Contemporary American Politics Exam
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Course Introduction
Contemporary American Politics explores the dynamic landscape of political processes, institutions, and issues shaping modern-day governance in the United States. This course examines recent developments in American political life, with emphasis on the functioning of Congress, the presidency, the judiciary, political parties, interest groups, elections, and public opinion. Students analyze the impact of social movements, media, and policy debates on topics such as civil rights, immigration, healthcare, and the environment, gaining an informed perspective on the factors influencing decision-making and power structures in contemporary America.
Recommended Textbook
American Government Power and Purpose 15th Edition by Stephen Ansolabehere
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17 Chapters
2398 Verified Questions
2398 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Five Principles of Politics
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128 Verified Questions
128 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Through the agenda power, the president can prevent Congress from taking up a particular bill.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) The conflicts and struggles over the leadership, structure, and policies of government are called politics.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) A well-known, politically moderate senator has recently introduced very conservative amendments to bills dealing with the economy in order to appeal to more conservative financial donors. In turn, she hopes these donors might contribute to her budding presidential campaign. She is basing her policy decisions on
A)personal interests.
B)electoral ambitions.
C)institutional ambitions.
D)altruistic interests.
Answer: B
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Constructing a Government: The Founding and the Constitution
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Sample Questions
Q1) The radicals led by Samuel Adams hoped that the Boston Tea Party would goad the British into strong reprisals. Which principle does this strategy illustrate?
A)rationality principle
B)institution principle
C)policy principle
D)collective action principle
Answer: A
Q2) The Constitution grants the president the unconditional power to accept ambassadors from other countries.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) The framers of the Constitution sought to insulate the president from excessively democratic pressures through
A)a lifetime appointment.
B)direct oversight by independent departments.
C)an indirect election through the Electoral College.
D)a limitation of only two consecutive terms in office.
Answer: C
Page 4
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Chapter 3: Federalism and the Separation of Powers
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134 Verified Questions
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Sample Questions
Q1) A government that has supreme and independent political authority is said to have
A)the structure of a republic.
B)the structure of a democracy.
C)sovereignty.
D)a dictator.
Answer: C
Q2) Under the U.S. Constitution, state governments can enter into agreements with one another, subject to congressional approval.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) Which clause in Article IV of the Constitution prevents a state such as Florida from prohibiting legal residents of other states from buying property in Florida?
A)commerce clause
B)full faith and credit clause
C)the comity or privileges and immunities clause
D)necessary and proper clause
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties
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Sample Questions
Q1) Madison initially fought for the Bill of Rights because he knew that without such protections, individual rights would be threatened.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Civil liberties reflect the history principle because
A)it has required people to work together in groups over many years to achieve the liberties we enjoy today.
B)if people hadn't consistently acted rationally over the years, we wouldn't have developed the rights we have now.
C)courts consider the history of prior court decisions relating to the case at hand and generally adhere to precedent.
D)institutions structure political action.
Q3) The Supreme Court upheld a state law that allowed doctors to use drugs to facilitate the deaths of terminally ill patients who requested such assistance in
A)Bowers v. Hardwick.
B)Texas v. Johnson.
C)Lawrence v. Texas.
D)Gonzales v. Oregon.
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6
Chapter 5: Civil Rights
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Sample Questions
Q1) Are courts political institutions? Explain why or why not in relation to the advancement of civil rights in the United States.
Q2) A chicken-processing plant could be fined for hiring a Mexican citizen who is in the United States without proper employment documentation under the terms of the
A)Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965.
B)Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
C)Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798.
D)Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
Q3) The equal protection clause is found in the Sixteenth Amendment.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which of the following types of cases would be afforded the intermediate scrutiny standard?
A)a black man who was denied employment
B)a woman who was paid less than a man with the same experience for doing the same job
C)a Jehovah's Witness who was denied employment because of religion
D)a 70-year-old who was denied employment because of age
Q5) Should affirmative action be continued? Why or why not?
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Chapter 6: Congress: The First Branch
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154 Verified Questions
154 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the U.S. House of Representatives, the Speaker refers every bill introduced by a member to a standing committee.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The president of the United States can directly introduce legislation in Congress.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Why does the Senate tend to be a more deliberative body than the House?
A)The Senate has more rules governing the lawmaking process.
B)The Senate has a strong commitment to the principle of unlimited debate.
C)The Senate is more centralized and organized.
D)The Senate has more members and thus a more diverse set of views.
Q4) How do the House of Representatives and the Senate check and balance each other's power?
Q5) Legislators rarely see success of their policy proposals on the merits of the policy; instead, they must cooperate and compromise.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: The Presidency As an Institution
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160 Verified Questions
160 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) When the president exercises a(n) __________ veto, congress is unable to override the veto and must reintroduce the bill in the next session.
A)pocket
B)line-item
C)executive
D)hard-line
Q2) Which of the following is true of the line-item veto power for the president?
A)The Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution does not authorize the line-item veto.
B)The president may currently use the line-item veto but rarely does so because veto bargaining makes it unnecessary.
C)Presidents since Bill Clinton have made frequent use of the line-item veto to reduce pork-barrel spending in budgetary bills.
D)The line-item veto can only be used in the last 10 days that Congress is in session.
Q3) What conditions would make a president more likely to prioritize a legislative strategy over an administrative strategy for making policy change?
Q4) Is the American president too powerful? Why or why not?
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Chapter 8: The Executive Branch: Bureaucracy in a Democracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) "When created, bureaucracies assume a status of relative permanence, and future developments are shaped, as the history principle suggests, by these initial conditions." This point of view is most consistent with which of the following concepts?
A)principal-agent problems
B)path dependency
C)agency loss
D)coalitional drift
Q2) In 1887, Congress established the __________ as the first independent regulatory agency.
A)Interstate Commerce Commission
B)Transportation Administration
C)Railroad Trust and Oversight Authority
D)Industry Safety and Accountability Board
Q3) Which government department agency is both an agency for the maintenance of the Union and a fiscal agency?
A)Treasury Department
B)Federal Reserve System
C)Congressional Budget Office
D)Securities and Exchange Commission
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Chapter 9: The Federal Courts
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157 Verified Questions
157 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A written document in which an attorney explains-using case precedents-why the court should rule in favor of his or her client is also known as a(n)
A)tort.
B)brief.
C)claim.
D)opinion.
Q2) Under what authority does the U.S. military operate its own court system that governs the behavior of men and women in uniform?
A)Defense Judiciary System
B)Military Tribunal Authority
C)Uniform Code of Military Justice
D)Federal Circuit Court
Q3) The justice on the Supreme Court who presides over the Court's public sessions is the _____________ justice.
A)supreme
B)chief
C)senior
D)high
Q4) How do presidents and Congress influence the Supreme Court's decision making?
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Chapter 10: Public Opinion
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Sample Questions
Q1) In 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, and thousands of Puerto Ricans fled to Florida. Based on the past voting patterns of Puerto Ricans, which party was probably aided by this influx?
A)Republicans
B)Democrats
C)Neither-Puerto Ricans tend to split their votes evenly.
D)Neither-Puerto Ricans are not eligible to vote until they naturalize as citizens.
Q2) A small group selected by researchers to represent the most important characteristics of an entire population is called a sample.
A)True
B)False
Q3) To indicate that he favored programs that assist the poor and needy, what did Republican George W. Bush call himself?
A)a neoliberal
B)a right-wing social reformer
C)compassionate conservative
D)a pragmatic progressive
Q4) In a democracy, what should be the role of public opinion?
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Elections
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Sample Questions
Q1) A type of electoral process in which a candidate must receive more than 50 percent of all votes cast in the relevant district to win a seat in a legislative body is a
A)majority system.
B)plurality system.
C)proportional representation.
D)Borda count system.
Q2) Duverger's Law assumes that rational politicians will not do this which of the following?
A)Take the same issue positions as competing candidates.
B)Use their own money to run for office.
C)Alter electoral rules that help them win
D)Split the votes of like-minded voters among two similar candidates or parties.
Q3) According to federal law, all 50 states must hold their Congressional primaries on the same date.
A)True
B)False
Q4) One purpose of requiring registration was to reduce corruption.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 12: Political Parties
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153 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What are the advantages and disadvantages of political parties in American government and politics?
Q2) The president does not rely on his party for any support.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The first Republican president was
A)Abraham Lincoln.
B)Andrew Jackson.
C)Theodore Roosevelt.
D)James Buchanan.
Q4) During the first party system, the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans focused on the distribution of spoils to party machines rather than major national policies.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Since the 1950s, the percentage of adults affiliating with the two major political parties has declined.
A)True
B)False
Q6) What specific functions do political parties perform?
Page 14
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Chapter 13: Groups and Interests
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140 Verified Questions
140 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) An expensive, well-designed ad published in the New York Times that features a major oil company's successful track record in environmental protection is an example of
A)selective incentives.
B)going public.
C)damage control.
D)network advocacy.
Q2) What is the relationship between government activity and interest group activity?
A)As government activity declines, interest group activity increases.
B)As government activity increases, interest group activity increases.
C)Interest group activity increases regardless of government activity.
D)Interest group activity decreases regardless of government activity.
Q3) Interest groups invest far more resources in lobbying than in electoral politics.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Does the Madisonian model ensure that all groups within a democratic political system are represented equitably and fairly? Why or why not?
Q5) How do interest groups attempt to influence elections?
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Chapter 14: The Media
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136 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which term describes a disclosure of confidential information to the news media?
A)news leak
B)blown whistle
C)press release
D)slam dunk
Q2) In recent years, much of the content of the news, especially local news, has shifted away from politics and public affairs toward
A)soft news.
B)public policy.
C)international relations.
D)business news.
Q3) In the Pentagon Papers case, the Supreme Court ruled that the government could block publication of secret Department of Defense documents.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What do you see as the future impact of the Internet on the political process?
Q5) Most radio stations devote about half of their time to news coverage.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 15: Economic Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the United States, the welfare system is periodically reformed to ensure that the people affected have a substantial level of comfort and assistance.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The power of the central banking system in the United States to buy and sell government securities to increase or decrease the supply of money in the economy is called
A)open-market operations.
B)reserve requisitions.
C)acquisition and divestiture functionality.
D)federal funds adjustment.
Q3) Which term describes a market failure resulting from speculative buying that drives up the price of major commodities to levels exceeding their intrinsic value?
A)collective exploitation
B)collective engagement
C)inflation
D)bubble
Q4) Describe the government's role in creating the foundation for a market economy.
Q5) What are the primary differences between promotional and regulatory policies?
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Chapter 16: Social Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Every year, the federal government spends roughly the same amount on Social Security and TANF.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following helps explain the escalating costs associated with Medicare?
A)The payment formula for Medicare benefits is rigged to increase faster than the rate of inflation.
B)The housing crash of 2007-2009 meant that more senior citizens qualified for Medicare because they lacked income or assets.
C)In 2007, Congress reduced the age of eligibility for Medicare, so the number of recipients increased.
D)In 2003, Congress added a prescription drug benefit to Medicare without any offsetting cost savings.
Q4) What specific reasons account for the spectacular increase in the cost of Medicare?
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Chapter 17: Foreign Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Bush Doctrine asserts that the United States will no longer attack other nations unless the United States is attacked first.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The era of confrontation with the former Soviet Union is known as the
A)Cold War.
B)Soviet War.
C)Silent War.
D)Third World War.
Q3) The bureaucrats who are often rivals for power within the intelligence community are the
A)secretary of defense and the director of the CIA.
B)national security adviser and the director of the FBI.
C)chairperson of the National Security Council and the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
D)secretary of the treasury and the secretary of homeland security.
Q4) The representation of a government to other foreign governments is called diplomacy.
A)True
B)False
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