The following questions are typical of the questions asked on the midterm and final exams for this class. All these questions have been asked on previous exams. I will not know the exact number of questions or the points assigned to questions until I make up the exam. Please note that you will be offered choices about which essay question to answer, but you must answer all the questions in the other sections.
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Midterm Multiple Choice Questions
1.
According to Carmines and Stimson
in the 1960's the issue of race transformed the American party system with:
a) The Republican Party embracing racial liberalism
b) The Democratic Party embracing racial conservatism
c) The Republican Party embracing racial progressivism
d) The Democratic Party embracing racial indifference
e) The Democratic Party embracing racial liberalism
2. Which of the following expanded free speech in politics?
a)
Plessy v.
b)
c)
The Espionage Act and the Sedition Act
d)
Miranda v.
e)
None of the above
3.
An
example of a controversial issue dealing with material scarcity is:
a)
Prohibition
of school prayer
b)
Adequate
funding for public housing
c)
Homosexuals
in the military
d)
Passage
of anti-discrimination laws
e)
Term
limits
4.
Which of the following does NOT affect
the likelihood of voter turnout?
a)
The closing date, or number of days
before the election by which a voter must register in order to vote in an
upcoming election
b) Education
c) Age
d) Literacy tests required to be allowed to
register to vote
e) All of the above affect voter turnout
Final Exam Questions
Note: The final exam will have multiple choice
questions, short answer questions, and an essay.
Short Answer Questions:
1. Would abortion better be described as a "prospective" issue or as a "retrospective" issue?
2. Does liberalism on economic issues increase or decrease with education?
3. In the last few decades, did the number of organizations represented by
lobbyists in
4. Explain the spatial model of elections and the median voter hypothesis.
5. According to Dunlap (in the Lester Book), what is the "issue-attention cycle"?
6. Explain the difference between
Part III. Please answer one of the two following essay questions.
Develop your answer carefully, using evidence and citing class readings and
lectures to support your statements wherever possible. In writing your essay, remember that you
should be trying to answer in a way that demonstrates what you have learned in
this course. For example, if part
of your answer is about Congress, you should tell us about how Congress is
organized, how the committee and party systems work, etc.
Note: The following question was asked when
the theme of the course was civil rights.
A. Suppose you were a
political consultant assigned the task of designing a strategy to deal with a
proposal to expand civil rights in an area that the American public regards as
controversial—Drug use, HIV/AIDS, obesity, or sexual preferences. Write an essay in which you describe and
then analyze either: (a) a strategy
to expand civil rights in the area, or (b) a strategy to resist expansion of civil
rights in the area. You need not
address all the major areas discussed in this class--public opinion, parties,
interest groups, Congress, the President, the bureaucracy, and the courts--but
you should address two or more of them.
In your essay, be sure to analyze your strategy as well as describe
it. That is, explain why it should
work using theories.
...