American Politics
Test Preparation
Course Introduction
American Politics offers a comprehensive study of the major institutions, actors, and processes that define the political landscape of the United States. The course examines the foundational principles of American government, including the Constitution, federalism, and the separation of powers. Students will analyze the roles of Congress, the presidency, the judiciary, political parties, interest groups, and the media in shaping public policy and political behavior. The course also covers topics such as civil rights, elections, and policy-making, providing insight into the complexities and challenges of governance in a diverse and dynamic society.
Recommended Textbook
The Challenge of Democracy American Government in Global Politics 13th Edition by Kenneth Janda
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18 Chapters
1303 Verified Questions
1303 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Freedom, Order, or Equality
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Sample Questions
Q1) A libertarian is likely to believe
A)laws should not define the minimum drinking age.
B)marijuana should not be criminalized.
C)helping the needy should be a matter of individual choice.
D)government should not own and control industry.
E)All of these choices are true.
Answer: E
Q2) An example of a government policy that promotes social equality without redistributing income is
A)Vermont's civil unions.
B)raising the minimum wage.
C)redefining the welfare eligibility cut-off income.
D)defense spending.
E)financial aid determination.
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: Majoritarian or Pluralist Democracy
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80 Verified Questions
80 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A politician who appeals to and often deceives the masses by manipulating their emotions and prejudices is a(n)
A)politico.
B)delegate.
C)oligarch.
D)legacy.
E)demagogue.
Answer: E
Q2) The ancient Greeks classified governments as autocracies,oligarchies,or democracies based on
A)the fundamental purposes for which the government was instituted.
B)the extent of government power.
C)the types of elected officeholders.
D)the kinds of decisions the government was responsible for.
E)the number of citizens involved in governing.
Answer: E
Q3) Identify three of the four principles of procedural democracy and discuss the difficulties with their implementation.
Answer: Answers will vary.
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Page 4
Chapter 3: The Constitution
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Sample Questions
Q1) The power of the president to veto laws is an example of A)federalism.
B)implied powers.
C)checks and balances.
D)separation of powers.
E)enumeration.
Answer: C
Q2) The _________ Amendment protects against excessive bail,excessive fines,and cruel and unusual punishment.
A)First
B)Second
C)Fourth
D)Eighth
E)Thirteenth
Answer: D
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Chapter 4: Federalism
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Sample Questions
Q1) The use of highway construction funds has been an effective means to promote A)states' rights.
B)cooperative federalism.
C)dual federalism.
D)the Fourth Amendment.
E)the Tenth Amendment.
Q2) Which metaphor best describes dual federalism?
A)A sponge cake
B)A layer cake
C)A fruitcake
D)A marble cake
E)A pineapple upside-down cake
Q3) Formula grants and project grants are both types of _________ grants.
A)block
B)formula
C)carry
D)categorical
E)user
Q4) Explain what preemption means,and identify recent trends in its use and the issues that have been addressed.
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Chapter 5: Public Opinion and Political Socialization
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Sample Questions
Q1) Learning political party identification from parents is known as the ___________ model of partisanship.
A)familial
B)transmission
C)sibling
D)kinship
E)"same-roof"
Q2) A distribution of opinions that shows little change over time is a A)normal
B)consistent
C)modal
D)stable
E)skewed
Q3) Survey methodology did not become a powerful research tool until the A)1930s.
B)1950s.
C)1970s.
D)1980s.
E)1990s.
Q4) Explain what skewed,bimodal,and normal distributions are.
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Chapter 6: The Media
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73 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) ___________ are group leaders who follow news in specific areas.
A)Attentive policy elites
B)Demagogues
C)Newshounds
D)Elected officials
E)Policymakers
Q2) Newspapers owned by publicly-traded chains are more likely to
A)remain neutral in the tone of their reporting.
B)resort to negative or positive spin on the news.
C)disregard the bottom line, in service of better reporting.
D)promote journalistic integrity.
E)be independent.
Q3) Counting both print and online users,news readership of newspapers
A)has virtually disappeared.
B)has declined slightly.
C)has moved to weekly magazines.
D)is up overall.
E)is the same as it was 50 years ago.
Q4) What does research show with respect to the political leanings of major news media reporters?
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Chapter 7: Participation and Voting
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Sample Questions
Q1) What do we know about trends in voter turnout and other forms of political participation from 1952 to 2012?
Q2) Voting in the United States decreased during the 1970s and 1980s.Other forms of participation
A)increased or remained stable.
B)also decreased.
C)have not been extensively studied.
D)rose and fell in no particular pattern.
E)dramatically increased.
Q3) A practical test of whether or not a government is democratic is whether
A)people can operate outside government institutions to influence policymaking.
B)citizens can affect its policies by acting through its institutions.
C)direct action is necessary for government to hear citizens' views.
D)conventional political action consists largely of influencing behaviors and not supportive behaviors.
E)All of these choices are true.
Q4) In addition to their being vehicles that implement democracy,describe the other important purposes of elections.
Q5) How does political participation relate to freedom,equality,and order?
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Chapter 8: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to the __________,political parties are essential in making government responsive to public opinion.
A)procedural model of democracy
B)substantive model of democracy
C)majoritarian model of democracy
D)pluralist model of democracy
E)responsible model of democracy
Q2) The Twelfth Amendment
A)established the electoral college.
B)required the president to choose his (or her) own vice president.
C)required the electoral college to vote separately for president and vice president.
D)established the principle that the president and vice president would run together on a single ticket.
E)was required to finally certify the winner of the election of 1800.
Q3) Explain the primary difference between a political party and an interest group,being sure to provide examples.
Q4) Identify and describe the four different eras of political party dominance since the Civil War.
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Chapter 9: Nominations, Elections, and Campaigns
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Sample Questions
Q1) Congressional campaign finance laws regulating elections were significantly strengthened after
A)scandals involving labor union contributions in 1952.
B)the resignation of John F. Kennedy's vice president for accepting bribes.
C)financial misdeeds during Nixon's 1972 reelection campaign.
D)Jimmy Carter's Secretary of State was convicted for bribery.
E)Ronald Reagan heavily outspent Carter in the 1980 election.
Q2) Analysis of Super PAC ads during the 2012 Republican nomination shows that they
A)spent over 80 percent of their money on positive ads supporting their most aligned Republican candidates.
B)spent over 70 percent of their money on negative ads attacking other candidates.
C)split about 50-50 between ads supporting candidates and negative advertising.
D)were highly idiosyncratic and showed no consistent pattern of positive or negative spending.
E)began by spending heavily on positive ads in favor of candidates, but then moved to overwhelmingly negative attack ads by the middle of February.
Q3) Present three arguments for selecting a president by electoral votes rather than by popular vote.
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Chapter 10: Interest Groups
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Sample Questions
Q1) Interest groups that lobby for poor people often gain key financial support from A)philanthropic foundations.
B)government grants.
C)corporations.
D)wealthy individuals.
E)All of these choices are true.
Q2) Which of the following PACs contributed the most during the 2012 congressional elections?
A)National Association of Realtors
B)Facebook PAC
C)International Garment Workers Union
D)DEFPAC (Defense Contractors)
E)Letter Carriers Political Action Fund
Q3) An important idea of pluralist theory is that
A)most interest groups work for the good of the majority.
B)the institutions of government will ignore interest groups regardless of their orientation.
C)interest groups will ultimately fade from the political scene.
D)new interest groups naturally form when the need arises.
E)people join groups for benefits, regardless of current circumstances.
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) When making contributions to candidates for Congress,PACs tend to show a preference for A)Democrats.
B)incumbents.
C)members of the Tea Party.
D)Republicans.
E)Independents.
Q2) A congressional representative is following the trustee philosophy when he or she A)takes instructions from party leaders on how to vote.
B)votes in accordance with the perceived wishes of the citizens back home.
C)votes according to his or her conscience, even if doing so means going against the wishes of the majority back home.
D)consults the president before an important vote.
E)polls members of the district prior to a vote.
Q3) Explain three of the advantages incumbents have over challengers in congressional elections.
Q4) Explain how racial gerrymandering is designed to achieve greater descriptive representation in Congress.
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Chapter 12: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Constitution does not give the president power to A)veto legislation.
B)declare war.
C)serve as administrative head of the nation.
D)serve as commander in chief of the military.
E)convene sessions of Congress.
Q2) The Executive Office of the President employs around _________ individuals and has an annual budget of $500 million.
A)4,500
B)14,000
C)9,000
D)500
E)2,000
Q3) The _____________ is a group of advisers who help the president mold a coherent approach to foreign policy.
A)National Security Council
B)Department of Defense
C)intelligence community
D)Foreign Affairs Committee
E)National Security Agency
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Chapter 13: The Bureaucracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Presidents can exert considerable influence over agency policymaking by
A)appointing administrators sympathetic to their policy goals.
B)requiring agencies to submit draft regulations to a White House office.
C)announcing surprise audits of agency budgets.
D)putting pressure on agency heads to fire civil servants who defy the president's wishes.
E)appointing administrators sympathetic to their policy goals and requiring agencies to submit draft regulations to a White House office.
Q2) As measured by comparing U.S.government expenditures as a proportion of all economic activity,the United States
A)has one of the largest governments among Western democracies.
B)has one of the smallest governments among Western democracies.
C)ranks about average in size among Western democracies.
D)ranked as one of the smallest governments until 2008, then grew to one of the largest within two years.
E)has one of the largest public sectors, but one of the smallest private sectors.
Q3) Discuss the reasons that government may have difficulties implementing public policy.
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Chapter 14: The Courts
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Sample Questions
Q1) If the chief justice is not in the majority when a case is decided,the responsibility for opinion assignment rests with the
A)most junior justice on the Court.
B)most senior associate justice in the majority.
C)chief justice, as in other cases.
D)most senior associate justice in the minority.
E)justice assigned by the chief justice.
Q2) The Supreme Court has reversed its previous decisions _________ times in its history.
A)only 10
B)90
C)240
D)575
E)over 900
Q3) Supreme Court oral arguments are typically conducted
A)year round.
B)from July through September.
C)from January through March.
D)from October through April.
E)from May through August.
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Chapter 15: Order and Civil Liberties
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Sample Questions
Q1) An ex post facto law
A)impairs contracts between states.
B)prevents double jeopardy.
C)declares an action illegal after it has been committed.
D)declares a person guilty without the benefit of trial.
E)None of these choices is true.
Q2) A U.S.Court of Appeals held in 2013 that when Daniel Ray Carter,Jr.,an employee of the Sheriff's office in Hampton,Virginia ____________,it was constitutionally protected symbolic speech.
A)"liked" a Facebook page
B)placed a campaign sign in his yard
C)wore an arm band protesting police brutality
D)attended a pro-immigration rally
E)participated in a march supporting separation of church and state
Q3) What are the Miranda warnings?
Q4) Discuss the dispute and outcome of two Supreme Court decisions governing constitutional guarantees for criminal defendants.
Q5) Summarize the difference between civil liberties and civil rights.
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Chapter 16: Equality and Civil Rights
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Sample Questions
Q1) In Brown v.Board of Education II,the Supreme Court ordered that public school systems must desegregate
A)"at the discretion of the local school district."
B)"without further ado."
C)"immediately."
D)"with all deliberate speed."
E)"or face closure."
Q2) People who feel that they were unfairly denied their right to admission,employment,or promotion because an affirmative action program placed someone of another race or sex ahead of them claim
A)restraint of trade.
B)reverse discrimination.
C)discrimination.
D)unfair competition.
E)unequal access.
Q3) Identify the original impetus for the disabled rights movement and discuss the legislative response,including both achievements and remaining challenges.
Q4) Outline the recent up-and-down history of the legality of gay marriage in the state of California.
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Chapter 17: Economic Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the process through which the U.S.budget is developed and passed.
Q2) The text observes that in the aftermath of the stimulus passed in response to the 2008 economic downturn,there was a backlash that valued _________________ over ______________.
A)domestic economic growth; foreign affairs
B)jobs for the unemployed; debt reduction
C)tax cuts for the wealthy; tax relief for the middle class
D)the financial services industry; the automobile industry
E)debt reduction; jobs for the unemployed
Q3) Between 1965 and 2013 the amount of U.S.public debt held by foreigners increased from 4.7 percent to _____ percent.
A)7.1
B)12
C)31.6
D)47.2
E)68.7
Q4) Describe the difference between mandatory and discretionary spending,provide some examples of each,and explain how these categories of spending impact budgeting decisions made by Congress.
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Chapter 18: Policymaking and Domestic Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss recent efforts in Congress and by the president to deal with the issue of illegal immigration.
Q2) Most industries prefer not to be regulated,but when regulation becomes inevitable,they usually prefer that it come
A)in the form of both state and national regulations.
B)from the states so that it will be adapted to local conditions.
C)from the federal government, so that it will be uniform nationwide.
D)from cities and counties.
E)from within affected groups.
Q3) The United States is the only major industrialized nation without
A)a universal health-care system.
B)social insurance programs.
C)entitlement programs.
D)public assistance for needy children.
E)unemployment benefits for single mothers.
Q4) Who,other than the poor,are recipients of public assistance,and what types of assistance do they receive?
Q5) Describe what the New Deal was,and how it was brought about by the Great Depression.
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