American Public Policy Question Bank
Course Introduction
This course offers a comprehensive overview of the development, implementation, and evaluation of public policy in the United States. Students will explore the policy-making process, the roles played by governmental institutions, interest groups, and the public, and the political, social, and economic factors that influence policy outcomes. Through the examination of key policy areas such as healthcare, education, the environment, and social welfare the course equips students with the analytical tools to assess policy effectiveness and the skills necessary to engage in policy analysis and advocacy.
Recommended Textbook
Understanding American Government 14th Edition by Susan Welch
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18 Chapters
1046 Verified Questions
1046 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: The American People
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45 Verified Questions
45 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Popular sovereignty reflects our form of government and, therefore, __________.
A) always leads to mob rule
B) is rooted in the idea of democracy
C) often disregards the rights of the few
D) is inconsistent with federalism
Answer: B
Q2) The Declaration of Independence denied political rights to __________.
A) white men
B) Protestants
C) property owners
D) white women
Answer: D
Q3) The birther movement claims President Obama was born where?
A) Hawaii
B) a U.S. military base in Panama
C) Kenya
D) Delaware
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: The Constitution
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74 Verified Questions
74 Flashcards
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Sample
Questions
Q1) What is one major conceptual change of the evolving Constitution that is quite different from the one drafted by the Founders?
Answer: One major conceptual change of the evolving Constitution that is quite different from the one drafted by the Founders is the expansion of civil rights and liberties. The Founders' Constitution did not originally include explicit protections for individual rights such as freedom of speech, religion, and assembly. However, through the addition of amendments, court interpretations, and societal changes, the evolving Constitution has incorporated these fundamental rights and expanded protections for marginalized groups, such as women, racial minorities, and LGBTQ+ individuals. This shift reflects a broader understanding of equality and justice that has developed over time, making the evolving Constitution quite different from its original form.
Q2) Judicial interpretation and political practice are __________.
A) two means of constitutional change without amending the Constitution
B) examples of the failure to solidify the Founders' vision
C) less influential than Constitutional amendments
D) regarded as illegitimate and covert ways of changing the Constitution
Answer: A
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Federalism
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52 Verified Questions
52 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A system of governance in which the central government is supreme is termed ____________.
A) the balance of power
B) federalism
C) a unitary system
D) confederalism
Answer: C
Q2) A particularly contentious issue associated with fiscal federalism centers on __________.
A) grants-in-aid
B) block grants
C) categorical grants
D) unfunded mandates
Answer: D
Q3) Those defending __________ federalism won the American Civil War.
A) state-centered
B) nation-centered
C) dual
D) judicial-centered
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Public Opinion
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55 Verified Questions
55 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What was the big problem with the Literary Digest poll done in 1936?
A) It was taken four weeks before the election.
B) Not enough people responded to the poll.
C) The questions asked were biased.
D) Lower-income people were excluded from the poll.
Q2) Since 2010, what statement has been proved to be accurate?
A) The number of Americans who call themselves conservative has increased.
B) The number of Americans who call themselves liberal has increased.
C) So-called moderate and independent Americans are beginning to disappear from the political scene.
D) Those Americans who call themselves conservative have stayed about the same.
Q3) Describe how the family impacts political socialization.
Q4) What type of poll is used to manipulate public opinion?
A) Random sampling
B) Push poll
C) Exit poll
D) Scientific poll
Q5) How do the schools influence socialization?
Q6) Describe the difference in strategy in the use of polling by President Clinton and President George W. Bush.
Page 6
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Chapter 5: News Media
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52 Verified Questions
52 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) How can one determine the direction of political bias?
Q2) Disclosures to the media of information that some officials want to keep secret are called __________.
A) inside trades
B) leaks
C) off-the-record commentaries
D) yellow journalism
Q3) The relationship between the media and politicians has become increasingly adversarial because of which of the following factors?
A) an increase media in concentration
B) an increase in media fragmentation
C) an increase in media literacy
D) an increase in media accuracy
Q4) How is the relationship between the media and politicians symbiotic?
Q5) Compare broadcast media and fringe (or fragmented) media.
Q6) Fragmentation of the media refers to the __________.
A) diminished influence of the national media
B) biases of talk radio
C) duplication of cable programming throughout the nation
D) satellite coverage of news events
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Interest Groups
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53 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Madison believed that trying to eliminate factions (or interest groups) would be worse than living with their abuses. Do you agree? Why or why not? Assess the advantages and disadvantages of the existence of strong, active interest groups.
Q2) The environmental movement in the United States, whose beginning, in 1970, is marked by Earth Day, __________.
A) has grown substantially in size since B) rarely has public opinion on its side
C) supports oil drilling in northern Alaska
D) is associated with ecoterrorism
Q3) ___________ are now the most numerous type of interest group and, in the aggregate, the most powerful.
A) Labor groups
B) Business organizations
C) Environmental groups
D) Social issues groups
Q4) What was the impact of civil disobedience in twentieth-century America?
Q5) What are the main ideas drawn out in Putnam's Bowling Alone?
Q6) How can an interest group lobby the federal courts?
Q7) Explain why citizens have stopped joining interest groups.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Political Parties
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58 Verified Questions
58 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Republican election strategy during the presidential elections of 1964 and 1968 __________.
A) used code words to appeal to southern white voters
B) emphasized international issues over domestic problems
C) was largely unsuccessful and backfired on the party
D) focused on criticism of the women's movement and the Vietnam War
Q2) What was the New Deal Coalition?
Q3) From the 1960s to 1994, the Democrats controlled Congress and would win the presidency __________ more time(s) during the twentieth century.
A) one
B) three
C) five
D) six
Q4) The "Golden Age" of mass political parties was __________.
A) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
B) right after September 11, 2001
C) during World War II
D) during the Nixon administration
Q5) What are the three components that make up the membership of a political party?
Page 9
Q6) What are the causes and consequences of southern realignment?
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Chapter 8: Elections
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58 Verified Questions
58 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Voting Rights Act has had the effect of __________.
A) showing how limited the government's ability is to change things
B) succeeding to such a degree that a few southern states now have black governors
C) significantly increasing the number of minority elected officials
D) changing the nature of political competition in major northern cities
Q2) Literacy tests __________.
A) were used to bar illiterate southern whites from voting
B) were used to keep blacks from voting
C) became more prevalent after passage of the Voting Rights Act
D) were applied equally to all voters
Q3) During the conventions, each party __________.
A) selects leaders
B) votes for Senators
C) chooses patriotic language
D) endorses a platform
Q4) Why do candidates focus few resources on "safe" states?
Q5) Who could vote under the original draft of the U.S. Constitution?
Q6) How does the Electoral College help smaller states?
Q7) What is the "faithless elector"?
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Congress
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63 Verified Questions
63 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) How is the work of Congress done in committees?
Q2) Committees dealing with appropriations, taxes, and finance are sometimes called __________.
A) conference committees
B) juice committees
C) task forces
D) joint committees
Q3) What is meant by "standing for" representation?
Q4) What term refers to the actions that Congress takes to allow agencies and departments to operate?
A) supplemental bills
B) authorizations
C) appropriations
D) federal budgeting
Q5) The real leader of the Senate in terms of power is the ___________.
A) vice president
B) president pro tempore
C) majority leader
D) speaker
Q6) What is the function of the conference committee?
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Chapter 10: The Presidency
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58 Verified Questions
58 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) President George H. W. Bush controversially used his presidential powers to pardon officials involved in the __________.
A) Iran hostage crisis
B) Watergate scandal
C) Iran-Contra scandal
D) Burrell affair
Q2) Why is the president the dominant force in foreign policy making? What has Congress done to assert its own role in this policy area? Do you think Congress should have an important role in foreign policy?
Q3) Presidential powers are addressed primarily in __________ of the Constitution.
A) the Full Faith and Credit Clause
B) Article II
C) Article I
D) Article IV
Q4) How have presidential powers increased relative to congressional powers?
Q5) Briefly describe the impeachment process.
Q6) Briefly describe an example of an "imperial presidency."
Q7) How is the pocket veto different from the regular presidential veto?
Q8) What is the "One Percent Doctrine?"
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Chapter 11: The Bureaucracy
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55 Verified Questions
55 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) When the president and Congress decide to go to war, they empower the ____________.
A) Department of the Interior
B) State Department
C) Defense Department
D) War Department
Q2) Bureaucracies tend to ____________.
A) die off once their mandates have been fulfilled
B) downsize after a national crisis
C) grow as they are assigned more responsibilities
D) stay the same size
Q3) List three categories of federal agencies and some examples of each.
Q4) The federal courts __________.
A) are a weak check on the power of the federal bureaucracy
B) cannot intercede in an agency's decision making
C) cannot declare acts of bureaucrats unconstitutional
D) usually defer to the agency's interpretations
Q5) What tools do presidents have to control the federal bureaucracy? How successful do presidents tend to be at regulating it?
Page 13
Q6) How has the merit system changed the federal bureaucracy and its oversight?
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Chapter 12: The Judiciary
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Supreme Court's term extends from ____________.
A) January through June
B) January through November
C) October through August
D) October through June
Q2) After nomination and confirmation, judges can be removed from the bench by ____________.
A) the president
B) Congress
C) congressional impeachment
D) the Department of Justice
Q3) List and describe the three types of written court opinions.
Q4) How can the president check judicial power?
A) by enforcing court rulings through executive orders
B) by appointing new judges when vacancies occur
C) by impeaching judges when accused of high crimes
D) by invalidating laws passed through the courts
Q5) What is the significance of McCulloch v. Maryland?
Q6) Identify the major checks on judicial power. Are they effective or ineffective in limiting judicial action?
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Civil Liberties
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71 Verified Questions
71 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Speech that encourages rebellion against the government is __________ speech.
A) heckler's
B) symbolic
C) hate
D) seditious
Q2) In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court __________.
A) established the exclusionary rule
B) legalized the availability of contraception
C) extended privacy rights to cover abortion
D) denied a woman's right to abortion
Q3) The Supreme Court decision establishing a right to die __________.
A) encompasses suicide
B) prohibits state governments from regulating this right
C) prohibits individuals from having living wills
D) distinguishes between stopping treatment and assisting suicide
Q4) Explain the concept of "natural rights."
Q5) Explain the constitutional protections both for freedom of religion and freedom from religion. How do these two goals sometimes conflict? How have religious rights evolved in the United States?
Q6) What is meant by separation of church and state?
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Civil Rights
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82 Verified Questions
82 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) How did the NAACP use litigation in the courts to challenge discrimination?
Q2) Child custody cases and the problems associated with them have been ignored by the __________.
A) president
B) courts
C) Congress
D) states
Q3) About 60 percent of America's Latinos trace their ancestry to __________.
A) Spain
B) Puerto Rico
C) Cuba
D) Mexico
Q4) What method was primarily used by civil rights groups to address de facto segregation?
A) lynching
B) calling for federal troops
C) busing
D) amending the Constitution
Q5) Were blacks in the South "free" after Reconstruction? Had they gained full citizenship rights?
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Extension 1: Focus On: Economic Policy
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50 Verified Questions
50 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The idea that the government can stimulate the economy by increasing spending in a time of high unemployment and cutting spending in times of low employment is associated with which economist?
A) Karl Marx
B) John Maynard Keynes
C) Adam Smith
D) Warren Buffett
Q2) What is included under discretionary spending?
A) Medicare
B) interest on the debt
C) national parks
D) government subsidies
Q3) Taxes in the United States claim just over 30 percent of the GDP. Most western industrialized nations have tax revenues that are a(n) __________ share of GDP.
A) higher
B) smaller
C) even
D) great deal lower
Q4) How can one tell the difference between a depression and a recession?
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Chapter 16: Extension 2: Focus on: Environmental Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) What was the political reason for President Obama's support for clean coal and biofuels?
Q2) Regulations are not always effective, but without any regulations, the cost of producing certain chemicals, for example, is borne by the workers who suffer diseases, ailments, or death; these are called __________.
A) "regulation insurance"
B) negative externalities
C) the commons
D) high-cost pollution
Q3) What is the regeneration?
Q4) Supporters of deregulation seeking a middle ground believe that government should __________.
A) have a limited role in rule writing
B) eliminate standards for health
C) remove standards for safety
D) not put too much belief in science and technology
Q5) What causes the global ozone hole?
Q6) What is the "smart grid"?
Q7) What was the Campus Climate Challenge?
Page 18
Q8) What was the Bush administration's attitude towards global warming?
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Chapter 17: Extension 3: Focus On: Foreign Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Although the interest groups and Democrats in Congress did not support NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), it was supported by President __________.
A) Barack Obama
B) Bill Clinton
C) George W. Bush
D) Ronald Reagan
Q2) NATO, coming out of the Cold War, consisted of military alliances meant to compete with __________.
A) Europe
B) China
C) the Soviet Union
D) the Vietnamese
Q3) How can Congress check the authority of the president's foreign policy ventures, especially in regard to making war?
Q4) How did the international system change after the fall of the Soviet Union?
Q5) What is the policy of containment?
Q6) How is the United States still facing challenges in the global era? How have our relations with China and the Middle East strengthened or weakened?
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Chapter 18: Extension 4: Focus On: Health Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) List and describe some current government health care programs.
Q2) Before the health care reform legislation of 2010, federal and state governments were already paying about __________ percent of all health care costs and prescription drugs.
A) 25
B) 35
C) 50
D) 75
Q3) How has Massachusetts attempted to cope with health care reform?
Q4) Hospitals spend about __________ percent of their budgets on billing and administration.
A) 15
B) 25
C) 35
D) 45
Q5) Describe the Republican and Democratic ideas about the appropriate role of government in health care.
Q6) What is the single-payer system?
Q7) Explain some advantages and disadvantages of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Q8) Which presidents in the past tackled health care coverage and how?
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