Q&A Hero

Q: Usually, the Gallup and Roper polls interviewa. 3 percent of the U.S. population.b. about 1,500 individuals.c. over 100,000 individuals in each random sample for presidential elections.d. people who have been selected based on their intelligence.e. using quota samples.

Q: Which of the following best describes sampling error? a. Any given poll will result in as certain percentage point variation from the true answer as pollsters could not really interview everyone. b. Researchers take a random number of people and survey them. c. Pollsters get a sample of people using demographic or geographical software to yield a high level of accuracy. d. Researchers take a sample of voters and slant the results in order to influence future polls. e. Pollsters make up the survey results.

Q: The principle of randomness in sampling means that a. every person should have a known chance, and especially an equal chance, of being sampled. b. there is no preplanning in the selection process. c. every person in the target population who is encountered is selected. d. researchers decide how many persons of certain types they need in the survey. e. the poll is unscientific.

Q: Which of the following best describes an opinion poll?a. The amount of deviation in the sample of the population chosen from the real opinionb. A method of systematically questioning a small, selected sample of respondents who are deemed representative of the total populationc. The total number of people surveyedd. When the people surveyed have an inherent bias that affects the results of the polle. When pollsters take voter information and analyze it to predict other trends than simple opinions

Q: During the 1800s, certain American newspapers and magazines spiced up their political coverage by a. letting a coin flip determine the outcome of elections. b. republishing the poll results of the magazine Literary Digest. c. conducting facetoface polls or mail surveys of readers' opinions. d. fabricating poll results. e. conducting accurate representative surveys of Americans' opinions.

Q: People in large cities tend to be a. evenly split between Republican and Democratic voters. b. conservative and Republican. c. liberal but vote Republican. d. conservative but vote Democratic. e. liberal and Democratic.

Q: Currently, which of the following regions are more supportive of the Republicans than the Democrats?a. The West Coast and the Northeastb. The South and the Northeastc. The South, the Great Plains, and several of the Rocky Mountain statesd. The Midwest and the West Coaste. The West Coast, the Great Plains, and several of the Rocky Mountain states

Q: Scholars began to detect the gender gap following the election of a. Ronald Reagan. b. Gerald Ford. c. Jimmy Carter. d. George W. Bush.

Q: Politically speaking, American women are a. more likely than men to support capital punishment. b. less likely than men to be concerned about the environment. c. more likely than men to support social welfare programs. d. more likely than men to support interventions abroad. e. less likely than men to support extending civil rights to gay men and lesbians.

Q: The difference between the percentage of women who vote for a particular candidate and the percentage of men who vote for the candidate is calleda. the feminization of politics.b. political socialization.c. the ideology spectrum.d. an opinion poll.e. the gender gap.

Q: Which of the following statements is NOT true? a. The majority of Hispanic Americans vote Democratic. b. Cuban Americans are usually Republican. c. Most Asian American groups lean toward the Democrats. d. A majority of Muslim Americans of Middle Eastern ancestry voted Republican in 2000. e. African Americans have voted principally for Democrats since the 1880s.

Q: African Americans of all religious tendencies have been a. more likely than Catholics, but less likely than Protestants, to vote Republican. b. in line with non-African American religious voters with regard to their voting tendencies. c. evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. d. strongly supportive of Democrats. e. strongly supportive of Republicans.

Q: In recent years, Protestants and Catholics havea. both become more likely to abstain from voting.b. both become more likely to vote Democratic.c. moved toward Jewish voters politically.d. moved farther apart from each other politically.e. grown closer to each other politically.

Q: Jewish voters are notably a. more likely to vote for candidates that are politically conservative. b. more liberal than members of other groups on cultural issues, but more conservative on economic issues. c. focused almost totally on domestic issues. d. more liberal than members of other groups on both economic and cultural issues. e. similar to the overall population in their political preferences.

Q: Which of the following groups are more likely to vote Republican? a. Factory workers b. Union members c. Small-business owners d. Attorneys e. College instructors

Q: Those with high incomes tend toa. lean toward the left.b. vote Democratic.c. favor government action to promote economic equality.d. oppose government intervention in the economy.e. favor government action to benefit the poor.

Q: Recently, having more than a bachelor's degree a. is associated with a greater tendency to vote for Republicans. b. is associated with a greater tendency to vote for Democrats. c. is associated with a greater tendency to vote for Independents. d. has no influence on voting behavior. e. is associated with a greater tendency to abstain from voting.

Q: The generational effect in politics refers to a. the way in which political socialization produces opinions. b. the increased tension between the two major political parties. c. the tendency for persons to become more conservative as they grow older. d. the long-lasting effect of the events of a particular time on the political opinions of those who came of age at that time. e. the way in which the family influences voting.

Q: Which of the following is true regarding political socialization?a. Older Americans tend to be more liberal than younger Americans.b. The experience of marriage and raising a family has a measurable liberalizing effect.c. A more important factor than age is the impact of momentous political events that shape the political attitudes of an entire generation.d. Voters who grew up during the Great Depression were likely to form lifelong attachments to the Republican Party.e. The years of economic prosperity under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s led many young people to identify with the Democratic Party.

Q: New forms of media a. have decreased the polarization that characterizes American politics. b. are all Internet based. c. were made possible by the enforcement of the Fairness Doctrine. d. include talk radio and cable television. e. are all equally influential.

Q: Many people contend that the media's influence on public opiniona. has remained constant.b. is decreasing.c. has grown to equal the influence of the family.d. is negligible.e. is not, nor has it ever been, a significant factor.

Q: Determining which public policy questions will be debated or considered is a process known as ______. a. roll call b. subconscious influence c. lobbying d. media dominance e. agenda setting

Q: An opinion leader is a. one who is able to influence the opinions of others because of position, expertise, or personality. b. a pollster. c. always someone whose job is to sway public opinion, such as a member of Congress. d. a public relations expert. e. someone who relies on position, or expertise, rather than something like personality.

Q: Political attitudes are more likely to be shaped by peer groups whena. people are over the age of fifty.b. it is not an election year.c. people within the peer group do not have strong party identification.d. the peer groups are involved directly in political activities.e. members of the peer group are all of the same gender.

Q: Which of the following best explains the relationship between education and interest in politics? a. The less education a person has, the more likely s/he will be interested in politics. b. The more education a person has, the more likely s/he will be interested in politics. c. The more interest a person has in politics impacts the amount of education s/he will receive. d. Uneducated people vote the most. e. Highly educated people are the most apathetic about politics.

Q: Transmitting political values a. is more likely to happen from parents to children. b. is less likely to happen from educators to students. c. is equally likely to happen from educators as from parents. d. most likely happens when children, influenced by educators, influence parents in turn. e. never happens from children to parents.

Q: Political socialization isa. what people think about something.b. the process by which people acquire political beliefs and attitudes.c. when people's beliefs and attitudes give politicians an idea of when to address those issues.d. when people are categorized based on what they believe.e. when people generally agree on an issue.

Q: Private opinion becomes public opinion when a. that opinion, regardless of its subject matter, is publicly expressed. b. it is publicly expressed and concerns public issues. c. an individual is polled by a major polling organization. d. it is not divided. e. it is articulated to at least ten other people.

Q: If the results of an opinion poll look like the following: (Favor: 44%; Oppose: 45%; No opinion: 11%), the results show an example of _______ opinion. a. consensus b. divided c. dubious d. favorable e. unified

Q: When people generally agree on an issue, the agreement itself is calleda. a consensus.b. an opinion.c. unanimity.d. reliability.e. validity.

Q: Because so many people are in the United States and it's impracticable to poll everyone, people interested professionally in looking at public opinion describe the ______ of opinions about a particular question. a. number b. reliability c. validity d. distribution e. standard deviation

Q: Which of the following BEST describes public opinion? a. When a number of people generally feel the same way about something b. Polling data c. How people feel about something d. What people think e. The aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs shared by some portion of the adult population

Q: Provisions of the Fifteenth Amendment a. outlaw slavery. b. provide equal protection under the law. c. make it illegal to deny housing to citizens of any race. d. state that the right to vote shall not be abridged on account of race. e. say that the right to vote shall not be abridged on account of gender.

Q: The Fourteenth Amendment does all of the following EXCEPT a. proclaims that all persons born in the United States are citizens of the United States. b. provides that no state shall make any law that abridges the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. c. states that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race. d. dictates that no state shall deny any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. e. provides that no state shall deny any person equal protection of the laws.

Q: According to the Thirteenth Amendment,a. neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States.b. the states must alter their constitutions to end slavery by making the children of slaves free, while allowing slavery for existing slaves.c. all persons "will be treated as total equals from this date forward."d. slavery would continue for twenty years, at which time it would be ended.e. the importation of slaves shall be immediately banned, but slave owners may keep their existing slaves.

Q: Which of the following did NOT happen after, or as a result of, the Civil Rights Cases of 1883? a. Official state actions that violated people's civil rights was considered illegal. b. Private civil-rights violations by individual citizens were not illegal. c. Whites largely approved of the decisions made by the Supreme Court. d. African Americans earned equality with whites. e. Other civil-rights laws passed by Congress went unenforced.

Q: All of the following are true EXCEPT that a. civil liberties and civil rights are the same thing. b. civil rights refer to the rights of Americans to equal protection under the law. c. civil liberties are limitations on the governmentwhat government cannot do. d. civil rights specify what government must do to ensure freedom from discrimination. e. most minorities in this nation have suffered from discrimination.

Q: How have courts and legislative bodies at both the federal and state level attempted to address issues concerning the rights and status of homosexuals?

Q: Explain the basis of affirmative action and the manner in which it has been addressed by the Supreme Court.

Q: Is illegal immigration, and the government's relative unwillingness to pass meaningful immigration reform, a sign that most Americans do not consider illegal immigration to be a problem? Why (or why not?)

Q: In what ways have women been discriminated against in the workplace? What court rulings or legislation have tried to address this discrimination?

Q: Compare and contrast the struggle for women's rights with the struggle for civil rights.

Q: Explain the goals of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Have these goals been realized?

Q: Describe the importance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s advocacy of nonviolent civil disobedience to protest racial injustice.

Q: How did the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education impact education? Did it create any new problems? If so, what were they, and why?

Q: How was the promise of equality enshrined in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments consistently denied to African Americans for over a century? Include examples in your answer.

Q: What impact did the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments have on the United States?

Q: The Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 a. bans federal recognition of lesbian and gay couples. b. requires states to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. c. requires states to offer civil unions to same-sex couples. d. bans states from performing same-sex marriages. e. requires the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legal.

Q: Which of the following best describes President Obama's original stand on gay men and lesbians in the military? a. He promised to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. b. He stood against gays and lesbians in the military. c. He supported the Defense of Marriage Act. d. He advocated not questioning gay and lesbian recruits about their sexual orientation.

Q: In the 2003 decision of Lawrence v. Texas, the United States Supreme Courta. upheld a Texas law that made homosexual conduct a crime.b. held that laws against sodomy violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.c. invalidated antidiscrimination laws that protect homosexuals.d. upheld the Court's previous decision in Bowers v. Hardwick.e. indicated that states could declare homosexuality a crime.

Q: The phrase "don"t ask, don"t tell" refers to a policy toward gay men and lesbians a. governing their employment by the CIA and the FBI. b. allowing them to serve in the military so long as they did not declare that they were gay or commit homosexual acts. c. regulating when they are allowed to adopt. d. allowing them to serve in Congress so long as they did not declare that they were gay or commit homosexual acts. e. adopted by the Hollywood movie industry.

Q: The modern movement for gay and lesbian rights began a. when gay veterans of World War II organized in the 1950s. b. with the growth of the Civil Rights Movement in the early 1960s. c. in 1969, following the Stonewall Inn incident. d. in 1986, with a campaign against sodomy laws. e. in 1996, with the campaign for same-sex marriage.

Q: In 2003, the United States Supreme Court considered two different admissions polices adopted at the University of Michigan anda. for the first time, ruled that affirmative action was unconstitutional.b. ruled that "diversity" could not be a compelling government interest.c. approved affirmative action plans that took race into consideration as part of a complete examination of the applicant's background.d. approved a plan that automatically awarded a substantial number of points to applicants based on minority status.e. ruled that the time had come for all affirmative action programs to end, since government could do nothing more to alleviate the effects of past discrimination.

Q: The Supreme Court's opinion in Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pea means that once an affirmative action program has succeeded in achieving the purpose it was tailored to meet, the program a. must be changed or dropped. b. should continue unchanged. c. should be extended to other minority groups. d. should be phased out over 18 months. e. must be subjected to unannounced audits.

Q: In the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke case, the Supreme Court held that a. affirmative action programs were allowable in business schools but not in law schools. b. race cannot be the only factor in an admissions decision. c. affirmative action was ruled unconstitutional. d. race cannot be considered as a factor in making admissions decisions. e. quotas are legal.

Q: Discrimination against individuals who are NOT members of a minority group is calleda. racial profiling.b. reverse discrimination.c. quota-busting.d. anti-bias civil rights.e. adverse minority preference.

Q: The policy in admissions or hiring that gives special consideration to traditionally disadvantaged groups to overcome the present effects of past discrimination is known as a. affirmative action. b. legislative mandate. c. civil liberties. d. civil rights. e. the Lincoln dilemma.

Q: Immigrants who are not yet citizens possess a. all the same civil rights as U.S. citizens. b. all the civil rights granted to them by their home country, plus most of the rights granted to U.S. citizens. c. fewer civil rights than any other identifiable group in the United States. d. more civil rights than American Indians. e. no civil rights.

Q: The fertility rate is best defined as the average number of childrena. born to each family during a given year.b. born during a specified census period.c. women in a particular group will have during a given year.d. women in a particular group will have over a lifetime.e. born in relation to the average number of deaths in a given year.

Q: Today, most immigrants to the United States come from a. Europe. b. Latin America and Asia. c. Canada. d. Africa and the Middle East. e. India and the Middle East.

Q: Enacted in 1963, the ______ requires employers to provide equal pay for substantially equal work. a. Gender Equality Act b. Equal Pay Act c. Civil Rights Act d. Equal Pay for Women Policy e. Equal Rights Amendment

Q: ______ occurs when an employee is subjected to sexual conduct or comments that interfere with the employee's job performance.a. Gender discriminationb. Wage discriminationc. Hostile-environment harassmentd. Suffragee. Criminal sexual assault

Q: When President ______ appointed Sandra Day O"Connor to the United States Supreme Court, the appointment was an historic first. a. Richard Nixon b. Jimmy Carter c. Ronald Reagan d. Bill Clinton e. Barack Obama

Q: A practice, policy, or procedure that denies equality of treatment to an individual or to a group because of gender a. is sexual harassment. b. is gender discrimination. c. is feminism. d. violates the Civil Rights Act of 1968. e. is considered illegal if engaged in by a private corporation but acceptable if engaged in by the government.

Q: The Equal Rights Amendment wasa. ratified by the final state and became part of the Constitution on July 13, 1981.b. not ratified by the necessary thirty-eight states.c. vetoed by President Ronald Reagan.d. not approved by the Senate.e. first introduced in Congress in 1972.

Q: Many observers consider the ______ to be the beginning of the feminist movement. a. founding of American Woman Suffrage Association b. passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 c. passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) d. founding of the Congressional Union e. founding of the National Organization for Women (NOW)

Q: Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique a. provided the credo for the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs. b. focused national attention on the unequal status of women in American life. c. argued that women should not work outside the home. d. advocated Marxism as a solution to women's problems. e. acknowledged that birth control should not be readily available because it would encourage women to engage in marital infidelity and premarital sex.

Q: The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage was founded bya. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.b. Betty Friedan.c. Gloria Steinem.d. Hillary Clinton.e. Alice Paul.

Q: All of the following regarding women's rights is false EXCEPT a. women first started agitating for equal rights in 1970. b. women's rights are listed in the Constitution. c. women have had to struggle for equality just like African Americans and other minorities. d. the first political right that women fought for was for the right to make a decision about military service. e. women started struggling first for anti-sexual-harassment laws.

Q: The legislation resulting from the Civil Rights Movement a. only benefited African Americans. b. has corrected economic disparities between whites and minority groups. c. has eliminated poverty in most minority groups. d. ultimately benefited almost all minority groups. e. has had less of an impact on minority rights than anticipated.

Q: One major provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was that ita. outlawed discriminatory voter-registration tests.b. permitted state governments to pass laws that allowed considerable discrimination toward ethnic minorities.c. created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.d. expanded the power of the Civil Rights Commission.e. included a constitutional amendment changing the voting age.

Q: ______ forbade discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, or national origin. a. Plessy v. Ferguson b. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 c. The Fourteenth Amendment d. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 e. The Equal Opportunity Act

Q: The contrasting image of nonviolent African Americans and violent, hostile whites created a. strong public support for the civil rights movement. b. strong public resentment toward the civil rights movement. c. public indifference toward the civil rights movement. d. strong public support for the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. e. strong public support for the rights of individuals to bear arms.

Q: A nonviolent, public refusal to obey allegedly unjust laws is calleda. pacifism.b. civil disobedience.c. criminal disobedience.d. defensible criminality.e. taking the moral high ground.

Q: In his leadership of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., advocated a. nonviolent civil disobedience. b. divide and conquer. c. "equality for all, through strong force when necessary." d. economic equality through the undermining of capitalism. e. equality "by any means necessary."

Q: The Brown decision applied to a. public and private schools. b. public schools and public buses. c. public schools and interstate railways. d. public schools and government offices. e. only public schools.

Q: In the context of civil rights, ______ is the transportation of public school students from areas where they live to schools in other areas.a. educational exchangeb. busingc. de jure segregationd. de facto segregatione. redistricting

Q: Which of the following best describes de jure segregation?a. Segregation that occurs because of patterns of racial residence and similar social conditionsb. Segregation based on lawsc. Segregation that occurs because of laws or administrative decisions by public agenciesd. Segregation based on physical characteristicse. Complete segregation

Q: Which of the following best describes de facto segregation? a. Segregation that occurs because of patterns of racial residence and similar social conditions b. Segregation based on laws c. Segregation that happens because of administrative decisions d. Segregation based on physical characteristics e. Partial segregation

Q: All of the following are true regarding the aftermath of Brown v. Board of Education EXCEPTa. the Supreme Court declared that integration was to take place "with all deliberate speed."b. there was resistance to integration in Little Rock, Arkansas, and other southern states.c. the district courts were instructed to consider revising school districts in order to achieve desegregation.d. combat troops were needed to integrate the University of Mississippi.e. almost all schools achieved racial balance within a decade.