Unit: Elections & Political Parties

OverviewOn these slides, you will find recaps of the

activities we did and the stuff we have been learning about in this unit.

I’ve tried to set it up so that there are questions on some slides and the answers on the following slides. Thus, you could make flashcards out of the PowerPoint slides if you wanted to!

Lesson 1

Lesson 1 RecapWe talked about political parties for 2 daysActivities:

Went to the corner of the classroom that represented the political party we felt tied to

Took an political issues quizNotes, notes, and dance moves!CNN news article reading- Obama & job planRed Hot/Cool as IceVenn Diagram- Democrats & RepublicansParty People

Key questionsWhat are the functions of political parties?

Answer:Political parties:

Recruit and nominate candidates (meaning, they go out and find people to run for office under their party name)

Educating the electorate (voters) about campaign issues (political parties can publish pamphlets or use their websites to tell people about issues like gun control)

Helping candidates win elections (Democrats help out other Democrats and same for Republicans)

Monitoring actions of officeholders (both political parties keep an eye out for the other party in office)

Key questionsWhat are the similarities between political

parties?

Answer:Political parties:

Organize to win electionsinfluence public policies (meaning, when they

get elected, they can pass the laws they want)reflect both liberal and conservative views

(please remember my awesome dance move)define themselves in a way that wins majority

support by appealing to the political center (meaning, neither Democrats nor Republicans will side with the extreme end of an issue- you can’t get any votes that way!)

Key questionsWhat are some of the different stances on

issues between Democrats and Republicans, and where are these differences stated?

Answer:The differences are stated in the party’s

platform.The two parties differ in their views on:

Gun controlMarriageTaxesRole of govt in people’s livesPrayer in school

You don’t need to knowWHO generally votes for each party

Those patterns (like men vote for Republicans) change all of the time and vary person-to-person.

Key questionsWhat are third parties, and what role do they

play in elections?

Answer:Third parties are minor parties in the 2-party

systemThey can introduce new ideas and can press

for a particular issueThey can revolve around a political

personalityExample: Theodore Roosevelt and the

Progressive Party in the early 1900s.

Lesson 2

Lesson 2 RecapWe talked about campaign financing for 1

day.Activities we did:

Notes, of course!A reading on campaign financing- Is it all about

the Benjamin’s?And special guest, Harry Potter!

Harry & his friends ran for office and tried to get money. We watched how Ron had to sell his soul to overcome the fact that he was not independently wealthy.

Lesson 2- Main point“Rising campaign costs” was a phrase used

frequently in this class. Basically, campaigns get more and more expensive every year. This fact has a lot of consequences.

Key questionsWhat are some of the effects of rising

campaign costs?

Answer:require candidates to conduct extensive fund-raising

activities (meaning, candidates have to spend a lot of time figuring out how they are going to get money)

limit opportunities to run for public office (meaning, if you don’t have a lot of money, you probably will not run for office)

give an advantage to wealthy individuals who run for office

encourage the development of political action committees (PACs) (these groups give money to candidates)

give issue-oriented special interest groups increased influence (meaning, they can have an influence on policy because they are giving money to political candidates and EXPECT something in return).

Key questionsWhat are some of the ways that the

government has tried to fix the problem of rising campaign costs?

Answer:Campaign finance reform laws have been

passedLimits have been placed on how much money

people can give to political candidates.

Lesson 3

Lesson 3 RecapIn class, we learned how you cannot take all

political campaign information to be the truth. You have to do some of your own critical thinking. We learned about strategies you can use when trying to find accuracy in campaign materials.

Activities we did in class:Fact or OpinionTaylor Swift/ Joe Jonas BiasWWII propaganda2008 Campaign Ads (www.livingroomcandidate.org)

Key questionsHow would you define these words?

OpinionBiasEvaluatePropaganda

AnswerOpinion- a statement about how you think or

feelBias- favoritismEvaluate- to find the importance ofPropaganda- something that tries to sway you

to one side or the other

Key questionsWhat are the strategies you should use when

looking at campaign materials and trying to see what about the item is accurate?

Answer:Separate fact from opinionDetect any biases present- everyone has

bias (including Ms. Mitchem), but is the bias there going to affect accuracy?

Evaluate the source- where is the material coming from or who made it?

Identify any propaganda- is anything trying to sway you to think one way or the other?

Lesson 4

Lesson 4 RecapIn class we learned about the role the media

plays in the political process (or campaigns). We did a case study in which we saw how one politician, Sarah Palin, was negatively affected by the media’s role in influencing the public’s opinion.

Activities:3 Little PigsSarah Palin interview with Katie CouricIntroduced Op-Ed writing activity

Key questionsHow would you define mass media?

Answer:Mass media:

Any sort of communication to a large audienceExamples: radio, TV, internet

Key questionsWhat role does the media play in the political

process?

Answer:The media:

Identifies political candidates (how else would we know who was running if it wasn’t for the newspapers, internet, and tv?)

Emphasizes selected issues (remember how Sarah Palin’s remark about Russia was only about 30 seconds long but the focus of the media for weeks?)

Write editorials, create political cartoons, and publish op-ed pieces (all of these things can influence how voters and citizens think about politicians)

Broadcasts different points of view as a whole (so you could watch CNN and get a more liberal version of news and Fox to see the conservative side)

Lesson 5

Lesson 5 RecapIn class we learned about the requirements

to vote in the state of Virginia, how to register to vote, and who votes and who doesn’t vote.

ActivitiesFinished up our Op-EdsNotes to understand Virginia VoterSo True/ So False & Agree/Disagree

Key questionsWhat are the requirements to register to vote

in the state of Virginia?

Answer:Be at least 18 years of age on the day of the

general (or presidential) electionReside (live) in Virginia and precinctBe a U.S. citizen (remember, legal and illegal

aliens do not have the opportunity to vote)

Key questionsHow can you register to vote in Virginia?

Answers:In-person at the registrar’s office, the

Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), or another designated location (your high school might let you register to vote there!)

By mail-in application

**Remember you have until 22 days before elections to register!

Key questionsWhat are some of the key factors that show

who is more likely to vote?

Answers:EducationAge Income

GENERALLY SPEAKING, the more you have of all of these things, the more likely you are to vote.The more educated you are, the more likely you are to vote.Older people are more likely to vote.The more money you make, the more likely you are to vote.

Key questionsWhat are some of the reasons why people

don’t vote?

Answer:People didn’t register to votePeople are not interested in voting

Maybe they don’t like the candidates or don’t care about politics at all

Key questionIn what type of election are people more

likely to vote?

Answer:General (meaning= presidential) elections

Less people come out to vote for state and local elections

Lesson 6

Lesson 6 RecapIn class we learned about the electoral college,

what it is (it’s NOT a 4-year university you attend after Albemarle High School) and how it works.

Activities we did in class:Awesome electoral college activity (I would

elaborate, but I’m putting these slides online before we do this activity in class- don’t want to ruin the surprise!)

Notes, notes, notesEC practice

Key questionsWhat does the electoral college process look

like?

Answer:A slate of electors for each state is

chosen by popular vote (meaning, you actually vote for an elector instead of the candidate)

Most states have a winner-take-all system (meaning, whichever candidate the popular vote was for, all the electors will cast their vote for that candidate)

The electors meet to vote for president and vice president.

Key questionsWhat is an effect of the winner-take-all

system?

Answer:The winner-take-all system leads to the

targeting of densely populated states for campaigning (meaning, candidates go to the states with the most people like California or New York), although candidates must pay attention to less populated states whose electoral votes may make the difference in tight elections (these states are known as “swing states”).

Key questionsHow many electors does each state have?

AnswerIt is different for every stateThe number of electors of each state is based

on the size of the state’s Congressional representation, which is based on the state’s population.Virginia has 13 electors (we have 11 members

in the House of Representatives and 2 in the Senate)

Key questionsHow many votes do you need to get in the

electoral college to win?

Answer:You need a majority to win (specifically, 270

votes out of 538).This sort of set-up favors the two-party

system.

THE END!!Good luck studying!Remember to ask me any questions before

school, after school, during study hall, or through the Rocks Box.

Get the Review slides sheet signed and bring it into class for extra credit!!