There is no discernable link.
D) Congress will enact legislation that the president wants but will attempt to paint the president in a very unflattering light so as to undermine his or her support.
E) It is far more likely that the president is able to get his or her favored legislation passed as Congress does not want to move against strong public support.

Question 32

In a longitudinal study, Benjamin Page and Robert Shapiro studied public opinion by reviewing decades of poll data. Which of the following is not one of the findings of their study?

A) Over the long haul, public opinion on many issues remains fairly stable.
B) When public opinion does change, it moves in logical directions.
C) Public opinion generally reflects a lackluster or lazy attitude among many voters.
D) Decades of poll data show a pattern of sensibility and rationality on the part of public opinion.
E) Public opinion tends to form meaningful patterns consistent with a set of underlying beliefs and values.

Question 33

During Page and Shapiro's study, they also investigated the link between public opinion and public policy. What was their finding?

A) The public expects its elected representatives to seek its opinion before developing public policy.
B) There is very little correlation between public opinion and public policy.
C) When public opinion shifts, a corresponding shift in public policy is likely to follow.
D) As public opinion is impossible to be accurately determined, public opinion cannot be impacted.
E) Divisive partisan politics have the impact of creating impasse, whereby public opinion becomes irrelevant to enactment of public policy.

Question 34

The process of acquiring political values, beliefs, and opinions begins ___________________.

A) at birth
B) during childhood
C) at around 18 to 21 years old
D) around middle age
E) in retirement years for many individuals

Question 35

Which of the following, according to recent surveys, are more likely to be active voters?

A) individuals with no formal schooling
B) college graduates
C) high school graduates
D) high school dropouts
E) those who did not complete high school but have stable work records

Question 36

In order to be successful and effective, a democracy relies upon which of the following important assumptions?

A) that political parties will always identify the best issues for government to address
B) that citizens have the necessary information and skills to be able to understand political issues and provide informed input
C) that citizens do not know what they want, therefore political parties are formed to structure the decisions for the voters
D) that most citizens are incapable of making clear and rational choices in elections
E) that only those citizens who are literate and have shown that they understand the issues should be allowed to vote

Question 37

Walter Lippman was a well-known public opinion scholar of the early twentieth century. What was Lippman's primary argument concerning public opinion and politics?

A) Voting should be left to those who demonstrate an appropriate level of knowledge.
B) Americans are highly capable and are willing to seek the information necessary to make an informed choice in the voting process.
C) Voters in certain regions lack the ability or desire to effectively learn about the issues and to seek the necessary information to make an informed choice.
D) Only those who have a formal education should be allowed to vote.
E) Citizens invest very little energy and effort in acquiring information about politics, and as a consequence, public opinion lacks the necessary knowledge to provide value.

Question 38

Which of the following would have the least impact on the development of political attitudes, beliefs, and values in most individuals?

A) coworkers
B) family
C) personal friends
D) school
E) religious organizations

Question 39

According to research done in the 1950s and 1960s, schools promote a positive attachment to democracy by ______________.

A) first grade
B) third grade
C) middle school
D) high school
E) college

Question 40

Building upon research from the early twentieth century that indicated a lack of an informed public, Philip Converse in the 1970s used scientific surveys to research public opinion in regard to voting. This research indicated that _______________.

A) ordinary citizens are generally very knowledgeable about political issues and candidates
B) a very positive and upbeat mood exists among potential voters concerning candidates and issues
C) a very high percentage of eligible voters do vote
D) ordinary citizens are ill-informed about political issues, ill-equipped to understand politics, and quite fickle in how they stand on issues
E) ordinary citizens are very stable in their opinions and their votes indicate that stability

Question 41

Studies have shown that heavy users of the news media, compared to lighter users, are ____________________.

A) far more critical of democracy
B) more inclined to support overthrow of the government
C) more politically informed
D) less likely to hold long-term jobs
E) more apt to run for political office

Question 42

What is the normal confidence interval percentage with a poll?

A) 75 percent
B) 95 percent
C) 99 percent
D) 100 percent
E) 50 percent

Question 43

Which of the following is not true of public opinion polls?

A) They have become an important method for gauging public opinion.
B) They provide information that elected leaders use in making public policy.
C) They provide an important way for public sentiment to influence public policy.
D) They have become the centerpiece for elections in the shaping of political strategy.
E) They are the only means of expressing public opinion.

Question 44

What happened as a result of the Literary Digest inaccurately predicting the presidential election results of 1936?​

A) ​Alfred Landon became president.
B) ​The Literary Digest changed its formula for calculating elections predictions.
C) The Literary Digest was put out of business.
D) ​Americans began to rely more heavily on straw polling.
E) ​Americans ceased to use public opinion polls to predict presidential elections.

Question 45

At the same time that the Literary Digest inaccurately predicted the 1936 presidential election, George Gallup was using what type of methodology to more accurately make predictions from polling data?​

A) ​game theory
B) ​distribution theory
C) ​population control theory
D) ​probability sampling methods
E) ​distributive properties methods

Question 46

The amount of error in a poll that results from interviewing a group of people rather than the whole population under study is referred to as ______________________.

A) sampling error
B) question error
C) inaccuracy of answers
D) inconsistent questioning
E) cultural diversity

Question 47

Which of the following types of polling would allow for an understanding of the entire population, within a known level of error?​

A) ​random sampling
B) convenience sampling
C) ​log-in polls
D) intercept polls
E) self-selected listener polls

Question 48

Which of the following is not true of pseudo polls?

A) FRUGing is a type of pseudo poll.
B) SUGing is a type of pseudo poll.
C) Push Poll is a type of pseudo poll.
D) Pseudo polls are led by political campaigns and PACs.
E) Pseudo polls are a legitimate means of measuring public opinion.

Question 49

Why did public opinion polling begin in the United States?​

A) ​the constitution requires polling to be conducted prior to each election
B) ​people were interested in predicting the outcome of political races
C) ​citizens wanted to do away with the federal income tax
D) ​representatives had no way of gathering public opinion
E) ​researchers wanted to show the ignorance of voters

Question 50

According to the National Council on Public Polls, which of the following need not be disclosed about any poll that is released publicly?

A) the name of the organization sponsoring the poll
B) the dates of interviewing
C) the method for obtaining interviews
D) the names of interviewers
E) a definition of the population that was sampled

Question 51

In recent years, members of political action committees and political parties have presented themselves as legitimate pollsters when, in fact, they have attempted to plant subtle facts in the minds of the respondents. These activities are referred to as ____________________.

A) straw polls
B) scientific polls
C) pseudo polls
D) political filtering
E) lobbying

Question 52

An unscientific poll that gathers the opinions of people who are conveniently available in a particular gathering place is called a(n) _______________.

A) straw poll
B) election
C) drill
D) public opinion poll
E) generalized public survey

Question 53

__________ is often used by local news organizations and uses an automated voice system that will then ask poll questions to respondents.

A) An intercept poll
B) A self-selector listener opinion poll
C) A log-in poll
D) A computerized response audience poll
E) Random-Digit Dialing

Question 54

Which of the following is an example of a sampling error?

A) The questions contain a limited range of response options.
B) The person being surveyed has limited knowledge about the subject.
C) The question is poorly worded.
D) Not everyone in the population was included in the survey
E) Respondents did not answer truthfully to the question.

Question 55

People from a population who are studied for the purpose of learning something about the whole population are referred to as _______________.

A) a pseudo poll
B) intercept subjects
C) self-selected listeners
D) a sample
E) a test case

Question 56

A public opinion poll is ______________________________________.

A) a method of measuring the opinions of a large group of people by selecting a subset of the larger group, asking them a set of questions and then generalizing those responses
B) created by tracking backward from a series of observed effects to determine the point of origin and source of those effects
C) created by charting interconnections between actors and tracking the links to demonstrate the development of social cause and effect
D) subject to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
E) created by identifying a minimum of eight points of correspondence between samples

Question 57

Also known as a call-in poll, a(n) __________ is generally advertised on TV or radio shows and gives an 800 or 900 number for the audience to call in and express their opinions.

A) intercept poll
B) self-selector listener opinion poll
C) log-in poll
D) computerized response audience poll
E) random-digit dialing

Question 58

Which of the following is an example of an unscientific poll?

A) CRAPs
B) log-in polls
C) SLOPs
D) intercept polls
E) all of these are unscientific polls

Question 59

A scientific sample is _____________________________.

A) a group of representatives from the population who are chosen based on their understanding of the process
B) a system that uses probability theory as a guide to selecting people from the population who will comprise the selected group
C) a group of representatives from the population who have knowledge of scientific methods, thus creating a more reliable result
D) a group of people intentionally and specifically selected from a population to be surveyed
E) the study of political activists and the impact of political activity on character development

Question 60

In a scientifically drawn sample, as the sample size ____________, the sample error ___________.

A) increases; decreases
B) decreases; decreases
C) increases; increases
D) decreases; remains the same
E) increases; remains the same

Question 61

Define "public opinion poll." Discuss the early efforts of opinion polling, the effects of the inaccurate prediction by the Literary Digest poll in 1936, and the method developed by Gallup to provide more accurate methodologies. Do you believe these newer methods have provided accurate opinion poll data to help Americans understand public opinion on important political questions?

Question 62

Explain why significant attention must be given to the way in which polling questions are asked. What are some recommendations for constructing good poll questions? Provide an example of a good poll question.

Question 63

The wording of polling questions can mean everything. Which of the following is a key recommendation in constructing good poll questions?

A) Avoid double negatives.
B) The questions should be leading so the interviewee can easily come to an answer.
C) Honesty must always be expected.
D) Double-barreled questions are a good way to get as many answers from one question as possible.
E) Questions can be as simple or as complicated as necessary.

Question 64

Explain "sampling error." Describe the effects of sampling error on a poll, and how an analyst should interpret poll results accordingly. In addition to the sampling error, what are other pieces of information that should be disclosed about a publicly released poll, according to the NCPP?

Question 65

Public opinion exists at three basic levels. List and describe these levels.

Question 66

Define each of the following characteristics of public opinion polling data: direction, intensity, and continuity. Explain the importance of each in interpreting the results of a public opinion poll.

Question 67

Define a scientific poll. Explain why a scientific poll is preferable to an unscientific poll. Why are unscientific polls conducted (give examples of at least two different types of unscientific polls)?

Question 68

What is meant by political socialization? What is meant by primacy tendency? Describe how political socialization by family, friends and peers, schools, media, and religion impact the opinions and preferences of an individual.

Question 69

Provide an understanding of American political knowledge. Describe how studies have analyzed the issue and what conclusions have been drawn. How do you believe these results affect the study of public opinion poll data?

Question 70

Define "public opinion" and describe the various ways it has been expressed in American politics. Which of these methods is the predominant method of capturing public opinion today, and why?

Question 71

When an analyst seeks to find which position or preference a majority of people hold as their opinion, he or she is determining the __________ of public opinion.​

A) ​intensity
B) ​causal inference
C) ​direction
D) ​continuity
E) ​sampling error

Question 72

Discuss the ways in which you have been influenced in the development of your political orientation. What groups, factors, or institutions have played an important role in this development?

Question 73

Which term describes a characteristic of public opinion in which political preferences remain very stable over time?

A) intensity
B) direction
C) continuity
D) randomization
E) generalization

Question 74

In interpreting public opinion data, which of the following is a key characteristic?

A) direction
B) intensity
C) continuity
D) direction, intensity and continuity
E) None of these choices is correct.