Act Part 2
Practice Questions-KEY
Name________________________________________ Block______________
These practice questions focus on different topics:
 The Role of Mass Media in Elections- Pg. 104
 Campaign Finance- Pg. 106
 The Electoral College- Pgs. 108-110
When done, SEE YOUR TEACHER TO CHECK YOUR ANSWERS
BEFORE THE TEST!!!!!!!!!!!!
Use page 104 in your notes:
1. What is mass media? A WAY TO COMMUNICATE TO LARGE AUDIENCE. EXAMPLES TV, RADIO,
INTERNET_.
2. Describe each role or job of mass media in elections in the table below.
Role of Mass Media
What does that mean?
Emphasize Selected Issues Media highlight or chooses which issues are important in the
upcoming election.
Identify Candidates
Media tells us who is running for office in elections.
Write Editorials, Op-Eds,
and Political Cartoons
Media publishes opinion based pieces about the election.
Broadcast Different Points Media presents information on BOTH candidates.
of View
3. What is an op-ed? ____An article that presents Opinions___.
4. An op-ed is based on __Opinions___ (facts, opinions).
5. FOX News broadcast debates between candidates running for office to make sure both
candidates can present their ideas on how to fix problems in our country. What role of
mass media is seen in this example?
___Broadcast Different Points of View____
6. During the 2012 election, all news channels were focusing on how to fix the economy.
What role of mass media is seen in this example? __Emphasizing Selected Issues__
7. What role of mass media can be seen in the example below? _Identifying Candidates__
Washington Times
“Democrats to announce Hillary Clinton as Candidate in
2016 Election”
Use pages 108-110 in your notebook:
8. What is the difference between an elector and the electorate? (Hint: The word with more letters also
has more people in it!)
a. What is an elector? ______member of the electoral college that votes for the President and
Vice-President______
b. What is the electorate? ___Voters (citizens who are registered to vote)______
9.
What is a slate? ____list of people’s names_____
Use pages 108 in your notebook:
10. The Electoral College is the group of people that actually elects the _____President_______and
_____Vice-President_______.
11. The people in the electoral college are called the __________________ (electors OR electorate).
12. The number of electors in each state is based on the number of people that state has in Congress. Let’s
see what you remember about Congress:
a. The Congress has two parts: The House of Representatives and the Senate.
b. In the House of Representatives, the number of representatives for each state is based on
____________________ (two per state OR state’s population).
c. In the Senate, the number of Senators for each state is based on ____________________ (two
per state OR state’s population).
13. In each state: # of electors = # of _____Senators______ + # of ___Representatives_____
14. Virginia has 13 people representing the state in Congress. That’s because:
a. Virginia has ____2____ Senators representing the state in the Senate.
b. Virginia has ___11___ Representatives representing the state in the House of Representatives.
c. Since Virginia has 13 people representing the state in Congress, how many electors would
Virginia get? ________13________
15. The number of each state’s electors is based on:
a. State’s budget
b. Each state receiving two electoral votes
c. State’s Congressional Representation
d. State’s square mileage
16)
Comparison of Nebraska and Ohio
State Name
State Square
Mileage
Number of Senators
Number of
Representatives
Montana
147,042 Square Miles
2
1
Illinois
57,914 Square Miles
2
18
Based on the table above, which state would have MORE electors? ______Illinois______. Why?
More congressional representation (Senators + representatives), since Illinois has 20 and Montana only has 3
17. Show us you know what half looks like! On the circle to the right, use your pen or pencil
and divide the circle in half.
1
2
18. Look at the circle from question 17. How many sections or parts of the circle are there now that you divided
the circle in half? __2 parts__
19. The Electoral College is just like the circle. In order to win the Electoral College you must win the
_____majority______, which means more than half of the votes.
20. Just like there will always be ___2_____ parts when you divide a circle in half, the electoral college will
always divide elections into a ______2____ party system.
21. The requirement for a majority vote to win the Electoral College favors a:
a. Political System
b. Third Party System
c. Legal System
d. Two Party System
Use pages 110 in your notebook:
22. The ______________ (popular vote OR electoral vote) is when electors in the Electoral College votes.
23. The _____________ (popular vote OR electoral vote) is when citizens vote on Election Day.
24. The _____________ (popular OR electoral) vote selects the President and Vice-President.
25. The _____________ (popular OR electoral) vote is when the electorate votes.
26.
Presidential Election Results
Presidential Candidates
Popular Votes
Electoral Votes
Republican Candidate
5,534,488
163
Democratic Candidate
5,443,892
272
Use the chart above to answer the following question:
Who was the winner of the Presidential Election? ____Democratic Candidate_____ Because ___________________
___________Democratic Candidate won more electoral votes and that’s what counts__________________
27. You made up a pneumonic device (memory trick) in class to remember the steps of the Electoral College Process
in order. Do you remember what your memory trick was?
P _____Pretty__________ S ________Snakes_________ E _____Eat_________ W___Watermelons________
28. Number the steps (#1, #2, #3, #4) of the Electoral College Process in the correct order:
_1___ Popular Vote is held
__4__ Candidate with the majority of electoral votes wins the election.
__2__ Slate of Electors is chosen based on popular vote
__3__ Electoral vote is held
29. Inside of each state, the winner-takes-all system is when the winner of the _____________ (popular vote OR
electoral vote) gets all of the ___________ (popular votes OR electoral votes).
30. In the 2012 Presidential Election, the popular vote results in Virginia were:
2012 Presidential Election: Popular Vote Results in Virginia
Barack Obama – 51%
Mitt Romney – 49%
Virginia has 13 electoral votes. Based on the winner-takes-all system…
a.
How many electoral votes did Romney get from Virginia in 2012? ___0________
b. How many electoral votes did Barack Obama get from Virginia in 2012? __13_________
31. Densely populated states have __________ (more OR less) electoral votes.
32. States with small populations have _______________ (more OR less) electoral votes.
33. True or False: Because of the winner-takes-all system, candidates target states with dense populations for
campaigning.
34. True or False: Because of the winner-takes-all system, candidates ignore states with small populations.
Use page 106 in your notes:
35.What does campaign mean? _____Running for Office________
36.What does finance mean? __Money____
37.Many politicians running for public office develop organizations that help them raise
money because the costs of elections are so high. What is the name of this type of
organization? ___Political Action Committees (PAC)_
38.The cost of campaigning has ___increased_ over time.
Use page 76 in your notes:
39.Below read the cause bubble, and then complete the blanks for the effects bubbles.
Cause
Effect
_LIMIT_ the opportunities for
candidates to run for office
Requires candidates to do
_Extensive Fundraising_.
High cost to run
for political office
_ENCOURAGES_ development of
Political Action Committees (PAC)
Gives an advantage to the
_WEALTHY_ who run for office.
Give issue-oriented special interest
groups _INCREASED_ influence.
Use page 76 in your notes:
40.
Which statement best completes the question mark in the graphic below?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Decreases the development of Political Action Committees (PAC)
Reduces the need for campaign finance laws
Allows more candidates to run for public office
Gives interest groups more influence over candidates
41.How did the government try to fix the HIGH cost of campaigning?
Limit the amount of money to no more than $5,000 that individuals could contribute
to campaigns.