WorksheetsGov: Public Opinion
Total questions: 20
Worksheet time: 15mins
The process by which people form their political attitudes and values is called
political correctness
political engagement
political participation
political socialization
Which of the following is the best definition of public opinion?
the sum of many individual views
what journalists think about issues
the beliefs of one or more interest groups
how politicians express common attitudes
Which of the following is the most important reason why a scientific poll is more accurate than a straw poll?
the type of questions asked
the number of people surveyed
the method of sampling employed
the means of contacting people used
How can the company conducting an opinion poll reduce the margin of error?
ask fewer questions
survey a larger sample
use mail instead of phone
limit the survey to college graduates
How do political analysts determine the voting patterns of women and men?
conduct exit polls
examine the ballots
review election results
interview election judges
The accuracy of a poll is usually expressed in terms of
census parameter
population error
sampling error
interview error
What might be the chief problem with an opinion poll conducted on a downtown street at the noon hour?
Polled individuals will feel a time pressure that will affect their responses
Logistical difficulties will prevent the collection of a large-enough sample size
It will include a disproportionate number of business employees on their lunch break
It will include a disproportionate number of women and older adults
To assess public opinion, political observers today rely primarily on
election returns
newspaper editorials
voter registration drives
opinion polls
Increasing refusal rates have raised questions about the future of
street polling
telephone polling
internet polling
exit polling
Which of the following is a device for gauging public opinion?
public demonstrations
letters to the editor
election results
All these answers are correct
To gauge public opinion of American adults within plus or minus three percent, pollsters must interview _______ people
100
1,000
5,000
None of these answers is correct
Pollsters use ________ to randomly pick telephone numbers
computers
satellites
cellular phones
None of these answers is correct
A time-honored method of interpreting public opinion is
newspaper editorials
voter registration drives
election returns
interest group activities
Pollsters often experience a refusal rate of at least ________ percent
10
25
50
85
The population of the United States is about ________
150 million
225 million
320 million
1 billion
Rather than having one stable, uniform public opinion, America is described as a nation of many publics
true
false
The larger the sample, the smaller the sampling error.
true
false
In a democracy, elections are the only reliable indicator of public opinion on issues.
true
false
Public opinion in America tends to constrain rather than direct the policy choices of officials.
true
false
American public opinion can be contradictory.
true
false
