Question 1

Scholars of race and gender in American politics have found evidence to support the notion of ______, in which individuals accept "the belief that their own life chances are inextricably tied to the group as a whole."

Accepted Answer

The answer of Scholars of race and gender in American...

Question 2

Zaller's theory of consideration says that our

Accepted Answer

A) knowledge and emotions both come into play when forming an opinion. 
B) desire to become politically active is influenced by family and societal acquaintances. 
C) interest in the political process is an innate human response to societal engagement. 
D) opinions and attitudes are influenced more by institutions than by family and friends.

Question 3

Immediately following the Michael Brown shooting, protesters were calling for

Accepted Answer

A) the release of autopsy results. 
B) the name of the officer who shot Mr. Brown. 
C) the release of Mr. Brown's personal effects. 
D) the release of dash cam video of the encounter.

Question 4

One of the earliest and most influential advocates of the minimalist argument was ______.

Accepted Answer

A) Christopher Achen 
B) Walter Lippmann 
C) Phillip E. Converse 
D) Robert Shapiro

Question 5

Which of the following best describes the results of the Pew Survey following the Michael Brown incident?

Accepted Answer

A) More than 90% of all respondents indicated concern for the treatment of blacks by the police. 
B) Only 10% of all respondents showed any concern for the treatment of blacks by the police. 
C) Eighty percent of black respondents indicated concern for "important issues about race," while only 37% of white respondents agreed. 
D) No significant information was obtained due to errors in survey construction and data collection.

Question 6

Philip E.Converse found that

Accepted Answer

A) elites serve as models for mass behavior. 
B) masses do not learn from elites. 
C) elites filter political knowledge to masses. 
D) mass behavior lacks a level of education.

Question 7

Which of the following is considered a negative campaign tactic rather than a truly reflective poll?

Accepted Answer

A) straw poll 
B) random digit dialing 
C) self-selected listener opinion poll 
D) push poll

Question 8

Party identification is highly transmitted through which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A) peer groups 
B) families 
C) employers 
D) schools

Question 9

The Pew Survey that followed the Michael Brown incident demonstrated that Americans were ______ about whether Mr.Brown's death reflected important issues about the state of race in America.

Accepted Answer

A) deeply divided 
B) indifferent 
C) highly unified 
D) moderately concerned

Question 10

How we define ourselves in terms of race, gender, or ethnicity can form clear, consistent, and persistent patterns of similarity and division in American public opinion.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 11

Random-digit dialing carries which of the following possible errors?

Accepted Answer

A) sampling error 
B) interviewer error 
C) wording error 
D) tabulation error

Question 12

In terms of measuring the preferences of constituents, the deeper challenge with elections is that they tend to

Accepted Answer

A) involve issues that are important to the candidates but have no relevance to the voters. 
B) revolve around a small set of issues for which voters have intense preferences. 
C) measure only a snapshot of public opinion at one particular point in time. 
D) fail to take into account the reasons people vote in the first place.

Question 13

Which of the following is a problem inherent in self-selected listener opinion polls?

Accepted Answer

A) question wording 
B) instrument construction 
C) self-selection bias 
D) nonopinion bias

Question 14

Information is a central part of representative government because

Accepted Answer

A) candidate access to political information is essential. 
B) government control of information is critical. 
C) citizens must have some knowledge of what their elected representatives are up to. 
D) public information is of value to any governmental institution.

Question 15

What observation did Representative John Conyers (D-Mich)make about the treatment of African Americans by police?

Accepted Answer

A) "There is little or no evidence of focused attention by police on black citizens." 
B) "Police mistreatment of blacks and Hispanics has become a major problem in America." 
C) "Police should be given latitude to perform their duties without question or oversight." 
D) "There are virtually no African-American males who have not been stopped for driving while black."

Question 16

According to Christopher Achen, political surveys may be used to

Accepted Answer

A) "shape" political findings depending upon the partisan or policy preferences of those who constructed or paid for the poll. 
B) influence the transmission of political information on the basis of biased assumptions and inconclusive information. 
C) communicate incomplete or inaccurate information to the mass public so as to unduly influence the voting public. 
D) give value to political information for the purposes of constituents and representatives alike.

Question 17

According to political scientists John Zaller and Stanley Feldman, survey questions

Accepted Answer

A) must be constructed so as to produce the results desired by political experts. 
B) fail to account for individual and institutional biases. 
C) go beyond measuring public opinion by shaping and channeling it in order to frame issues. 
D) are designed to collect individual stereotypes and generalizations without filtering them.

Question 18

Systematic attempts to make inferences about the opinions of large numbers of individuals by carefully sampling and asking questions to a small, randomly assigned sample of the larger population are defined as

Accepted Answer

A) public opinion surveys. 
B) straw polls. 
C) self-selected listener opinion polls. 
D) exit polls.

Question 19

For the majority of questions of public policy with which elected officials will have to contend, elections are too ______ to reveal useful information.

Accepted Answer

A) narrow in scope 
B) focused on candidates 
C) broad a tool 
D) focused on voter preferences

Question 20

In 1975, political scientist Christopher Achen posed a challenge to the research of Phillip E.Converse, focusing on the

Accepted Answer

A) construction of the survey instrument. 
B) wording of the survey instrument. 
C) lack of coherence and stability in individual survey responses. 
D) methods used to calculate survey results.

Exam 7: Public Opinion