Going to the Polls [Quiz #16]

Answers here

1. In which decade did the United States outlaw the poll tax via the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, which barred the use of taxes or fees as a precondition for voting?

2. How many college football and basketball teams are included in the AP and Harris polls most widely used to rate NCAA Division I teams? Who votes in the poll? [half point each]

3. What is a straw poll?

4. What is a “push poll”?

5. What feature do polled sheep and cattle lack?

6. Which television game show has panels of five related contestants attempting to predict the most popular answers to survey questions? How many people are polled for each question?

7. In Gallup polls taken in December of 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, which two women were named most often by Americans as the most admired?
[The questions read: “What woman that you have heard or read about, living today in any part of the world, do you admire most? And who is your second choice?” (The first and second choices were combined. The most popular response for 2002–2006, none, is excluded.)] [half point each]

8. In recent Gallup polls of Americans, which had the most support—legalizing gay marriage, legalizing doctor-assisted suicide, or banning the use of handguns by ordinary citizens? Which had the least? [half point each]
[The questions read:
“When a person has a disease that cannot be cured and is living in severe pain, do you think doctors should or should not be allowed by law to assist the patient to commit suicide if the patient requests it?” (asked May 2007)
“Do you think marriages between same-sex couples should or should not be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages?” (asked May 2008)
“Do you think there should or should not be a law that would ban the possession of handguns, except by the police and other authorized persons?” (asked October 2008)]

9. In recent Gallup polls, did more Americans believe in haunted houses, astrology, or creationism (i.e., that God created humans in their present form)? Which did the fewest believe in? [half point each]
[The questions read:
“For each of the following items I am going to read you, please tell me whether it is something you believe in, something you're not sure about, or something you don’t believe in. How about…” (asked June 2005)
“Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin and development of human beings—1) Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process, 2) Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process, 3) God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so?” (asked May 2008, with choices 1 and 3 alternated)]

10. In recent Gallup polls, which of the following views did not receive the support of a majority of Americans?
a) The United States should “establish a national healthcare system funded by the government, similar to the ones in Canada and Europe.”
[Asked in September 2007 as “Please tell me whether you would favor or oppose each of the following as a way of reforming the U.S. healthcare system. How about…”]
b) Upper-income people are paying too little in taxes.
[Asked in April 2008 as “As I read off some different groups, please tell me if you think they are paying their FAIR share in federal taxes, paying too MUCH or paying too LITTLE? First, how about A. Lower-income people; B. middle-income people; C. higher income people”; choices A and C were rotated]
c) Immigration levels should be decreased.
[Asked in June 2008 as “In your view, should immigration be kept at its present level, increased or decreased?”]