AP US Government : Political Parties
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Example Questions
Example Question #61 : Political Parties
A _____________ is a more localized gathering that requires active participation by the attendees who often express their support for a candidate through debate and other more “town-hall” methods.
Primary
None of the answers are correct
Caucus
Delegation
Convention
Caucus
This is a straightforward vocab question. Caucus is the correct answer. Remember: caucuses are relatively active events, where participants will debate, express support, and even sometimes physically move (as in to one side of the room or another) to show which candidate they think is worthy. Caucuses were once the most popular way of picking a presidential nominee, however, states that use the caucus now are in the minority.
Example Question #2 : Campaigning And Financial Implications
Which of these mechanisms is currently legally allowed to be incorporated and/or utilized as part of the modern political process?
Party machines
Soft money
Closed primaries
Overt patronage
Closed primaries
Closed primaries– where only those voters who have registered beforehand as party members are permitted to vote – are legally allowed as part of the political process. While many more states choose to host open primaries, which allow any citizen (unregistered included) to partake, closed primaries remain a valuable tool that some parties continue to employ. Party machines, however, with their infamous fondness for dispensing overt patronage to those citizens who demonstrate loyalty but not necessarily ability, have been done away with by a series of new regulations put in place after the turn of the twentieth century. Soft money (funds stored aside by the party leadership to later distribute freely to candidates) has been more recently banned, as part of modern efforts to reduce corrupt party practices.
Example Question #1 : Advantages And Disadvantages Of Political Parties
The Era of Good Feelings, in the early nineteenth century, is so called because __________.
of the overwhelming economic growth achieved by the nation
each President was extremely popular and hugely successful
the laws of the country were solidified around the protection of human rights
there was only one political party and thus no political discord or animosity
the nation was emerging from two successful wars against the British Empire
there was only one political party and thus no political discord or animosity
The Era of Good Feelings lasted from 1816 until 1824. It is called the Era of Good Feelings because the Federalist Party had receded from the national scene and the Democratic-Republicans, under President James Monroe, were the only Party in the political arena. The Era ended with the rise of Jacksonian Democrats and the Republican Party.
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