5.10: Review Questions

1 .

Writing to an elected official is a form of _______________.

1. social capital
2. majority opinion
3. cluster sampling
4. political participation

2 .

Political participation is related to self-government because:

1. They are both in the Constitution
2. Without self-government, there can be no meaningful political participation
3. Self-government and political participation are the same thing
4. Both are essential for state sovereignty

3 .

Voting is an important type of political participation because:

1. Voting is compulsory in the United States
2. Everyone votes
3. Voting and political participation are the same thing
4. It is the primary way that people express their will

4 .

In the US, voter turnout has:

1. Risen steadily since World War II
2. Dropped and then risen slowly over time since World War II
3. Stayed the same since World War II
4. Risen and fallen sharply many times

5 .

True or false: Voting rates are higher in the United States than in most democratic industrialized countries, including Sweden and South Korea.

1. True
2. False

6 .

Which groups are most likely to vote in a US election?

1. Whites, the wealthy, and the most educated
2. Minorities and those with a college education
3. Women and people who work part time
4. Everyone votes in equal proportion

7 .

Voter ID laws can be a form of _____________.

1. gerrymandering
2. selection bias
3. social desirability bias
4. voter suppression

8 .

Individual-level ways to participate in politics other than voting include:

1. Donating money, writing to an elected official, and keeping track of the news
2. Volunteering for a cause, following an elected official on social media, and discussing politics with a friend
3. Filing tax returns and paying parking tickets
4. Both A and B

9 .

Which of the following cannot be considered a group-level form of political participation?

1. Being part of a political party
2. Taking part in a protest
3. Phoning your elected official
4. Working for a political campaign

10 .

Social capital encourages political participation because:

1. It reinforces social bonds and networks
2. It makes people register to vote
3. It forces people to save more
4. It prevents voter suppression

11 .

Public opinion can be defined as:

1. The opinion of elected officials
2. The measurement of your opinion only
3. The aggregate views of the public that they are willing to express openly
4. The opinions that people have of one another

12 .

Which of these is a type of public opinion?

1. Majority opinion
2. Elite opinion
3. Issue publics
4. All of the above

13 .

Which of the following has not been shown to affect an individual’s political opinion?

1. Race
2. Gender
3. Diet
4. Political ideology

14 .

Which of the following is a method of public opinion polling?

1. Selection bias
2. Gerrymandering
3. Statistical sampling
4. Cluster sampling

15 .

Interviewer bias is when:

1. Individual characteristics of the interviewer affect a person’s survey response
2. The interviewer is biased against the respondent
3. The poll is biased against the respondent
4. The poll is biased against the interviewer

16 .

Social desirability bias is when:

1. People respond to a survey interviewer in a certain way because of their race
2. People respond to surveys in a certain way so that they don’t seem biased
3. Interviewers ask questions in a way so that they don’t seem biased
4. Interviewers ask questions in different ways depending upon what they know about the respondent

17 .

Public opinion is important because:

1. It lets us understand how people feel, not just the way they vote
2. It is the only way we can understand the electorate
3. It is easily manipulated
4. It is easily measurable

18 .

Public opinion enables:

1. Elected officials to understand what the public wants
2. The public to express how it feels on certain issues
3. Elites to influence government
4. Both A and B
5. All of the above

19 .

Public opinion is important in global politics because:

1. It is easy to poll people from several countries at once
2. It allows us to understand how to cooperate globally
3. It reinforces the status of global powers
4. Global polling is more cost effective than domestic polling