Unit 5 frq

Contrast the 2012 Democratic Platform with the Republican Party Platform in four policy areas.

-Democrats in support of National Health Care system (Obamacare), Republicans in support of privatized Health Care -Democrats believe immigration reform should be in helping undocumented citizens get on a path towards citizenship, Republicans in support of securing the Nation's borders -Democrats support the right to choose and provide funding for abortion, Republicans abhor federal funding of abortion -Democrats believe in raising taxes on the more wealthy citizens to redistribute wealth, Republicans believe in lowering corporate tax rates and decreasing government spending

List and discuss two arguments in defense of the Electoral College.

1. Lets minority opinions be heard through those electoral votes and gets minority groups more interested in government if they have a say 2. Provides distribution of popular vote and a sense of cohesiveness to the country because without electoral votes, large metropolitan areas would dominate the vote leaving small areas without much of a say

Explain four arguments that support the usefulness of political parties in modern American politics.

1. Mediating and moderating institution- in order to win votes from the populace, parties usually have to tame extreme forces within their party 2. Brings unity within Congress--between the House and the Senate--and within the three levels of government (National, state, and local), common goals→ working together 3. Filter information- affiliation is a cue for voters, especially those who are ignorant of or too busy to keep up to date, provides voters with (biased) information about issues 4. Facilitate primaries and caucuses

Explain three reasons for the 20th century decline in the strength of political parties.

1. Party purists sometimes won't compromise on issues 2. Direct primaries→ less reliance on party for nominations, and more on the people, candidates must be loyal to the people, not the party... less party control over nominations→ loss control of elected officials 3. Civil service laws removed patronage/spoils system (Pendleton Act) → less incentive to support a certain party

Explain two modern day criticisms of political parties and their role in American politics.

1. Politics nowadays focus directly on the candidate and his/her particular issues, rather than on the party as a whole 2. Too Much division/polarization; only the extremes, no middle ground

Discuss three alternative methods (reform ideas) of choosing the office of the President.

1. Popular vote: Have a national vote and whoever gets the majority wins 2. Congressional district method (Maine-Nebraska): Since electors are awarded to each state based on the number of House seats plus the number of Senate seats (always two), the congressional district method allocated one electoral vote to each congressional district. The winner of each district is awarded one electoral vote, and the winner of the state-wide vote is then awarded the state's remaining two electoral votes 3. Keep electoral college but eliminate electors: Preserve the college as a statistical electoral device, but removes all voting power from actual human electors→ eliminating threat of faithless electors

For each, identify how citizens in number of subgroups noted tend to vote.

1. Religion (3) Protestant or other Catholic - Conservative Catholic - Liberal(?) Jewish - Liberal 2. Gender (2) Male - Conservative Female - Liberal (especially if unmarried) 3. Age (1) 18 - 29 - Liberal or Older e.g 50+ - conservative 4. Region (2) South - Conservative Northwest - Liberal 5. Education (2) No High School Diploma - Liberal Postgraduate study - Liberal 6. Race/ ethnicity (3) White - Conservative Black - Liberal Hispanic/Latino - Liberal

Identify and explain four amendments to the U.S. Constitution and two pieces of legislation adopted by the U.S. Congress that have expanded voting rights in the United States.

15th amendment - prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on race 19th amendment - granted women the right to vote/ prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on sex 24th- citizens of the U.S. cannot be denied the right to vote (for president, vice president, and members of Congress) by reason of failure to pay a poll tax, or some other form of tax 26th amendment - changes the voting age to 18 year olds

Minor parties make important contributions to the United States political system in spite of the institutional obstacles to their candidates' success. Describe two of these contributions.

Allow the opinions of more people, whose opinions may not be mirrored by the platforms of the two major parties (ex.- Reform Party regarding trade and NAFTA) Have a major party recognize and champion a particular issue that was previously unnoticed (ex.- Prohibition Party)

Identify four factors that contribute to the formation of political opinions in our society.

Family/Parents, Media, Current events/What is happening, Ethnicity/Race, Gender, Income, Religion

Identify three rules of the United States electoral system that acts as obstacles to minor party candidates winning elections and explain how each acts as an obstacle ** "rules of the electoral system" is more specific than obstacles to minor parties.

No proportional representation of Congress, there must be a 5% vote to receive federal funds for the next election, debate rules 15% in national polls in presidential contests (Im not really sure what this means. I may have misheard soccorsi and wrote down the wrong thing), state laws and ballot access, and major parties steal their ideas. Anna the 15% is the amount needed in a national poll in order to participate in the presidential debate. America's winner take all system. Meaning the winner with most votes gets the power unlike many other countries with proportional representation. These countries normally give seats to parties which manage to secure over 5% of the vote. This can be damaging to the traditional two parties in control by encouraging them to be extremely polarized in order to gain votes.

Explain three common proposals that might increase voter turnout.

Permit same-day registration on Election Day, so people are not required to register prior to then...Six states now permit same-day registration→ 10% higher turnout than in other states All U.S. citizens be registered automatically to vote at age 18 Eliminate the in-person requirement for absentee ballots

Define congressional reapportionment and explain why it is important to states.

Reapportionment: the reallocation of the number of seats in the House of Representatives, taking place after each decennial census -Reflects population shifts -Determines how many seats a state holds in the House→ determining its influence

Identify three forms of participation in the political process other than voting.

Campaign contributions (conventional) Letter writing (conventional) Protests (unconventional)

Civil Rights Act of 1964- outlawed arbitrary discrimination in voter registration and expedited voting rights lawsuits Voting Rights Act of 1965- designed to enforce 14th and 15th Amendments, prohibited discrimination in voting by banning literacy tests Despite the two above, voter turnout remains low in this country. Explain three reasons for this.

Difficulty to register- in the U.S., the registration process requires individual initiative, which is, comparably, a lot of time and effort...In other countries, citizens are automatically registered to vote Difficulty of absentee voting- many states require citizens to apply in person for absentee ballots, which is a burdensome requirement to vote absentee Weakened influence of political parties- candidate-centered campaigns and the growth of expansive party bureaucracies→ fewer people identifying themselves strongly

Explain the primary goal of politicians when they gerrymander.

Gerrymandering is when redistricting is done for political advantage which benefits the majority party in the state legislature by redrawing congressional districts to maximize its number of representatives that can be elected to Congress

Give the formula for the number of Electoral College votes each state receives

House of reps + senate + 3 electors from D.C (435+100+3+538)

Describe the point of view expressed about minor parties in the political cartoon above.

In the cartoon, Ralph Nader is standing at a lectern saying "We've got to put an end to our society's throw away mentality" , meanwhile, a woman is in the background putting a vote into a trash can labeled "Green Party Votes". The view point of this cartoon is that society needs change and by voting for a minor party, we are still being wasteful and expressing "throw away mentality".

Discuss three factors you would consider to determine the accuracy and validity of public opinion polls.

Is it an accurate sample and a good size? -Was the sample made up on just one race? one gender? or was it broad and an accurate sample 2. How are the questions phrased? is their biased or leading language? -Difference between saying something like "pro choice" versus "pro abortion" -Leading language = "Do you support President Bush's decision to send additional troops to Iraq?" versus "Do you support President Smith's decision to bring troops home from overseas?" 3. How/when were the interviews conducted? -The interviews could be conducted after a big event that favors one party over the other

List and discuss two modern day criticisms of the Electoral College.

Not fair for candidate who wins popular vote and who majority of people want but doesn't win electoral college. Possibility of electing a minority president. Distorts how candidates campaign because their goal is to reach 40 states (plus D.C)

Define congressional redistricting.

Redistricting: the redrawing of congressional districts done by state legislatures -Reflects increase or decrease in seats allotted to the states by reapportionment, and also reflects population shifts within a state

Citing cases, describe two positions that the United States Supreme Court has handed down on reapportionment and/ or redistricting.

Reynolds v. Simms: the SC said that state legislative districts had to be roughly equal in population, establishing the "one person, one vote" principle. They based this on the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment Baker v. Carr: Dealt with State Legislative districts. Overruling the status quo, the Court ruled that reapportionment/redistricting challenges were justiciable (could be heard by federal courts)

Define and name one advantage (or purpose) each of straw polls, push polls, tracking polls, and exit polls.

Straw polls: Unscientific surveys used to gauge public opinions on a variety of issues/policies -Serve as important precursors to caucuses as they influence delegates Tracking polls: continuous surveys, small in size, that enable a campaign to chats its daily rise and fall in support -Quick, because it's daily Exit polls: polls conducted a selected polling places on Election Day, where people are asked who they voted for when they leave the booth -Quite accurate

Define public opinion

What the people thinks about a particular issue at any point in time

Define realignment, critical elections, and dealignment.

realignment - shifting of party coalition groupings dealignment - a decline in partisan identification and loyalty in the electorate critical elections - an election where a dramatic shift in the electorate occurs. For example the election of 1800, 1860, and 1932.

Identify two critical elections, identify the issue around which realignment occurred for each, and identify at least one group of people whose political allegiance changed for each.

the 1860 election with Lincoln. This election was the start of the Republican party... the 1932 election with FDR. The Democrats took control because of the Great Depression. The blame for the depression was on the Republicans and thats why there was realignment and people switched over to the Democratic party. Bonus-- the election of 1800.

Describe the winner take all feature of the Electoral College.

whichever candidate receives a majority of the popular vote, or a plurality of the popular vote (less than 50 percent but more than any other candidate), takes all of the state's Electoral votes. 48 states do this, all besides Nebraska and Maine.