1|Page
PSCI 2305 EXAM 1 COMPREHENSIVE TEST BANK |
150+ QUESTIONS WITH RATIONALES | 2026
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
1. What are the features and the definition of public opinion?
Public Opinion= preferences of the adult population on matters of importance to the government
about issues, candidates, parties, officials, groups
- Salience
- Intensity of Opinion
- Direction
- Stability
- Knowledge of Issues
- Visibility
2. What are salience, intensity, stability and direction in public opinion?
Salience-how important is the issue(can move from obscure to salience quickly
Intensity of Opinion-if people feel intensely about their opinion, they are more likely to
participate politically and officials re more likely to listen to them
Stability-speed with which change occurs on opinion-presidential popularity changes
quickly;partisan identification changes quickly
Direction-whether public opposes/approves of the job the president is doing
,2|Page
3. Which group of people do politicians pay the most attention to in elections?
Intensely motivated groups like old people
4. What is agenda setting/framing/priming? How would these mechanisms influence public
opinion?
Agenda setting, framing, and priming helps politicians with visibility mainly due to media
coverage of their agenda
5. How can we properly conduct an opinion poll? What is selection bias? During this
polling process, what can we do to avoid selection bias?
By avoiding measurement error
Selection bias-the bias introduced by the selection of individuals, groups or data for analysis in
such a way that proper randomization is not achieved
In order to avoid selection bias, make sure the sample obtained is randomized
6. What is self-selection bias?
Arises in any situation in which individuals select themselves into a group, causing a biased
sample with non-probability sampling
i.e. mail in polls=only those who read it and answered it would send it back
7. What is likely to cause measurement errors and what will not in a survey?
Causes
- question wording
- question order
- limited response options
,3|Page
Not
- proper wording and ordering of questions
8. What is sampling error, and what causes it?
When poll results are unreliable due to the fact that they are not representative of the population's
views
- nonrandom sampling
- nonresponse bias
- response bias
9. What is the margin of error in a public opinion poll?
It is the confidence interval, results will lie within this interval, usually +/- 3 percentage points.
People should have equal chance of being selected
10. How much and what type of influence do families, schools, peers, the media and other
such factors have on individual beliefs and opinions?
Family-Primary, central because it starts in early development, genetics are involved, and it
requires time and emotional commitment
School-primary,education exerts a profound influence on attitudes, seek to promote values such
as respect for authority or pride in government
Peers-secondary, peer pressure/values
Media-secondary, they tell us what to think but they tell us what to think about
11. What is political socialization?
Lifelong process of how people acquire their political values and political ideology
, 4|Page
12. What is the miracle of aggregation and what can betting sites tell us about what people
really think?
Defined as the situation where uninformed people balance each other out when voting.It seems
miraculous because it implies that a highly uninformed electorate may - at the aggregate level -
act "as if" it were perfectly informed.
Betting Sites tell us that not all people are actually uniform.
13. What do primacy and persistence mean in the context of public opinion?
Primacy-first influences exert the most impact
Persistence-resilience of an opinion over time
These two things greatly impact every individual's political participation and opinion.
14. How do we filter information about politics into our opinions and beliefs?
Confirmation Bias- we only join groups and listen/read media that confirms our beliefs
15. What are the characteristics of a valence issue? How do politicians take advantage of
these valence issues in their campaigns?
Valence issue- a political issue where voters share a common preference
Politicians use these issues to appear favorable to the majority
16. How can voters be affected by their limited political knowledge?
Their vote won't be able to properly represent their views, they may vote for the wrong
representative or candidate because of their limited knowledge
17. What was the Milgram experiment?
PSCI 2305 EXAM 1 COMPREHENSIVE TEST BANK |
150+ QUESTIONS WITH RATIONALES | 2026
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
1. What are the features and the definition of public opinion?
Public Opinion= preferences of the adult population on matters of importance to the government
about issues, candidates, parties, officials, groups
- Salience
- Intensity of Opinion
- Direction
- Stability
- Knowledge of Issues
- Visibility
2. What are salience, intensity, stability and direction in public opinion?
Salience-how important is the issue(can move from obscure to salience quickly
Intensity of Opinion-if people feel intensely about their opinion, they are more likely to
participate politically and officials re more likely to listen to them
Stability-speed with which change occurs on opinion-presidential popularity changes
quickly;partisan identification changes quickly
Direction-whether public opposes/approves of the job the president is doing
,2|Page
3. Which group of people do politicians pay the most attention to in elections?
Intensely motivated groups like old people
4. What is agenda setting/framing/priming? How would these mechanisms influence public
opinion?
Agenda setting, framing, and priming helps politicians with visibility mainly due to media
coverage of their agenda
5. How can we properly conduct an opinion poll? What is selection bias? During this
polling process, what can we do to avoid selection bias?
By avoiding measurement error
Selection bias-the bias introduced by the selection of individuals, groups or data for analysis in
such a way that proper randomization is not achieved
In order to avoid selection bias, make sure the sample obtained is randomized
6. What is self-selection bias?
Arises in any situation in which individuals select themselves into a group, causing a biased
sample with non-probability sampling
i.e. mail in polls=only those who read it and answered it would send it back
7. What is likely to cause measurement errors and what will not in a survey?
Causes
- question wording
- question order
- limited response options
,3|Page
Not
- proper wording and ordering of questions
8. What is sampling error, and what causes it?
When poll results are unreliable due to the fact that they are not representative of the population's
views
- nonrandom sampling
- nonresponse bias
- response bias
9. What is the margin of error in a public opinion poll?
It is the confidence interval, results will lie within this interval, usually +/- 3 percentage points.
People should have equal chance of being selected
10. How much and what type of influence do families, schools, peers, the media and other
such factors have on individual beliefs and opinions?
Family-Primary, central because it starts in early development, genetics are involved, and it
requires time and emotional commitment
School-primary,education exerts a profound influence on attitudes, seek to promote values such
as respect for authority or pride in government
Peers-secondary, peer pressure/values
Media-secondary, they tell us what to think but they tell us what to think about
11. What is political socialization?
Lifelong process of how people acquire their political values and political ideology
, 4|Page
12. What is the miracle of aggregation and what can betting sites tell us about what people
really think?
Defined as the situation where uninformed people balance each other out when voting.It seems
miraculous because it implies that a highly uninformed electorate may - at the aggregate level -
act "as if" it were perfectly informed.
Betting Sites tell us that not all people are actually uniform.
13. What do primacy and persistence mean in the context of public opinion?
Primacy-first influences exert the most impact
Persistence-resilience of an opinion over time
These two things greatly impact every individual's political participation and opinion.
14. How do we filter information about politics into our opinions and beliefs?
Confirmation Bias- we only join groups and listen/read media that confirms our beliefs
15. What are the characteristics of a valence issue? How do politicians take advantage of
these valence issues in their campaigns?
Valence issue- a political issue where voters share a common preference
Politicians use these issues to appear favorable to the majority
16. How can voters be affected by their limited political knowledge?
Their vote won't be able to properly represent their views, they may vote for the wrong
representative or candidate because of their limited knowledge
17. What was the Milgram experiment?
