U.S. Government and Politics
Pre-Test Questions
Course Introduction
This course provides a comprehensive exploration of the foundations, structures, and functions of the United States government and political system. Students will examine the Constitution, federalism, the branches of government, civil rights and liberties, political parties, elections, and the roles of the media and interest groups. Through analysis of historical developments and contemporary issues, the course encourages critical thinking about the impact of government policies on society and the participation of citizens in the democratic process.
Recommended Textbook
Keeping the Republic Power and Citizenship in American Politics THE ESSENTIALS 8th Edition by Christine
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Politics: Who Gets What, and How?
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Sample Questions
Q1) The central concept of the pluralist theory of democracy is that the following is the key to political power:
A) a strong legislature
B) more frequent elections
C) citizen participation in groups
D) a strong executive
E) a tightly controlled economy
Answer: C
Q2) The first Western democracy was in ______.
A) Athens
B) Rome
C) England
D) the United States
E) Paris
Answer: A
Q3) In authoritarian systems,the people are ______ of their government.They possess no rights that protect them from their government.
Answer: subjects
Q4) Government assurances of particular outcomes or results are known as ______. Answer: substantive guarantees
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Chapter 2: American Citizens and Political Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) The importance of political culture is that it ______.
A) provides an objective measure of political reality
B) gives us a common language in which to discuss and debate political ideas
C) is the primary source of international peace
D) replaces ideology as a source of belief among citizens
E) increases conflict in society
Answer: B
Q2) Americans tend to believe in ______ guarantees by government.
A) no
B) substantive
C) procedural
D) limited
E) financial
Answer: C
Q3) Citizens or subjects of other countries who come to the United States to live or work are known as ______.
Answer: immigrants
Q4) Every change in the makeup of the American population brings a change in ______.
Answer: what we try to get from government and how we try to get it
Page 4
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Chapter 3: Politics of the American Founding
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Sample Questions
Q1) Thomas Jefferson changed John Locke's argument for government to protect property to protection of "the pursuit of ______."
Answer: happiness
Q2) What did James Madison mean when he stated that the founders needed to "discover a republican remedy for those diseases most incident to republican government"?
A) A Bill of Rights needed to be added to the Constitution. B) Government had to contain the will of the people even though it was based on the will of the people.
C) The country needed to develop a court system to address the conflicting rights of citizens.
D) The country needed stronger state governments only in order to control the people.
E) The federal government needed to have the ability to collect taxes to provide services for citizens.
Answer: B
Q3) Why did the founders adopt a federal system of government?
Answer: It was a compromise between a unitary government and a confederation.
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Chapter 4: Federalism and the USConstitution
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Sample Questions
Q1) Compare and contrast unicameral and bicameral legislatures.What are the advantages and disadvantages of a unicameral legislature? Why did the founders choose a bicameral legislature?
Q2) The constitutional safeguard that places legislative,executive,and judicial powers in different hands is called ______.
A) separation of powers
B) checks and balances
C) fusion of powers
D) federalism
E) bicameralism
Q3) The Constitution has been amended through the formal amendment process and through ______.
Q4) Legislative supremacy ______.
A) is an alternative system to judicial review
B) grew more important after the Civil War
C) was never seriously considered by the founders
D) is provided for in Article I of the Constitution
E) is practiced by most democratic countries
Q5) The New Deal increased the power of the federal government in regard to ______.
Page 6
Q6) Compare and contrast presidential and parliamentary systems.
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Chapter 5: Fundamental American Liberties
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Lemon test established that ______.
A) if there are prayers or Bible readings in schools, then students who do not wish to participate must be excused
B) states may prohibit religious activities that present a clear and present danger
C) citizens may freely engage in the religious activities of their choice
D) there shall be no excessive entanglement of government and religion
E) no state could establish an official religion
Q2) The source of authority cited by the Supreme Court for applying the Bill of Rights to the states is the ______ Amendment to the Constitution.
A) Fourteenth
B) Tenth
C) Eighth
D) Sixth
Q3) ______ states that evidence seized illegally may not be used to obtain a conviction.
Q4) The Supreme Court ruled recently that the ______ establishes an individual right to bear arms.
Q5) Written defamation of character is known as ______.
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Chapter 6: The Struggle for Equal Rights
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Sample Questions
Q1) Laws that treat men and women differently are subject to ______.
A) strict scrutiny
B) the minimum rationality test
C) the Lemon test
D) the Miller test
E) an intermediate standard of review
Q2) In Lawrence v.Texas,the Supreme Court ruled that ______.
A) fair employment policies for gays were unconstitutional
B) gay couples cannot be denied housing on the basis of sexual orientation
C) the right to same-sex marriage is protected by the U.S. Constitution
D) gay couples have the right to receive social benefits available to married heterosexual couples
E) state sodomy laws were a violation of the right to privacy
Q3) In ______,the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that segregated schools were inherently unequal because the very fact of segregation made blacks feel unequal.
A) Brown v. Board of Education
B) Plessy v. Ferguson
C) Bolling v. Sharpe
D) Briggs v. Elliott
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Congress
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Sample Questions
Q1) Explain the role of the parties in Congress.How does party leadership differ between the two chambers and why? Explain recent trends in party leadership strength over time as well as the reasons for changing strength.
Q2) Most bills introduced in Congress ______.
A) die by inaction at the committee stage
B) are voted down on the floor of the House or the Senate
C) are bottled up in the House Rules Committee
D) pass through both the House and the Senate
E) pass one chamber but not the other
Q3) The Supreme Court has ruled that House districts ______.
A) need not be changed if a state has not gained or lost seats since the previous census
B) may not be gerrymandered to benefit one political party
C) may not be gerrymandered to protect incumbent members of Congress
D) may not be gerrymandered to take race into account
E) must adhere to the "one person, one vote" standard
Q4) Define the term hyperpartisanship,and discuss why it has become more prevalent in modern American politics.
Q5) ______ are important in Congress because they organize the chambers.
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Chapter 8: The Presidency
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is NOT among the president's legislative powers?
A) the line-item veto
B) the State of the Union address
C) executive orders
D) the vice president's role as presiding officer of the Senate
E) the presidential veto
Q2) The president's cabinet is composed of the ______.
A) president's party leadership
B) chairs of the congressional standing committees
C) appointees heading each of the fifteen major departments in the executive branch
D) Joint Chiefs of Staff and state-level policy advisors
E) chief justice and several congressional leaders
Q3) Presidents' authority over foreign and defense policy comes from all of the following EXCEPT their power ______.
A) to declare war
B) as commander-in-chief of the armed forces
C) to negotiate treaties
D) to conclude executive agreements
E) to recognize ambassadors from other nations
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Page 10
Chapter 9: The Bureaucracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) In addition to their power to appoint heads of federal agencies,presidents have additional involvement with the bureaucracy,including the presidential veto,the power to reorganize the bureaucracy,the power of persuasion,and ______.
A) the power to write new civil service exam questions
B) the power to establish quotas regarding gender and race among department heads
C) a key role in the budget process
D) all of the above
E) none of the above
Q2) A clear chain of command with all employees knowing who their supervisors are as well as whom they are responsible for is an example of a(n)______.
A) hierarchy
B) top-down model
C) team structure
D) chain-of-command
Q3) The particular context in which internal bureaucratic politics is shaped is called ______,which refers to the accepted values and procedures of an organization.
Q4) The primary source of power for a member of the bureaucracy is ______.
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11
Chapter 10: The American Legal System and the Courts
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Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss the decision-making process of the Supreme Court.Begin with the Court's decision on whether to hear a case.What factors influence whether the Court hears a case? Then,explain how the Court decides cases.What factors influence how the Court decides to rule? What factors do you think should be most important for justices to consider when making their decisions? What factors should be least important? Be sure to defend your arguments.
Q2) ______ argue that there is no such thing as a constitutionally protected right to privacy.
Q3) ______ refers to the tradition of granting senators considerable power over federal judicial appointments in their home states.
Q4) The two main approaches to interpreting the Constitution are ______.
A) judicial interpretivism and stare decisis
B) judicial interpretivism and strict constructionism
C) judicial activism and strict constructionism
D) judicial interpretivism and judicial restraint
E) judicial activism and judicial restraint
Q5) The Justice Department officer who argues cases before the Supreme Court is the ______.
Q6) What are the different levels and jurisdictions of the federal court system?
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Public Opinion
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Sample Questions
Q1) Public opinion pollsters will often ask respondents their opinions on complex issues and public policies.Research indicates these questions are most likely used to ______.
A) create sampling error
B) ask respondents a poorly worded question
C) ask respondents a loaded question
D) ask respondents to express an opinion about something they do not know
E) ask respondents an ambiguous question
Q2) Which of the following is NOT true regarding religion?
A) Issues of concern to those who are religious generally do not involve dividing up the economic pie.
B) Jews are strongly Democratic.
C) Catholics are less conservative than are Protestants.
D) Catholics are strongly Republican.
E) Secularists tend to be more supportive of abortion rights than are fundamentalists.
Q3) Pseudo-polls are becoming increasingly common.Discuss the different types of pseudo-polls that exist.How do these polls differ from what pollsters would consider to be legitimate polling? What problems do pseudo-polls create?
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Chapter 12: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to James Madison,political parties were ______.
A) the organizations that would link citizens to government
B) a dangerous version of factions
C) not likely to become influential until after the writers of the Constitution died
D) the organizations that would potentially develop policy agendas for the new American democracy
E) unlikely to become influential in American politics
Q2) The statement that third parties are irrelevant in modern-day politics is ______.
A) truer than ever in today's political landscape
B) less accurate than in the past due to the Tea Party victories of the 2010 midterm elections
C) false and has always been false
D) has only ever applied to Europe
E) none of the above
Q3) Discuss the characteristics of the American party system.How does the American system differ from some other countries' party systems?
Q4) Why can party organizations be described as fragmented?
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14
Chapter 13: Interest Groups
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Sample Questions
Q1) The ______ is the interest group that argued a number of key civil rights cases in court,including Brown v.Board of Education.
A) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
B) Tax Policy Center
C) Better World Campaign
D) Center for Global Development
Q2) Political action committees,or PACs,are ______.
A) the fundraising arm for interest groups
B) a candidate's campaign staff
C) prohibited under the McCain-Feingold Act
D) organizations that engage in media activities for certain candidates
E) created by parties to raise money
Q3) What is indirect lobbying,and what are some examples of it?
Q4) ______ are selective incentives that derive from the opportunity to express values and beliefs and to be committed to a greater cause.
Q5) Compare and contrast grassroots and astroturf lobbying.
Q6) A good or service that,by its very nature,cannot be denied to anyone who wants to consume it is a ______.
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Chapter 14: Voting, Campaigns, and Elections
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Sample Questions
Q1) Major-party presidential nominations are now determined primarily by ______.
A) each party's slate of electors from the Electoral College
B) Super Tuesday primaries
C) convention delegates selected in party primaries, caucuses, and state conventions
D) the party leaders at the parties' national conventions
E) the public at large in open primaries
Q2) Geography is the single most important predictor of how people decide to vote.
A)True
B)False
Q3) According to the textbook,for candidates,the goal of presidential campaigns is to ______.
A) persuade their party members to show up at the polls
B) convert voters affiliated with the other party
C) convince undecided and swing voters to support them
D) destroy their opponent's credibility
E) mobilize their bases and entice swing voters to vote for them
Q4) What features distinguish voters from nonvoters? Why don't some people vote,and what is being done to improve voter turnout?
Q5) ______ are people who have not made up their minds at the start of the campaign.
Page 16
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Chapter 15: The Media
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Sample Questions
Q1) Yellow journalism refers to ______.
A) the tendency to add spin to news reporting
B) the effort to lure audiences by reporting on sensational topics
C) accepting the "yellow" lie as a part of reporting
D) a move to more objective news reporting
E) a move toward more factual coverage of national news stories
Q2) The most basic consequence of concentrated corporate ownership of the news is ______.
A) a reduced emphasis on political news
B) commercial bias
C) the lightening up of the news
D) conflicts of interest for the news media
E) the dramatizing of the news
Q3) ______ is the power to determine which news stories are covered and which are not.
A) The assignment principle
B) Narrowcasting
C) Monitoring
D) Gatekeeping
E) Media discretion
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Chapter 16: Social and Environmental Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Social insurance programs refer to ______.
A) programs funded by only one group of taxpayers that are distributed only to noncitizens
B) programs that protect people from losing their homes during a natural disaster
C) government programs that offer benefits in exchange for contributions
D) programs designed to restrict or change the behavior of certain groups or individuals
E) private welfare programs in which companies collect premiums in return for job insurance
Q2) Hydraulic fracturing,the technology used to extract natural gas,is also known as fracking.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What are the similarities and differences between Medicare and Medicaid?
Q4) What is the Keystone Pipeline,and why it is controversial?
Q5) What are the differences between a social welfare program and a social insurance program?
Q6) What are the four reasons it is so hard to solve public problems?
Q7) _______ is often reluctant to act on climate change.
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Chapter 17: Economic Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) In 1998,the federal budget ______.
A) had the highest debt in American history
B) was balanced and began to run a surplus
C) comprised major tax cuts for the wealthy
D) was dominated by middle-class tax cuts
E) all of the above
Q2) The Reagan administration's idea that tax cuts would ultimately generate more,not less,government revenue by allowing for increased investments and productivity is known as supply-side economics.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 is significant because it ______.
A) requires a balanced federal budget
B) created the federal income tax
C) created the current budget process
D) requires federal agencies to submit budget proposals to Congress
E) requires the president to prepare and submit to Congress a federal budget
Q4) A tax that,even if at a fixed rate,takes a higher proportion of lower incomes is known as a ______ tax.
Q5) What are the two theories of trade policy?
Page 19
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Chapter 18: Foreign Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) The U.S.response to the September 11 terrorist attacks is an example of ______.
A) partisan defense policy
B) structural defense policy
C) crisis policy
D) strategic policy
E) preemption
Q2) Terrorism is violence aimed specifically at ______ in order to produce ______ that will lead to policy change.
Q3) ______ is an example of using economic sanctions as a foreign-policy tool.
A) Détente
B) Offering most favored nation status
C) An embargo
D) A U.N. resolution
E) Deterrence
Q4) Crisis policy,strategic policy,and structural defense policy are ______.
A) regulated by the United Nations
B) the three major types of foreign policy
C) the exclusive domain of the president
D) the exclusive domain of Congress
E) the three major types of domestic policy
Page 20
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