Government and Public Policy Exam Questions
Course Introduction
This course explores the structure, functions, and processes of government with a focus on the formulation and implementation of public policy. Students will examine how political institutions, stakeholders, and contextual factors influence policymaking at various levels of government. The course covers key concepts such as agenda-setting, policy analysis, decision-making, and evaluation, while addressing the challenges of governance in contemporary societies. Through case studies and practical examples, students will gain insights into the complexities of public policy development and the impact of governmental actions on society.
Recommended Textbook
We the People 10th Edition by Benjamin Ginsberg
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18 Chapters
1574 Verified Questions
1574 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: American Political Culture
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95 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The ________ is the most important concept for the theory of pluralism.
A) individual
B) nation
C) vote
D) state
E) group
Answer: E
Q2) Why are Americans sometimes fearful of pluralist politics?
A) They are fearful that organized groups will not compete for political influence.
B) They are fearful that organized groups will successfully advance public interests at the expense of special interests.
C) They are fearful that organized groups will successfully advance special interests at the expense of the greater public good.
D) They are fearful that organized groups represent a challenge to liberty.
E) They are fearful that organized groups will reduce the need for public goods.
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: The Founding and the Constitution
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Sample Questions
Q1) What did the New Jersey Plan propose for Congress?
A) Representation would be equal for each state.
B) Representation would be apportioned according to population.
C) Representation would be proportionate to the share of taxes paid by each state to the federal government.
D) The powers of Congress would check those of state legislatures.
E) Representatives to Congress would be appointed by the state legislatures.
Answer: A
Q2) Colonial protesters of the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act rallied around ________.
A) "no taxation without representation"
B) "give me liberty or give me death"
C) "remember the Alamo"
D) "a house divided against itself cannot stand"
E) "don't tread on me"
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: Federalism
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why did local governments become administratively important in the early years of the Republic?
A) They became important because the Constitution instructed them to implement all federal laws.
B) They became important because the Constitution instructed them to implement all state laws.
C) They became important because states lacked the administrative capability to implement laws and relied, therefore, on local governments.
D) They became important because Congress passed many laws that emphasized the role of local government in implementing federal laws.
E) They became important because the Supreme Court ruled that only local governments had the authority to implement laws under the Constitution.
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties
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Sample Questions
Q1) Conflicts over whether public schools should be allowed to assign reading from the Bible and lead nondenominational prayers are examples of disagreements about the
A) meaning of selective incorporation.
B) meaning of the establishment clause.
C) applicability of prior restraint.
D) applicability of the exclusionary rule.
E) meaning of eminent domain.
Q2) In Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), the Supreme Court justices ruled that government action toward religion is
A) permissible only if it is secular in purpose, neither promotes nor inhibits religion, and does not lead to excessive entanglement with religion.
B) permissible only if it promotes religious organizations that have a large number of members.
C) permissible only if it promotes religious organizations that have a small number of members.
D) permissible only if it inhibits religious organizations who espouse anti-American beliefs.
E) never permissible.
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6
Chapter 5: Civil Rights
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Sample Questions
Q1) ________ civil rights acts were passed during the first decade after the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
A) No
B) Three
C) Ten
D) Twenty
E) Thirty-two
Q2) When did civil rights become part of the U.S. Constitution?
A) Civil rights have always been part of the Constitution.
B) Civil rights were included in the Bill of Rights.
C) Civil rights were incorporated with the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment.
D) Civil rights were incorporated immediately following World War II.
E) Civil rights were incorporated when Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Q3) What are the goals of affirmative action? Why has it been so controversial? Where has affirmative action been practiced? Describe some of the prominent Supreme Court decisions associated with affirmative action.
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Chapter 6: Public Opinion
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Sample Questions
Q1) The process by which underlying political values are formed is known as
A) political socialization.
B) ideological education.
C) brainwashing.
D) value enhancing.
E) attitudinal evolution.
Q2) Which of the following statements about agencies of socialization is FALSE?
A) Family, membership in social groups, and education are all important agencies of socialization.
B) People's preference for a political party is primarily acquired through their family.
C) An individual's religion has no impact on their political views.
D) Attending college makes people more likely to participate in politics.
E) Both involuntary and voluntary social groups have an impact on their members' political views.
Q3) How are political views formed? Describe some of the key processes and factors through which individuals become politically socialized. How do institutions such as families and groups, as well as personal experiences, come to shape individual opinions?
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8
Chapter 7: The Media
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Sample Questions
Q1) ________ is the niche leader inside the Beltway.
A) Congressional Quarterly
B) Salon
C) The Huffington Post
D) Politico
E) Real Clear Politics
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.
Q3) The most important selection bias in news is the ________.
A) ideology of the journalists
B) audience appeal of a story
C) newsworthiness of a story
D) economic interests of the media's owners
E) approval of government regulators
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Political Participation and Voting
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Sample Questions
Q1) About ________ percent of political advertising is aimed at Americans between 18 and 34 years of age.
A) 14
B) 25
C) 40
D) 50
E) 67
Q2) Which of the following statements is FALSE?
A) The Moral Majority is the first broad-based political organization of evangelical Christians.
B) Walter Mondale received 80 percent of the evangelical Christian vote in 1984 to 20 percent for Ronald Reagan.
C) The televangelist Pat Robertson ran for the presidency in 1988.
D) George W. Bush was closely aligned with religious conservatives in 2000 and 2004.
E) George W. Bush started the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.
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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Page 10
Chapter 9: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) The United States has had ________ party systems since 1789.
A) 2
B) 6
C) 12
D) 24
E) 50
Q2) A political party is an organization
A) that influences the government through fund-raising.
B) established by the Constitution to nominate candidates.
C) that tries to influence the government by getting its members elected to office.
D) that was considered seditious until the twentieth century.
E) that collects fees from its members in order to pay the salaries of government officials.
Q3) Describe the organizational structure of political parties. How do both the electoral system and federalism affect the shape of parties? What are some of the functions of parties in the electoral arena?
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Chapter 10: Campaigns and Elections
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Sample Questions
Q1) Who is the incumbent?
A) the current officeholder, running for re-election
B) the candidate who raises the most money during the campaign
C) the official candidate for a political party, running in the general elections
D) whoever is leading in the polls on the day of the election
E) a candidate who is running against a current officeholder in an election
Q2) In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, election campaigns tended to be ________.
A) capital intensive
B) labor intensive
C) media driven
D) guided by campaign consultants
E) short and peaceful
Q3) Describe the role of money in campaigns. Among other things, explain how money is regulated in the United States and how the Supreme Court justices have interpreted the First Amendment in recent years with regard to campaign finance.
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Chapter 11: Groups and Interests
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Sample Questions
Q1) By 2012, there were approximately ________ PACs in the United States.
A) 150
B) 1,500
C) 5,500
D) 15,000
E) 25,000
Q2) Which of the following has Congress NOT done in recent years in order to limit the influence of interest groups?
A) limited the size of gifts to its own members from lobbyists and interest groups
B) banned the practice of honoraria for giving speeches
C) prohibited lobbyists from paying for most meals, trips, and parties for members of Congress
D) broadened the definition of people and organizations that must register as lobbyists
E) outlawed all contact between lobbyists and members of Congress during legislative sessions
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13
Chapter 12: Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) Making laws is frequently compared to making sausages because
A) the result is always unhealthy.
B) it is such an easy and straightforward process.
C) almost everyone likes the result even if they do not know what went into making it.
D) it is such a complex and often ugly process.
E) there are no rules that need to be followed.
Q2) Which of the following is a key assumption of the sociological model of representation?
A) Because similarity helps promote good representation, the composition of legislative bodies should mirror the composition of society.
B) The composition of legislative bodies need not mirror society because all members of Congress are equally well equipped to represent the views and interests of their constituents.
C) The government that governs least governs best.
D) The government that governs most governs best.
E) All representatives should have extensive educations and degrees in the social sciences before taking office in order to ensure the best government.
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14
Chapter 13: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) The rise of national conventions to nominate the president led to the empowerment of ________.
A) Congress
B) state party leaders
C) the voters
D) the candidates
E) interest groups
Q2) The goal of the War Powers Resolution was to
A) compel a congressional declaration of war for every large-scale military operation.
B) limit the ability of Congress to cut off funding for troops when the president sends them overseas without congressional approval.
C) limit the power of the president to commit American troops to military action without authorization from Congress.
D) end the Vietnam War.
E) give the president more freedom in determining when and where to deploy American military forces.
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Page 15
Chapter 14: Bureaucracy in a Democracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Ronald Reagan's inability to dismantle the Department of Education reflects the power of ________.
A) the merit system
B) iron triangles
C) the Federal Register
D) devolution
E) the mass media
Q2) What is a government corporation?
A) Each department in the executive branch is legally registered as a corporation.
B) It is an agency that performs and charges for services usually provided by the private sector.
C) It is a private company, publicly traded, whose sole investor is the federal government.
D) It is a government agency that is charged by Congress to make a profit.
E) It is a government agency that is run primarily by business executives from the private sector.
Q3) Describe and evaluate the key strategies used to promote reforming the federal bureaucracy. What are some of the challenges associated with each different approach? Explain.
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Page 16
Chapter 15: The Federal Courts
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Sample Questions
Q1) What was the Supreme Court's ruling in 1948 regarding restrictive covenants?
A) It was illegal for homeowners to discriminate in sales contracts.
B) It was acceptable for private contracts to have discriminatory provisions.
C) Individuals had the right to discriminate in private contracts, but courts could not enforce these contracts.
D) Only state supreme courts had the authority to rule on the legality of restrictive covenants.
E) Only the U.S. Supreme Court had the authority to rule on the legality of restrictive covenants.
Q2) The area of authority possessed by a court, in terms of either subject area or geography, is called its ________.
A) appellate scope
B) judicial review
C) precedent
D) jurisdiction
E) mandate
Q3) Explain the basic structure of the federal judicial system. Describe the three different levels of federal courts. How are the lower courts created? What was the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court?
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Page 17
Chapter 16: Government and the Economy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe some of the different tools and techniques that federal officials have at their disposal for regulating economic policy. What are monetary policies and fiscal policies? What are other ways in which government leaders can encourage or compel business representatives to behave in certain ways?
Q2) What is the most important way that government officials affect personal and corporate investments?
A) granting tax breaks for stock gains and losses
B) promoting investor confidence through policies enforcing stability and regard for the law
C) allowing Social Security pensions to be invested in the stock market
D) requiring that all stock and bond transfers remain confidential
E) bailing out corporations like GM that are considered "too big to fail"
Q3) Approximately ________ percent of the federal budget is in the mandatory spending category.
A) 25
B) 33
C) 50
D) 65
E) 90
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Page 18
Chapter 17: Social Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which program was designed to help augment the benefits to the aged, blind, and disabled?
A) Medicaid
B) Medicare
C) food stamps
D) Supplemental Security Income
E) Social Security
Q2) The first federal government assistance in education came in
A) 1785, when the federal government set aside land for public schools.
B) 1812, when Congress established public schools in Washington, D.C.
C) 1862, with the establishment of land-grant colleges.
D) 1944, with the G.I. Bill.
E) 2001, with the No Child Left Behind Act.
Q3) Which of the following is the best example of the shadow welfare state?
A) soup kitchens supported by local churches
B) food stamps
C) workplace medical insurance
D) cost-of-living adjustments
E) Medicaid
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Page 19
Chapter 18: Foreign Policy and Democracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the chief task of the National Security Council?
A) to monitor foreign intelligence
B) to formulate and recommend military and diplomatic policy proposals to the United Nations
C) to coordinate the differences among the executive's key foreign policy makers
D) to act as a public promoter of the president's foreign policy
E) to protect the borders of the United States
Q2) Which of the following statements about the World Trade Organization is INCORRECT?
A) The World Trade Organization was founded in 1995.
B) The World Trade Organization is a forum for enforcing international rules promoting free trade.
C) The United States dropped out of the World Trade Organization in 2004 over a disagreement about steel tariffs.
D) The World Trade Organization has had multiple controversies over agricultural subsidies.
E) The World Trade Organization grew out of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
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