Jonathan Zhang's AP U.S. Government Blog

1.  What was Mayor Pete's background before running for president? He was mayor of South Bend, Indiana. He was also the most successful openly gay candidate. 2. What was the high point of Mayor Pete's campaign for president? He won the Iowa caucus, which was historically a very important step for a winning Democratic nominee. 3. What progressive positions did he adopt in the early stages of this campaign? He wanted to abolish the electoral college by creating automatic voter registration and give statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. 4. When Buttigieg became more moderate, what two groups of voters did he struggle with? Competing in the moderate lane, he alienated the ideological left and black voters in general. 5. Why did his campaign struggle after Iowa and New Hampshire? When he encountered majority black electorates, he struggled to get any votes, which stumped his progress towards a majority delegate count. 6. What was Amy Klobuchar's background befor...

1. Who made up the "universe" or polling population of this particular poll? Bernie Sanders 2. If 25% of people say they are supporting Bernie Sanders and the sampling error is 4.8%, what is the actual range of Sanders's support? With quick maffs, I have arrived at 20.2 to 29.8 percent. 3. Using the margin of error, describe a possible scenario in which Sanders would not win, but still fits the polls data. Since Biden's range given with a 4.8% margin of error has some overlap with Bernie's, he could still win the state over Bernie. Polls are also really hard to judge accurately in Nevada. 4. What were the results found in earlier polls taken in Nevada this year? Previous polls such as the Sulffolk/USA Today/Fox News poll showed Biden winning. 5. What changes took place in Nevada's candidate selection after 2004? They went from going to primaries to caucuses and got moved earlier in the calendar. Also, due to this new change, previous caucus data is not ab...

1. What was Lt Colonol Alexander Vindman's job in the bureaucracy? He was director of European affairs at the National Security Council. He was detailed to the Defense Department after Trump's revenge. 2. What did Vindman testify during the impeachment investigation? Since Vindman listened to the phone call with Ukraine, he was able to testify that the contents of the call were inappropriate for the President. 3. What did the White House do to Vindman and his brother? Vindman was reassigned to Defense and his brother who was an NSC lawyer, was also reassigned. 4. How is the White House justifying this action? They are justifying the reassignments as shrinkage of the NSC staff. 5. Why does the author argue that this creates a danger for other civil servants? Now, officials will be less likely to speak out against Donald Trump due to his actions against Vindman after his acquittal. 6. What was Gordon Sondland's job in the Trump Administration?  Sondland was the amba...

1.What's the difference between Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the primary calendar? Phase 1 has the early 4 states that don't constitute many votes but dictate pace and the direction of the primary. Phase 2 is the shortest but half the delegates will be locked down. 2. Which four states get to vote first, separated roughly into one each week? Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina 3. There are few delegates available in these four states, why are the primaries so important? Since these are the first states, but not necessarily the most important, it can show how much support a candidate really has, and whether a candidate has the potential to win or will potentially drop out of the race. The results of the early caucuses are predictors. 4. How many delegates are available in Phase 2? 33% 5. Which regions are holding most of their primaries on Super Tuesday? California, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Col...

1. The seven most recent polls they looked at measured opinion about last weekend (Those covering Jan 19 in the polling dates).  How many showed more support for removing Trump than opposition for removing Trump?  All of them slightly favored removal, with a wide range of margins (1 to 12 percent). 2. Which of these 7 polls found the most support for removing Trump? Which found the most opposition to removing Trump? The FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll had a 12% net gain on support for removal. Monmouth and The Economist/YouGov only had a 1% net gain on support for removal. Gallup had a 5% net gain on opposition, but it is not within the 7 most recent polls. 3. In FiveThirtyEight's polling average, what percentage of Democrats support removing Trump from office? What percentage of Republicans support removing Trump from office? 83.9% of Democrats and 8.4% of Republicans. 4. What difference did the most recent Monmouth University poll find in the people who say they support removi...

1. What issue is at the center of both the  Trinity Lutheran  and  Espinoza  cases? The majority opinion must be crafted carefully, as to not give any side of the case too much power, such as the state being able to ban funding to religious schools or religious schools requiring funding from the state. 2. How does Justice Kagan argue that banning ALL funding to religious institutions would be ridiculous? Without funding for religious institutions, they would also not have access to common public resources, such as the fire department and police, which is absurd. Therefore, a complete cutoff of access is not reasonable or safe for the public. 3. What choice do the plaintiffs argue that these bans force on students? The students must choose between going to school that reflects their religious beliefs or going to school with access to resources from thousands of dollars of federal funding. 4. According to the Census, what's the average amount that states spend on ...

1. Why was General Soleimani an important target for the airstrike? The U.S. wanted to prevent further bloodshed by the Iranians by taking out a key military leader.  Soleimani was already at the forefront of hundreds of American deaths. 2. How did the Department of Defense (the Pentagon) justify this attack? The attack was stated to be defensive and meant to counter further attacks from the Iranians. 3. How have Iran's leaders responded to the US attack? The supreme leader stated that revenge awaits those who killed Soleimani.  4. How has President Trump responded to Iran's promises of "revenge"? Trump promises retaliation by attacking 52 Iranian sites.  5. Why have some said that Trump's response would be considered a war crime? Targeting cultural sites, which he said would happen in his tweet as retaliation, would be a war crime. 6. What impact has this attack on Iran's leadership had on normal Iranian people? Normal Iranians saw Soleimani as a hero...

1. In changing environmental policy, how much bureaucratic regulation has the Trump Administration reduced? Trump has aimed to rollback environmental regulation. Currently, 53 separate rules have been rolled back and 32 are in the process. 2. How has the Trump Administration changed America's approach to resource extraction? The U.S. has started to become an oil/petroleum producer instead of an importer. Natural gas output is also at a record high. Natural resource extraction is on the rise and has been largely successful. 3. What changes has the Trump Administration made to the Medicaid program? Trump has allowed states to have work requirements for Medicaid. 4. What has been the result of these changes? Uninsurance rate has risen and implementation of Obamacare has fell in strength. People are having less access to reliable healthcare. 5. What policy changed has caused the biggest changes in the federal deficit? TCJA (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017). The deficit actually ...

1. How much has Trump spent advertising on Facebook about the impeachment process? $1.6 million 2. Which voters is he targeting his ads towards? He is targeting his voter base instead of the deciding votes. He wants to assure them that the impeachment is a plot by the Democrats, not a nonpartisan political process. 3. What are the ads about? They build the conspiracy instead of addressing the actual issues of impeachment. These ads are meant to keep voters from switching sides and rile them up against Democrats. 4. How much did political groups spend on advertising on Facebook in the 2018 elections? $284 million 5. What percentage of Trump's advertising is about the impeachment? 30% 6. What age groups is Trump targeting with this advertising? 90% aimed at >35 year olds 30% of that 90% aimed at 65+ 7. Where is Trump avoiding using these ads? He isn't focusing on the states that won him the 2016 election. This allows him to test what ads are th...

​1. What changed about Virginia's government in last week's elections? The Democrats now control the House and Senate in Virginia's state legislature. They want to become the last state needed to ratify the ERA. 2. What would the Equal Rights Amendment proposed in 1972 do? It would give equal rights to everyone regardless of sex. Congress can pass legislation to enforce the legislation, and it would take effect two years after ratification. 3. How many states ratified the amendment when it was originally proposed?  What states have ratified it recently? 22 states ratified within first year, and 35 states initially ratified it during the first attempt to pass the ERA. 2 other states, Nevada and Illinois, ratified it in 2017 and 2018, respectively.  4. According to the constitution, why is it necessary to have a 38th state ratify the amendment? 3/4 majority has to be reached in the 50 state legislatures to ratify an amendment, so that is why the 38th state is crucial to c...

1. Why is the Liberty and Justice Celebration dinner important to candidates? It is the largest gathering of Iowa voters and represents a chance to change the voters' opinions before the Iowa caucus. Undecided voters can be swayed. 2. What percentage of voters still consider themselves undecided?  What percentage of voters are currently certain of their choice in candidates? 29% are undecided. 20% are certain. This leaves lots of rooms for candidates to get support. 3. Which candidates are seeing an increase in support? Which candidates are seeing a decrease in support? Buttigieg was able to gather lots of support and has the third position in the polls. Biden was supposed to be the frontrunner but is now fourth. Bernie and Biden aren't doing as well as Buttigieg and Warren. 4. What message does Pete Buttigieg use to try to stand out to voters? Buttigieg wishes to contrast himself with Warren as a centrist and Obama supporter. He rides Obama's coattails and wants to ach...

1.  After the impeachment process, how did Clinton's relationship with the public and his party change? His own party actually ended up backing him because many viewed his impeachment as a partisan move to depose a political opponent. The public didn't feel like the impeachment was warranted either since they were not directly affected by Clinton's affair. 2. What are differences between the investigations that led to the Clinton impeachment and the potential Trump impeachment? The grounds for Clinton's impeachment were solely found in the Starr report. However, there is a live case being built against Trump, which makes it so that not a single piece of evidence would be an impeachable offense, but a general case against the president would decide the outcome. 3. What trends in public opinion about impeachment occurred in the lead up to the formal announcement of impeachment by the House against President Clinton? When initial talks of impeachment were taking place,...

1. What is the most basic finding of the polls that have been released in the last week? There has been elevated support for impeachment, but the results are not strong enough to show that the population as a whole wants Trump impeached. 2. What did YouGov and the Economist find that most Americans feel about the president's actions? Although impeachment is not favored by a majority, the majority do think that Trump has done wrongdoing in colluding with Ukraine. 3. What did that same poll find about American attitudes toward the president if he withheld funding to the Ukraine? 62% believed it was out of order to withhold aid for the reasons the President stated in the calls (the political favors). 4. What change in attitudes did the Quinnipiac poll find? After the Mueller report, people definitely believed that Trump did something wrong, but only 29% wanted to actually impeach him. Now, that number went up 5%. 5. What is important about the time frame in which the poll was cond...

1. What is Nancy Pelosi's role in Congress? She is the Speaker of the House, which is in line for the presidency after the VP and is the head of the HOR. 2. What is President Trump alleged to have done? Trump is alleged to have tried to have Ukraine interfere in the 2020 presidential election (he was said to have been communicating with a foreign leader). 3. What is Nancy Pelosi's goal, since she does not want to impeach the president? She wants to more clearly define why a President should be impeached. In this case, she wants impeachment if any President is doing any wrongdoing. She wants this to apply to future presidents mainly. 4. What does Pelosi say has harmed Congress's ability to investigate the Executive Branch? The Senate is controlled by the Republicans, which block legislation that limits the President. Also, the President has been noncooperative with information and has flaunted their "executive privilege."  5. How did the Director of National In...

1. How much of the House must agree to impeach a judge? How much of the Senate must agree to remove a judge? A majority of the House must decide to impeach, while 2/3 of the Senate can convict the official. 2. Has this process ever been used before for the Supreme Court?  How many times?  Yes, it can apply to SCOTUS officials. 13 judges have been impeached, while 8 have been removed from their positions. 3. Where in the Constitution does it set up the impeachment process? Article II, Section 4 (Executive Branch article) 4. What are the reasons for the impeachments of the 5 most recent judicial impeachments? clear, criminal wrongdoing (falsifying income tax returns, bribes and perjury) 5. Why does the current makeup of the Senate make it unlikely that Supreme Court justices Kavanaugh or Thomas would be removed if impeached today? Both of these officials have massive support in the Senate, so it is hard for them to actually become removed from office unless ...

1. What was the Iowa Democratic Party's plan for changes to this year's Iowa Caucus? They wanted to use a phone system for tele-caucusing, as well as still having the physical caucus. 2. Why has the Democratic National Committee decided to recommend rejecting these plans? They believe that the virtual caucus can be hacked. Politicians and committee members alike were averse to this idea and rejected it due to the lack of security that the DNC could guarantee. 3. Why had the Iowa Democratic Party recommended these changes? The Iowa Democratic Party had received complaints in the past that voters who were not able to attend the caucus were disadvantaged. The DNC wanted them to make it more accessible (without specifying how). 4. Why is it so important that Iowa is the first contest?  How do they influence the nomination process? The first caucuses reveal the stronger candidates, and weaker candidates are set on the backburner. Usually, candidates are eliminated from pos...

1. How much of the US population lives in a state or district with access to legal marijuana? More than 25% 2. Where in the US were the first places to make marijuana fully legal? Colorado and Washington 3. In the states where marijuana is legal, what differences might there be state to state?  And how are Vermont and DC different? Different limits on the amount of cannabis a person can have or the amount a foreigner can have. DC and Vermont both don't allow sales, but DC allows "gifting" of marijuana products (such as decals and juices) 4. What is the difference between marijuana legalization and marijuana decriminalization? Legalization removes all regulations on marijuana which permits growing and selling, while decriminalization allows for possession of small amounts without any jail time or major fines. 5. Why does the ACLU argue that marijuana prohibition is bad for the government? Marijuana possession uses a lot of police resources in terms of arresting an...

The Koch brothers outlined their political goals in line with their business interests. They opposed environmental and business regulations because those went against they business of oil refining. Through their wealth, the Koch brothers funded liberal organizations and later on just Republicans. Now, they funnel millions of dollars into the Republican party and are a major proponent in campaign politics. The Koch brothers' father Fred C. Koch owned an oil refinery company, which was transferred to Charles Koch when Fred was unable to manage it due to health issues. The company skyrocketed in terms of value and success and that made the Koch family wealthy. David Koch initially was a VP candidate for the third-party libertarian campaign, but later decided to support Republicans since third parties were viewed as insignificant by him. When Obama became president as a Democrat, he tried to pass bills that would negatively impact the Koch business by reducing the carbon footprint ...

This is where I will do my Rakestraw assignments super early because I am a super student. OH YEAH!