AP Government
Chapters 10 and 11 Study Guide
Chapter 10: Voting and Elections
1. Identify and be able to explain three forms of political participation aside from voting. Create a
real world or hypothetic example for each.
2. Consider the various expansions of suffrage (the franchise or enfranchisement) from American
history. Be able to explain any of the seven (7) that your textbook identifies, and give a
hypothetical example of how each changed American democracy in the process. For each of the
suffrage expansions affected by a Constitutional Amendment, be able to site the correct
amendment and explain the various historical efforts, campaigns or circumstances that brought
it about (you will need to look beyond your textbook for this).
3. Be able to explain and distinguish between recall, referendum, and initiative. Likewise be able
to give a real or hypothetical example of each and explain how and why these measures
represented a “progressive reform.”
a. EXTRA CREDIT: 1) None of these reforms have ever been enacted in North Carolina.
Find out why. 2) There is a referendum (ballot measure) on our November ballot. Is this
really a referendum? What is it about, and what it is doing there?
4. Your book indicates nine (9) reasons for low voter turnout. Be able to explain each of them and
then be able to rank them from “most significant” to “least significant” explanation for low
turnout. You must be able to justifiy, with evidence and argument, your ranking by explaining
your selection of the two most significant, and the two least significant. Also, craft a
hypothetical solution the fix or correct any of these barriers that you choose.
a. EXTRA CREDIT: In a short paragraph, explain the concept of political efficacy and craft
an original solution to enhance the political efficacy of someone who would be likely to
have a low sense of political efficacy. You make use real or hypothetical examples.
5. Your book cited ten (ten) factors that affect the likelihood that someone will vote (participate).
Be able to explain how any of these factors affect voter participation. Also be able to explain
why the top three factors indicated are generally considered to be the most important factors
(strongest predictors of voter participation).
6. Be able to distinguish between the various types of primaries (multi-candidate balloting
processes) that we learned about in class. Be able to explain how these could produce different
outcomes (even give the same voting pool), and offer some explanations for why one method is
preferred over others in a given state or locality (what interests and priorities drive these
decisions?).
7. In the presidential primary process, explain the key differences in process and potential
outcome between a caucus (like in Iowa) and a presidential preference primary (like in New
Hampshire). Do these different systems make for different types of campaigns? How so?
a. EXTRA CREDIT: Who gets to decide how the primary process works state-by-state, and
when they occur? Should it be done this way? Why or why not? Are there some
problems or conflicts of interest inherent in the way these decisions are made?
8. Your book indicated five (5) different types of elections that affect or shape party alignments on
p. 122. Be able to explain and distinguish between them. Find and be able to fully explain
some historical examples for at least three of them.
9. Be able to explain four (4) key principles of campaign finance reform in American history (from
lecture). Also be able to explain how those principles were shaped or influenced by the
Watergate Scandal and by Buckley v. Valeo (1976). (Don’t fret, we will be doing a much more indepth study of campaign finance in the next unit).
a. EXTRA CREDIT: Until 2011, we had public financing for state judicial races in North
Carolina. Look into this and explain how this system worked, and why it was instituted.
Then be able to explain why it was abandoned in 2011.
Chapter 11: Interest Groups and Mass Media
1. Your book describes four (4) functions of interest groups. Be able to explain each and give
hypothetical examples using actual interest groups.
2. Your book describes four distinct strategies of interest groups. Be able to explain each of them
and how they can be used in concert to accomplish the aims of an interest group.
3. Consider the various efforts to regulate interest groups since 1946. Why is it necessary to
regulate interest groups? What harm could their activities possibly produce?
4. Consider the various roles of the media indicated on p. 132. Which of these roles has been
adversely affected or even neutralized by changes to the media landscape since the 1990s.
5. Be able to explain the three permissible ways that government may regulate media. In doing so,
be sure to include elements from my lecture on the “fairness doctrine” and “equal time
doctrine,” significant FCC regulatory changes since the 1930s, and key SCOTUS precedents
bearing on the regulation of broadcast political content.
6. Your book makes a big deal out of how the President interacts with the media. In some cases, a
savvy White House can even manipulate the media in order to control or “spin” a particular
message or issue, to influence the focus of a given news cycle, or simply to influence public
perceptions in a favorable manner. Your book gives nine (9) examples of ways that journalists
receive official and unofficial information from the White House. Identify those ways that are
most likely to be manipulated or abused by a savvy White House, and be able to explain a real
example of this manipulation in action from either the George W. Bush or Obama
administrations.
a. EXTRA CREDIT: Is there a way to prevent these kinds of biased, manipulated, or
distorted media management techniques? Should we be concerned? Why? What are
the negative consequences of these practices? Who cares?