U.S. Government and Politics
Chapter Exam Questions
Course Introduction
This course provides an in-depth exploration of the foundations, structure, and processes of the United States government and political system. Students will examine the Constitution, federalism, and the roles of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The course also covers the political behavior of individuals and groups, the influence of public opinion, political parties, interest groups, and the media. Through the study of significant Supreme Court cases, policy-making processes, and current events, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of how government functions and how citizens can participate in and influence the political process.
Recommended Textbook
Government in America People Politics and Policy Brief Edition 11th Edition by George C. Edwards
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2189 Verified Questions
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Chapter 1: Introducing Government in America
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Sample Questions
Q1) Increased technical knowledge of complex contemporary issues casts doubt on the traditional democratic notion that ordinary citizens have the good sense to reach sound political judgments around which government can act.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) When interests conflict,which they often do,no coalition may be strong enough to form a majority and establish policy-this can lead to a policy gridlock.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) The closer the correspondence between representatives and their electoral majority,the closer the approximation of democracy.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 2: The Constitution
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following was among Madison's proposal to prevent majority tyranny?
A)Combine the powers of different institutions
B)Construct a system of checks and balances
C)Incorporate majoritarianism across the three branches of government
D)Form national political parties
E)All of these were among Madison's proposals
Answer: B
Q2) Which of the following statements represents John Locke's understanding of the relationship between natural rights and human law?
A)Natural rights are less important than human law.
B)Natural rights are higher than,that is superior to,human law.
C)Human law is the source of natural rights.
D)Human law protects property rights,making human law the equivalent to natural rights.
E)Human law and natural rights are equivalent.
Answer: B
Q3) There were 105 delegates to the Constitutional Convention.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 3: Federalism
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Sample Questions
Q1) The enumerated powers of Congress and the national government are those
A)specifically spelled out in the Constitution.
B)set out in the first ten amendments.
C)involving taxes,spending,and fiscal policy.
D)not specifically spelled out in the Constitution,but nonetheless acknowledged.
E)requiring ratification by the states.
Answer: A
Q2) The Defense of Marriage Act
A)permits states to disregard same-sex marriages or civil unions of same-sex partners issued in other states.
B)prohibits states from issuing same-sex marriages or civil unions to same-sex partners.
C)requires states to issue same-sex marriages and civil unions to same-sex partners.
D)requires states to recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions issued in other states for same-sex partners.
E)requires states to provide the same rights to same-sex couples that they provide to heterosexual couples.
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties and Public Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Supreme Court's Roe v.Wade decision was issued in A)1954.
B)1973. C)1979.
D)1985. E)1991.
Q2) On what basis has the Court permitted state restraints on the legal right to abortion? In your estimation,are state restraints on abortion constitutional?
Q3) Prior restraint refers to government actions preventing material from being published.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The First Amendment,as originally understood,applied only to the national government.
A)True
B)False
Q5) In what way does the Constitution guarantee a right to privacy? How has this right evolved over time?
Q6) What is the exclusionary rule and how has it been used by the Supreme Court?
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Civil Rights and Public Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) In Parents Involved in Community Schools v.Seattle School District No.1 (2007),the Supreme Court
A)held that the school district's use of race in voluntary integration plans violated the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection.
B)held that the school district's use of race in voluntary integration plans was constitutional.
C)held that school districts inherently possessed an inherent interest in remedying the effects of past segregation and,thus,could consider race in their strategies toward integration.
D)ruled that school districts could consider race as a primary factor in preventing resegregation of public schools.
E)overturned previous rulings that prohibited the consideration of race in determining the boundaries of public school districts.
Q2) The Equal Rights Amendment was ratified in 1973. A)True
B)False
Q3) What were the main provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
Q4) What is meant by the principle of comparable worth? How can this be achieved?
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Page 7
Chapter 6: Public Opinion and Political Action
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Sample Questions
Q1) Although voter turnout has declined recently,other forms of participation such as contributing money and contacting officials have actually increased.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The most valuable method for understanding demographic changes in America is the
A)Statistical Abstract of the United States.
B)public opinion poll.
C)U.S. census.
D)turnout in presidential elections.
E)Internal Revenue Service statistical tax abstracts.
Q3) Public support for gays and lesbians has been increasing among all ideological groups over the last couple of decades.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is the importance of the family to the process of political socialization?
Q5) The study of public opinion is the science of population changes.
A)True
B)False
Q6) What is random-digit dialing,and why are most polls conducted this way?
Page 8
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Chapter 7: The Mass Media and the Political Agenda
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Q1) Which of the following is a potential consequence of the media's agenda-setting powers according to research on media effects?
A)Voters may alter their vote choices and opinions about important public policy issues in response to media coverage.
B)Citizens may alter their evaluations of political leaders in response to media coverage. C)Citizens may alter their ideological orientation in response to hidden bias found in media coverage.
D)Voters may switch political parties in response to hidden bias found in media coverage.
E)All of the above are potential consequences.
Q2) What are sound bites? How does their use influence the nature of the news?
Q3) In many other countries,major television outlets are owned by the government. A)True B)False
Q4) Newspaper circulation has increased over the last several decades. A)True B)False
Q5) What are media events and how are they used?
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Chapter 8: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) A patronage job is a job awarded on the basis of skill and merit.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What are the causes and consequences of party realignment? Given the history of party realignment in the U.S.,what kind of party era are we living through now?
Q3) Andrew Jackson was the first president identified as a(n)
A)Independent.
B)Democrat.
C)Republican.
D)Democratic-Republican.
E)Whig.
Q4) America's loose party structure makes it possible for individual politicians to focus efforts on getting more from the government for their own constituents.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are the basic precepts of a critical election? Provide examples of at least two critical elections from American political history.
Q6) Compare and contrast the phenomena of party dealignment and party realignment.
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Campaigns and Voting Behavior
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Sample Questions
Q1) A meeting of all state party leaders for selecting delegates to the national party convention is called a primary.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Do political campaigns affect individuals voting behavior? Explain.
Q3) Which of the following is NOT true of the 2008 presidential election?
A)Obama carried 53 percent of the popular vote,compared to 46 percent for McCain.
B)Obama won 365 electoral votes,compared to 173 for McCain.
C)The Democrats won nine states that they had lost in 2004.
D)The Republicans won nine states that they had lost in 2004.
E)Among the states that Democrats won in 2008 were Florida,Ohio,and Virginia.
Q4) If no candidate receives a majority of votes in the Electoral College,then the election is thrown to the Senate for a vote.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What happens if no candidate receives an Electoral College majority? Why did the Founding Fathers set up the system to work this way?
Q6) How has the nature of policy voting changed in the United States?
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Chapter 10: Interest Groups
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Sample Questions
Q1) Pluralist theory is a theory of government and politics emphasizing competition between groups.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Describe the differences between the pluralist,hyperpluralist,and elite theories in regard to the role played by interest groups in American society.
Q3) Discuss how size,intensity,and resources determine the likely effectiveness of an interest group.Provide examples where appropriate.
Q4) "Equality interests" refer to the cluster of groups seeking equal protection under the law.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is the importance of amicus curiae briefs and class action lawsuits to the efforts of interest groups to influence policy?
Q6) Explain what factors work to make an interest group successful.
Q7) What are the key differences between interest groups and political parties?
Q8) Provide an example of a single-interest group.What differentiates a single-interest group from a traditional interest group?
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) _____ committees draw their membership from both the Senate and the House.
A)Joint
B)Standing
C)Ad-hoc
D)Select
E)Conference
Q2) Nebraska's legislature is the only one in the United States that is NOT
A)elected by the voters.
B)unicameral.
C)bicameral.
D)tricameral.
E)under term limits.
Q3) What is descriptive representation?
A)Representing constituents by mirroring their personal,politically relevant characteristics
B)Representing the interests of groups
C)Representing issues affecting the poor when the representative is extremely wealthy
D)When members of Congress serve on committees
E)When members of Congress have not lived in their home district very long
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Page 13
Chapter 12: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) The scandal surrounding Richard Nixon's administration that led to impeachment hearings was known as
A)Iran-Contra.
B)the Camp David Affair.
C)Watergate.
D)Checkers.
E)Teapot Dome.
Q2) What is required of Congress to overturn a presidential veto?
A)A two-thirds vote in the House
B)A two-thirds vote in the Senate
C)A two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate
D)A three-fifths vote in both the House and the Senate
E)A three-fourths vote in both the House and the Senate
Q3) How can it be that public opinion is both a resource for and a potential obstacle to presidential leadership?
Q4) The Constitution sets age eligibility requirements for the president at 40 years.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is the role and importance of the Office of Management and Budget?
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Chapter 13: The Federal Bureaucracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Federal Trade Commission is an independent regulatory agency of the federal government that regulates the railroad and trucking industries.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following is NOT an element of all regulation governing bureaucratic agencies?
A)A grant of power and set of directions from Congress
B)A set of rules and guidelines determined by the regulatory agency itself
C)Some means of enforcing compliance
D)A timeline for eventual deregulation
E)None of these; all are elements of regulation
Q3) The elite cadre of approximately 9,000 federal government managers established by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978,including primarily career officials and some political appointees who do not require Senate confirmation,is called the
A)Civil Service.
B)Senior Executive Service.
C)General Schedule Service.
D)Civil Executive Service.
E)Civil General Service.
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Page 15
Chapter 14: The Federal Courts
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Sample Questions
Q1) Class action suits
A)are those that have to do with constitutional issues,thus broadening the standing to sue.
B)are filed by students seeking to force a school district to offer additional sections of perpetually overenrolled courses.
C)permit a small number of people to sue on behalf of all other people similarly situated.
D)may only be filed if all of those with a standing to sue agree to participate.
E)are routinely filed by teachers groups to prepare the way for legal strikes.
Q2) Which of the following is NOT one of the elements involved in the implementation of judicial decisions according to the categories noted by Charles Johnson and Bradley Canon?
A)The institutionalized population
B)The interpreting population
C)The consumer population
D)The implementing population
E)The defining population
Q3) As of January 2011,there were three female Supreme Court justices.
A)True
B)False
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Page 16
Politics of Taxing and Spending
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Sample Questions
Q1) Who pays Social Security taxes?
A)Employers and employees
B)Employees only
C)Employers only
D)Employees and Social Security recipients
E)Employers and Social Security recipients
Q2) If the president and Congress fail to appropriate funds every year,the government will come to a standstill.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What does incrementalism refer to when used to describe the spending and appropriations process?
Q4) What was the result of the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Pollock v.Farmer's Loan and Trust Co.(1895)?
Q5) What are the advantages and disadvantages of the home mortgage deduction? Do you favor or oppose the repeal of this tax expenditure and why?
Q6) What are "uncontrollable expenditures," and how do they affect the federal budget? Provide an example of an uncontrollable expenditure.
Page 17
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Chapter 16: Social Welfare Policymaking
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Sample Questions
Q1) Approximately how many Americans were poor in 2009?
A)5 million
B)14 million
C)20 million
D)34 million
E)43 million
Q2) Describe the major features of the welfare reform bill signed by President Clinton in 1996.What issues relating to the scope of government did the welfare bill raise? How democratic was it?
Q3) Poor families pay a higher percentage of their incomes in state sales taxes than well-to-do families.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Which law,signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996,proposed to "end welfare as we know it"?
A)Social Security Act
B)Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
C)Aid to Families with Dependent Children
D)Children Health Insurance Program
E)Earned Income Tax Credit
Page 18
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Chapter 17: National Security Policymaking
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Sample Questions
Q1) The trade-off between defense and social spending is often referred to as a choice between
A)guns and butter.
B)war and peace.
C)bread and butter.
D)guns and bread.
E)bombs and books.
Q2) Some critics of defense spending argue that there is a trade-off between guns and butter,and the more money spent on defense,the less there is for social spending.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What fraction of the U.S.budget is spent on national defense?
A)1/2
B)1/4
C)1/5
D)1/3
E)1/10
Q4) How does the president fulfill the role of chief diplomat?
Q5) How has the war on terrorism reshaped American foreign policy?
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