Contemporary American Politics
Exam Solutions
Course Introduction
This course explores the key themes, institutions, and actors that shape contemporary American politics. It examines the structure and function of the federal government, political parties, the electoral process, interest groups, and the media, focusing on developments from the late twentieth century to the present. Students will analyze major policies, social movements, and the impact of current events on public opinion and political behavior. Through case studies and discussion of recent trends, the course fosters a deeper understanding of the challenges and dynamics that define the modern American political landscape.
Recommended Textbook
American Government and Politics Today Essentials 2015 2016 Edition 18th Edition by Barbara A.
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16 Chapters
1120 Verified Questions
1120 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: The Democratic Republic
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Sample Questions
Q1) In response to the 2008 recession, conservatives tended to blame
A) the lack of government oversight of the banking industry.
B) the Tea Party movement.
C) congressional gridlock.
D) big government.
E) All of the above.
Answer: D
Q2) As an institution, a government is unique in that
A) it has a life separate from the lives of the individuals who are part of it at any given moment in time.
B) it has the ultimate authority for making decisions and establishing political values.
C) it performs certain functions for society.
D) it is an ongoing organization, rather than an intermittent organization.
E) All of the above are true.
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: The Constitution
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Sample Questions
Q1) The Federalists
A) supported the new Constitution.
B) were mostly rural people from the lower classes.
C) did not attend the Constitutional Convention.
D) supported the status quo.
E) Options B and C are true.
Answer: A
Q2) The Jamestown colonists set a political precedent by
A) allowing the governor to use a line-item veto.
B) instituting a direct democracy.
C) instituting a representative assembly.
D) creating a judicial system.
E) writing a constitutional document.
Answer: C
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Federalism
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the case of Gibbons v. Ogden
A) the national government lost the power to regulate intrastate commerce.
B) state governments won the right to control navigation in interstate waters.
C) the power to regulate interstate commerce was determined to be an exclusive national power of the federal government.
D) the ruling provided the national government with decreasing power over economic affairs throughout the land.
E) the Supreme Court found that commerce was defined as the exchange of goods and not navigation or transport of people.
Answer: C
Q2) The expressed or enumerated powers include the ability of the federal government to
A) coin money, set standards for weights and measures, and determine rules for citizenship.
B) declare war and establish post offices.
C) increase the number of federal courts.
D) set up the national central banking system.
E) Options A and B are true.
Answer: E
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Chapter 4: Civil Liberties
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Sample Questions
Q1) All of the following are true about religious displays on public property <B>except</B>
A) court cases over these issues have been ruled upon under the establishment clause.
B) religious displays have been allowed in certain situations.
C) displays of a crèche at Christmastime may be allowed if non-secular displays are also being shown.
D) nativity scenes have been allowed to be displayed by themselves.
E) displays such as lights, Santa Claus, and reindeer have been allowed.
Q2) If the police appear at your door and ask to enter
A) ask to see a warrant before the police enter.
B) read the warrant for the details of the search and observe the police activities, once inside without hindering the search.
C) ask the police to wait until your lawyer arrives.
D) suggest that the police search your roommate's room.
E) Options A and B are true.
Q3) Consider the issue of prayer in public schools and craft an essay in which you detail the circumstances under which it would or would not be deemed unconstitutional.
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Chapter 5: Civil Rights
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the 2003 decision of Lawrence v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court
A) upheld a Texas law that made homosexual conduct a crime.
B) overturned laws against sodomy between consenting adults in private to be unconstitutional.
C) invalidated anti-discrimination laws that protect homosexuals.
D) upheld the Court's previous decision in Bowers v. Hardwick.
E) indicated that states could declare homosexuality a crime.
Q2) If the United States deported most of the unauthorized immigrants
A) the government would need to hire hundreds of thousands of additional immigration officers.
B) new prisons would need to be built.
C) expenditures would increase by billions of dollars per year.
D) other government programs would need to be cut to fund the initiative.
E) All of the above are true.
Q3) Describe the barriers to voting faced by African Americans after the Civil War.
Q4) Discuss the ways in which juvenile interaction with the justice system is different than that of adults, being sure to note the ways that these differences may at times be a help and also a hindrance to the rights of minors.
Q5) Explain the arguments both for and against affirmative action.
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Chapter 6: Public Opinion and Political Socialization
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Sample Questions
Q1) Polls may be more accurate if the sample is
A) truly random.
B) weighted to correct missing data from underrepresented groups.
C) weighted to make up for day-to-day swings in public sentiment.
D) corrected for pollster bias.
E) Options A and B are true.
Q2) People's attitudes toward a candidate
A) are affected by emotions such as trust toward a candidate.
B) can be influenced by a recent political scandal.
C) can be affected by the candidate's personality or image.
D) can be influenced by the candidate's stance on economic issues.
E) All of the above are true.
Q3) A random sample means that
A) every person in the target population has an equal chance of being selected.
B) there is no pre-planning 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.
Q4) Explore the means by which political socialization occurs in the United States.
Q5) Describe the significance and possible origins of the gender gap.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Interest Groups
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Sample Questions
Q1) People who become members of interest groups for material incentives are joining A) for a sense of belonging to the group.
B) to improve their economic opportunities or gain economic benefits.
C) for ethical beliefs or ideological reasons.
D) to institute change for political, economic, or social impact on the whole society.
E) because they have been pressured to do so.
Q2) In an effort to reduce the power of special interests, the Obama administration
A) tried to prevent former lobbyists from holding positions in the administration.
B) introduced legislation to ban all lobbying.
C) refused to meet with any lobbyists on any issue.
D) created the Bureau of Lobbying Interests to oversee lobbying and recommend reforms.
E) Both A and D.
Q3) Describe legislative efforts to regulate the activities of lobbyists.
Q4) Explain the free rider problem faced by interest groups and how they combat this problem.
Q5) Explain the direct techniques used by interest groups.
Q6) Explain the factors that make an interest group powerful.
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Chapter 8: Political Parties
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Sample Questions
Q1) A voter or a candidate who does not identify with a political party is called A) a naysayer.
B) an independent.
C) a liberal.
D) a conservative.
E) a libertarian.
Q2) Describe the different functions of political parties in our system.
Q3) Voters who frequently move their support from one party to the other are known as
A) split-ticket voters.
B) swing voters.
C) unattached independents.
D) wedge voters.
E) None of the above.
Q4) Which of the following is false?
A) The Jewish electorate tends to be heavily Democratic.
B) Hispanics are strongly Republican.
C) Urban people tend to vote Democratic.
D) Rural voters support Republicans.
E) Union members tend to vote Democratic.
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Chapter 9: Campaigns and Elections
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Sample Questions
Q1) Voter ID laws are often enacted with the stated goal of _______________, but actually have the effect of _______________.
A) increasing turnout; suppressing turnout among minorities and the poor
B) increasing turnout; suppressing turnout among members of the armed forces serving abroad
C) preventing vote fraud; suppressing turnout among minorities and the poor
D) preventing vote fraud; making ID fraud more common
E) preventing vote fraud; suppressing turnout among members of the armed forces serving abroad
Q2) Explore the strategies devised by interest groups and parties to get around campaign finance reform legislation.
Q3) The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002
A) banned soft money contributions to national parties.
B) banned campaign ads by special interest groups.
C) banned independent expenditures.
D) banned the practice of lobbying.
E) eliminated the Federal Election Commission.
Q4) How has the right to vote been expanded since the Constitution was written?
Q5) Which people are least likely to vote? How does this affect government policies?
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Chapter 10: The Media
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Sample Questions
Q1) One thing that helps to diminish ideological bias in journalism is
A) that the owners of media have their own biases, often in a different direction than their reporters.
B) a professional code that dictates objectivity and truth.
C) hiring journalists from both the right and the left, to balance reporting.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above.
Q2) The advent of broadband Internet access has led to the rise of
A) a single ISP with a national monopoly.
B) a great deal of competition in the broadband market.
C) ISPs with local monopolies.
D) a single ISP with a national monopoly.,
E) None of the above.
Q3) Explain the ways in which new media (Internet, blogs, podcasts) are used in campaigns.
Q4) Describe the steps you can take to become a critical news consumer.
Q5) Evaluate the transition from traditional to new forms of media and discuss what effects this will have on American politics.
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Chapter 11: The Congress
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Sample
Questions
Q1) A ______________ is a permanent body established by a house of Congress, while a ______________ is appointed to reconcile difference between two different versions of the same basic bill.
A) standing committee; select committee
B) joint committee; conference committee
C) select committee; standing committee
D) standing committee; conference committee
E) conference committee; joint committee
Q2) The founders of the American republic believed that most of the power that would be exercised by a national government should be in the hands of
A) the chief executive.
B) the legislature.
C) the electoral college.
D) the bureaucracy.
E) the judiciary.
Q3) Explain the debt ceiling and discuss the ways in which it has become a political tool.
Q4) Explain the functions and rules regarding filibuster, cloture, and reconciliation.
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Chapter 12: The President
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Sample Questions
Q1) The White House Office, the National Security Council, and the Office of Management and Budget are all part of
A) the kitchen cabinet.
B) the cabinet.
C) the Executive Office of the President.
D) the Council of Presidential Advisors.
E) the system of checks on executive power.
Q2) Which of the following is true?
A) The religious faith of most all presidents have been of the Protestant tradition.
B) Five presidents have been Roman Catholics.
C) No presidents have been Roman Catholics.
D) One president has been an avowed atheist.
E) Options A and C are true.
Q3) The principle concern about a new cold war is that
A) Europe might abandon its alliance with the United States.
B) Russia might ally itself with China.
C) Russian aggression might lead to a third world war.
D) communism could reassert itself as a major ideology.
E) None of the above.
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Page 14
Chapter 13: The Bureaucracy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the manner(s) in which Congress attempts to control the bureaucracy.
Q2) All of the following are true of national ID cards <b>except</b>
A) the American public has never accepted the concept of a national ID card.
B) many other countries in the world require citizens to obtain a national ID card.
C) the lack of ID is a burden on the world's poorest people.
D) national ID cards are not privacy concerns because they cannot collect data.
E) a national ID card might be a convenient way to avoid having to carry different types of identification such as a driver's license and a Social Security card.
Q3) Many contend that the Internet has
A) improved the efficiency of government agencies.
B) reduced the cost of government.
C) scattered government information in too many places.
D) Both A and B.
E) All of the above.
Q4) Describe the difference between Sunshine laws and Sunset provisions.
Q5) Discuss the ways in which the political participation and affiliation of federal employees has changed under the spoils system, the Hatch Act, and the 1993 Federal Employees Political Activities Act.
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Chapter 14: The Courts
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Sample Questions
Q1) The notion of a "living Constitution" is often associated with A) judicial restraint.
B) judicial activism.
C) broad construction.
D) strict construction.
E) Both A and D.
Q2) The U.S. Supreme Court can review a state supreme court decision
A) if there are damages in excess of $50,000.
B) only if a federal question is involved.
C) if the solicitor general asks them to do so.
D) in all cases.
E) in cases in which the state is a party.
Q3) A class-action suit is one in which
A) every person with standing to sue does so simultaneously.
B) a suit is brought by one or more people which seeks damages for all who are similarly affected.
C) standing to sue is based on socio-economic class.
D) Both A and C.
E) None of the above.
Q4) Explain how the U.S. Supreme Court decides cases and explains its decisions.
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Domestic and Economic Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is true?
A) A recession is defined as two or more successive quarters in which the economy shrinks instead of grows.
B) A recession is defined as two or more quarters in which unemployment rates are above 7 percent.
C) Unemployment is defined as the total number of workers who are not in the workforce in any given quarter.
D) Inflation is defined as a sudden rise in prices for hot commodities such as gasoline and electronics.
E) All of the above are true.
Q2) Tight monetary policy theory dictates that when the economy is faced with inflation, the government should
A) increase the supply of credit.
B) increase taxes.
C) decrease the supply of credit.
D) decrease taxes.
E) take complete control of the economy.
Q3) Assess the advantages and disadvantages of a nation having a substantial immigrant population.
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Page 17
Chapter 16: Foreign Policy
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Sample Questions
Q1) In 2011, Osama bin Laden was killed in his hiding place in A) Afghanistan.
B) Iraq.
C) Iran.
D) Pakistan.
E) Saudi Arabia.
Q2) Critics of the Bush Doctrine
A) believed that a pre-emptive attack was better than what President Bush had proposed as part of his new doctrine.
B) cited the damage it would do to the domestic economy.
C) pointed out that pre-emptive wars against other nations have traditionally been waged by dictator and rogue states, not democratic nations.
D) claimed that launching pre-emptive war would allow the United States to pursue world peace by eliminating terrorism.
E) believed that by endorsing such a policy, the United States could argue against decisions of other nations to do the same when they felt threatened.
Q3) Explain the role that China has come to play in the world. How should the United States interact with China?
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