a plebiscite is
a popular vote on national policy issues
regarding the impact of the public in American national decision making, the founders wanted
a system legitimated by the public but also protected from the possible dangers of the publics power
public opinion should matter in American politics, but realistically it does matter in American politics because
politicians and the media act as if it matters
one advantage of direct contact between elected officials and the public verses the use of public opinion polls is that direct contact
makes it less likely that certain public concerns will be overlooked
if you are conducting a horse race poll, you want your sample to comprise
likely voters
according to studies, americans tend to be
not very acknowledgeable about politics
regarding tolerance, americans are generally
supportive of general issues such as free speech but less supportive when asked to extend rights to unpopular groups
which of the following is not and argument put fourth by the textbooks authors
in many ways, less educated people are more tolerant than educated people
in general, which of the following statements is not true regarding whether americans meet the criteria for being ideal democratic citizens
compared with other countries, the US has high voter participation rates
tolerance is a key democratic value because
it is a prerequisite for compromise
compared with other industrial nations, the us ranks ___ in voter participation
near the bottom
voter turnout for us national election is
the lowest, or among the lowest, among industrialized nations
according to the text, the current process of political socialization in the US
trains us to support and obey the existing political system
which of the following is not mentioned in the textbook as a agent of socialization
the internet
the sharp decline in trust in government among the public in the 1960s and 1970s is used by the authors to show the effects on political socialization of
political and social events
which of the following pairs if items concerning socialization is not linked properly
the media, ideological orientation
the textbook does not argue the following
self interest is a source of agreement in public opinion
self interest is a source of
agreement in society
education is a source of all of the following except
apathy
major political and social events are an important source of socialization, therefore all of the following statements are true except
socialization does not exist because people learn politics somewhat differently
which of the following statements concerning the roles of ideology and partisanship in shaping public opinion are not true
most americans are too moderate or nonpartisan for these concepts to have much influence on them
a citizens ability to hold democratic beliefs, including the acceptance that politics is about compromise is called
democratic engagement
which of the following statements concerning the relationship between age and opinions is not true
people tend to become more conservative as they age
the gender gap is especially large on issues of
violence
which of the following statements concerning the relationship between gender and public opinion is not true
women have become more liberal in the past 30 years
which of the following statements is not true
blacks are less likely than whites to favor bible prayer in school
which of the following is not true about religion
catholics are strongly republican
all of the following have great influence on public policy except
the young
the collective decisions of citizens reflect a greater level of knowledge than public opinion polls reflect because of all of the following except
the desire to hide our real views from pollsters
the portion on the population selected to participate in a poll is known as the
sample
which relationship sample size and sampling error is correct
the larger the sample, the smaller the sampling error will be
when politicians try to determine public opinion by listening to their supporters and friendly interest groups, they are likely to face the problem of
sample bias
unscientific polls that are often conducted by newspapers and politicians to determine who is ahead in a political race are called ___ polls
benchmark
with respect to constructing survey questions, all of the following statements are true except
surveys tend to underestimate the racial tolerance of the American people
sampling error refers to
a number that indicates within what range in the results of a poll are accurate
today the most likely cause of sample bias in polls is
when a person is picked for the sample and he cant be contacted or refuses to participate
one concern about the wording of questions in polls is that the person being sampled will be unfamiliar with a subject and thereby will
give responses solely based on cues picked up from the context of the interview or the question
benchmark polls
are instrumental in designing campaign strategy
benchmark polls and tracking polls are two types of
campaign polls
we can conclude from the history of polling that
polls are reliable only when they are timely and have been conducted using the proper procedures
which of the following is not true regarding policy
a poll that showed candidate a with 48%.......
If you are to be a critical watcher of polls, among the issues of concern are all of the following except
whether the poll agrees with your position
which of the following statements concerning sampling bias is not true
pollsters are often unaware of the problem of sampling bias
when the Chicago tribune mistakenly declared that Dewey had defeated Truman in the 1948 presidential election, the newspaper had made the mistake of
not realizing that some people decide who to vote for right up to the day of an election
public opinion pollsters will often ask respondents their opinion on complex issues and public policies. research indicates these questions are most likely to
ask respondents to express an opinion about something they do not know
a survey question such as do you support or oppose being allowed to take the life time learning credit during the years in which you pay ....
it is likely that few people have thought about the issue
a survey question such as how many times in the past month have you used drugs is a problem because
the question ambiguous and loaded
good survey questions meet all of the following criteria except
they are always short
tracking polls are significant because they
can catch daily changes in public opinion that other horse race polls cant
which of the following statements concerning exit polls is not true
they are a form of pseudo polls
internet polls are
unreliable
the authors conclude that, in general, the accuracy of election polls is
quite good
which of the following statements concerning technology and polling is not true
autodialing is one method of overcoming the problem caused by citizen reliance on cell phones
rational ignorance refers to
the state of being uninformed about politics because the cost in time and energy does not produce tangible or measurable results
the process by which citizens take their political cues from more well informed opinion leaders is known as
the two step flow of information
the role of public opinion in government today is strongly debated because
on the one hand we want our opinions to be heard, but on the other hand, we do not want politicians to blindly follow public opinion
those who favor __ democracy would be least likely to favor popular votes on national policy issues
an elite
