Deck 5: Public Opinion

Question 1

Which word best completes this sentence: Political socialization is a __________ process.

A) childhood
B) demographic
C) lifetime
D) one-time
E) random

Answer 1

C

Question 2

What agent of political socialization plays a particularly important role in shaping the basic outlooks of children?

A) the child's peer group
B) the child's family
C) the child's school
D) the child's socioeconomic status
E) the child's dependency status

Answer 2

B

Question 3

When survey organizations wrongly predicted, in 1948, a comfortable victory for Republican Thomas Dewey over Democratic president Harry Truman, what issue of public polling did they fail to heed?

A) the issue of question wording
B) the issue of intensity
C) the issue of forced choice
D) the issue of sampling
E) the issue of timing

Answer 3

E

Question 4

On which federal program does the government currently spend the most?

A) K-12 education
B) unemployment insurance
C) farm subsidies
D) Medicare
E) Medicaid

Question 5

What was the principal concern of James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and other Founders of our national government with respect to public opinion?

A) that public opinion would undermine the supremacy of the legislature
B) that public opinion would be susceptible to radical and frequent shifts
C) that public opinion would too closely mirror public policies
D) that public opinion would be immoveable in times of crisis
E) that public opinion would lead the people to prefer policies inconsistent with presidential power

Question 6

Why is public opinion particularly important in a democracy?

A) because political attitudes expressed by ordinary people are unusually coherent
B) because the public's passions are capable of infringing on others' liberties
C) because what the people want should be directly challenged by government action
D) because grave doubts about the wisdom of the public would otherwise be ignored
E) because democracy is be fundamentally about the rule of the people

Question 7

Which of the following statements about collective public opinion versus the public opinion of individuals is true?

A) that, individually and collectively, citizens tend to have very stable opinions about politics
B) that, individually and collectively, citizens tend to have very unstable opinions about politics
C) that, collectively, citizens tend to have very stable opinions about politics
D) that, collectively, citizens tend to have very unstable opinions about politics
E) that, individually, citizens who are ideological conservatives tend to have very stable opinions about politics

Question 8

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Walter Lippmann, and Sir Robert Peel were alike in this opinion. What was it?

A) They all expressed grave doubts about the wisdom of democracy.
B) They all expressed grave doubts about the wisdom of the public.
C) They all expressed grave doubts about the wisdom of democratically elected leaders.
D) They all expressed supreme confidence in the wisdom of the public.
E) They all expressed supreme confidence in the wisdom of democratically elected leaders.

Question 9

Of the following government spending programs, which do few people think the government is spending too little on?

A) crime prevention
B) education
C) foreign aid
D) government health insurance
E) government services

Question 10

What problem has been created for survey researchers as more Americans have cut their reliance on landlines, now using only cell phones?

A) It is now more difficult to draw a sample that is random.
B) It is now more difficult to build intensity measures into responses.
C) It is now more difficult to place repeated callbacks.
D) It is now more difficult to cluster interviews geographically.
E) It is now more difficult to process response data.

Question 11

Who famously described public opinion as "that great compound of folly, weakness, prejudice, wrong feeling, right feeling, [and] obstinacy"?

A) Alexander Hamilton
B) Walter Lippmann
C) James Madison
D) Sir Robert Peel
E) Sir William Penn

Question 12

According to the textbook, which of the following agents is likely to affect people's attitudes and expressed political opinions in adulthood?

A) their emotional disappointments
B) their personal ambition
C) their jobs and experiences at work
D) their decision-making capability
E) visible and well-known presidents

Question 13

The division between which two groups is principally responsible for pushing the "culture war" to a "white-hot fever pitch"?

A) voters versus nonvoters
B) Christians versus Muslims
C) northerners versus southerners
D) men versus women
E) the least versus the most religiously committed

Question 14

Of the following, which is something about which people are likely to hold and express political attitudes?

A) property
B) newspaper print runs
C) political parties
D) expensive gifts
E) correspondence

Question 15

According to probability theory, what chance do the views of a random sample of 1,500 people have of accurately reflecting the views of the whole population?

A) 89
B) 91
C) 93
D) 95
E) 97

Question 16

What effect did the election of Barack Obama have on the political attitudes of African Americans?

A) Since 2008, African Americans are now more likely than white Americans to support Republican candidates and policies.
B) Since 2008, African Americans are now more skeptical than white Americans of government.
C) Since 2008, African Americans are now more likely than white Americans to think of voting as a duty.
D) Since 2008, African Americans are now less likely than white Americans to be the victims of violent crime.
E) Since 2008, African Americans are now less likely than white Americans to think that voting makes a difference.

Question 17

How many randomly chosen Americans are usually selected to participate in national public opinion polls?

A) between 500 and 1,000
B) between 500 and 1,500
C) between 1,000 and 1,500
D) between 1,500 and 2,000
E) between 2,000 and 3,000

Question 18

How are most public opinion surveys conducted?

A) in person, door to door
B) in person, by telephone
C) through the mail
D) over the Internet
E) at the polls

Question 19

The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations studied decades' worth of surveys of public and elite opinion on foreign policy issues. Which of the following statements is an accurate reflection of the researchers' conclusions?

A) the public is less supportive of international cooperation than the elites
B) the public is less supportive of the United Nations than the elites
C) the public is much more eager than the elites to use force in foreign affairs
D) the public is much less eager than the elites to use force in foreign affairs
E) the public is much more likely to support the use of force in foreign affairs when their opinions are ill-formed and not very intense

Question 20

Which of the following population groups is the more solidly Democratic than the others?

A) African Americans
B) women
C) Jews
D) blue-collar workers
E) non-white Catholics

Question 21

How is political ideology best defined?

A) as a system of words and symbols representing concepts about an individual's long-term potential
B) as a system of class inequalities that focuses on socioeconomic status
C) as a system for arguing about things that most Americans consider vital
D) as a system of guidelines that outlines what is considered moral and acceptable behavior
E) as a system of interrelated and coherently organized political beliefs and attitudes

Question 22

People who say they are Democrats differ considerably in their political attitudes from those who say they are Republicans. Which of the following statements about the political attitudes of Democrats is false?

A) Democrats are less likely to support big business than Republicans.
B) Democrats are less likely to favor an assertive national security policy than Republicans.
C) Democrats are more likely to support the regulation of business for consumer protection than Republicans.
D) Democrats are much less likely to support government programs to help the poor than Republicans.
E) Democrats are much more likely to support abortion on demand than Republicans.

Question 23

Which of the following is likely to contribute to a negative presidential approval rating?

A) falling inflation
B) rising unemployment
C) rising employment
D) rising confidence about the future
E) rising living standards

Question 24

What is the secret to making sure that the people interviewed in public opinion polls are representative of the whole population?

A) random sampling
B) indexing
C) question format
D) sample size
E) response rate

Question 25

You are discussing the implications of leading questions in opinion polling research in your American government class. At the end of the discussion, you are asked to construct a leading question. Which of the following questions is the class likely to agree is leading?

A) How much of a role, if any, do you think the government should have in trying to improve the social and economic position of minority groups in this country-a major role, a minor role, or no role at all?
B) Do you think that Americans should be able to make their own health care decisions?
C) If your library offered e-books for downloading to mobile devices, would you be very likely, somewhat likely, not too likely, or not at all likely to use this resource?
D) How often do you agree with the political positions of your congressional representative-always, almost always, most of the time, only sometimes, or never?
E) How many times have you used an automated teller machine in the last month?

Question 26

Of the following, which would political scientists consider least likely to be an agent of political socialization?

A) a college education
B) popular culture
C) school
D) family
E) intelligence

Question 27

Which of the following statements about the influence of region, education, gender, and age on political attitudes is true?

A) Long-term trends show a narrowing in regional differences on many core beliefs and political attitudes.
B) Gender is generally considered the strongest single predictor of participation in politics.
C) People who have attained a high school education are much more likely to say that they vote than college-educated people.
D) Men identify more with the Democrats and are more likely to vote for Democratic candidates than women.
E) Younger citizens are more likely to identify with a political party than older cohorts.

Question 28

Why is polling people by Internet likely to produce a non-random sample?

A) not all people who are part of a prospective random sample own cell phones
B) not all people who are part of a prospective own computers
C) not all people who are part of a prospective random sample will answer open-ended questions
D) not all people who are part of a prospective random sample have opinions on issues of interest to researchers
E) not all people who are part of a prospective random sample have opinions on controversial issues

Question 29

When is it especially likely that children will adopt the political party identification of their parents?

A) when the parents remain married through the child's early adolescence
B) when the parents remain married through the child's high-school years
C) when the parents share the same party identification
D) when the parents do not share the same party identification
E) when the political viewpoints of one parent dominate those of the other

Question 30

Why do African Americans tend to be more liberal than whites on economic issues?

A) because African Americans are more likely than whites to be Republicans
B) because African Americans are more likely than whites to be economically disadvantaged
C) because African Americans are more likely than whites to prefer the status quo
D) because African Americans are more likely than whites to vote
E) because African Americans are less likely than white to vote

Question 31

When does political socialization take place?

A) during childhood and early adolescence
B) in adolescence through early adulthood
C) in early adulthood
D) throughout adulthood
E) throughout the life-course

Question 32

If you were making an argument for the use of public opinion polling to set public policy, which of the following statements would help you make your case?

A) Ordinary American citizens are poorly informed about politics.
B) Americans tend to support government policies that make their economic positions worse.
C) Most Americans do not know what goes on in the world.
D) In a democracy, the people must have their voice heard by those in government.
E) Repeated surveys of the same Americans have found that their responses to policy questions seem to change randomly.

Question 33

One of your friends makes the following statement: Americans are "one united people-a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same beliefs, attached to the same principles of government, and very similar in manners and customs." What is this statement an expression of?

A) a public opinion
B) a political opinion
C) an ethical attitude
D) a policy statement
E) a public passion

Question 34

Of the following issues, which are associated with the challenges of political polling?

A) issues of timing, sampling, intensity, and employability
B) issues of sampling, timing, intensity, and wording
C) issues of intensity, timing, and attribution
D) issues of employability, attribution, timing, and wording
E) issues of wording, intensity, deployment, and territory

Question 35

What have several decades of polling shown about most ordinary Americans?

A) that they do not know a lot about politics, although they care a lot about politics
B) that they care a lot about politics, although they do not know a lot about politics
C) that they neither know nor care a lot about politics
D) that they have detailed knowledge of important public policies
E) that they have detailed knowledge of the way our economic system works

Question 36

Which of the following statements about the political attitudes of Asian Americans is false?

A) On social issues, Asian Americans are somewhat more conservative than other Americans.
B) A majority of Asian Americans supports the death penalty.
C) A majority of Asians opposes same-sex marriage.
D) Asian Americans have been trending more Republican in recent elections.
E) On the role of government, Asian Americans are more conservative than other Americans.

Question 37

Which of the following statements about the political attitudes of African Americans is true?

A) African Americans are more likely than Americans in general to favor government regulation to protect the environment.
B) African Americans are more likely than Americans in general to disfavor labor unions.
C) African Americans are more likely than Americans in general reject affirmative action.
D) African Americans are more likely to identify themselves as independents than as liberals, conservatives, or moderates.
E) African Americans are more supportive of abortion rights than are whites.

Question 38

Americans are more proud of their country and its political institutions than which nation or nations?

A) the French
B) the French and the British
C) the British and the Germans
D) the Germans and the French
E) the French, the British, and the Germans

Question 39

Which of the following statements about the political attitudes of Hispanic Americans is true?

A) Hispanic Americans of Puerto Rican ancestry are quite conservative on economic issues.
B) Hispanic Americans of Cuban ancestry tend to be conservative.
C) Hispanic Americans of Mexican ancestry tend to be rather liberal on social issues.
D) As a whole, the Hispanic population identifies much more with the Republicans than with the Democrats.
E) Hispanic Americans of Central American ancestry are quite conservative on economic issues.

Question 40

If findings from a random sample of 1,500 people have a 95 percent chance of accurately reflecting the views of the whole population within 3 percentage points, what percentage of the overall population would favor changing voting day from Tuesday to Sunday if the poll found that 57 percent of those polled favored the change?

A) 54 percent
B) 57 percent
C) 60 percent
D) 54 to 60 percent
E) 57 to 60 percent

Question 41

Of the following events, which would political scientists consider least likely to have a generational effect on people's political outlooks?

A) the Great Depression
B) the civil rights movement
C) the 9/11 terrorist attacks
D) the incidence of childhood leukemia
E) the Reagan Revolution

Question 42

Which of these things is more likely than the others to undermine the validity of survey research?

A) Researchers purposely avoid discussion of controversial issues with people who are part of a prospective random sample.
B) People who are part of a prospective random sample screen their phone calls.
C) People who are part of a prospective random sample are contacted as close to Election Day as possible.
D) Researchers ask people who are part of a prospective random sample too many open-ended questions.
E) Researchers have to try several times to get through to people who are part of a prospective random sample.

Question 43

Why are white ethnic groups, such as Irish, Polish, and Italian Americans, less distinctive than African, Hispanic, and Asian Americans in their political opinions?

A) As they achieved success economically, their economic liberalism tended to strengthen, and their social conservatism became less pronounced in ways that made them similar to other white Americans.
B) As they achieved success economically, their economic liberalism tended to fade, and their social conservatism became more prominent in ways that made them similar to other white Americans.
C) As they achieved success economically, they became a smaller part of the U.S. population and were, therefore, easier to ignore.
D) Since the time of the New Deal, low- and moderate-income people of European ancestry have continued to identify much more strongly with Republicans than with Democrats.
E) Since the time of the New Deal, low- and moderate-income people of European ancestry have continued to identify much more strongly with Democrats than with Republicans.

Question 44

How do we know that the opinions of people who call in to radio talk shows are not typical of most Americans?

A) As a sample, they are unrepresentative of the whole population,
B) As a sample, they are perfectly random.
C) As a sample, they lack intensity.
D) As a sample, their opinions are ill formed.
E) As a sample, their views are subject to frequent shifts.

Question 45

Serena is a white, middle-class mother of two, who works as a librarian in the public library system of a large city in the American West. She is 57 years old. She is generally inclined to support Democratic candidates whose policies provide an economic safety net for those hardest hit by recessions but will occasionally vote Republican or as an independent when government enforcement of order and traditional values are under siege. Which label best describes Serena's thinking?

A) Serena is a liberal.
B) Serena is a conservative.
C) Serena is an economic liberal and a lifestyle liberal.
D) Serena is an economic conservative and a lifestyle conservative.
E) Serena is an economic liberal and a social conservative.

Question 46

Which of the following statements best supports the assertion that collective public opinion is rational?

A) Many critics of government benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance receive benefits from these very same programs.
B) Middle-class and lower-income Americans tend to support government policies that make their economic positions worse.
C) Many Americans who protested the decision of the Supreme Court, in 2012, to uphold the Affordable Care Act did not know very much about what was in the law.
D) When the country is prosperous and ordinary Americans are doing well and feeling confident about the future, presidential approval ratings tend to be high.
E) People have only vague, media-provided pictures in their heads of what goes on in the world.

Question 47

Under what conditions is public opinion less likely to play a role in shaping government policy?

A) when an issue is highly visible
B) when an issue is buried in complexity and obscurity
C) when people have reliable and understandable information about an issue
D) when an issue affects the lives of people directly
E) when people sense they are being misled

Question 48

Arturo was born in 1950 and grew up outside Houston, Texas. He graduated from high school in 1967 but never attended college. Although Spanish was spoken at home, Arturo is fluent in both Spanish and English. In terms of politics, Arturo leans in the direction of moderate Republicans. He believes that his political outlook was shaped by one event more than any other. What event might that be?

A) the atomic bombing of Hiroshima
B) the first manned spaceflight
C) the Vietnam War
D) the Reagan Revolution
E) the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton

Question 49

For a homework assignment, you have been asked to identify a single political attitude or position on a public policy that confirms the presence of a generation gap in American politics. You are highly motivated to obtain the highest possible score on this assignment and diligently consult Table 5.1 in your textbook, which identifies gaps in the opinions of younger and older voters on a range of issues. Which attitude or policy position, among the following, would you choose to represent the largest gap in opinion between the young and the old?

A) government sponsorship of legislation that does too much for wealthy Americans
B) government sponsorship of legislation that supports same-sex marriage
C) government sponsorship of legislation that supports pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
D) government sponsorship of legislation that proposes reducing spending on public services
E) government sponsorship of legislation that renews current Medicare rules, practices, and spending levels

Question 50

Which type of survey question is best suited to addressing concerns about errors in public opinion polling resulting from difficulty in measuring intensity?

A) questions with simple yes-or-no options
B) questions with approve-or-disapprove options
C) questions with five to seven options, ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree
D) questions with interviewee-bias measures built in
E) questions with demographic-information measures built in

Question 51

Jennifer grows up in a politically active household, where both her parents vote, contribute to campaigns, listen to nightly news broadcasts, and read weekly news magazines. They involve Jennifer in their discussions of the political events of the day, often commenting about the social and economic policies that they favor. In time, Jennifer learns that her parents favor government bailouts of troubled national industries and that it should act to improve public education. As she matures, she adopts the political party affiliation of her parents. What process has Jennifer undergone?

A) political assimilation
B) political definition
C) political identification
D) political reinvention
E) political socialization

Question 52

In what way are Sir Robert Peel's sentiments about the role of public opinion in governance similar to those of many of today's political scholars and researchers?

A) They are similar in believing that leaders should slavishly follow the public's views.
B) They are similar in that scholars and researchers have uncovered appalling evidence of public ignorance.
C) They are similar in believing that polls should be used to gauge public opinion.
D) They are similar in believing that scholars and researchers should expect a high degree of consistency in citizens' day-to-day political views.
E) They are similar in believing that the public should be surveyed only when the relative importance of an issue is high.

Question 53

Which of the following statements is more likely than the others to be a cause of concern for Republican candidates for office with respect to the Hispanic vote?

A) Most Hispanic Americans are likely to be Catholic.
B) Most Hispanic Americans have conservative social values.
C) Republican sponsorship and support for laws that crack down on illegal immigrants has been neutralized in some states by their opposition to English-only legislation.
D) Hispanics, the fastest-growing ethnic group and largest minority group in the United States, voted for Barack Obama in record numbers.
E) Hispanic Americans, despite their common ancestry, are remarkably dissimilar in their political outlook.

Question 54

You are a consultant for a large public opinion polling organization, advising several potential candidates for elective office about the political opinions and attitudes of African Americans. In your role, which of the following points are you least likely to make in your discussions with these potential officeholders?

A) that the racial divide between black and white Americans looms large, particularly with respect to what role government should play in helping people and making America more equal
B) that the racial divide between black and white Americans is narrowing, particularly with respect to what role government should play in helping people and making America more equal
C) that partisanship is one important area where African Americans differ from whites
D) that, in 2011, African Americans were the most solidly Democratic of any group in the population
E) that African Americans more confident in the country and their place in it, since the 2008 election of Barack Obama

Question 55

What political opinion of Democratic presidents would you expect of children raised in politically active Republican households?

A) that they would be indifferent to Democratic presidents
B) that they would have roughly the same feelings toward Democratic presidents as Republican ones
C) that they would be more skeptical of Democratic presidents than Republican ones
D) that they would, because of the liberalizing effect of age, be less skeptical of Democratic presidents than Republican ones
E) that they would quickly adopt the attitudes of their peers toward Democratic presidents

Question 56

When conducting surveys, why is the wording of questions a concern?

A) How a question is worded can unintentionally, but not intentionally, skew results.
B) How a question is worded can intentionally, but not unintentionally, skew results.
C) How a question is worded can affect how it is answered.
D) How a question is worded can generate a low degree of consensus.
E) How a question is worded can increase participation rates.

Question 57

Why did 78 percent of the people oppose the idea of sending U.S. troops to Bosnia, in 1994, as peacekeepers?

A) The majority of Americans, then as now, embrace pure isolationism.
B) The majority of Americans, then as now, embrace pure multilateralism.
C) The operation looked harmless at the time.
D) The operation was not supported by the president at the time, only by Congress.
E) The threat to the United States did not appear tangible at the time.

Question 58

The influence of which of the following agents of socialization best explains why a young adult might tend to be distrustful of politicians?

A) families, which characteristically advise their children to seek careers in public service
B) schools, which unintentionally socialize children to be distrustful of authority through explicit lessons in student-run elections
C) judges, who earn more, on average, than similarly qualified individuals in the private sector
D) colleges, which sharpen students' understanding of the political process
E) movies and other forms of popular entertainment, which often portray politicians as corrupt

Question 59

If you agree that public opinion plays a crucial role in democratic government, what also must you believe for your views to be considered consistent?

A) that public opinion is a threat to the needs of the majority
B) that public opinion is a threat to core political beliefs
C) that public ignorance is a threat core political beliefs
D) that the public must have its voice heard by those in government
E) that politicians must have their voices heard by the public

Question 60

In comparison with much of the rest of the world, how are Americans distinctive?

A) Americans do not define themselves as independents.
B) Americans do not think of themselves as members of a social class.
C) Americans, in Democratic households, do not support conservative social policies.
D) Americans, in unaffiliated households, do not support conservative economic policies.
E) Americans in union households support Republican policies and candidates over Democratic policies and candidates.

Question 61

The correlation of income to party identification is increasingly weakening among all Americans, regardless of race.

Question 62

The best evidence that those in power are responsive to the voice of the people is that what the people want and what government does are congruent.

Question 63

__________ ensures that each member of a population has an equal chance of being selected.

Question 64

Although conservatives and liberals both generally argue otherwise, government policy and public opinion seem to be independent of each other.

Question 65

Although multilateralists believe that the protection of American interests requires continuous engagement in the world, they that think that the United States has the resources to accomplish its ends without the cooperation of other nations.

Question 66

Most Americans share certain __________ about the nature of human beings, society, and the political order.

Question 67

A majority of adult Americans identify with the political party of their parents.

Question 68

The religiously committed, only if they are Protestant, are more likely than other Americans to vote Republican and to hold conservative views, particularly on social issues.

Question 69

The family, popular culture, and schools all serve as important agents of __________.

Question 70

Political scientists refer to the process by which individuals acquire core beliefs and political attitudes as political assimilation.

Question 71

A generational effect seen in the American electorate is the tendency for people to participate more in politics as they adopt more economically conservative views after college.

Question 72

Findings from a random sample of 1,500 people have a 90 percent chance of accurately reflecting the views of the whole population within about 9 or 10 percentage points.

Question 73

If some element of the population is underrepresented or overrepresented in a sample, researchers can __________ the relevant population group, giving it more or less importance in the total sample, so that the mix of elements in the final sample closely matches the general population.

Question 74

Americans generally divide along two dimensions when it comes to government: one related to government's role in the economy, the other related to government's role in society.

Question 75

Only 40 percent of Americans know that our main source of electricity comes from __________.

Question 76

The best estimates suggest that about __________ percent of people in the United States are Muslim.

Question 77

"Open-ended" or "forced-choice" questions are essentially the same thing.

Question 78

Representativeness in public opinion polling is best achieved when the people being interviewed are chosen through random sampling.

Question 79

Public opinion refers to certain core beliefs that most American share about the nature of human beings, society, and the political order.

Question 80

Internet polling tends to capture samples that are very unrepresentative of the American population.