Political Science 101
Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Political Science 101 is an introductory course designed to familiarize students with the fundamental concepts, theories, and institutions that shape political systems and governance. The course explores the structure and function of various political systems, the roles of governments and political actors, political ideologies, public policies, and the impact of political participation both domestically and internationally. Through lectures, discussions, and analytical assignments, students develop critical thinking skills and a deeper understanding of how politics influences societies and everyday life.
Recommended Textbook
Understanding American Government 14th Edition by Susan Welch
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Chapter 1: The American People
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Q1) English Philosopher John Locke insisted people were equal, but the "why" conflicted with ___________.
A) Karl Marx
B) Thomas Hobbes
C) Thomas Jefferson
D) Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Answer: B
Q2) The idea that every person should have the chance to realize her or his potential, economically, intellectually, and socially is called the equality of __________.
A) opportunity
B) standard
C) rights
D) result
Answer: A
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Page 3
Chapter 2: The Constitution
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Q1) From what source does the judicial branch receive the power to interpret the Constitution?
A) constitution
B) Bill of Rights
C) congress
D) judicial branch
Answer: D
Q2) After Shays's Rebellion, Congress approved a convention to __________.
A) revise the Articles of Confederation
B) write a new constitution
C) give more powers to the state governments
D) fund the rebellion
Answer: A
Q3) One of the major ideas dealt with in the Bill of Rights involves __________.
A) expression
B) women's suffrage
C) election of Senators
D) term limits
Answer: D
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Federalism
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Sample Questions
Q1) Citizens dissatisfied with the national government's actions and spending are moving toward __________.
A) nation-centered federalism
B) judicial interpretation
C) state activism
D) the supremacy movement
Answer: C
Q2) Citizen initiatives and popular referenda focus on ____________.
A) judicial policy
B) state and local policies
C) presidential policies
D) global policies
Answer: B
Q3) How many essays are in the Federalist Papers?
A) 53
B) 10
C) 85
D) 27
Answer: C
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Public Opinion
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Sample Questions
Q1) How do parents influence their children's political attitudes and beliefs?
A) through a formal program of indoctrination
B) in a very minimal way
C) in a way that cannot be changed
D) by directly sharing those opinions
Q2) Pollsters attempting to draw conclusions about a large population with a scientific poll rely on what?
A) sample basis
B) tracking polls
C) television polls
D) random sampling
Q3) People who tend to be more politically tolerant and more likely to participate in government have __________.
A) extreme ideologies
B) U.S. citizenship
C) more money
D) education
Q4) What are two examples of presidents using public opinion?
Q5) Describe how polls measure public opinion.
Q6) Discuss two advantages and disadvantages of straw and scientific polls
Page 6
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Chapter 5: News Media
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Q1) A blog is a(n) __________.
A) independent web log
B) illegal method of stopping a leak
C) monopoly of the Internet by a conglomerate
D) example of professional, unbiased reporting
Q2) Pressure to make a profit and the need to attract an audience can lead to _________ in the media.
A) ideological bias
B) racial bias
C) traditional institutional bias
D) commercial bias
Q3) How do conglomerates affect the news media?
Q4) Describe two different kinds of biases that may be seen in news reporting in the United States. How do these biases influence the selection of news stories and the ways in which they are reported?
Q5) In their efforts to "hook and keep" viewers, networks engage in _____________.
A) crowd sourcing
B) spinning
C) branding
D) "infotainment"
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Chapter 6: Interest Groups
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Q1) When President Obama and his administration launched healthcare reform, deals were cut with which type of interest group?
A) single-issue voters
B) healthcare businesses
C) religious conservatives
D) labor unions
Q2) Analyze the reason for the support of some large corporations for healthcare reform and the opposition to it of some small businesses.
Q3) Specialized interest groups that raise and donate money to election campaigns are known as __________.
A) political parties
B) voluntary contribution groups
C) candidate steering committees
D) political action committees
Q4) Which interest group lobbies against gun control?
A) NRA
B) NBA
C) AARP
D) NOW
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Chapter 7: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) Through an individual's life, party identification __________.
A) often realigns
B) usually remains constant
C) often leans conservative
D) will never alter
Q2) What was the New Deal Coalition?
Q3) By 1840, the size of the electorate had __________.
A) expanded incrementally
B) doubled
C) plateaued
D) slightly decreased
Q4) What is a realignment?
A) a process in which one party loses many supporters to the other party
B) the replacement of some Cabinet members by the President
C) a change in the alliance between a political party and certain interest groups
D) a phenomenon of the past, no longer relevant to American politics
Q5) Explain why political parties are considered "big tents."
Q6) Why do minor parties tend to do well initially but inevitably fade away?
Q7) What are the three components that make up the membership of a political party?
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Elections
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Q1) Creating minority-majority districts helps __________.
A) sitting presidents
B) welfare
C) representation
D) Congressional procedure
Q2) Explain the history of presidential nominations from party conventions to presidential primaries and caucuses.
Q3) When property requirements were used to determine who could vote,
A) no women could vote because they could not own property
B) women property owners could vote in some places
C) only homeowners could vote in state or local elections
D) there appeared to be less fraud at the polls
Q4) Public funding for the general campaign is permissible by law, but both presidential candidates rejected this funding in __________.
A) 2004
B) 2008
C) 2010
D) 2012
Q5) Explain some theories as to why voting turnout is low in the United States.
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) __________ occurs when a district's boundaries are devised to maximize the political advantage of a party or racial group.
A) Redistricting
B) Reapportionment
C) Gerrymandering
D) Ticket-splitting
Q2) The description of Congress and its powers is found in Article __________ of the Constitution.
A) I
B) II
C) III
D) IV
Q3) The committee chairs are selected by __________..
A) the president of the Senate
B) the Senate majority leader
C) party whips
D) special committees
Q4) What are whips?
Q5) What are the advantages of incumbency for members of Congress?
Q6) What is a unified government?
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Chapter 10: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) Franklin Roosevelt used his power as commander-in-chief to _________.
A) declare war on Germany
B) control consumption and rationing
C) relieve General MacArthur of his command
D) veto, in 1941, the congressional declaration of war against Japan
Q2) Which president centralized policy decisions in the White House with "czars" coordinating policies across numerous departments and agencies?
A) Ronald Reagan
B) George W. Bush
C) Bill Clinton
D) Barack Obama
Q3) It is required that presidential signing statements be published in the ______________.
A) Congressional Quarterly
B) National Journal
C) Federal Register
D) New York Times
Q4) How is the pocket veto different from the regular presidential veto?
Q5) What is the rationale for executive orders?
Q6) Explain how the president does or does not accomplish his legislative agenda?
Page 12
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Chapter 11: The Bureaucracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) 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
Q2) How has the merit system changed the federal bureaucracy and its oversight?
Q3) __________ is the appointment of supporters to administrative jobs by elected officials in order to strengthen their political base.
A) Graft
B) Pork barrel
C) Constituent staffing
D) Patronage
Q4) ____________ causes the bureaucracy to grow.
A) The Constitution
B) Constituent indifference
C) Social and economic change
D) Peacetime
Q5) How do the goals of private and public bureaucracies differ?
Q6) List three categories of federal agencies and some examples of each.
Q7) How do interest groups influence bureaucratic policy making?
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Chapter 12: The Judiciary
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why is it important for presidents to appoint women to the Supreme Court?
Q2) The number of federal district courts is based on ____________.
A) circuits
B) population
C) the Constitution
D) crime rates
Q3) Restrained judges __________.
A) are concerned with rejecting laws and actions
B) enforce "government by judiciary"
C) are concerned with showing appropriate deference
D) are careless about laws from the statute books
Q4) Court briefs that identify issues and marshal evidence are __________.
A) friend-of-the-court briefs
B) discoveries
C) written arguments
D) writs of certiorari
Q5) How would you characterize the Marshall Court?
Q6) Identify the major checks on judicial power. Are they effective or ineffective in limiting judicial action?
Q7) How does one become a member of the federal courts?
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Chapter 13: Civil Liberties
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Constitution protects individuals from ____________ laws, which make some behavior illegal that was not illegal when the acts were committed.
A) habeas corpus
B) ex post facto
C) de jure
D) Marshall
Q2) Which of the following media forms is commonly referred to as the "poor person's printing press"?
A) the public forum
B) Congress
C) the Internet
D) talk radio
Q3) Which of the following rights does the Sixth Amendment guarantee?
A) the right to plea bargain
B) the right to free religious expression
C) the right to free speech
D) the right to a jury trial
Q4) What actions have federal, state, and local governments taken to address the right to privacy? Have they allowed or limited this right?
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Chapter 14: Civil Rights
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Sample Questions
Q1) What have been the changing policies of the federal government toward Native Americans?
Q2) Describe three interest groups that have formed to achieve civil rights?
Q3) For its first two decades, the NAACP was led by sociologist ____________.
A) W. E. B. Du Bois
B) Thurgood Marshall
C) Homer Plessy
D) Frederick Douglass
Q4) Adopting nonviolent tactics, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. formed the __________.
A) SCLC
B) NAACP
C) NOW
D) ACLU
Q5) What was the impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1968?
Q6) __________ are the largest minority in the United States.
A) Asians
B) African Americans
C) Indians
D) Hispanics
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Extension 1: Focus On: Economic Policy
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Q1) During the nineteenth century, the U.S. government focused on encouraging economic expansion and development by __________.
A) creating the Tennessee Valley Association
B) supporting canal and later railroad construction
C) instituting the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
D) the annexation of Texas under President Zachary Taylor
Q2) The economic cycles of boom and bust have been constant, but the U.S. government did not try to prevent these cycles until what decade?
A) 1820s
B) 1860s
C) 1910s
D) 1930s
Q3) Explain instances where the economy can be (or has been) used as a salient issues in a campaign.
Q4) Classical economists would agree that the market adjusts itself __________.
A) without government action
B) only with government action
C) if business is socialized
D) without looking at unemployment
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Chapter 16: Extension 2: Focus on: Environmental Policy
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Q1) Which generation is most likely to believe there is scientific evidence for global warming?
A) Generation X
B) Baby Boomers
C) Generation Y
D) Millenials
Q2) What was the Bush administration's attitude towards global warming?
Q3) What is a negative externality?
Q4) How does the government protect the public from industrial pollution and at the same time promote economic growth? Provide a specific example.
Q5) Which of the following pollutant categories is the most difficult to dispose of?
A) petroleum
B) nuclear
C) chemical
D) biological
Q6) What causes the global ozone hole?
Q7) What was the political reason for President Obama's support for clean coal and biofuels?
Q8) Why do environmentalists and interest groups often exaggerate their claims?
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Chapter 17: Extension 3: Focus On: Foreign Policy
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Q1) The noninvolvement of the Unitied States in the affairs of other nations outside the Americas is also called __________.
A) isolationism
B) soft power
C) hard power
D) physical security
Q2) The deep hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union during the twentieth century was called _________.
A) détente
B) the Cold War
C) the Iron Curtain
D) containment
Q3) What is the policy of containment?
Q4) Who was the first woman to serve as U.S. Secretary of State?
A) Madeline Albright
B) Condoleezza Rice
C) Margaret Thatcher
D) Hillary Clinton
Q5) How does Congress impact foreign policy?
Q6) Compare and contrast the foreign policy of George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Page 19
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Chapter 18: Extension 4: Focus On: Health Policy
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Q1) The U.S. Public Health Corps, started during the Adams presidency, is known today as __________.
A) Food and Drug Administration
B) Public Health Service
C) Department of Health and Human Services
D) Department of Disease Control
Q2) Direct health care to military personnel is provided through which department of the executive branch?
A) the White House
B) the Department of Defense
C) the War Department
D) Department for Health and Human Services
Q3) The Affordable Care Act __________.
A) features an individual mandate
B) features "Medicare for all"
C) was offered to Congress by the president
D) supports and funds a public option
Q4) Describe the Republican and Democratic ideas about the appropriate role of government in health care.
Q5) What is the single-payer system?
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