CHAPTER 8
111) Know the following: public affairs, public opinion, mass media, peer group, opinion leader, mandate, interest group, public opinion, straw poll vote, universe sample, random sample
quota sample, medium, weblog, public agenda, sound bite
112) What does public opinion refer to?
113) Factors before/during and after school that shape political opinions
114) What is included in public opinion?
115) What does public opinion mean in its proper sense?
116) What is a public made up of?
117) How many factors are involved that form public opinion?
118) What must happen in order for a view to be an opinion in the public sense?
119) What are some agents of political socialization?
120) The family has a near ______on the child in his or her earliest years.
121) What is the start of the initial break in the influence of family?
122) What is a statistic that demonstrates how mass media has an affect on public opinion?
123) Why does a person belonging to a peer group reinforce what they believe in?
124) Who are some types of opinion leaders?
125) What were some historic events that have a major impact on the views of large numbers of people?
126) What is said to often be an indicator of public opinion but is seldom accurate?
127) What are interest groups also known as?
128) Interest groups are a ______by which public opinion is made known.
129) What are some ways interest groups present their views?
130) The media is said to be ______as well as ______of public opinion.
131) Why isn’t the media a very accurate mirror of public opinion?
132) What do personal contacts try to do?
133) Why do public officials fall in a trap?
134) The more accurate polls are based on what kind of techniques?
135) How reliable or unreliable is the straw-vote technique?
136) What is the problem with the straw-vote technique?
137) What are the best known of the national pollsters today?
138) What are the five basic steps of the scientific poll?
139) Give an example of each step from question 137
140) Pollster know that have a difficulty in measuring intensity, stability, and relevance; what do each of these three mean in terms of opinion?
141) What are the five major elements of mass media today ranked from having the most to the least impact?
142) What is not the prime goal of the media?
143) People acquire most of what they know about government and politics through what?
144) What did the television replace as the principal source of political information for majority of the Americans?
145) What are the three major television networks that have dominated television since the beginning?
146) What are the sources that provided main challenges to the major networks?
147) When and where was the first regularly established newspaper?
148) What has caused the decline of daily newspapers?
149) What are three well-known newspapers in the United States?
149) The average person hears radio how many times a week?
150) Who are some famous talk broadcasters?
151) How many magazines are published in the United States today?
152) What is quickly becoming a lead source of political news and information for the American people?
153) Nearly how many Americans go on the Internet on a regular basis?
154) The media’s influence is most visible in what two particular areas?
155) What kind of special power do the media have when it comes to public agenda?
156) Good campaign managers also know that most television news programs are built out of stories that what?
157) The broadcast media seldom gives the kind of in-depth coverage that a good ______can supply?
Added Items for Government Final Exam Study Guide – Complete along with Ch. 8 questions
1) Know the term, politics.
2) What are the characteristics of a dictatorship?
3) What kind of government is the U.S. classified as?
4) What is the government’s role in the economy?
5) Which state has the highest slave population?
6) What was a problem with the Virginia Plan?
7) What effect did the approval of the Constitution have on a commercial state like New York?
8) Know the powers of the executive branch.
9) What is needed to formally propose an amendment?
10) Know what a treaty is.
11) Know that senatorial courtesy and the appointment of the Cabinet are long enduring traditions/customs.
12) Know what a political spectrum is.
13) What are the reasons for voting for a minor party?
14) Know where liberal, moderate, and conservative fall on the political spectrum.
15) Know the characteristics of minor parties and their advantages.
16) What is the major purpose of a national convention.
17) What are pros/cons of voter registration.
18) Know the term, lobbyist.
19) Where did the Republican Party 1st originate?
20) Know some 3rd party presidential candidates.
21) Know some Framers of the Constitution.
*Know the following constitutional amendments
5th, 6th, 15th, 19th, 22nd, 23rd, 26th