American Politics Exam Preparation Guide
Course Introduction
American Politics provides an in-depth exploration of the principles, structures, and processes that shape the political system of the United States. The course examines the Constitution, federalism, the roles of Congress, the presidency, and the judiciary, as well as the influence of political parties, interest groups, public opinion, and the media. Students will analyze the development and functioning of American democracy, key policy debates, and the historical and contemporary challenges facing the nation's political institutions. Through case studies and current events, the course encourages critical thinking about participation, governance, and policy-making in the United States.
Recommended Textbook
We the People 10th Edition by Benjamin Ginsberg
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Chapter 1: American Political Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements best describes how Americans currently feel about laissez-faire capitalism?
A) Americans strongly support capitalism and economic liberty and reject all restrictions on economic freedom.
B) Americans strongly support capitalism and economic liberty but also endorse policies that are designed to guarantee economic equality among all citizens.
C) Americans strongly support capitalism and economic liberty but also endorse some restrictions on economic freedoms to protect the public.
D) Americans strongly oppose capitalism and economic liberty and endorse policies that are designed to guarantee economic equality among all citizens.
E) Americans strongly oppose capitalism and economic liberty and endorse some restrictions on economic freedoms to protect the public.
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: The Founding and the Constitution
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Q1) The Federalists believed that the most apparent source of tyranny was ________.
A) the king of Great Britain
B) the popular majority
C) the northern merchants
D) George Washington
E) the landowning elite
Answer: B
Q2) Only one-third of the Senate is up for re-election during any single election year because the framers believed that
A) too many elections would be difficult for the states to run.
B) the voters should not have to make too many decisions during any single election.
C) this was the only way to protect the Senate against radical changes.
D) the state legislatures would conspire with each other to elect a Senate dominated by a single party.
E) this would make members of the Senate more responsive to the preferences of their constituents.
Answer: C
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Chapter 3: Federalism
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Q1) Block grants are designed to
A) fund a large number of similar projects.
B) fund urban improvements on a specific city block.
C) give the states considerable discretion in how the money should be spent.
D) fund capital improvements in a specific block of schools.
E) impose strict limits on how state governments can spend money from the federal government.
Answer: C
Q2) The United States, Canada, and Switzerland can all be described as ________ systems of government while France can be described as a ________ system of government.
A) unitary; federal
B) federal; unitary
C) unitary; totalitarian
D) totalitarian; federal
E) oligarchic; federal
Answer: B
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Civil Liberties
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Q1) The ________ of the First Amendment protect(s) an individual's right to believe and practice whatever religion he or she chooses.
A) establishment clause
B) free association clause
C) free exercise clause
D) religious freedom restoration clause
E) privileges and immunities
Q2) Which of the following is the best description of the Supreme Court's first ruling on the issue of the nationalization of the Bill of Rights in 1833?
A) The takings clause restricts national and state governments but not city governments.
B) The Bill of Rights should not be used if a state's constitution already contains its own bill of rights.
C) The takings clause does not cover accidents caused by government officials.
D) The Bill of Rights limits the national government but not state governments.
E) The Bill of Rights limits state governments but not the national government.
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Chapter 5: Civil Rights
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Q1) Describe the history of legalized racial discrimination in the United States since the end of the Civil War. What was the Fourteenth Amendment intended to accomplish, and how did the Supreme Court justices limit its protections in the late nineteenth century? What were the Jim Crow laws? Explain.
Q2) The Fair Housing Act of 1968
A) had little effect on housing segregation because its enforcement mechanisms were very weak.
B) had little effect on housing segregation because it was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1969.
C) had little effect on housing segregation because most housing segregation had been eliminated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
D) dramatically increased housing segregation.
E) dramatically reduced housing segregation.
Q3) The NAACP had the most success with ________ for combating racism.
A) mass marches and protests
B) civil disobedience
C) lawsuits
D) passive resistance
E) radio and television advertising
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Page 7
Chapter 6: Public Opinion
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Q1) The typical margin of error in a sample survey of 1,500 respondents is ________.
A) 0.1 percent
B) 0.5 percent
C) 2.5 percent
D) 10 percent
E) 15 percent
Q2) Why does the marketplace of ideas often have a moderating effect on people's opinions?
A) Given constant exposure to other people's ideas, it is almost impossible for one not to modify one's own viewpoints.
B) Moderate ideas usually have the best financial backing and the greatest publicity.
C) The most popular ideas are usually the most moderate ones.
D) Those who shop in the marketplace of ideas typically start with moderate viewpoints.
E) Moderate ideas are always closest to the truth and, therefore, are most successful in the marketplace of ideas.
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Chapter 7: The Media
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Q1) Which of the following best describes the relationship between the government and the media in the United States today?
A) The government controls most media content through regulations and tightly controlled press briefings.
B) The government owns, but does not control, the major sources of media.
C) The government does not own but regulates the content and ownership of broadcast media.
D) Broadcast media are not regulated in the United States.
E) The government heavily regulates print media but imposes no regulations on radio and television broadcasts.
Q2) The following are all concerns raised by the growing popularity of online news EXCEPT
A) a decline in investigative journalism.
B) a reduction in the diversity of perspectives that can potentially be heard.
C) a negative impact on political knowledge.
D) a decrease in political tolerance.
E) uneven quality in news content.
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Political Participation and Voting
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Q1) Studies have discovered ________ to be the key element of successful mobilization efforts.
A) personal contact
B) direct mailings
C) extensive use of phone banks
D) advertising in local media
E) e-mail newsletters
Q2) Which of the following statements is true?
A) Eighteen states granted women the right to vote before the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment.
B) Many states allowed the direct election of U.S. senators before the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment.
C) both a and b
D) Congress gave women the right to vote in the United States before any single state.
E) Direct election of senators began during the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Q3) Why is turnout in the United States lower than in other Western democracies? What structural reforms might increase the level of turnout in the United States?
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Chapter 9: Political Parties
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Q1) Issues such as the environment, health care, retirement benefits, and taxation are on the political agenda in the United States because
A) these are the only issues that are important to all Americans.
B) these are the only problems that have yet to be solved by the free market.
C) contemporary political parties mainly compete for the support of middle-class Americans and these issues are important to the middle class.
D) the Constitution limits the federal government's powers to legislating on these issues.
E) these are the only issues where Democrats and Republicans consistently agree with each other.
Q2) Third-party candidates are better off under ________.
A) the majority system
B) the plurality system
C) proportional representation
D) the winner-take-all system
E) the spoils system
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Chapter 10: Campaigns and Elections
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Q1) Elections are ultimately about the choices that citizens make in a democracy. Describe some of the factors that influence voters' decisions. What are some of the considerations that voters utilize when they make their choices? Explain.
Q2) "King Caucus" refers to
A) the significance of Iowa as the first caucus of the presidential campaign.
B) the importance of caucuses, not primaries, for Barack Obama's 2008 Democratic nomination.
C) the use of each party's congressional caucus to nominate presidential candidates during the early nineteenth century.
D) Daniel Webster, who had unrivaled influence over the presidential nominating process during the 1820s and 1830s.
E) the fact that caucuses are inherently undemocratic methods of selecting nominees for national political office.
Q3) Presidential elections are a unique phenomenon in American politics. Describe these election campaigns. How has the nominating process changed over the course of American history? Explain the function of modern conventions. How has the role of political parties during presidential campaigns changed?
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Chapter 11: Groups and Interests
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Q1) A loose, informal relationship of public officials, interest groups, and activists who are all concerned with the same policies is called ________.
A) an iron triangle
B) a membership association
C) the New Politics movement
D) an issue network
E) a 527 committee
Q2) By 2012, there were approximately ________ PACs in the United States.
A) 150
B) 1,500
C) 5,500
D) 15,000
E) 25,000
Q3) An iron triangle is made up of an alliance between
A) a legislative committee, an executive agency, and the federal courts.
B) the federal courts, the state courts, and interest groups.
C) a legislative committee, an interest group, and an executive agency.
D) an interest group, an executive agency, and the media.
E) the media, a legislative committee, and the federal courts.
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Congress
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Q1) Describe the process by which a bill becomes a law. What are the major steps in the process? What are the main differences in the legislative process between the two houses of Congress?
Q2) Which of the following statements is most accurate?
A) Party leaders frequently demand that representatives vote in a particular way even if it conflicts with the representative's district and may hurt their re-election efforts.
B) Representatives are always above constituency pressures when they vote on laws in Congress.
C) Many states have strict laws that require representatives to vote in accordance with what their constituents want.
D) On many issues, constituents do not have very strong views and representatives are free to act as they think best without fear of electoral reprisals.
E) On many issues, constituents have very strong views and representatives feel compelled to do exactly what their constituents demand.
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Chapter 13: The Presidency
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Q1) As a means of managing the gigantic executive branch, presidents have increasingly come to rely upon the ________.
A) Cabinet
B) Executive Office of the President
C) kitchen cabinet
D) White House staff
E) the Speaker of the House
Q2) Many scholars argue that a president's greatest powers are informal. Explain how the president uses informal powers. What has the White House done to increase the president's popularity? What is the role of political parties? Explain.
Q3) The power to receive ambassadors is an example of ________.
A) an expressed power
B) a delegated power
C) executive privilege
D) an executive agreement
E) an executive order
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Page 15
Chapter 14: Bureaucracy in a Democracy
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Q1) The most significant example of devolution in recent decades has been in the area of ________.
A) homeland security
B) crime enforcement
C) education
D) welfare policy
E) health care
Q2) The ________ is the head of a cabinet department.
A) secretary
B) agency supervisor
C) service administrator
D) chief executive officer
E) director
Q3) Individual members of Congress can discover questions of public responsibility when engaged in ________.
A) a filibuster
B) constituent case work
C) activities related to the work of a conference committee
D) a party caucus
E) a markup session
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Chapter 15: The Federal Courts
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Q1) In what type of law is the government always the plaintiff?
A) public law
B) criminal law
C) civil law
D) common law
E) tort law
Q2) Which of the following statements best describes the composition of the federal judiciary?
A) There are an equal number of men and women and far fewer Latino Americans than African Americans.
B) There are far fewer women than men and far fewer African Americans than Latino Americans.
C) There are far fewer women than men and far fewer Latino Americans than African Americans.
D) There are far fewer men than women and far fewer Latino Americans than African Americans.
E) There are far fewer men than women and far fewer African Americans than Latino Americans.
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Chapter 16: Government and the Economy
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Q1) Which of the following does the Small Business Administration provide?
A) insurance
B) legal counsel
C) disaster assistance
D) subsidies
E) grants
Q2) Which of the following statements best describes the federal government's role in higher education?
A) The federal government determines which classes will be taught in colleges and universities but provides no financial assistance for higher education.
B) The federal government provides all of the funding for higher education, but state and local governments are placed in charge of operating colleges and universities.
C) The federal government supports higher education through educational grants, tax breaks, and loans.
D) The federal government is in charge of running the day-to-day operations of every public college and university around the country.
E) The federal government plays no role whatsoever in higher education.
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Chapter 17: Social Policy
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Q1) Which of the following statements about government spending is most accurate?
A) The government spends far more on programs for education than on programs for the elderly and poor children.
B) The government spends far more on programs for veterans than on programs for the elderly and poor children.
C) The government spends far more on programs for the elderly than on programs for veterans and on unemployment insurance benefits.
D) The government spends far more on programs for poor children than on programs for the elderly and on unemployment insurance benefits.
E) The government spends far more on unemployment insurance benefits than on programs for the elderly and poor children.
Q2) What do public-opinion polls reveal about welfare policies?
A) They receive widespread support as long as they are means tested.
B) Americans view welfare beneficiaries as "undeserving."
C) Their popularity is low but has been steadily climbing since the 1970s.
D) The public support for welfare politics goes up when they are administered by the states.
E) Conservatives tend to favor them, while liberals oppose them.
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Page 19
Chapter 18: Foreign Policy and Democracy
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Q1) Deterrence assumes the ________ of the U.S. response and the ________ of an adversary.
A) rationality; certainty
B) certainty; rationality
C) power; weakness
D) weakness; power
E) timeliness; delay
Q2) Which of the following is NOT an influential interest group affecting American foreign policy?
A) organized ethnic groups
B) economic interest groups
C) diplomats from foreign nations
D) human rights interest groups
E) environmental groups
Q3) In a crisis, which of the following has the greatest foreign policy influence?
A) the president
B) Congress
C) the Senate
D) the Supreme Court
E) the public
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