POS 4291

Study Questions for Final Examination

The final examination will contain one of the following questions as the essay. The questions not selected will also be covered in others parts of the examination. In preparing for these questions, keep in mind the need to incorporate not just lecture materials but the reading material, Web material and videos  as well. Also keep in mind that the examination will take a maximum of 1 hour.

1. You have just been named to the campaign staff for the Mike Huckabee 2012 presidential campaign. Huckabee, the former Republican governor of Arkansas, is a pastor in  the Southern Baptist Convention who ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. Noting that there aren't enough white evangelical Protestants to win the nomination, Huckabee asks you how he can attract support from Catholics, Jews, and black Protestants. What arguments do you perceive as likely to help attract members from these religious traditions? What type of response can you reasonably expect from the members of these traditions? Explain.
   
   
2. In his indifference to politics, the Rev. Douglas Hudgens (chapter 3 of God's Long Summer ) was typical of white evangelical Protestants of the 1950s and early 1960s. By the 1980s, many clergy from this same religious tradition had taken leading roles in American public life. What factors explain the sudden political mobilization of white evangelical Protestants? What have been the consequences?
   
   
3. In a political parties class taught in the 1950s, students would learn that Catholics, Jews and Southern Protestants were Democrats while the Republican Party drew most of its support from mainline Protestants. Black Protestants were divided fairly evenly between the two parties. Describe the change and/or continuity in the political behavior and orientations of these major American religious groups since the 1960s. What factors account for the changes?
   

Please note: The exam will be given at 9:30 am in our regular classroom on Tuesday, April 20th.