Contemporary American Politics
Final Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Contemporary American Politics examines the current political landscape of the United States, exploring the institutions, processes, and actors that shape governance and policy today. The course analyzes recent elections, the dynamics of partisanship, the influence of interest groups and media, and key debates on domestic and foreign policy. Special attention is given to issues such as polarization, political reforms, civil rights, and the impact of technology and social movements on the democratic process. Students will engage with case studies and current events to develop informed perspectives on the challenges and opportunities facing American democracy in the 21st century.
Recommended Textbook
The Enduring Democracy 4th Edition by Kenneth Dautrich
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Chapter 1: The More Things Changethe More They Stay the Same
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Q1) Sovereignty in the United States rests with the ________________.
A) president
B) Congress
C) people
D) states
E) Supreme Court
Answer: C
Q2) A government is viewed as legitimate when ___________.
A) there is no opposition to its policies
B) all officials are elected with a majority of the popular vote
C) the affected people recognize the government and allow it to exercise control over them
D) it attempts to make all citizens happy
E) it takes the form of a democracy
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: The Founding and the Constitution
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Q1) Which of the following is not true concerning the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution?
A) The Bill of Rights was added as the first amendments to the Constitution after it was ratified by the states.
B) Several prominent members of the Constitutional Convention, such as James Madison, originally opposed the Bill of Rights.
C) Most states already had existing constitutions that enumerated the rights of the individual.
D) The Bill of Rights was a prominent element of the new Constitution and it was written into the document early in the process.
E) Several states at first refused to ratify the new Constitution because of its lack of a Bill of Rights.
Answer: D
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Chapter 3: Federalism
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Q1) Article I of the U.S. Constitution grants that Congress has the power to make laws that are "necessary and proper" to carry out its duties. What is the meaning of this statement?
A) Congress has implied powers that, although not expressly stated in the Constitution, exist in order for Congress to enact legislation to carry out its duties.
B) Congress must hold regular conventions in order to determine contemporary social needs and then enact laws that best suit those needs.
C) Congress must limit its lawmaking to those issues for which it has enumerated powers.
D) Congress ultimately has the power to override any state laws that it deems unnecessary or improper.
E) Congress is expected to keep its lawmaking function to a minimum.
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties
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Q1) In Griswold v. Connecticut the United States Supreme Court advanced the idea that the Fourteenth Amendment and portions of the Bill of Rights created a "zone of privacy."
Compare and contrast Griswold's holding with the concept of "reasonable expectation of privacy" forming the basis of the decisions in Katz v. United States and California v. Ciraolo.
Q2) According to the Supreme Court's Miller v. California (1973) ruling, a work is considered obscene if which of the following criteria is met?
A) The average person, applying contemporary standards, thinks the work is "prurient."
B) The work depicts sexual conduct in a patently offensive way.
C) The work taken as a whole lacks a "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."
D) All of these choices are correct.
E) None of these choices is correct.
Q3) The Supreme Court has clearly refused to halt the use of the death penalty in the United States. However, through various opinions the Court has made a number of exceptions to its finding that the death penalty is not unconstitutional. List and discuss some of these exceptions.
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Chapter 5: Civil Rights, Equality and Social Movements
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Q1) Provide an understanding of affirmative action programs and explain how the Supreme Court has dealt with their constitutional status. What is the current precedent and how might this change in the future?
Q2) As one of the so-called Civil War Amendments, the Thirteenth Amendment served what purpose?
A) freedom of speech to all Americans
B) forgiveness for southern soldiers
C) reconciliation of northern and southern states
D) the right to vote for all citizens, including women
E) the abolishment of the institution of slavery in the United States
Q3) The method of achieving equality that was advocated by Booker T. Washington, which opposed confrontation with the white power structure and urged African Americans to accept existing conditions, is referred to as __________.
A) pacification
B) remission
C) accommodation
D) racialization
E) Jim Crow
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Chapter 6: Congress
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Q1) The process of gerrymandering refers to _________________.
A) illegally tampering with votes
B) increasing the size of a congressional district
C) the concept of "one man, one vote"
D) the drawing of congressional district boundaries to favor a particular political party or group
E) reducing the size of the House of Representatives
Q2) Staffing resources for Congress include which of the following?
A) congressional personal staff
B) congressional committee staff
C) congressional agencies
D) congressional personal staff, congressional committee staff and congressional agencies
E) only congressional personal staff and congressional committee staff
Q3) Describe congressional oversight. What oversight authority is given to the House? What oversight authority is given to the senate? Identify and discuss some of the unique oversight powers of the senate, especially in relation to the other two branches of government.
Q4) Discuss the key differences between the powers granted to the House of Representatives and the senate.
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Chapter 7: The Presidency
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Q1) In the 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson attempted to resurrect the successes of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal initiatives by implementing more than 60 social reform measures, including Medicare and Medicaid, federal aid for education, and voting rights for African Americans. Collectively, these reforms came to be known as Johnson's
A) Great Society
B) Second New Deal
C) Square Deal
D) New World
E) Corollary
Q2) In the decades immediately following the close of World War II and extending into the 1980s, the most dominant theme faced by United States presidents in the foreign policy arena was __________________.
A) the rise of Islamic fundamentalism
B) the Cold War with its expansion of Communism
C) the war in Vietnam
D) the war in Iraq and Afghanistan
E) equal access to and use of the international space station
Q3) Discuss the evolution of executive powers since World War II.
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Chapter 8: The Federal Bureaucracy
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Q1) How does a merit system differ from a system of patronage in the selection of government employees for the civil service?
Q2) Between 1940 and 1975, the federal bureaucracy experienced an unprecedented growth spurt, and the number of federal employees rose to approximately
A) 50
B) 125,000
C) 720,000
D) 1 million
E) 2.2 million
Q3) Which of the following was a factor that accounted for the significant growth in the federal bureaucracy between 1940 and 1975?
A) Johnson's Great Society program
B) devolution
C) the addition of the Department of Homeland Security
D) prohibition
E) creation of the Federal Reserve
Q4) What is the purpose of a federal regulatory agency? Give three examples of regulatory agencies and briefly describe the primary role of each agency.
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Chapter 9: The Judiciary
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Q1) The Supreme Court uses a significant power to declare acts of the other two branches of government, and of state governments, as unconstitutional and thus invalid. This power is referred to as ______________.
A) appellate review
B) judicial veto
C) judicial review
D) veto override
E) ratification
Q2) The vast majority of civil cases never make it to trial. Which of the following is not a reason that a case may fail to proceed to trial?
A) The judge dismisses the case.
B) The judge determines in pretrial activities that insufficient evidence exists.
C) The two parties settle the case out of court.
D) One or both of the parties do not show up.
E) The court rules that it does not have jurisdiction in the case.
Q3) Fully explain the elements of civil litigation, including the parties involved, and the pretrial and trial proceedings.
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Chapter 10: Public Opinion
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Q1) Public opinion exists at three basic levels. List and describe these levels.
Q2) Studies have shown that heavy users of the news media, compared to lighter users, are ____________________.
A) far more critical of democracy
B) more inclined to support overthrow of the government
C) more politically informed
D) less likely to hold long-term jobs
E) more apt to run for political office
Q3) Many scholars use which of the following as a general definition of public opinion?
A) the official results of an election
B) the summation of individual opinions on any particular topic or issue
C) the results of a Gallup opinion poll
D) the views of elected officials as to the direction of the nation
E) the collective political preferences of the voters
Q4) Explain why significant attention must be given to the way in which polling questions are asked. What are some recommendations for constructing good poll questions?
Provide an example of a good poll question.
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Chapter 11: Interest Groups
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Q1) Which of the following is not an example of an intergovernmental lobby?
A) The National League of Cities
B) U.S. Conference of Mayors
C) The Council of State Governments
D) The National Governors Association
E) Americans for Free Choice
Q2) In the post-Civil War economic boom, Samuel Gompers helped to create and lead the American Federation of Labor (AFL). What was the impact of this interest group on labor relations?
A) The AFL turned public sentiment toward the corporate owners and ultimately damaged worker morale.
B) The government rejected the legitimacy of the AFL as well as that of any other labor union.
C) The government responded to the labor union movement by protecting the corporate interests and banning the unions.
D) The AFL brought many smaller worker trade unions into a large interest group with increased political clout and ultimately won support in Congress for dozens of worker benefits.
E) Gompers and most of his supporters were eventually imprisoned.
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Chapter 12: The Media and American Politics
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Q1) Which of the following is not consistent with the "minimal effects theory"?
A) Deep-seated, long-term political attitudes have a much greater influence on a voter's decision than does the media.
B) People evaluate news material from their own partisan perspective.
C) People consistently reshape their political views based on the news to which they are exposed.
D) People tend to process and remember material that is more consistent with their preexisting attitudes.
Q2) Historically the news media have been effective as checks against governmental power and have been trusted by most Americans. Because of their protections by the First Amendment and their ability to check governmental powers, the media are often referred to as ______________________.
A) agitator
B) fourth branch of government
C) government's police
D) mediator of government
E) voice of the people
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Chapter 13: Political Parties and Voting
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Q1) In the United States, what is the mechanism used to ensure that the majority will rule ________________.
A) voting in elections
B) lobbying
C) judicial review
D) recall
E) filibuster
Q2) Though never explicitly intended, which of the following has been a positive benefit of the competition for power between the two major parties?
A) Competition has been successful in keeping the government weak and under control.
B) The struggles between the two parties have kept third parties from confusing the goals of democracy.
C) Competition has proven to be a significant check against tyranny.
D) The two parties have been able to retain control of the government in the proper hands.
E) Most observers doubt that there are any positive benefits from political parties.
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Chapter 14: Campaigns and Elections
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Q1) Describe congressional campaigns and elections. Include an understanding of midterm congressional elections, the coattail effect, the power of incumbency, safe and marginal seats, and franking privileges.
Q2) Discuss the nomination campaign stage of the presidential selection process. How does each state play a role in the process? Be sure to explain the difference between a primary and a caucus, and the effects of frontloading. What is the significance of the nominating conventions?
Q3) Describe the electoral college process. What is the total number of electoral college votes, and how many are required for a candidate to win the presidency? How is the number of electoral votes determined for each state? How might the strength of each state change in the presidential election process?
Q4) How have campaign finance laws evolved? Citing specific examples, describe the ways in which current laws influence campaign finance.
Q5) Describe the major stages or steps that an individual candidate experiences between his or her first serious interest in the upcoming presidential election to the point of winning or losing the election.
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Chapter 15: American Domestic Policy
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Q1) Discuss the status of the United States as a welfare state. How has it evolved? What has it accomplished? How does it differ from European models of the welfare state?
Q2) An economic system in which all or most of the means of production are privately owned under competitive conditions is referred to as _________________.
A) capitalism
B) socialism
C) fascism
D) conservatism
E) command economy
Q3) Medicare is a Federal program that provides health insurance for the ____________.
A) elderly
B) poor
C) working class
D) bureaucrats
E) farmers and ranchers
Q4) Define the term public policy. Describe the five stages of the policymaking process.
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Chapter 16: American Foreign Policy
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Q1) At present, how many member states make up the General Assembly?
A) 5 permanent, 10 nonpermanent members
B) 54 members
C) 192 members
D) 452 members
E) 538 members
Q2) Describe the differences between the ideologies of isolationism, expansionism, pacifism, and internationalism. Which do you believe would be the best approach for America in its current foreign policy approach? Explain why and provide examples of foreign policy that would help achieve this goal.
Q3) Which of the following refers to the doctrine of increasing the territory or economic influence of one's own country?
A) isolationism
B) expansionism
C) manifest destiny
D) pacifism
E) militarism
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