Deck 21: State and Local Politics

Question 1

Which statement about Robert and Helen Lynd's study is correct?

A)They observed the city from afar but did not live there.
B)They concluded that an elite was running things.
C)They concluded that most community decisions were arrived at democratically.
D)The study was limited to governmental matters.
E)They determined that U.S.cities were completely dysfunctional.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is a reason for lower voter turnout in local elections than in state or national elections?

A)Greater citizen interest in local politics
B)Low levels of competition in local elections
C)High name recognition for all candidates in local elections
D)The fact that local elections are always held at the same time as presidential elections
E)Higher levels of campaign spending for local elections

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT a major challenge currently facing state and local governments?

A)Intense political divisions over new immigrants
B)Persistent poverty in inner cities
C)Canadian border disputes
D)Growing costs of corrections and prisons
E)Environmental regulation, land use, and recycling

Answer 3

C

Question 4

What does the text identify as "one of the greatest threats to the economic health of the country"?

A)Inadequate federal reaction to natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina
B)The seemingly unbreakable cycle of poverty in inner cities
C)Consistently decreasing federal and state funds for public education
D)Consistently decreasing federal and state funds for public health care
E)A lack of community involvement at the local level

Question 5

What legislative restriction is often called the "no cup of coffee" rule?

A)Lobbyists are not allowed to meet with legislators outside the legislators' offices.
B)Lobbyists are not allowed to contribute to legislators' campaigns.
C)Lobbyists are not allowed to meet with legislators during a legislative session.
D)Lobbyists are not allowed to give state officials gifts exceeding $3.
E)Lobbyists are not allowed to give state officials gifts of any kind.

Question 6

Lobbyists may have greater influence in state legislatures than in Congress because

A)state legislators have smaller professional staffs and serve shorter terms.
B)there is greater media coverage of state politics than national politics.
C)lobbying restrictions are much tighter in the states.
D)state legislators usually have longer terms of office than do members of Congress.
E)All of the above

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT among the solutions that states have implemented in order to decrease the cost of corrections and prisons?

A)Diverting potential inmates to rehabilitation instead
B)Offering credits to low-risk offenders so they can be released early
C)Increasing the use of private prisons, sometimes in other states
D)Requiring judges to implement mandatory minimum sentences in order to decrease the need for parole hearings
E)All of the above are solutions states have pursued

Question 8

Interest groups are typically regarded as having significantly less influence over state and local politics than over national politics.

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT a reason for limited media coverage of local government?

A)Many cities have limited media outlets, for example, only a single weekly newspaper
B)Local government has little effect on the daily lives of citizens
C)Citizens tend to be more interested in state and national government
D)Many reporters assigned to local politics are inexperienced beginners
E)Citizens tend to be more interested in local sports

Question 10

Professional associations are concerned with public policy for all but which of the following?

A)Rules for admission to their profession or trade
B)The way in which professional misconduct is defined and punished
C)The nature of regulatory laws
D)The makeup of regulatory boards and agencies
E)Taxes charged by the government on products unrelated to their profession

Question 11

Because they generally wish to avoid controversy and criticism that might divide a community, mayors and city officials often do NOT engage in _______________ policies.

A)distributive
B)zoning
C)development
D)service provision
E)redistributive

Question 12

As of 2008, Hispanics outnumbered African Americans in the U.S.population.

Question 13

Power elite theory asserts that there are a variety of different people active in different policy areas.

Question 14

Lack of citizen interest in, and participation in, local politics is often referred to as

A)hometown blues.
B)grassroots apathy.
C)community disinterest.
D)disillusionment.
E)rational abstention.

Question 15

State and local governments employ more total people than does the national government.

Question 16

What is social stratification, as defined by sociologists such as Floyd Hunter?

A)The way in which socioeconomic divisions affect politics in a community
B)The way in which someone's socioeconomic class determines his or her party affiliation
C)The composition of the various sub-levels found within the power elite
D)The way in which political candidates use socioeconomic class to appeal to distinct sets of voters
E)The relationship between the highest and lowest socioeconomic classes within a given community

Question 17

Among those Americans who were classified as Hispanic in the 2000 census, 60% identified themselves as

A)Cuban.
B)Puerto Rican.
C)Spanish.
D)Mexican.
E)Guatemalan.

Question 18

Researchers conducting community power studies typically find a power structure that is

A)dominated by a few families that have lived in the community for many generations.
B)controlled by a power elite.
C)impossible to describe.
D)relatively open and pluralistic.
E)dominated by racial and ethnic minorities.

Question 19

According to sociologists such as Floyd Hunter, a city's leading industrialist would be subordinate to the city's mayor in that city's social stratification.

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT a function of state and local governments?

A)Education
B)Marriage and divorce laws
C)Maintenance of criminal and civil courts
D)Operation of the student loan system
E)The bulk of building and maintaining the public highway system

Question 21

What were the conclusions made from Robert Dahl and his graduate students' study of New Haven, Connecticut?

A)Communities tend to have a fixed elite, with only occasional changes.
B)There is no permanent elite in a community, but rather a shifting coalition of leaders.
C)There is no difference between the economic elite and the social elite in a community; they are the same people.
D)The elite of a community is hereditary; if your father or mother was a member of the elite, then you would be as well.
E)Business interests control who will become a member of a community's elite.

Question 22

Governmental tax and social programs that shift wealth or benefits from one segment of the population to another are known as redistributive policies.

Question 23

State and local governments employ approximately ___ times as many workers as the civilian federal government.

A)2
B)4
C)5
D)7
E)None of the above.The civilian federal government employs more workers than state and local governments.

Question 24

State and local governments have custody over what percent of the country's 2.4 million prison and jail inmates?

A)23%
B)11%
C)52%
D)5%
E)91%

Question 25

Though they were sociologists, Robert and Helen Lynd approached their study of Muncie, Indiana as though they were

A)mathematicians.
B)philosophers.
C)anthropologists.
D)historians.
E)statisticians.

Question 26

What percentage of U.S.college students are educated at state and local colleges and universities?

A)Approximately 75%
B)Approximately 50%
C)Approximately 85%
D)Approximately 63%
E)Approximately 90%

Question 27

What state-administered federal program is responsible for providing health care coverage for poor Americans?

A)Medicare
B)Social Security
C)Medicaid
D)Aid for Families with Dependent Children
E)Health care coverage for poor Americans is not provided through a federal program

Question 28

What is the theory of pluralism?

A)No matter whom one asks, there is general agreement that a small group of people are the power brokers in a community.
B)Corporate members of a community are active in some way, in different policy areas, and have an equal effect on the community's decisions.
C)The "powers that be," generally those with a large amount of control over the local economy, are the real power brokers in a community.
D)A variety of people in a community are active (not just the power elite), and generally different people are active in different policy areas.
E)A plurality of values, specific to a community, is the underlying source of community power.

Question 29

In their 1920s study of Muncie, Indiana, what did Robert and Helen Lynd find to be the way the city functioned in reality?

A)It functioned as a true democracy, with power evenly distributed.
B)The social and economic elite held the power.
C)The business elite, which was often different from the social elite, held the power.
D)Religious association was the key to holding power.
E)Civil leaders, no matter their social or economic standing, held the power.

Question 30

How many U.S.workers are employed by state and local governments?

A)12 million
B)19 million
C)30 million
D)7 million
E)4 million

Question 31

Researchers conducting community power studies generally believe that

A)pluralism is a theory that has no ability to describe the nature of politics in many American communities.
B)influence is shared among many people and tends to be limited to particular issues and areas.
C)power in communities can only be explained through social stratification.
D)the same small group of individuals has complete influence over all policy issues.
E)public policy is controlled by elected officials who are not at all responsive to citizens.

Question 32

Compared to the national government, local governments are more likely to engage in redistributive policies.

Question 33

Widespread use of the Internet has helped increase tax revenues in most communities.

Question 34

Which of the following is NOT a major sector of state and local government employment?

A)Education
B)Hospitals
C)Law enforcement
D)Corrections
E)Homeland security

Question 35

Citizens tend to have greater interest in, and more information about, local government than the national government.

Question 36

Which of the following is NOT one of the most common jobs held by employees of state and local governments?

A)Education
B)Corrections
C)Police protection
D)Hospitals
E)State legislatures

Question 37

State and local government revenues account for approximately ____% of the U.S.gross domestic product.

A)14
B)19
C)23
D)11
E)35

Question 38

Which of the following statements is most accurate?

A)The mix of national, state, and local programs and responsibilities is such that it is often hard to isolate what each level of government is doing.
B)Because federal government has downsized while state and local governments have grown, the line between the functions of each has become more clearly delineated.
C)State and local government functions, which date back to the founding of the nation, have always been clearly delineated from federal government functions.
D)The public education system in the U.S.is the one area of state and local governments in which the federal government plays almost no part.
E)The health care sector is one in which state and local governments play almost no role; it is almost completely within the federal realm.

Question 39

Which of the following best describes recent trends in state and local government spending as compared to federal government spending over the past 30 years?

A)State and local government spending has grown, while federal spending has decreased except for federal spending in 2009 and 2010.
B)Federal spending has increased, while state and local government spending has decreased.
C)Both federal spending and state and local spending have increased, especially since September 11, 2001.
D)Both federal spending and state and local spending have decreased, as Republican tax policies have decreased the federal budget, impacting the state and local budgets.
E)Both federal spending and state and local spending have held steady in recent years; there have been no significant increases or decreases.

Question 40

Intense political divisions over new immigrants is one of the challenges currently facing state and local governments.

Question 41

In the 1950s, sociologist Floyd Hunter analyzed Atlanta and concluded that

A)only large cities exhibit the sharing of power by many individuals.
B)there is no elite present in any American city.
C)Atlanta should secede from Georgia.
D)the power of an elite group of policy makers was almost always important in determining policy
E)None of the above

Question 42

In recent decades, state government activities have

A)decreased.
B)been more variable.
C)remained fairly constant.
D)increased.
E)become more constrained.

Question 43

Which statement best describes special-interest groups' power?

A)It is generally stronger at the state and local level than in Washington, D.C.
B)It is generally stronger in Washington, D.C.than at the local level.
C)The type of special-interest group is the deciding factor in whether it is stronger at the state and local level than in Washington, D.C.
D)Thanks to campaign reform laws, the strength of special-interest groups has been greatly diminished at both the state and local level and the federal level.
E)Special-interest groups have never been particularly powerful in U.S.politics, either at the state and local level or the federal level.

Question 44

Which state limits gifts to public employees to no more than $3 in value?

A)Texas
B)Virginia
C)California
D)Iowa
E)Vermont

Question 45

The total number of employees is highest in

A)the military.
B)state and local governments.
C)international aid organizations.
D)the federal government.
E)All of the above have approximately the same number of employees

Question 46

Who was the social scientist who studied decision making in New Haven, Connecticut?

A)Robert Magleby
B)Mancur Olson
C)Helen Lynd
D)Robert Dahl
E)Woodrow Wilson

Question 47

How many states now ban lobbyists from contributing to campaigns?

A)22
B)13
C)5
D)9
E)All 50

Question 48

What was the percentage of white Americans in 2008 (according to estimates)?

A)78%
B)66%
C)83%
D)52%
E)91%

Question 49

Which of the following is NOT an activity of interest groups in the states?

A)Lobbying at state capitols and city halls
B)Educating and organizing voters
C)Supporting political friends
D)Running members for public office under the group's label
E) Trying to build up membership of the organization

Question 50

One research tradition among social scientists assumes that political influence is a function of social stratification.Researchers in this tradition find that the upper socioeconomic groups in a community make up a(n)

A)oppressive oligarchy.
B)influence nexus.
C)power elite.
D)elected cadre.
E)iron triangle.

Question 51

The theory that finds a variety of different people active in different policy areas is the theory of

A)elitism.
B)communism.
C)differentialism.
D)diversity.
E)pluralism.

Question 52

Which of the following is NOT a core component of democratic governance?

A)Liberty
B)Federalism
C)Representation
D)Citizen participation
E)Responsible leadership

Question 53

Which of the following is NOT an area in which state and local governments typically determine policy?

A)How schools are run
B)How land is used
C)Where roads and bridges are built
D)Defense against foreign threats
E)What social services are provided and to whom

Question 54

Interest groups may have greater influence in states and localities than at the national level because

A)groups may represent social and economic majorities in an area more easily than at the national level.
B) more groups are active in any given locality on a specific issue than at the national level.
C)groups are not organized at the national level.
D)federal law prohibits interest groups from lobbying members of Congress.
E)All of the above

Question 55

The group of social scientists who find a power elite in communities assume that political influence is a function of

A)ordinary citizens.
B)socialist theory.
C)issue networks.
D)iron triangles.
E)social stratification.

Question 56

Divisions in a community among socioeconomic groups or classes are known as

A)social stratification.
B)a caste system.
C)elite theory.
D)capitalist consequences.
E)discriminant oppression.

Question 57

Which of the following is NOT an area in which the national government assumes major responsibility?

A)Fighting inflation and unemployment
B)Protecting civil rights
C)Determining the laws regarding marriage, divorce, and property
D)Subsidizing weaker sectors of the economy
E)Regulating economic sectors

Question 58

According to 2008 U.S.Census Bureau estimates, where does roughly three-fourths of the Hispanic population live?

A)In the South and Midwest
B)In the South and West
C)In the West
D)In the West and Northeast
E)In the South

Question 59

Scientists who conduct community power studies tend to find a relatively open pluralistic power structure by

A)focusing on social stratification.
B)asking people to identify influential individuals.
C)studying how decisions are actually made.
D)examining the social characteristics of influential people.
E)assuming that a small group of elites control most community decisions.

Question 60

Why are professional associations so concerned with public policy?

A)Because the states provide their licenses and determine the requirements to become licensed
B)Because the states award contracts based upon professional associations' lobbying strength and public image
C)Because they want to make sure licensing requirements are as liberal as possible in order to increase their numbers and, therefore, their influence
D)Because their number one priority is to shape public policy, which will make their professions more marketable to potential clients
E)They aren't; professional associations do not involve themselves in government.

Question 61

Which of the following professionals are NOT typically licensed by the state?

A)Doctors
B)Lawyers
C)Waiters
D)Dentists
E)Teachers

Question 62

The Beauticians Aid Association, the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association, and the Institute of Dry Cleaning are examples of

A)ethnic fraternal societies.
B)professional associations.
C)PACs.
D)legislative task forces.
E)regulatory agencies.

Question 63

To which government(s) do citizens typically feel closest?

A)The national government
B)Foreign governments
C)State governments
D)City and county governments
E)International governments

Question 64

The text cites a 2006 poll that asked citizens about the level of trust they had in local, state, and federal governments.How did the three government levels rank in the poll results, from most trusted to least?

A)Federal, local, state
B)State, federal, local
C)Local, federal, state
D)Local, state, federal
E)All government levels ranked equally, at about 65%.

Question 65

Any interest group, no matter how strong, must cope with a variety of

A)PACs.
B)campaign advertisements.
C)unionized workers.
D)internal problems.
E)states.

Question 66

Cigarette taxes tend to be low

A)in states without any tobacco farming.
B)in states with low levels of smokers.
C)in southeastern and border states.
D)on weekends.
E)in New England.

Question 67

Which of the following is true about American states?

A)None has a population over 10 million
B)There are twenty-nine states with less than five million people each
C)The largest 11 states account for 84% of the nation's population
D)Most states have populations greater than 8 million
E)None of the above

Question 68

Four states ban gifts of any sort to state officials.This is sometimes called the "_________________" rule.

A)anti-incumbent
B)corruption prevention
C)no cup of coffee
D)public transparency
E)full disclosure

Question 69

Compared to state and national elections, local elections

A)tend to have lower levels of turnout.
B)occur much less frequently.
C)are much more competitive.
D)generate greater levels of citizen interest.
E)typically have greater rates of citizen participation.

Question 70

In which three states would you find half of the Asian-Pacific Islander population of the U.S.?

A)Hawaii, California, and Nevada
B)Oregon, Washington, and Idaho
C)California, New York, and Hawaii
D)New Mexico, Arizona, and California
E)California, New Mexico, and Arizona

Question 71

At what level of government are redistributive policies least likely found?

A)The local level
B)The state level
C)The federal level
D)About equally at the local and federal level
E)About equally at all levels of government

Question 72

What is the purpose of a PIRG?

A)Lobbying for corporate interests at the state level
B)Serving as a public policy "watchdog" group
C)Unionizing workers, generally auto workers
D)Organizing teachers' unions in multiple states
E)Organizing state lobbyists for a particular cause into a federal lobbying organization

Question 73

Groups that regularly monitor state politics for questionable fund-raising or lobbying practices are acting as __________________ of the public policy process.

A)overseers
B)creators
C)facilitators
D)advisors
E)watchdogs

Question 74

What are redistributive policies?

A)Those that shift wealth from one segment of the population to another, generally from rich to poor
B)Those that shift the tax burden from individuals to corporations
C)Those that shift the source of taxes from income to purchases
D)Those that attempt to equalize the percentage of taxes paid by each individual, taking into account both income and sales taxes
E)Those that shift the tax burden from corporations to individuals

Question 75

Citizen opposition to having a drug treatment clinic or a prison in their neighborhood is an example of

A)a total lack of empathy.
B)the "not in my backyard" response.
C)PACs.
D)political propaganda.
E)the please pick another place pattern.

Question 76

What was the percentage of Hispanics who lived in the West as of 2008?

A)12%
B)25%
C)30%
D)10%
E)18%

Question 77

Which of the following best describes the behavior of most mayors and city officials?

A)They generally push for more radical agendas and reforms than state or federal officials, secure in their community's support.
B)If they are serving a first term, they generally view their election as a mandate for a change in the status quo.
C)They usually try to avoid confrontation or altering the status quo in ways that would divide their communities.
D)They are usually the ones who initiate redistributive policies in order to shift resources to poorer constituents (something state or federal elected officials are reluctant to do).
E)They are usually reluctant to tell constituents to take their arguments in support of redistributive policies to a higher level of government, as this will diminish their own power within the community.

Question 78

Many observers believe that compared to the U.S.Congress, lobbyists in state legislatures

A)have less clout.
B)face greater restrictions on their activities.
C)are totally ineffective in influencing policy.
D)have freer reign.
E)face greater media scrutiny.

Question 79

Which state had the highest minority population in 2008?

A)Hawaii
B)New Mexico
C)California
D)Texas
E)Arizona

Question 80

A NIMBY reaction is most likely to be triggered in a community when it is announced that

A)federal funds have been procured to build a new high school.
B)a new landfill will be built.
C)a local election has no clear winner and a runoff will result.
D)a proposed new airport will not be built after all.
E)an elected official has been accused of scandalous behavior.