POLI 330 SCI EXAM QUESTIONS
WITH COMPLETE SOLUTIONS
The presidential power known as diplomatic recognition
a) is a relatively meaningless tradition
b) has seldom been used by any president
c) is the power of the president to recognize, or not recognize, foreign governments
d) is a simple and uncontroversial part of the president's duties
e) has been used more by Congress than by the president - Answer-c) is the power of
the president to recognize, or not recognize, foreign governments
Before a treaty can become legally binding, it must be
a) signed by the justices of the World Court
b) approved by three-fourths of the state governments
c) ratified by the Supreme Court
d) approved by a two-thirds vote in the Senate
e) approved by a majority vote in both chambers of Congress - Answer-d) approved by
a two-thirds vote in the Senate
An international agreement with the head of a foreign state made by the president
without Senate approval is
a) a treaty
b) an executive agreement
c) a signing statement
d) constitutionally required to be funded by Congress
e) subject to expiration after one year - Answer-b) an executive agreement
The State of the Union message is
a) delivered by the president to the General Assembly of the United Nations at least
once every four years
b) a policy statement of Congress over which the president seldom has influence
c) required by the Constitution and gives a broad view of what the president wishes the
legislature to accomplish during its session
d) an effective tool used by the president to limit other countries' foreign policy
endeavors in this hemisphere
e) constitutionally limited to reviewing the events of the last year - Answer-c) required by
the Constitution and gives a broad view of what the president wishes the legislature to
accomplish during its session
If the president uses a veto, he or she
a) must submit legislation that would accomplish the same goal through a different
means
,b) cannot use another veto for ten working days
c) must have the approval of the Senate majority leader and the Speaker of the House
d) must return the bill to Congress with a veto message
e) cannot be overridden by Congress - Answer-d) must return the bill to Congress with a
veto message
If the president refuses to sign a bill and Congress adjourns within ten working days
after the bill has been submitted to the president, it is called a
a) line-item veto
b) pocket veto
c) political statement
d) signing statement
e) legislative postponement - Answer-b) pocket veto
Which of the following happens when the president signs a bill?
a) He or she cannot include any instructions as to how to administer the law
b) He or she is exercising the right to a pocket veto
c) It goes back to the Senate for ratification
d) It goes back to Congress, which has ten days to modify it
e) It becomes law - Answer-e) It becomes law
The line-item veto was
a) used only in the ratification of treaties
b) found to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998
c) given to the president of the United States, but prohibited to governors of states
d) denied to the president in legislation enacted by Congress
e) frequently used on specific spending provisions by President George W. Bush -
Answer-b) found to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998
A veto is
a) usually employed to punish members of the president's party who disagree with him
b) more likely when the president's party controls Congress
c) a clear-cut indication of the president's dissatisfaction with legislation
d) likely to be overridden about half the time
e) required to be used at least once during each president's term - Answer-c) a clear-cut
indication of the president's dissatisfaction with legislation
This is TRUE about signing statements
a) They are written declarations that a president may make when signing a bill into law
regarding the law's enforcement
b) They can only be used to make rhetorical statements
c) They cannot be used to praise or denounce political parties
d) They were used frequently in the nineteenth century, but are rarely used today
e) They were used by President Reagan to make more sweeping claims on behalf of
presidential power than any other president - Answer-a) They are written declarations
that a president may make when signing a bill into law regarding the law's enforcement
,A power created for the president through laws enacted by Congress is called
a) executive power
b) congressional power
c) statutory power
d) temporary power
e) inherent power - Answer-c) statutory power
Rewarding faithful party workers with government employment is called
a) "going public"
b) pork
c) patronage
d) executive privilege
e) civil service - Answer-c) patronage
Which of the following is TRUE regarding presidential fundraising?
a) The president of the United States is prohibited from engaging in fund-raising
activities by Article II of the Constitution
b) By the 1990s and early twenty-first century, presidents were no longer willing to lower
themselves to "begging for money" and limited their fund raising
c) Most presidents rely on others to raise money for them because it is not part of the
role of the president to raise money
d) Barack Obama had spectacular success in raising funds as a candidate
e) Congress has enacted legislation prohibiting a sitting president from engaging in
fund-raising activities - Answer-d) Barack Obama had spectacular success in raising
funds as a candidate
Presidential popularity is
a) irrelevant to Congress or bureaucrats
b) rarely measured by pollsters
c) of little concern to second-term presidents
d) required before a president may claim executive privilege
e) an extra resource to use to persuade Congress to pass legislation - Answer-e) an
extra resource to use to persuade Congress to pass legislation
Which of the following statements is FALSE concerning presidential popularity?
a) President Bush enjoyed high popularity ratings throughout his presidency
b) President Obama's approval ratings were back above 50 percent and remained at
those levels into 2013
c) President Obama's approval ratings peaked in May 2011
d) President Bush had only a 25 percent public approval rating by the time he left office
e) President Bush's approval ratings in 2004 were the highest ever recorded - Answer-
e) President Bush's approval ratings in 2004 were the highest ever recorded
"Going public" means that presidents
a) take their case directly to the people over the heads of the members of Congress
, b) go to the Washington community power brokers over the heads of Congress
c) refrain from invoking executive privilege
d) put pressure on Congress by threatening to release details about their private lives
e) publicize information that was formerly classified - Answer-a) take their case directly
to the people over the heads of the members of Congress
The emergency powers of the president
a) were first enunciated in the Twenty-second Amendment
b) have never been exercised
c) are detailed in the Bill of Rights
d) were first enunciated in the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Curtiss-
Wright Export Corp
e) are outlined in the Constitution - Answer-d) were first enunciated in the Supreme
Court's decision in United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp
A rule or regulation issued by the president that has the effect of law is a(n)
a) legislative declaration
b) presidential statute
c) Congressional override
d) emergency provision
e) executive order - Answer-e) executive order
An executive order must be
a) published in the Federal Register
b) approved by Congress
c) approved by a majority of the cabinet
d) issued only when Congress is not in session
e) avoided in matters concerning foreign policy - Answer-a) published in the Federal
Register
Executive privilege is understood to mean that
a) the president can withhold some information from Congress or the courts
b) members of the executive branch cannot be prosecuted while in office
c) the president is allowed unlimited use of the pocket veto
d) the president has broad and unlimited discretion in making political appointments
e) requests from the president have the force of law - Answer-a) the president can
withhold some information from Congress or the courts
In United States v. Nixon, the Supreme Court ruled that
a) a sitting president cannot be sued in civil court for offenses that occurred before the
president took office
b) executive privilege could not be used to prevent evidence from being heard in
criminal proceedings
c) congressional approval must be granted before presidents make use of executive
privilege
d) the president is immune from criminal prosecution except for impeachable crimes
WITH COMPLETE SOLUTIONS
The presidential power known as diplomatic recognition
a) is a relatively meaningless tradition
b) has seldom been used by any president
c) is the power of the president to recognize, or not recognize, foreign governments
d) is a simple and uncontroversial part of the president's duties
e) has been used more by Congress than by the president - Answer-c) is the power of
the president to recognize, or not recognize, foreign governments
Before a treaty can become legally binding, it must be
a) signed by the justices of the World Court
b) approved by three-fourths of the state governments
c) ratified by the Supreme Court
d) approved by a two-thirds vote in the Senate
e) approved by a majority vote in both chambers of Congress - Answer-d) approved by
a two-thirds vote in the Senate
An international agreement with the head of a foreign state made by the president
without Senate approval is
a) a treaty
b) an executive agreement
c) a signing statement
d) constitutionally required to be funded by Congress
e) subject to expiration after one year - Answer-b) an executive agreement
The State of the Union message is
a) delivered by the president to the General Assembly of the United Nations at least
once every four years
b) a policy statement of Congress over which the president seldom has influence
c) required by the Constitution and gives a broad view of what the president wishes the
legislature to accomplish during its session
d) an effective tool used by the president to limit other countries' foreign policy
endeavors in this hemisphere
e) constitutionally limited to reviewing the events of the last year - Answer-c) required by
the Constitution and gives a broad view of what the president wishes the legislature to
accomplish during its session
If the president uses a veto, he or she
a) must submit legislation that would accomplish the same goal through a different
means
,b) cannot use another veto for ten working days
c) must have the approval of the Senate majority leader and the Speaker of the House
d) must return the bill to Congress with a veto message
e) cannot be overridden by Congress - Answer-d) must return the bill to Congress with a
veto message
If the president refuses to sign a bill and Congress adjourns within ten working days
after the bill has been submitted to the president, it is called a
a) line-item veto
b) pocket veto
c) political statement
d) signing statement
e) legislative postponement - Answer-b) pocket veto
Which of the following happens when the president signs a bill?
a) He or she cannot include any instructions as to how to administer the law
b) He or she is exercising the right to a pocket veto
c) It goes back to the Senate for ratification
d) It goes back to Congress, which has ten days to modify it
e) It becomes law - Answer-e) It becomes law
The line-item veto was
a) used only in the ratification of treaties
b) found to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998
c) given to the president of the United States, but prohibited to governors of states
d) denied to the president in legislation enacted by Congress
e) frequently used on specific spending provisions by President George W. Bush -
Answer-b) found to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1998
A veto is
a) usually employed to punish members of the president's party who disagree with him
b) more likely when the president's party controls Congress
c) a clear-cut indication of the president's dissatisfaction with legislation
d) likely to be overridden about half the time
e) required to be used at least once during each president's term - Answer-c) a clear-cut
indication of the president's dissatisfaction with legislation
This is TRUE about signing statements
a) They are written declarations that a president may make when signing a bill into law
regarding the law's enforcement
b) They can only be used to make rhetorical statements
c) They cannot be used to praise or denounce political parties
d) They were used frequently in the nineteenth century, but are rarely used today
e) They were used by President Reagan to make more sweeping claims on behalf of
presidential power than any other president - Answer-a) They are written declarations
that a president may make when signing a bill into law regarding the law's enforcement
,A power created for the president through laws enacted by Congress is called
a) executive power
b) congressional power
c) statutory power
d) temporary power
e) inherent power - Answer-c) statutory power
Rewarding faithful party workers with government employment is called
a) "going public"
b) pork
c) patronage
d) executive privilege
e) civil service - Answer-c) patronage
Which of the following is TRUE regarding presidential fundraising?
a) The president of the United States is prohibited from engaging in fund-raising
activities by Article II of the Constitution
b) By the 1990s and early twenty-first century, presidents were no longer willing to lower
themselves to "begging for money" and limited their fund raising
c) Most presidents rely on others to raise money for them because it is not part of the
role of the president to raise money
d) Barack Obama had spectacular success in raising funds as a candidate
e) Congress has enacted legislation prohibiting a sitting president from engaging in
fund-raising activities - Answer-d) Barack Obama had spectacular success in raising
funds as a candidate
Presidential popularity is
a) irrelevant to Congress or bureaucrats
b) rarely measured by pollsters
c) of little concern to second-term presidents
d) required before a president may claim executive privilege
e) an extra resource to use to persuade Congress to pass legislation - Answer-e) an
extra resource to use to persuade Congress to pass legislation
Which of the following statements is FALSE concerning presidential popularity?
a) President Bush enjoyed high popularity ratings throughout his presidency
b) President Obama's approval ratings were back above 50 percent and remained at
those levels into 2013
c) President Obama's approval ratings peaked in May 2011
d) President Bush had only a 25 percent public approval rating by the time he left office
e) President Bush's approval ratings in 2004 were the highest ever recorded - Answer-
e) President Bush's approval ratings in 2004 were the highest ever recorded
"Going public" means that presidents
a) take their case directly to the people over the heads of the members of Congress
, b) go to the Washington community power brokers over the heads of Congress
c) refrain from invoking executive privilege
d) put pressure on Congress by threatening to release details about their private lives
e) publicize information that was formerly classified - Answer-a) take their case directly
to the people over the heads of the members of Congress
The emergency powers of the president
a) were first enunciated in the Twenty-second Amendment
b) have never been exercised
c) are detailed in the Bill of Rights
d) were first enunciated in the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Curtiss-
Wright Export Corp
e) are outlined in the Constitution - Answer-d) were first enunciated in the Supreme
Court's decision in United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp
A rule or regulation issued by the president that has the effect of law is a(n)
a) legislative declaration
b) presidential statute
c) Congressional override
d) emergency provision
e) executive order - Answer-e) executive order
An executive order must be
a) published in the Federal Register
b) approved by Congress
c) approved by a majority of the cabinet
d) issued only when Congress is not in session
e) avoided in matters concerning foreign policy - Answer-a) published in the Federal
Register
Executive privilege is understood to mean that
a) the president can withhold some information from Congress or the courts
b) members of the executive branch cannot be prosecuted while in office
c) the president is allowed unlimited use of the pocket veto
d) the president has broad and unlimited discretion in making political appointments
e) requests from the president have the force of law - Answer-a) the president can
withhold some information from Congress or the courts
In United States v. Nixon, the Supreme Court ruled that
a) a sitting president cannot be sued in civil court for offenses that occurred before the
president took office
b) executive privilege could not be used to prevent evidence from being heard in
criminal proceedings
c) congressional approval must be granted before presidents make use of executive
privilege
d) the president is immune from criminal prosecution except for impeachable crimes
