State and Local Government Exam Practice Tests
Course Introduction
This course explores the structure, functions, and processes of state and local governments in the United States. Students will examine the roles of governors, legislatures, courts, and local officials, as well as the relationships between state and federal governments. Topics covered include public policy, budgeting, political parties, elections, intergovernmental relations, and the organization of cities, counties, and special districts. Through case studies and comparative analysis, students will gain an understanding of how state and local governments address contemporary challenges and impact the lives of citizens.
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) Because individuals involved in the decision-making process often have different goals and preferences, it can be very difficult to orchestrate
A)policy analysis.
B)collective action.
C)constituent service.
D)committee work.
Answer: B
Q2) In many nations in Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa, the law imposes few real limits, but the government is nevertheless kept in check by other political and social institutions that it does not control. Examples of these outside actors include autonomous territories, an organized church, organized business groups, or organized labor unions. Such governments are generally called
A)autocratic.
B)totalitarian.
C)constitutional.
D)authoritarian.
Answer: D
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Constructing a Government: The Founding and the Constitution
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145 Verified Questions
145 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Members of the U.S. Supreme Court serve staggered six-year terms.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Institutions shape politics. Why did the institutions designed by the Articles of Confederation lead to pressures to draft a new Constitution?
Answer: The Articles of Confederation established a weak central government with no executive branch or independent judiciary. The Continental Congress lacked the ability to actually enforce its mandates.
As a result, the Continental Congress could not enforce the treaties it made with other countries or defend American merchant trade. State governments were often dominated by radical elements that interfered with the economic status quo, including diluting the value of currency to aid debtors.
Shays's Rebellion in Massachusetts in 1787 highlighted the fragility of internal security in the new country. The state of Massachusetts struggled to put down the revolt by desperate farmers, and the central government had little power to aid the state authorities or induce other states to assist.
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Federalism and the Separation of Powers
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134 Verified Questions
134 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The power delegated by the state to a local unit of government to manage its own affairs is called
A)home rule.
B)rule of the interior.
C)vesting power.
D)jurisdictional decree.
Answer: A
Q2) The power to levy taxes is an example of a __________ power.
A)police
B)socialist
C)concurrent
D)reserved
Answer: C
Q3) Historically, the Supreme Court has frequently used its authority to strike down acts of the president and laws passed by Congress.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties
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122 Verified Questions
122 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The case of Mapp v. Ohio established the A)exclusionary rule.
B)right to counsel in a criminal trial.
C)right to privacy.
D)right to remain silent.
Q2) When the first Congress under the new Constitution met in 1789, the most important item of business was the consideration of a proposal to
A)create a department of war.
B)appoint officials to staff the fledgling bureaucracy.
C)add a Bill of Rights to the Constitution.
D)develop procedures for the admission of new states.
Q3) The role of precedent in guiding and constraining Supreme Court decision making illustrates which of the five principles of politics?
A)rationality
B)collective action
C)institution
D)history
Q4) Explain due process and the constitutional rights protected under due process.
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Chapter 5: Civil Rights
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105 Verified Questions
105 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Distinguish between civil liberties and civil rights. Why are both necessary to curb the powers of government?
Q2) What is the status of the Equal Rights Amendment?
A)It was ratified as the Twenty-Eighth Amendment.
B)It has never cleared Congress.
C)It has cleared Congress and is currently awaiting ratification by the states.
D)It previously cleared Congress but failed to get ratification by states by the deadline.
Q3) 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
Q4) Identify two modern-day controversies over civil rights. Why are these issues controversial? How has the Supreme Court or Congress responded to these issues?
Q5) What role has judicial activism played in the expansion of civil rights in American society?
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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) Which term describes the direct services and benefits that congressional representatives provide for their districts, such as appointing supporters to government offices or conferring grants and licenses to constituents?
A)patronage
B)incumbency
C)franking privilege
D)sponsorships
Q2) A congressional representative's statement to his legislative colleague that he will support her bill if she will support his is an example of
A)whipping.
B)logrolling.
C)the distributive tendency.
D)a filibuster.
Q3) What is the minimum age required to serve as a member of the House of Representatives?
A)21
B)25
C)30
D)35
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Page 8
Chapter 7: The Presidency As an Institution
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160 Verified Questions
160 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What conditions would make a president more likely to prioritize a legislative strategy over an administrative strategy for making policy change?
Q2) In addition to holding committee hearings and revising laws that delegate authority, what is one of the tactics Congress uses to oversee the exercise of delegated power to the executive branch?
A)reduce the salaries of employees from deviant agencies
B)control the budget of executive branch agencies
C)direct Congress's Inspector General to subpoena the records of suspicious agencies
D)fire leaders of executive branch agencies who had been appointed by the president
Q3) The president is the dominant actor in American foreign and defense policy.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A president may veto legislation even though it may entail a political cost.
A)True
B)False
Q5) In what ways is public opinion important to the president as a critical source of power?
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Chapter 8: The Executive Branch: Bureaucracy in a Democracy
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147 Verified Questions
147 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A type of government agency that is outside the departmental structure but operates more like a private business that charges for its services is called a
A)cabinet department.
B)independent agency.
C)government corporation.
D)government contractor.
Q2) The first independent regulatory commission was the Interstate Commerce Commission.
A)True
B)False
Q3) A department, bureau, or independent agency whose primary mission is to make rules governing a particular type of activity is called a A)nonprofit commission.
B)social agency.
C)regulatory agency.
D)prohibitive agency.
Q4) Privatization is a euphemism for termination. A)True
B)False
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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) State courts handle about the same number of cases as the federal courts in the American judicial system.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The Federal Ninth Circuit of Appeals includes eleven western states and territories, making it the largest court in terms of both population and land area. There have been attempts to divide the Ninth Circuit, but it has proven difficult to organize a coalition in favor of a specific alternative. Which of the five principles of politics highlights the importance of coalition building?
A)All political behavior has a purpose.
B)Institutions structure politics.
C)All politics is collective action.
D)Policy outcomes are the result of institutions and preferences.
Q3) The U.S. Courts of Appeals are divided into three geographic circuits.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Defendants found guilty of civil wrongs can be fined or sent to prison.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 10: Public Opinion
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143 Verified Questions
143 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Public opinion is the aggregation of many citizens' views and interests.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Politicians typically make little to no use of public opinion polls, except during election season.
A)True
B)False
Q3) ________ represent what people know and how they understand the world and the consequences of their actions.
A)Beliefs
B)Doctrines
C)Preferences
D)Aspirations
Q4) For polls of citizens of the United States to be accurate, a typical poll size would be __________ respondents.
A)100
B)1,000
C)5,000
D)10,000
Q5) To what extent can the government manipulate popular sentiment?
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Elections
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163 Verified Questions
163 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Explain some of the challenges in comparing election turnout rates across different countries.
Q2) The United States is one of the most participatory democracies in the world. Which of the following is NOT a way Americans can participate in electoral politics?
A)blogging about their opinions on a candidate
B)joining an interest group or political organization
C)speaking with others about politics at a bowling alley
D)threatening to fire employees if they don't vote for the employer's preferred candidate
Q3) What criteria do voters use to decide among competing candidates?
Q4) Explain the role of money in American political elections.
Q5) Most Americans identify more or less strongly with one or the other of the two major political parties.
A)True
B)False
Q6) An issue for which all voters prefer a higher value is called a valence issue.
A)True
B)False
Q7) Explain how the rules governing the electoral process help determine outcomes.
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Political Parties
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153 Verified Questions
153 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is part of today's Democratic Party coalition?
A)western ranchers
B)organized labor and members of racial minorities
C)businesses and fundamentalist religious organizations
D)supporters of school prayer and opponents of affirmative action
Q2) When recruiting candidates, parties consider that at the very least, a serious candidate for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives must be able to raise several __________ dollars.
A)thousand
B)hundred thousand
C)million
D)billion
Q3) How do political parties help to shape and organize policy making at the national level?
Q4) Party get-out-the-vote efforts are critical for overcoming
A)the general lack of knowledge in the electorate.
B)Americans' native distaste for parties.
C)the free-rider problem in voting.
D)the prisoner's dilemma of voter competition.
Q5) What specific functions do political parties perform?
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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) According to Madison, how are the problems of factions best controlled?
A)The government exercises its coercive powers to control group activities that become violent or subversive.
B)The government places limits on the number of interest groups allowed in society.
C)The government encourages the formation of many groups so that no single interest can tyrannize the others.
D)The government places limits on the amount of money groups may contribute to political campaigns.
Q2) Political entrepreneurs bear the organizational costs of a group because doing so may provide them with certain __________ benefits.
A)selective
B)material
C)informational
D)ideological
Q3) The Women's Marches of 2017 attracted ample media attention to feminist causes.
A)True
B)False
Q4) How do interest groups attempt to influence elections?
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Page 15
Chapter 14: The Media
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136 Verified Questions
136 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) All news is equally "fake."
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which choice best describes the relationship between the government and broadcast media?
A)Government controls media content.
B)Government owns the broadcast media but does not control content.
C)Government does not own the communications networks but does regulate broadcast media.
D)Government does not own the communication networks and does not regulate broadcast media.
Q3) Generally speaking, radio news is essentially a
A)forum for editorializing.
B)good source for in-depth news analysis and coverage.
C)headline service without pictures.
D)mirror reflection of the coverage in weekly news magazines.
Q4) In recent years, cable television has been growing in importance as a news source.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 15: Economic Policy
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144 Verified Questions
144 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) List and describe the institutions the U.S. government has created to manage its financial affairs. How effective are these agencies?
Q2) An instance where the market does not produce an efficient outcome is called
A)a market failure.
B)a black Tuesday.
C)an insolvent equilibrium.
D)irrational exuberance.
Q3) The swift passage of a $700 billion bill to bail out failing financial corporations in 2008 was the result of politicians' career ambitions (mixed with concern for the nation) operating through the legislative process. Which of the five principles of politics did this illustrate?
A)history principle
B)collective action principle
C)institution principle
D)policy principle
Q4) A prerequisite for a market economy is a government that maintains competition across the various sectors of the economy.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 16: Social Policy
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125 Verified Questions
125 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The process of periodically adjusting social benefits or wages to account for increases in the cost of living is called
A)inflation.
B)benchmarking.
C)bracket creep.
D)indexing.
Q2) Why has the Affordable Care Act (or Obamacare) been controversial?
Q3) Most spending on social welfare in the United States goes to such programs as TANF and other means-tested efforts to alleviate poverty.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The federal role in education policy was substantially increased in 2002 by President George W. Bush's signature education law, called
A)No Child Left Behind.
B)Teach Johnny to Read.
C)Students for a New Millennium.
D)School Accountability and Choice.
Q5) What are the foundations of the social welfare system?
Q6) How does the national government improve the welfare of the poor?
Page 18
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Chapter 17: Foreign Policy
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142 Verified Questions
142 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Has the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war made the world a safer place?
Q2) Which neighboring countries are the top recipients of U.S. military aid?
A)Iran and Afghanistan
B)Israel and Egypt
C)Rwanda and Uganda
D)India and Pakistan
Q3) What is the most important international organization for promoting free trade?
A)NAFTA
B)G-8
C)IMF
D)WTO
Q4) In the post-Cold War era, non-state actors have generally been deterred from action against the United States by the same means that deter nation-state actors.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The United Nations has evolved into a major player on the world stage mostly because of its standing military.
A)True
B)False
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