Thomas Farrell

AP Gov

Chapter 1:
1. Example
2.
 Mitt Romney had a strong first presidential debate, in which after some polls Mitt
Romney was winning.
 The margin of Barack Obama’s victory was only 3.85%
 Barack Obama was in a weaker position in 2012 than in 2008, as he lost a large
amount of vote share.
3.
 There was no primary challenge to Obama, keeping him popular amongst democrats
 There was no major third party in 2012, and the biggest one there was, the Libertarian
Party, only drained votes from Mitt Romney.
 The Democrats had only been in office for one term in 2008, meaning there was no
fatigue of staying with the same party.
 Despite the poor economy, Obama had some arguments in his favor. The economy
wasn’t in recession, and the main cause of the recession was his predecessor, George
W. Bush, and there was evidence of the economy improving.
4.
 There is a growing parallel between geography and party support. Very few states had
a close race.
 More state elections are decided by landslide as opposed to small margins of victory.
 There is less swing in parties by the states as well, with most, if not all, states staying
with predominantly one party.
 Geography appears to be the key to winning presidency. The GOP looks to be safe,
with all states Mitt Romney won (except North Carolina) was by a margin of over
7.5.
 The same can also be said for the Democrats, with an equally secure geographic base.
 Demographics are also changing. Most demographics that increased were on the
Democratic side, while most that decreased were on the Republican side.
 There’s an asymmetry in the electoral support, which is generated by the parties’
positions on the expanding government. Democrats believe in a bigger government,
which does well to constitute electoral votes. Republicans believe in a smaller
government, which is harder to create a specific clientele group.
Chapter 2:
1.
 There was a large stimulus of almost $1 billion, going towards various programs to
assist with the recession. Republicans and much of the country were against it, and
many considered the money to be poorly spent. The Democrats were for it
 The Health Care Bill known as “Obamacare”, which would extend health car to many
and increase the size of the federal government, was very polarizing. Many
Democrats heavily supported it, while Republicans were very against it.
  The high unemployment rate and slow economy were big issues as well. With both
Republicans and Democrats blaming each other. Obama stressed that it was
improving, though slowly. Republicans stressed that they could improve it faster and
that Obama was going too slowly.
2.
 Obama won most first time voters, but only 50% of previous voters.
 49 house Democrats had come from districts McCain had won.
 Republicans had won overall, with a gain of 63 house seats, 6 seats in the senate,
almost 700 state legislative seats, and 6 governships.
 Republicans were more motivated.
3.
 He repealed the bill that kept openly gay and lesbian troops out of the armed forces.
 He passed an arms-control treaty with Russia.
 The Seals succeeded in assassinating Bin Laden.
 He openly approved same-sex relationship.
 He postponed the keystone pipeline, improving his relationship with
environmentalists.
 Employers were also made to provide coverage for abortion, no matter their religious
or moral views. This made him more likeable amongst many women.
Chapter 3:
1.
 He had supported abortion and same-sex marriage in the past.
 Obamacare was reminiscent of an act he passed while he was governor in
Massachusetts.
 He had only gotten the nomination after others had stumbled.
2.
 The RNC forbid winner-take-all primaries before April 1. If a state violated this they
would forfeit half of their delegates.
 It would now take longer to get a majority.
 Winner-take-all primaries didn’t work as intended. District delegates could still be
allocated if they held primaries before April 1st.
 The independent-expenditure-only political action committee, or super PAC involved
2 different types of “PAC’s. Regular PAC’s would receive contributions and give to
candidates under strict limits. A super PAC could accept unlimited contributions and
make unlimited expenditures, provided they don’t directly coordinate with candidates
 This ban on coordination affected the types of ads that super PACs ran, as candidates
could not speak directly for themselves or provide super PACs with texts of their
speeches or statements.
 This made it easier to run attacks against the opposition, than ads for their preferred
candidate.
 It guaranteed lots of attack ads, giving the super PACs a big role.
3.