Elections
What is the magic number of electoral votes that a candidate must win to win the electoral college?
270 out of 538
What is the purpose of political parties?
Does the United States typically have higher or lower voter turnout compared to other industrialized nations?
Lower - most presidential elections, we are lucky to get about 50-55% voter turnout. For midterms, we are lucky to get about 35-50% voter turnout.
True or False: caucuses are time consuming to participate in
True! Caucuses require people to talk, converse, physically move, and engage with one another, and do so multiple times. They can last for hours!
What is a constitutional democracy?
A government that enforces recognized limits on those who govern and allows the voice of the people to be heard through free, fair, and relatively frequent elections.
Why do candidates not want voters to split their tickets?
It leads to a divided government (ex: President (D); Senate (R); House (D))
A divided government leads to difficulty enacting policy --> in the example above, the Senate could block policy proposals by Democrats
Have parties become weaker, stronger, or has there been no change? HOW DO YOU KNOW?
Parties are becoming weaker!!!!!
1968 --> Humphrey's nomination
More people are identifying as independents
Describe how money can influence an election.
Money = influence
If you have more money, you have more influence!
Caucus - you gather with your community to debate, discuss and physically move around to show support for a candidate
What is political ideology?
Political beliefs and values
Why are third parties unlikely to win seats in elections?
The single member district system (winner-take-all) makes it so the candidate with the most votes wins - there is no seats for second, third, or fourth place.
What is the political cartoon trying to explain? What has been a result of this?
The cartoon is describing out constant appetite for news
This has allowed for 24-hour news shows on Fox, CNN, and MSNBC to appear, as well as operating a larger online presence
True or False: Corporations are not considered to be people so they do not have the ability to exercise their 1st Amendment right to donate as they wish.
FALSE! Corporations are considered to be people, and people have the 1st Amendment right to donate as they wish; therefore, corporations are people too and can donate to campaigns. --> Citizens United v. FEC
What characteristics could describe people who participate in primaries and caucuses?
Affluent/wealthy
Activist/extremely engaged
Educated
Typically White
Older
What is an exit poll?
A poll that asks voters at randomly selected voting places whom they voted for so that election results can be predicted more quickly.
Here are the 2020 presidential results:
Mr. Campione (D) - 292 Electoral Votes - 48.2% of Popular Vote
Ms. Beckerman (R) - 243 Electoral Votes - 49.1 % of Popular Vote
Mr. Modelski (Green Party) - 3 Electoral Votes - 2.7% of Popular Vote
Who is the President-Elect?
Mr. Campione - He won more than 270 electoral votes to win
Name at least 2 roles the media plays as a linkage institution.
Watchdog
Agenda Setter
Gatekeeper
Name two barriers to voting.
Difficult registration process
Long-lines at the poll
Voting on a Tuesday
Strict ID laws
Why are Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina meaningful to candidates during the primaries?
They are the first 4 states to hold a primary - their vote is consequential if candidates can viably continue on in the primary?
(Think of it like this, in baseball, there are 162 games in a season. If a team loses the first two games, the team is okay. Whereas if a candidate loses the first two primaries, their campaign is likely over.)
What is one platform policy of the Democratic and Republican parties?
Democratic: federal regulations; progressive tax policies; environmentalism; restrict gun access; reproductive rights; racial and economic equality
Republican: less government regulations; lower taxes to increase economic output; individualism; religious freedom
Out of these four states, which of the follow states would an individual's vote likely have more influence?
New Hampshire
Ohio
Michigan
Texas
New Hampshire - the smaller the population, the more influential ones vote
What is the purpose of an interest group?
Seek to influence public policy about a certain interest
(NRA seeks to influence public policy on gun rights; Sierra Club seeks to influence public policy of environmental causes)
Which amendment prohibits the denial of voting based on race?
15th
Why do some states want to vote earlier in the primary elections?
It allows their state to have more voice and influence in the nomination process
What must a poll be in order for it to be considered reliable?
Randomly sampled
(I'd also take include Margin of Error/Sampling Error)