Introduction to Political Science Study Guide Questions
Course Introduction
Introduction to Political Science explores the foundational concepts, theories, and institutions that shape political systems and influence governance around the world. The course examines core topics such as the state, power, ideology, democracy, authoritarianism, political behavior, and public policy. Students will learn about the comparative analysis of political systems, the historical development of political thought, and the impact of political actors and organizations. Through critical analysis of key texts, contemporary events, and case studies, the course aims to develop an understanding of how politics affects societies and individuals, fostering informed and engaged citizenship.
Recommended Textbook
MindTapR in Action American Government 1st Edition by Cengage
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Chapter 1: The Constitution
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Q1) What action precipitated the Intolerable, or Coercive, Acts?
A) The Boston Tea Party
B) The publication of Common Sense
C) The signing of the Declaration of Independence
D) The convening of the Stamp Act Congress
Answer: A
Q2) In Federalist No. 10, James Madison speaks to the Constitution's ability to weaken the "mischiefs of faction." What issue was he addressing?
A) Less possibility of one faction gaining a majority
B) The threat from small states in gaining a majority
C) The idea that the executive could gain control similar to that of a monarchy
D) The concept that elected officials can be impeached
Answer: A
Q3) The Federalist Papers were written by
A) James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Robert Yates.
B) James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and John Jay.
C) James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay.
D) James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Robert Yates.
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: Federalism
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Q1) The Fourteenth Amendment ensured that the
A) states had an equal voice in the debate about citizenship.
B) states could not infringe on the rights of citizenship.
C) federal government could not infringe on the rights of citizenship.
D) federal government would yield to the states on matters concerning citizenship.
Answer: B
Q2) Reserved powers are powers
A) to be exercised by the states and not the federal government.
B) that are specifically listed in the Constitution as granted to the federal government.
C) that are rarely used and then only by congressional approval.
D) to be shared by the federal and state governments.
Answer: A
Q3) The Supreme Court has had
A) an insignificant role in interpreting the U.S. Constitution.
B) a modest role in interpreting the U.S. Constitution.
C) no role in interpreting the U.S Constitution.
D) a significant role in interpreting the U.S. Constitution.
Answer: D
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Chapter 3: Civil Liberties
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Q1) First Amendment freedoms confront the Supreme Court with balancing individual liberty with
A) national security and public order.
B) protected speech and technological advancements.
C) public order and technological advancements.
D) individual rights.
Answer: A
Q2) In which case did the Supreme Court reverse its Bowers v. Hardwick decision regarding private consensual sexual activity?
A) Griswold v. Connecticut
B) Roe v. Wade
C) Planned Parenthood v. Casey
D) Lawrence v. Texas
Answer: D
Q3) The original understanding of the Bill of Rights was that it applied solely to
A) the legislative branch.
B) state governments.
C) the poor.
D) the federal government.
Answer: D
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Chapter 4: Civil Rights
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Q1) What word, most significant to the understanding of civil rights, appears for the first time in the Constitution in the Fourteenth Amendment?
A) Deprive
B) Citizens
C) Equal
D) Abridge
Q2) The Removal Act of 1830 encouraged tribes to sign removal treaties by
A) creating independent farmers out of Native Americans.
B) granting citizenship to any Native American who moved west of the Mississippi.
C) giving the U.S. military the power to forcibly remove Native Americans from their lands in the southeast.
D) establishing a process that granted land west of the Mississippi to Native American tribes that agreed to give up their homelands.
Q3) Which amendment is interpreted to extend citizenship to women?
A) Eleventh Amendment
B) Twelfth Amendment
C) Fourteenth Amendment
D) Fifteenth Amendment
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Chapter 5: Congress
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Q1) If Congress discovers that an executive agency is <b><u>not</u></b> conducting itself properly or is implementing policy the wrong way, what can it do about it?
A) It can file a formal complaint through an arbitrator.
B) It can fire the agency's head and hire a new one.
C) It can restrict the agency's funding.
D) It can ask the courts to intervene.
Q2) What are two of the options the president has when a bill has been sent to the White House?
A) To sign or to table
B) To veto or to send it for judicial review
C) To sign or to veto
D) To veto or to send it back to committee
Q3) Which of the following is not a qualification to be a senator?
A) A senator must be at least thirty years old.
B) A senator must be a natural-born citizen of the United States.
C) A senator must be a resident of the state he or she is to represent.
D) A senator must be a citizen of the United States for at least nine years.
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Page 7
Chapter 6: Presidency and Foreign Policy
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Q1) The end of the Cold War began in _______ when the Berlin Wall came down.
A) 1988
B) 1989
C) 1990
D) 1991
Q2) The general election campaign period begins
A) when the first candidate announces his or her intent to run for president and runs through election day.
B) with the start of the primary season and runs through election day.
C) after the party nominating conventions and runs through election day.
D) when a candidate starts fundraising and runs through election day.
Q3) Which Article of the Constitution addresses the executive branch?
A) Article I
B) Article II
C) Article III
D) Article IV
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Chapter 7: Bureaucracy
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Q1) Why is privatization risky?
A) It can lower the cost of the service but lead to higher taxes.
B) It can result in the public losing the ability to have a voice in decisions affecting it, as well as the transparency it had under the government.
C) It can improve effectiveness, but lower quality.
D) It can require more oversight, stressing an already overburdened system.
Q2) The Government Accountability Office has the responsibility for A) performing accounting audits and serving as an overall watchdog on behalf of Congress.
B) the federal budget.
C) the substantive areas of law related to certain agencies.
D) "scoring" proposed legislation to determine its impact on the overall federal budget.
Q3) After the 1993 amendment to the Hatch Act, which of the following are federal employees <b><u>not</b></u>permitted to do?
A) Verbally support a political candidate
B) Seek public office in partisan elections
C) Take any active role in partisan politics
D) Work on a partisan campaign on their own time
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Chapter 8: Judiciary
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Q1) What is a significant reason two Supreme Courts came to different conclusions in interpreting the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
A) There were new facts in the case.
B) The two courts were of different generations and had different perspectives on race relations.
C) They were two completely different cases.
D) The two courts were trying to please different presidents.
Q2) The Constitution states that federal judges and justices are to be
A) elected by the people.
B) appointed by the House of Representatives, subject to confirmation by the Senate.
C) appointed by the president, subject to confirmation by the Senate.
D) appointed and confirmed by the president.
Q3) What type of court has the authority to hear the facts of the case for the first time?
A) Circuit courts
B) Appellate courts
C) Courts of original jurisdiction
D) State supreme courts
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Chapter 9: Public Opinion
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Q1) What is the term for the tendency of some respondents to report an answer in a way they deem more socially acceptable than their true opinion?
A) Social acceptability bias
B) Social consciousness bias
C) Social bias
D) Social responsibility bias
Q2) Content analysis is traditionally understood to mean careful study of
A) public opinion from particular years.
B) printed or text-based material.
C) media.
D) trending social media.
Q3) The role of the media in shaping public opinion is best described as A) providing entertaining distractions.
B) telling people what to think about.
C) telling people what to think.
D) influencing elites.
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Chapter 10: Interest Groups
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Q1) Grassroots lobbying occurs when interest groups
A) sidestep their membership and take the issue to the general public.
B) hire a lobbyist.
C) produce awareness campaigns.
D) encourage their members to write, call, or visit public officials.
Q2) The free-rider problem occurs when
A) group members take advantage of group resources as a result of contributing work, time, and effort.
B) others take advantage of media coverage of the group's original goal.
C) the public realizes that one person's consumption does not affect anyone else's.
D) group members or others take advantage of benefits earned from the work, time, and effort that others have put forth to accomplish the group's goal.
Q3) Iron triangles most directly impact
A) policymaking and oversight.
B) oversight and congressional hearings.
C) policymaking and legislative procedure.
D) congressional hearings and legislative procedure.
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Chapter 11: Media
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Q1) What was a byproduct of the rise of cable television and its nonstop political news cycle?
A) Declining interest in non-political news coverage
B) Shrinking readership for newspapers
C) Stagnant profits for media outlets
D) Closing of radio stations nationwide
Q2) It is predicted that by 2015, Americans will spend, on average,
A) 25 hours per week with media.
B) 20 hours per day with media.
C) 15 hours per day with media.
D) 10 hours per day with media.
Q3) Yellow journalism was newspaper reporting that focused on A) political debates.
B) entertainment gossip.
C) investigations and scandals.
D) government actions.
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Chapter 12: Political Parties
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Q1) Which survey question would most likely be asked for the purpose of measuring party identification?
A) Do you think of yourself as a Democrat, a Republican, an independent, or what?
B) Are you a loyal campaign worker, and do you enjoy working on campaigns for Democrats and Republicans?
C) Do you frequently vote in elections, and if so, do you think about the political party and vote for Democrats?
D) Are you often willing to discuss your political affiliation with others, and would you discuss affiliation with the Republican Party?
Q2) The term superdelegates is defined as "delegates to a convention who
A) have been selected by an overwhelming majority."
B) are not bound to vote for any particular candidate."
C) have been screened through a rigorous process."
D) are not required to follow conventional rules of courtesy."
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Chapter 13: Participation
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Q1) What is the primary form of political participation in the United States?
A) Voting
B) Signing a petition
C) Campaigning
D) Organizing a march
Q2) The term voting-age population (VAP) refers to
A) formulas required to calculate turnout rates in the United States.
B) lists of requirements for voter eligibility in the United States.
C) strategies for mobilizing eighteen-to twenty-four-year-old voters in the United States.
D) people who are older than eighteen in the United States.
Q3) Which was the first state or territory to grant voting rights to women?
A) Colorado
B) Wyoming Territory
C) Idaho
D) Utah Territory
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Chapter 14: Campaigns and Elections
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Q1) How often are congressional districts redrawn to reflect population changes?
A) Every two years
B) Every five years
C) Every eight years
D) Every ten years
Q2) When strategists use algorithms, voting patterns, and consumer data to find particular voters likely to vote for a party, the strategists' actions can best be identified as
A) polling.
B) microtargeting.
C) identifying with a party.
D) exercising media platforms.
Q3) The Seventeenth Amendment stated that U.S. senators were to be chosen by
A) a direct election.
B) the state legislature.
C) the president.
D) a governor.
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Chapter 15: Domestic Policy
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Q1) Which of the following is <b><u>not</b></u> an accurate statement regarding the role of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)?
A) It is in charge of preparing the president's budget and then presenting it to Congress.
B) It evaluates the effectiveness of agency programs, policies, and procedures as related to the president's budget.
C) It supervises the administration of the president's budget by the executive branch agencies.
D) It ensures that agency reports, rules, testimony, and proposed legislation are consistent with the president's budget.
Q2) Which type of taxation charges a higher percentage to wealthier taxpayers than to those less wealthy?
A) Regressive
B) Proportional
C) Flat
D) Progressive
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