Deck 7: Public Opinion

Question 1

Which of these statements about the role of race and ethnicity in politics is the most accurate?

A)The party loyalties of ethnic groups rarely change.
B)Politics based on ethnicity have the potential to be fluid and change over time.
C)Religion is much more important than race and ethnicity in shaping public opinion.
D)Ethnic consciousness has little effect on public opinion in heterogeneous nations like the United States.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Survey results show that __________ Americans tend to be more tolerant and more in favor of civil rights than the public as a whole.

A)wealthy
B)rural-dwelling
C)college-educated
D)strongly religious

Answer 2

C

Question 3

A person's dedication to her organic vegetable garden would not be considered part of public opinion but her __________ would be.

A)crop output
B)eating habits
C)views on food industry
D)activities at the farmer's market

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which statement explains why public opinion is an important consideration for both democratic and authoritarian governments?

A)Public opinion provides leaders with smart policy ideas.
B)Manipulating public opinion is necessary to maintain social control.
C)Every society needs to have uniformity of public opinion to remain strong.
D)Strong public dissent can lead to an electoral defeat or the collapse of the regime.

Question 5

The 2008 U.S.financial bailouts were met with public opposition despite the fact that they staved off a depression and were being repaid.This illustrates that __________.

A)opinion polls have no impact on government decisions
B)elected officials often misunderstand what opinion polls show
C)mass opinion should play a greater role in economic policy making
D)the public is often swayed by emotional rather than rational considerations

Question 6

A well-constructed public opinion poll __________.

A)poses the simplest questions possible
B)separates conservative from liberal opinions
C)distinguishes between elite and mass opinions
D)attempts to quantify respondents' subjective responses

Question 7

Mahatma Gandhi's movement in India illustrated that __________.

A)peaceful movements are more likely to succeed than violent ones
B)a government always responds to the public opinion of the population
C)a government responds to public opinion when its image is threatened
D)public opinion must be shaped into a non-violent protest movement to be successful

Question 8

Why might a government go ahead with a policy or action that the majority of citizens oppose?

A)Public opinion does not always reflect what is best for the nation.
B)The public probably will have forgotten all about it by the next election.
C)The government rarely has an accurate way of knowing what the people think.
D)The public would rather see decisive action that it opposes than no action at all.

Question 9

The fact that most Americans turned against the Iraq War after learning that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction (WMD)illustrates __________.

A)that public opinion is often based on misinformation
B)how strongly public opinion shapes government policy
C)the fact that public opinion rarely influences government policy
D)the limitations on government's ability to create the public opinion it desires

Question 10

Which of the following lends support to the political generations theory of public opinion?

A)Young voters went strongly to Obama in the 2008 and 2012 elections.
B)Younger people are better educated about political issues than older people.
C)Older people are better informed about political issues than younger people.
D)Many people who lived through the Great Depression are life-long supporters of welfare programs.

Question 11

What does public opinion polling provide that election results cannot?

A)the popularity of specific candidates
B)insight into citizens' views on specific issues
C)a clear indication which political party is dominant
D)information about candidates' real views on the issues.

Question 12

What is the most significant way in which television coverage turned public opinion in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1965?

A)Images of police brutality toward African Americans sparked widespread outrage.
B)Interviews with job applicants showed widespread racial discrimination in the hiring process.
C)Speeches in Congress broadcast on television convinced voters that the law had bipartisan support.
D)Coverage of segregated classrooms convinced Americans that separate-but-equal education was not really equal.

Question 13

Which statement explains why the life cycle theory does not always hold true?

A)People tend to get more conservative as they get older.
B)Americans are more likely to move to the suburbs when they graduate college.
C)Political engagement tends to increase as a person gets older and more successful.
D)Major events during young adulthood can affect people's political views for a long time.

Question 14

Which statement can explain why a public opinion poll taken in 2006 found that large numbers of Americans still believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and significant links to Al Qaeda?

A)The poll was deliberately constructed to make Americans look uninformed.
B)People often hold onto impressions even after the facts have been shown to them.
C)Americans knew that the weapons of mass destruction would eventually be found.
D)The polling sample included a disproportionate number of people who supported the Iraq War in 2002.

Question 15

After interviewing a citizen about his support for the new health care bill,a newspaper concludes that there is widespread support for the new legislation in town.This is an example of __________.

A)saliency
B)objective reporting
C)anecdotal evidence
D)government propaganda

Question 16

Based on opinion polls in other areas,one could conclude that an American with a college education is likely to support __________.

A)restrictions on women's reproductive rights
B)a reduction of welfare benefits
C)repealing affirmative action
D)guarantees for same-sex marriage

Question 17

In recent decades,women were several percentage points more likely than men to vote for a __________ presidential candidate.

A)Democratic
B)Green Party
C)Libertarian
D)Republican

Question 18

Which of the following is a plausible explanation for the polls' prediction that Dewey would defeat Truman in 1948?

A)Pollsters assumed that the country was significantly more Republican than the actual poll data indicated.
B)Pollsters had assumed that all respondents who said they were unlikely to vote would,in fact,stay home.
C)Pollsters had assumed that non-respondents would wind up voting in the same ratio as those who had responded.
D)Pollsters had assumed that respondents who said they were undecided would wind up voting in the same ratio as those who had already decided.

Question 19

Elections rarely show __________.

A)how voters feel about specific issues
B)how politically engaged the population is
C)which areas of the country have the highest turnout
D)a clear electoral mandate for the winning candidates

Question 20

Which factor contributed most to the collapse of regimes such as those in the Soviet Union?

A)ineffective security forces
B)a lack of sustained public support
C)deviation from true Marxist ideology
D)lack of decisive policy making by government officials

Question 21

Which statement explains how Nate Silver was able to predict an Obama win in 2012 more confidently than many pollsters?

A)His poll asked clearer,more useful questions than other polls did.
B)He carefully aggregated polls,taking swing state trends into account.
C)He polled a more representative sample of voters than other pollsters did.
D)He knew that the electorate was more liberal than most polls at the time were suggesting.

Question 22

Which type of distribution curve is the most dangerous for a democracy?

A)bell-shaped
B)bimodal
C)rightward-skewed
D)unimodal

Question 23

According to Almond,the elite might play to the attentive public because the attentive public tends to __________.

A)accept elite views
B)represent the view of the society as a whole
C)pass on views that mobilize the general public
D)take a more negative view on elite control than the general public does

Question 24

Which of the following is a reason that the telephone survey is the most common polling method in the United States?

A)Americans tend to use their phones more than email.
B)Most Americans prefer telephone polls over online polls.
C)Other forms of polling are impractical or prohibitively expensive.
D)Recent laws on robo-calling make telephone polls less difficult to conduct.

Question 25

Which of these statements is true regarding a president's approval ratings?

A)Congress is usually more popular than the President.
B)Rally events tend to lead to a decrease in presidential approval ratings.
C)A bad economy is generally not blamed on an otherwise popular president.
D)Presidents experience their highest ratings during their honeymoon phase.

Question 26

Which of these is an example of a rally event?

A)a major terrorist attack
B)the State of the Union address
C)a decrease in the unemployment rate
D)the passage of a major piece of legislation

Question 27

The Republican Party could attract more female supporters if it __________.

A)changed its position on reproductive rights
B)supported an increase in the minimum wage
C)intensified its calls for tax cuts on the wealthy
D)became more tolerant on the issue of immigration

Question 28

Politicians with an early lead in the polls tend to get _________.

A)overconfident and sloppy
B)ignored by the adversarial press
C)control over future polling questions
D)more campaign contributions and more press coverage

Question 29

How do published exit polls affect the outcome of presidential elections in the United States?

A)They have not been shown to have any impact.
B)They have been shown to significantly influence undecided voters.
C)They had a significant impact,which is why publishing exit polls are now illegal.
D)They have led to lower voter turnout,since people already know who is likely to win.

Question 30

Polls can track public opinion and __________.

A)alienate elites
B)shape public opinion
C)explain policy choices
D)substitute for elections

Question 31

Which pair of independent and dependent variables cannot reasonably be reversed?

A)race (independent)and annual income (dependent)
B)annual income (independent)and level of education (dependent)
C)weekly TV consumption (independent)and party affiliation (dependent)
D)weekly TV consumption (independent)and level of education (dependent)

Question 32

One challenge of __________ approach is that many Americans tend to identify as middle class,even if they are too poor or too rich to qualify.

A)an anecdotal
B)a scientific
C)an objective
D)a subjective

Question 33

Which of the following is most likely to result in a pollster recording a non-attitude response for a participant?

A)asking the participant his opinion on a religious issue
B)asking the participant about an issue that he is passionate about
C)asking the participant his opinion on crime in his neighborhood
D)asking the participant his opinion on an especially complex issue

Question 34

Which of these is the best strategy for policy makers to use to create better policy on a particular issue?

A)follow what the opinion polls state regarding the issue
B)balance opinion polls with their own knowledge on the issue
C)set up stricter opinion polling guidelines to ensure greater reliability
D)disregard opinion polls since the public has little policy making expertise

Question 35

Poor poll showings early in the campaign __________.

A)are often a self-fulfilling prophecy of defeat
B)usually have no impact on a candidate's chances of victory
C)usually indicate that the polling methodology was flawed
D)often encourage voters to turn out to ensure their candidate pulls out the win

Question 36

What can be concluded from the fact that such a large proportion of the American public identifies as conservative?

A)The American people have repudiated traditional forms of individualism.
B)Opinion distributions in the United States are becoming increasingly unimodal.
C)The Republican Party is likely to hold control of Congress for decades to come.
D)Many people have an ideological identification that goes against their position on the issues.

Question 37

Published surveys tend to be more carefully watched by the public during __________.

A)wartime
B)election years
C)times of great social change
D)upturns in the stock market

Question 38

A pollster can decrease a poll's margin of error by __________.

A)increasing the sample size
B)decreasing the number of questions
C)polling an equal number of men and women
D)supplementing the poll with a focus group

Question 39

In the United States,some affluent suburbs are quite liberal,while poorer country dwellers are conservative.What does this suggest about Karl Marx's theories on class consciousness?

A)His prediction regarding the collapse of capitalism was inaccurate.
B)His predictions regarding the impact of religion and propaganda were accurate.
C)His prediction regarding the salience of social class for U.S.citizens was correct.
D)His prediction regarding the salience of social class does not apply to the United States.

Question 40

Suppose two surveys are conducted,one asking people's level of support for "welfare" and the other using the term "assistance to the poor." The former survey finds much lower support than the latter.This discrepancy shows that __________.

A)public opinion surveys are generally unreliable
B)pollsters should avoid questions dealing with social policy
C)a misinformed public will provide inconsistent survey answers
D)pollsters must be careful to word questions in ways that avoid biased responses

Question 41

The opinion of the general public tends to have little impact on government decision making because __________.

A)corporate propaganda skews the results
B)opinion surveys tend to show widely variable results
C)elected officials know that they will not be held accountable for their actions
D)indifference and fragmentation make it difficult to discern what the public truly thinks

Question 42

The results of a poll can be skewed by __________.

A)the way the questions are worded
B)the importance of the poll to policy makers
C)the number of people who study the results
D)the amount of time the media takes to report the results

Question 43

Most elected officials in the United States are pro-Israel,despite Jews comprising only about 2 percent of the population.This can be explained by __________.

A)the importance of religion in American society
B)the dominance of the two major parties over policy outcomes
C)media coverage that privileges the Middle Eastern perspective
D)the tendency of politicians to pay attention to those who hold intense beliefs

Question 44

The government bank bailouts in response to the 2008 financial crisis illustrate the gap between elites and mass public opinion.

Question 45

Beginning with the work of Karl Marx,scholars have treated social class as an important factor in public opinion.

Question 46

American presidents tend to experience high public opinion ratings during their honeymoon period and after rally events such as the Iran hostage crisis.

Question 47

How is the failure of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion an example of the impact dramatic foreign policy events can have on public support of the president?

A)The event inspired public disdain for President Kennedy because it was a failure.
B)The event inspired public support for President Kennedy even though it was a failure.
C)Support for President Kennedy remained steady because few people knew about the invasion.
D)Support for President Kennedy remained low because of the incoherence of his foreign policy.

Question 48

The labels "conservative" and "liberal" have different meanings for different groups of voters.

Question 49

In the United States,a liberal would likely support __________,while a conservative would likely support __________.

A)increasing the minimum wage; banning same-sex marriage
B)increasing the minimum wage; banning prayer in schools
C)increasing military spending; banning lifetime limits on health insurance coverage
D)increasing military spending; banning unlimited campaign donations

Question 50

All public opinion polls pose questions to a group of randomly selected individuals without considering their age,gender,or location.

Question 51

Even in the long-term,most presidents who shrug off public opinion remain vilified.

Question 52

Wallonia in Belgium and Basque country in Spain are examples of center-periphery tensions.

Question 53

France bans the publication of polls close to election day.

Question 54

Polls designed to influence respondents' opinions are known as __________ polls.

A)anecdotal
B)focus
C)push
D)salience

Question 55

The relationship between education and social class is weak.

Question 56

Which statement explains why a retired person who refers to herself as conservative expresses strong support for social welfare programs such as Social Security,Medicare,and federal aid for prescription drugs?

A)Federal entitlement programs are conservative in nature.
B)Most people hold consistent opinions about public policy issue.
C)Conservative ideology sees public health care and pensions as a natural right.
D)A person's self-identification is not always consistent with his or her views on specific issues.

Question 57

According to a 1998 Pew study of the attitude of politicians toward the public,politicians believed that __________.

A)re-election is easier than it should be
B)elites should decide policy questions
C)public opinion is important in a democracy
D)the American people are relatively well-informed

Question 58

Gun control opponents tend to be __________ than the rest of the population.

A)more affluent
B)less politically engaged
C)more intense about the issue
D)less likely to answer poll questions

Question 59

Suppose you are an advisor to a U.S.president whose approval ratings are sagging.What advice could you give to the president to help boost public approval?

A)Propose a bill increasing farm subsidies.
B)Visit a local school to talk about education policy.
C)Criticize Congress over its handling of the economy.
D)Schedule a meeting with prominent foreign leaders to discuss a foreign policy crisis.

Question 60

Only leaders in democratic nations are vulnerable to changes in public opinion.