Chapter 6 Electronic Test (Multiple Choice)
Name: Date: E-mail address:
With the benefit of your textbook, supply the correct answer for each of the following questions in the space provided, then forward your test electronically. RETAIN A COPY FOR YOUR RECORDS.
1. In the view of W. Lance Bennett, the people who hold and express opinions are constantly changing, as are the issues and conditions to which the public responds. As a result, Bennett suggests that public opinion is
a. constitutional b. situational c. binding d. undemocratic
ANSWER:
2. When former General Colin Powell, an African American, flirted with the possibility of entering the 1996 presidential race,
a. he enjoyed enthusiastic support among many whites and blacks b. polls showed that American voters did not want a former military man in the White House c. Ross Perot asked Powell to be his running mate d. he stepped aside so the Reverend Jesse Jackson could run instead
3. Which of the following reference groups would be considered a secondary group?
a. a labor union b. a group of friends c. a person's office associates at work d. all of the above
4. About two-thirds of all adult Americans
a. consider themselves political independents b. voted in the 1992 presidential election c. identify with one of the two major parties d. belong to three or more organized interest groups
5. An organization that wants to test the opinions of ethnic group members might instruct its staff to interview blacks, Italians, Jews, Poles, Hispanics, and so on, in proportion to their percentage in the population as a whole. This method of polling is known as
a. cluster sampling b. random sampling c. quota sampling d. interest group sampling
6. Along with the method of sampling, the reliability of a poll may be affected by
a. the way in which questions are phrased b. the personality of the interviewer c. the manner in which poll data are interpreted d. all of the above
7. According to the Warren Commission, the assassination of President Kennedy was
a. the work of a conspiracy b. carried out by Lee Harvey Oswald, who acted alone c. linked to the 1968 assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. d. a tragic mystery for which there was no conclusive solution
8. A president or a member of Congress usually tries
a. neither to lead public opinion nor to follow it b. to lead public opinion but never to follow it c. to follow public opinion but never to lead it d. to lead public opinion and at the same time to follow it
9. Lobbyists seek to influence
a. the legislative branch of the government b. officials of the executive branch c. regulatory agencies d. all of the above
10. In 1994, when the Occupation Safety and Health Organization proposed to ban smoking in most workplaces across the nation, the tobacco industry
a. accepted the proposed ban without a fight b. cut cigarette production by 55 percent c. hired an army of lobbyists, lawyers, and public relations firms to fight the proposed ban d. hired Ralph Nader's Health Research Group to conduct a study of the long-term health effects of smoking
11. Which of the following is not an example of a public interest group?
a. the Center for Auto Safety b. the National Rifle Association c. Common Cause d. the Critical Mass Energy Project
12. The Supreme Court has ruled that
a. Congress can place limits on "independent expenditures" in political campaigns b. corporations have no right to spend money to influence the outcome of public referenda c. a public utility can insert statements on controversial issues with its monthly billing statements d. all of the above
13. In 1974 there were 608 PACs; by 1994
a. there were fewer than 400 b. there were about the same number c. there were approximately 4,600 d. they had been outlawed by Congress
Return to Chapter 6 E-notes
Chief Justice Richard Barajas Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics Cathedral High School, El Paso, Texas Last updated: March, 2001
