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AP US Government and Politics Unit 5: Political Participation

12 questions

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Unit 5: Political Participation

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Question 1

Political parties in the United States have historically performed which of the following functions most consistently?

A.Writing and passing legislation directly, independent of elected officials' individual votesB.Recruiting and nominating candidates, mobilizing voters, and organizing government by structuring legislative leadership and committee assignmentsC.Providing a direct communication channel between individual voters and Supreme Court justicesD.Replacing interest groups as the primary vehicle for organized economic interests to influence policy

Question 2

A candidate for the Senate announces she will not accept any corporate PAC money and will rely entirely on small-dollar donations from individuals. Which structural challenge does this strategy face?

A.Federal law prohibits candidates from receiving individual donations under $200, making small-dollar fundraising illegalB.Small-dollar fundraising requires reaching a large number of donors, which demands digital infrastructure, name recognition, and ongoing engagement that established candidates have but challengers often lackC.The FEC requires candidates using small-dollar financing to spend the money within 30 days of receipt, making planning difficultD.Under Citizens United, refusing corporate PAC money means an opposing candidate's allied Super PAC cannot be legally regulated, giving opponents an unlimited spending advantage

Question 3

A lobbying firm represents a major pharmaceutical company before Congress on a bill regulating drug pricing. Which activity would be legal under current law?

A.Paying a senator $50,000 to vote against the drug pricing billB.Bundling employee contributions totaling $500,000 for a senator's reelection campaign while lobbying that senator on the billC.Providing a senator's staff with a detailed policy brief analyzing the bill's potential effects on drug innovationD.Hiring a retired senator to lobby her former colleagues immediately after she leaves office

Question 4

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) is significant in campaign finance law primarily because the Supreme Court held that:

A.Corporations and unions have the same First Amendment rights as natural persons and may spend unlimited amounts in independent political expendituresB.Political campaigns are required to disclose all donors, including those who give less than $200C.Individual donors may give unlimited amounts directly to campaigns provided the money is used only for advertisingD.The Federal Election Commission was abolished and replaced with a new nonpartisan campaign finance board

Question 5

Interest groups and political parties both attempt to influence government policy, but they differ in a fundamental way. Which statement best describes this difference?

A.Interest groups focus on electing candidates to office; parties focus on lobbying government officials after electionsB.Political parties seek to win government control by nominating and electing candidates; interest groups seek to influence policy without running candidates themselvesC.Parties represent only partisan voters; interest groups represent the full electorate regardless of party affiliationD.Interest groups are funded by the government; parties are entirely privately funded

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Question 6

The chart below shows voter turnout by demographic group in the 2020 presidential election.

Group	Turnout
Ages 18-29	50%
Ages 30-44	60%
Ages 45-64	70%
Ages 65+	76%
College degree	75%
No college degree	55%

Which conclusion is best supported by this data?

A.Young voters are more politically engaged than older voters based on social media activityB.Voter turnout increases with both age and educational attainment, with older and more-educated citizens voting at consistently higher ratesC.The majority of eligible young voters cast ballots in the 2020 presidential electionD.Educational attainment is the sole determinant of voting behavior, making age irrelevant once education is controlled

Question 7

The United States uses a single-member plurality ('first-past-the-post') electoral system for most federal offices. Which of the following is a predictable consequence of this system compared to proportional representation?

A.Third parties win seats in proportion to their share of the national voteB.Two major parties tend to dominate because candidates who cannot win a plurality in any single district win no representation at allC.Voters are more likely to vote for their sincere first choice since any vote above 50% is wastedD.Coalition governments are common because no single party can win a majority of seats in the House

Question 8

The media's agenda-setting function, as described by political scientists, refers to which phenomenon?

A.The media's ability to directly cause voters to change their party identification through sustained propagandaB.The media's power to influence which issues the public considers important by choosing which stories to cover prominentlyC.Political parties using media contacts to set the congressional legislative calendarD.Reporters developing editorial agendas that must be disclosed to readers under federal transparency law

Question 9

Shaw v. Reno (1993) raised the question of whether a congressional district could be challenged under the Equal Protection Clause based on its racially drawn shape. The Supreme Court ruled that:

A.States must draw majority-minority districts in all districts where minorities comprise more than 30% of the populationB.Bizarrely shaped districts drawn predominantly on racial lines are subject to strict scrutiny under the Equal Protection ClauseC.Race may never be considered in drawing district lines, even to remedy historical voting discriminationD.Majority-minority districts automatically satisfy the Voting Rights Act's requirements and may not be challenged

Question 10

The Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964) and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 both aimed at removing barriers to voting for Black Americans. Which barrier did the Twenty-Fourth Amendment specifically address?

A.Literacy tests administered by state election officials to determine voter qualificationB.Poll taxes — fees required to vote in federal elections — used in Southern states to disenfranchise poor Black votersC.Grandfather clauses that exempted white voters whose ancestors had voted from new registration requirementsD.Discriminatory drawing of district lines to dilute Black voting power in local elections

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Question 11

Which of the following best explains why voter turnout in the United States is lower than in most other developed democracies?

A.Americans are constitutionally prohibited from voting more than once per decadeB.Voter registration in the United States is largely the individual's responsibility, while most other democracies register citizens automaticallyC.The United States holds fewer elections than other democracies, reducing the habit of voting among citizensD.American elections are all held on national holidays, which most workers celebrate rather than use for civic participation

Question 12

Which of the following best explains the incumbency advantage in congressional elections?

A.The Constitution limits challengers from raising as much money as incumbentsB.Incumbents have higher name recognition, established fundraising networks, and can use official resources like franking privileges to communicate with constituentsC.Voters are legally required to vote for the incumbent unless the incumbent has been convicted of a crimeD.Gerrymandered districts are always drawn to favor incumbents of both parties, making districts safe for whoever currently holds them

AP US Government and Politics Unit 5: Political Participation — Free with Answer Explanations | Test Practice Hub