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Chapter 6—Public Opinion, Political Socialization, and the Media MULTIPLE CHOICE 1. The aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs shared by some portion of the adult population is called a. public compromise. b. a mandate. c. survey data. d. unanimous consent. e. public opinion. ANS: E
PTS: 1
REF: 113
TOP: Defining Public Opinion
2. In looking at public opinion, because of the large number of people in the U.S., what we do is describe the ______ of opinions about a particular question. a. bias b. honesty c. validity d. distribution e. severity ANS: D
PTS: 1
REF: 113
TOP: Defining Public Opinion
3. General agreement among the citizenry on an issue is a. a consensus. b. divisive opinion. c. reconciliation. d. poll agreement. e. no longer public opinion. ANS: A
PTS: 1
REF: 113
TOP: Defining Public Opinion
4. 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 ANS: B
PTS: 1
REF: 113
TOP: Defining Public Opinion
5. 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. ANS: B
PTS: 1
REF: 113
TOP: Defining Public Opinion
6. The process by which people acquire political beliefs and attitudes is called a. opinion leadership. b. political socialization.
c. agenda setting. d. peer grouping. e. consensus building. ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: 113 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 7. The transmission of political values a. is less likely to occur from children to parents. b. is less likely to occur from parents to children. c. is just as likely to occur from children to parents as it is to occur from parents to children. d. is exceptionally rare in families. e. never occurs from children to parents. ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: 114 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 8. Generally, the more education a person receives, the more likely it is that the person will a. opt out of the political process. b. be interested in politics. c. be misinformed about political issues. d. vote only in national elections. e. look to his or her children for information on political issues. ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: 115 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 9. Political attitudes are more likely to be shaped by peer groups when a. 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. ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 115 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 10. 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. ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: 115 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 11. 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. ANS: E
PTS: 1
REF: 115
TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 12. Many people contend that the media’s influence on public opinion a. 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. ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: 116 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 13. 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. ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 116 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 14. 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. ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: 117 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 15. 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. ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 117 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 16. 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. ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: 117 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization
17. Those with high incomes tend to a. 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. ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 117 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 18. 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 ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: 119 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 19. 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. ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 119 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 20. In recent years, Protestants and Catholics have a. 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. ANS: E PTS: 1 REF: 119 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 21. 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. ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 119 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 22. 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. ANS: E PTS: 1 REF: 119-120 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 23. The difference between the percentage of women who vote for a particular candidate and the percentage of men who vote for the candidate is called a. the feminization of politics. b. political socialization. c. the ideology spectrum. d. an opinion poll. e. the gender gap. ANS: E PTS: 1 REF: 120 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 24. 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. ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: 121 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 25. Currently, which of the following regions are more supportive of the Republicans than the Democrats? a. the West Coast and the Northeast b. the South and the Northeast c. the South, the Great Plains, and several of the Rocky Mountain states d. the Midwest and the West Coast e. the West Coast, the Great Plains, and several of the Rocky Mountain states ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: 121 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 26. 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. ANS: E PTS: 1 REF: 121 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 27. 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 face-to-face polls or mail surveys of readers’ opinions. d. fabricating poll results. e. conducting accurate representative surveys of Americans’ opinions. ANS: C
PTS: 1
REF: 121
TOP: Measuring Public Opinion
28. A method of systematically questioning a small, selected sample of respondents who are deemed representative of the total population is a. sampling error. b. an opinion poll. c. a population census. d. sampling bias. e. data mining. ANS: B
PTS: 1
REF: 122
TOP: Measuring Public Opinion
29. 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. ANS: A
PTS: 1
REF: 122
TOP: Measuring Public Opinion
30. The survey technique where researchers decide how many persons of certain types they need and then send out interviewers to find the necessary number of those types is a. quota sampling. b. random sampling. c. high-accuracy sampling. d. snowball sampling. e. existential sampling. ANS: A
PTS: 1
REF: 122
TOP: Measuring Public Opinion
31. Usually, the Gallup and Roper polls interview a. 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. ANS: B
PTS: 1
REF: 122
TOP: Measuring Public Opinion
32. The difference between a sample result and the true result if the entire population had been interviewed is a. the generational effect. b. the socioeconomic effect. c. interviewer bias. d. census error. e. sampling error. ANS: E
PTS: 1
REF: 123
33. Sampling error can generally be controlled by a. surveying more highly educated respondents. b. processing survey results in a timely manner. c. conducting telephone polls. d. taking a large enough random sample.
TOP: Measuring Public Opinion
e. taking a large enough quota sample. ANS: D
PTS: 1
REF: 123
TOP: Measuring Public Opinion
34. The answers given by respondents to poll questions are influenced by all of the following EXCEPT a. the order in which questions are asked. b. wanting to please the interviewer. c. a yes/no format that restricts the respondents’ choices. d. the size of the sample. e. the possible answers from which the respondents are allowed to choose. ANS: D
PTS: 1
REF: 123
TOP: Measuring Public Opinion
35. Critical consumers should watch out for surveys with ______ and other types of skewed samples. a. margins of error greater than one percent b. large numbers of respondents c. quota-sampled respondents d. randomly-sampled respondents e. self-selected respondents ANS: E
PTS: 1
REF: 123
TOP: Measuring Public Opinion
36. Which of the following is NOT true of American political culture? a. It can be described as a set of attitudes and ideas about the nation and government. b. It consists of symbols such as the American flag, the Liberty Bell, and the Statue of Liberty. c. It provides support for the political system. d. It is only shared by Americans of similar backgrounds. e. It includes shared beliefs about the most important values, including liberty, equality, and property. ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: 124 TOP: Public Opinion and the Political Process 37. The degree to which individuals express trust in political institutions is called a. partisan identification. b. political trust. c. universal suffrage. d. public opinion. e. political mandate. ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: 124 TOP: Public Opinion and the Political Process 38. Since the early 1990s, the American public has consistently had more confidence in ____ than in any other institution that has been surveyed. a. the military b. the U.S. Supreme Court c. the public schools d. newspapers e. Congress ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: 125 TOP: Public Opinion and the Political Process 39. The public tends to emphasize problems that are
a. b. c. d. e.
long-term. immediate. education-related. easily solved. most likely to affect future generations.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: 125 TOP: Public Opinion and the Political Process 40. Today, ______ of Americans use television news as their primary source of information. a. less than 10 percent b. 25 percent c. 50 percent d. 75 percent e. more than 90 percent ANS: E
PTS: 1
REF: 126
TOP: The Media and Politics
41. By far, the greatest number of radio and television hours are dedicated to a. identifying public problems. b. reporting the news. c. entertaining the public. d. providing a political forum. e. educating the public. ANS: C
PTS: 1
REF: 127
TOP: The Media and Politics
42. The public agenda is a. decided by the public through ballot initiatives. b. issues that are perceived by the political community as meriting public attention and governmental action. c. never influenced by the mass media. d. also called the Massachusetts ballot. e. an explicit agreement among media providers about what topics to cover and how. ANS: B
PTS: 1
REF: 128
TOP: The Media and Politics
43. For the most part, the media depend on ______ for their revenues. a. private endowments b. state and local grants c. federal grants d. advertisers e. individual consumers ANS: D
PTS: 1
REF: 129
TOP: The Media and Politics
44. A brief, memorable comment that can easily be fit into news broadcasts is a a. falsehood. b. story line. c. multimedia platform. d. sound bite. e. unit of analysis. ANS: D
PTS: 1
45. Negative political ads can backfire when
REF: 131
TOP: The Primacy of Television
a. b. c. d. e.
there are only two candidates in the race. there are three or more candidates in the race. they mention atomic attacks. they decrease the profitability of television station owners. they are run by Democratic candidates.
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: 131 TOP: The Media and Political Campaigns 46. A political advisor who tries to convince journalists of the truth of a particular interpretation of events is called a a. news consultant. b. flip-flopper. c. spin doctor. d. fact checker. e. win engineer. ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: 133 TOP: The Media and Political Campaigns 47. Blogs and the Internet have a. improved candidates’ management of sound bites. b. made it more difficult for candidates to manage the news coverage of their campaigns. c. prevented news organizations from using video clips and other online materials. d. had little effect on campaigns. e. made it more difficult for campaigns to raise funds. ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: 134 TOP: The Media and Political Campaigns 48. In 1996, Congress passed the ________ that had far-reaching implications for the communications industry. a. Profanity Restriction Act b. Cable TV Protection Act c. Media Antitrust Act d. Truth in Advertising Act e. Telecommunications Act ANS: E PTS: 1 REF: 135 TOP: Government Regulation of the Media 49. An inclination or preference that interferes with impartial judgment is called a. bias. b. proprietary information. c. spin. d. public opinion. e. intellectual programming. ANS: A
PTS: 1
REF: 136
TOP: Bias in the Media
50. Studies of bias in the media have reached a. different conclusions: some found a liberal bias, while others found a conservative bias. b. a clear conclusion: there is a liberal bias in the media. c. a clear conclusion: there is a conservative bias in the media. d. a clear conclusion: there is no bias in the media.
e. the conclusions that it is impossible to test for bias. ANS: A
PTS: 1
REF: 136
TOP: Bias in the Media
ESSAY 1. Explain the distinction between consensus and divided opinion. ANS: Students’ answers will vary. PTS: 1
REF: 113
TOP: Defining Public Opinion
2. Explore the various means by which political socialization occurs in the United States. ANS: Students’ answers will vary. PTS: 1 REF: 115 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 3. Describe how demographic influences shape voting behavior. ANS: Students’ answers will vary. PTS: 1 REF: 117 TOP: How Public Opinion Is Formed: Political Socialization 4. When conducting a public opinion poll, what things must be taken into consideration and what problems might there be? What measures help ensure accurate results? ANS: Students’ answers will vary. PTS: 1
REF: 122
TOP: Measuring Public Opinion
5. What trends can be seen in public opinion about institutions? Describe factors that drive these trends. ANS: Students’ answers will vary. PTS: 1
REF: 125
TOP: Public Opinion and the Political Process
6. Identify the functions performed by the mass media in the United States. Are certain functions more important than others? Why or why not? ANS: Students’ answers will vary. PTS: 1
REF: 127
TOP: The Media and Politics
7. How important is it that newspapers are struggling? Are online sources of news such as blogs a good replacement for print news? Why or why not? ANS: Students’ answers may vary. PTS: 1
REF: 130
TOP: The Primacy of Television
8. Describe the ways television has been used in, and influenced, political campaigns. ANS: Students’ answers may vary. PTS: 1
REF: 131
TOP: The Media and Political Campaigns
9. Provide an example of media “spin” about a current political issue or campaign. What tactics have been most effective in shaping public opinion? ANS: Students’ answers may vary. PTS: 1
REF: 133
TOP: The Media and Political Campaigns
10. Describe the ways in which the government is involved in regulating the media. Why is regulation necessary? What effects does it have on what information we receive? ANS: Students’ answers may vary. PTS: 1
REF: 135
TOP: Government Regulation of the Media