2015 AP United States Government and Politics: Free-Response Questions

The framers created the electoral college to elect the president of the United States. This system
influences the campaign strategies of presidential candidates.
(a) Describe one reason that the framers chose to use the electoral college as the method to elect
the president.

One reason that the framers chose to use the electoral college as the method to elect the
president was that the framers did not trust the common people to make the correct choice in
electing the president.
(b) Describe the message the cartoon above conveys about presidential elections.

The cartoon above is a rendition of the map of the US from presidential candidates points of
view. It conveys the idea that presidential candidates mainly focus on the swing states during
their presidential campaigns, because those are the votes that they believe they can most
easily affect.
(c) Explain why California, Texas, and New York do not appear prominently in the cartoon above.

California, Texas, and New York do not appear prominently in the cartoon because they are not
swing states and there is a dominant party in those states.
(d) Describe two campaign tactics presidential candidates use to win the key states identified in
the cartoon above.

Two campaign tactics presidential candidates use to win the key states include more campaign
ads and media exposure in those states and focusing on the policies that most affect those
states.