Which of the following best explains the consistent growth of the federal bureaucracy over the past 100yrs?
Public demand for, and expectation of, social services
Public opinion is given a lot of attention in democracies because the democratic form of government rests on
The consent of the governed
An oral statement that is false and intended to damage an individual is known as
Which of the following is clearly a task charged to the Federal Reserve as a regulatory agency
Providing financial services to depository institutions, the United States government and foreign institutions, as well as playing a key role in operating the nations payments system
Although the Constitution does not explicitly give Congress the right to enact a military draft, which clause in the Constitution allows Congress to do so?
Necessary and proper clause
The formation of numerous interest groups during the post-Civil War industrialization shows the
Influence of social tensions and economic stress on group formation
Which of the following statement best reflects the pluralist theory of American politics?
Public policies emerge from compromises reached among competing groups
Which of the following is generally the most significant influence on an individuals identification with a particular political party?
Which of the following committee assignments would confer the most power and influence on members of the House of Representatives?
Which of the following statements about Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka is correct?
It declared segregation by race in the public schools unconstitutional
Prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, literacy tests were used by some southern states to
Prevent African Americans from exercising their right to vote
The practice whereby individual senators can veto federal judicial nominations in their respective states is called
Differences between House and Senate versions of a bill are resolved
In a conference committee
Which of the following principles protects a citizen from imprisonment without a trial?
The passage of legislation in Congress often depends on mutual accommodations among members. This suggests that, to some extent, congressional behavior is based on
The principle of reciprocity
All of the following are constitutional rights that neither the federal government nor the states can restrict EXCEPT the right to
Be indicted by grand jury
In the electoral history of the United States, third parties have been effective vehicles of protest when they
Dramatized issues and positions that were being ignored by the major parties
Which of the following best defines the term “judicial activism”?
The attempts by judges to influence public policy through their case decisions
In the past 30yrs, the single most important variable in determining the outcome of an election for a member of the House of Representatives has been
Which of the following best describes the concept of federalism embodied in the United States government?
The Constitution divides power between a central government and it’s constituent governments, with some powers being shared
The power of the Rules Committee in the House of Representatives primarily stems from its authority to
Limit the time for debate and determine whether amendments to a bill can be considered
An election is a realigning or critical election if
There is a lasting change in party coalitions
Which of the following Supreme Court cases involved the principle of one person, one vote?
A theoretical explanation of the operation of diverse interests in American politics is found in
The framers of the original Constitution thought that which of the following would best protect judicial independence?
Life tenure during good behavior
Which of the following best describes the relationship between socioeconomic status and participation in politics?
The higher one’s socioeconomic status, the greater the probability of active involvement in the political process
One important change in the political culture since the Second World War is that the United States citizens have become
Less trusting of governmental institutions and leaders
All of the following statements correctly describe judicial appointments at the federal level EXCEPT:
Congress nominates and confirms all appointments to the federal judiciary
In the Constitution as originally ratified in 1788, the provisions regarding which of the following most closely approximate popular, majoritarian democracy?
Election of members of the House of Representatives
Throughout most of the twentieth-century, which of the following was most likely to occur in midterm congressional elections?
The party of the president typically lost seats in Congress, regardless of whether the president was a Republican or a Democrat
Which of the following political philosophers most influenced the writing of the United States Constitution?
Which of the following is a difference between the House of Representatives and the Senate?
The Senate has the exclusive power to ratify treaties
Which of the following was a consequence of the New Deal legislation passed during the Great Depression under the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt?
The federal government became a more important agent of change than in previous presidential administrations
The differences between the political attitudes of men and women are referred to as
According to the Constitution, which of the following decides the presidential election outcome in the event that a single candidate does not get a majority of electoral votes?
The House of Representatives
If the vice presidency of the United States is vacated, the Constitution stipulates that the president must
Appoint a new vice president with the approval of both houses of Congress
James Madison’s goal of setting power to minimize the concentration of authority in any one branch of government is outlined in the Constitution as a system of
The ability of the media to define the importance of particular events and issues is called
The power of judicial review was established in
Which of the following is true of both the House of Representatives and the Senate?
Both chambers employ a complex system of permanent committees to assist them in carrying out their legislative duties
The authority of a chief executive to withhold approval from specific parts of appropriations bills passed by the legislature is known as
The weakening of political parties is most often traced to
Which of the following contemporary political ideologies posits that government power should be used to promote individual economic security and redistribute resources, but rejects the notion that government should favor a particular set of social values?
Which of the following best describes a referendum?
Citizens vote directly on laws proposed by state a legislature
Which of the following is a check on the power of the United States Supreme Court?
Congress controls the number of justices who may sit on the court
Which of the following is most likely to weaken party leadership in the Senate?
The use of filibuster by individual senators
The principal source of presidents’ political influence is their
constitutional authority to execute public policies
Among the expressed powers of the federal government enumerated in the Constitution of the United States is the power to
Regulate interstate trade and commerce
Which of the following accounts for the greatest percentage of expenditure for for state and local governments in the United States?
Elementary and secondary education
The use of initiative and referendum illustrates which of the following theories of governance?
In the United States political system, the situation when one party controls the presidency while the opposing party controls both houses of Congress is known as
In The Federalist paper number 10, James Madison argued that
The growth of factions was inevitable in a democracy
Which of the following is true of the Articles of Confederation?
They created a national government with a legislature but no executive or judiciary
Which of the following statements is historically true of the electoral college?
The winner of the electoral college also usually wins the popular vote
Which of the following actions gives the president an advantage over Congress in promoting policy?
Utilizing the media through the bully pulpit
Which of the following is true of political parties?
They try to gain control of government by winning elections
Which of the following best describes political culture?
It is the shared attitudes of a people regarding government
Which of the following is the strongest determinant of an individual’s voting behavior?
Political party affiliation
In which of the following cases did the Supreme Court establish the precedent that a right to privacy stems from several amendments in the Bill of Rights?
Each of the following is a power of Congress EXCEPT
Recognizing foreign governments
Individuals who identify themselves as conservative would most likely support which of the following?
Lowering barriers to trade
Which of the following factors has most contributed to the persistence of the two-party system in the United States?
Plurality rules for determining election outcomes
As compared with Republicans and Democrats, Independents in the United States are typically
Less likely to vote in elections
Which of the following best describes the relationship between the media and citizens?
Citizens tend to seek out media that reinforce rather than challenge existing ideological views
When judicial nominees come before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify, the Senate if fulfilling which of its roles?
If a party to a federal civil lawsuit loses the case and chooses to appeal, it would take the appeal to the
United States Court of Appeals
The twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution states that the vice president becomes president in all of the following cases except when
The president travels abroad to negotiate treaties
Which of the following ensures that the president and the vice president are of the same party affiliation?
The third two-party system, in place since 1856, is made up of
The Democrats and the Republicans
The federal government may restrict civil liberties during a time of war citing
The need to protect national security
The right to keep and bear arms can be found in
How is the Constitution amended?
By ratification through the vote of state legislatures
The formation of numerous numbers of political action committees in the 1970s was a result of
The passage of bills by Congress attempting to limit the amount of money entering elections
Citizen’s rights to privacy can be found in
The 2016 presidential election was one of only five presidential elections when
The winner of the popular vote did not win the presidency
All of the following criteria must be met to become a citizen of the United States except
Being sponsored by a United States citizen
All of the following can be considered weakness of the Articles of Confederation except
No legislative branch existed
The Great Comprise solved one of the greatest challenges facing the framers of the Constitution at the Constitutional Convention, the issue of
Representation in Congress
A tax levied after one dies is called
According to the Constitution, Congress may not
Of the following list of ideologies, Americans are most likely to identify with
A graph denoting public opinion that reveals a bell curve with the fewest numbers of people being of extreme opinion on either end of the graph and the greatest number in the middle is representative of
When the media calls out every candidates’ moves throughout the presidential campaign this is called
Closely held ideas that support values and expectations about life and politics are called
All of the following are ways through which citizens learn about politics except
The president has been required to submit a budget to Congress since the passage of the
Budget and Accounting Act
An example of an independent regulatory agency is
Critics of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, better known as the McCain-Feingold Act, challenged it in the Supreme Court claiming it as a violation of rights found in the
A law that requires lobbyists to clearly state who their clients are and what they are lobbying for is
The Legislative Reorganization Act
Which of the following accurately describes a type of opinion that Supreme Court Justices issue
A majority opinion
A concurring opinion
And a dissenting opinion
Which of the following accurately describes the president’s veto power?
A president sometimes threatens to veto a bill that is under discussion in order to influence congressional decision making
And
Congress is usually unable to override a president’s veto
All of the following issues were decided at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 EXCEPT
Voting qualifications of the electorate
The principle of stare decisis refers to which of the following?
The Judicial principle of following precedents that were established in previous court decisions
The usefulness to the president of having cabinet members as political advisers is undermined by the fact that
The loyalties of cabinet members are often divided between loyalty to the president and loyalty to their own executive departments
Which of the following is a function of the White House Office?
Advising the president on political positions
A major difference between political parties and interest groups is that interest groups generally do NOT
Occupy a place on the ballot
The passage of broad legislation that leaves the making of specific rules to the executive branch is an example of
The details of legislation are usually worked out in which of the following settings?
A theoretical explanation of the operation of diverse interests in American politics is found in
Which of the following activities of American labor unions is permissible by law?
All of the following statements correctly describe judicial appointments at the federal level EXCEPT
Congress nominates and confirms all appointments to the federal judiciary
Which of the following agencies determines the domestic monetary policy of the United States?
The Federal Reserve Board
Under which of the following conditions are interest groups most likely to influence policymaking?
When the issue is a highly technical one requiring very detailed legislation
All of the following help to explain the president’s difficulty in controlling cabinet-level agencies EXCEPT
The president cannot dismiss appointees after they have been confirmed by the senate
The most likely and often the most powerful policy coalition of interests is likely to include a federal agency plus which of the following?
An interest group and a congressional subcommittee
Delegates to the Republican and Democratic National conventions are primarily chosen
The concept of responsible party government emphasizes which of the following about elections?
Political parties will take clear, unambiguous positions
Congressional oversight is best described as
Monitoring the federal bureaucracy
The declining number of marginal seats in Congress means that
Fewer seats are won by 55% or less of the vote
Which of the following is true of federal administrative agencies?
They have substantial influence over public policy through administrative discretion
States, according to the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution
Must honor public records, acts, and judicial proceedings of every other state
Which of the following best accounts for the inability of third parties to challenge the dominance of the Republican and Democratic parties in United States elections?
The ability of the Republican and Democratic parties to co-opt popular third-party policy ideas
The Constitutional redistribution of House seats after the census every ten years is known as
According to the United States Constitution, who has the right to create inferior courts?
Which of the following is an example of monetary policy?
Increasing the reserve requirement
Congress has the least discretion to change spending for which of the following?
Interest on the national debt and entitlement programs
Individuals who identify themselves as conservative would most likely support which of the following?
Lowering personal income taxes
The Supreme Court’s decision in Arizona v. United States (2012), which held that Congress, not the states, has the sole authority to regulate immigration, best illustrates which of the following features of the Constitution?
The United States Supreme Court has used the equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment to overturn legislation that
Allows for race-based segregation in schools
Which of the following protections is found in the Bill of Rights?
Freedom to practice any religion
The Supreme Court decision McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), which upheld the 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self-defense, best exemplifies the doctrine of
Which of the following techniques has been used as an attempt to reform the bureaucracy?
The privatization of public goods and services
Which of the following best describes the impact that public policy issues have on campaigns and elections in the United States?
A candidates ability to relate to voters has a greater impact on the candidate’s success than does command of policy issues
Which of the following is a consequence of the increase in the number of political action committees (PACs) ?
There has been an expansion of corporate influence in elections
Social Security and Medicare are considered entitlement programs because
Citizens who meet the criteria are legally able to receive these benefits
During the Civil Rights era, when the National Association for the advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was unsuccessful at traditional lobbying techniques, they turned to which of the following strategies to influence public policy?
Litigation in the Federal Courts
When the Supreme Court grants a writ of certiorari, it means the Court will
Review a case decided by a lower court
Which of the following is considered a government corporation?
The United States Postal Service