AP U.S. Government and Politics · Past multiple choice · Question 15, Effective Fall 2014

Nomination rules

Pick an effect that primary elections have had on how presidential candidates are chosen.

Lessons this question tests

1 Read the question

The question is College Board's: sample question 15 in AP Government and Politics: United States Course Description. It starts on page 19 of the PDF.

Open Question 15 (PDF, page 19)

2 Pick your answer

3 Check the explanation

Why the answer is B open once you have picked

Before the 1970s, party leaders and officials picked most delegates to the national conventions, so they largely chose the nominees. After reforms following 1968, most states moved to primaries and caucuses where voters choose delegates pledged to a candidate. Nominations now go to whoever wins voters across the states, which took much of the choice away from party leaders.

Each choice

A. State party organizations lost importance, since voters rather than party officials now pick most delegates.
B (correct). Primaries moved the choice of nominee from party leaders to voters, weakening the leaders' hold.
C. Primaries gave citizens a much larger role. Before them, party insiders made most of the choice.
D. Running in a long series of state primaries made campaigns more expensive, not less.
E. Parties still need their supporters registered, and in closed primaries registration matters even more. Nothing about primaries reduced that.

Question and answer key: College Board. The title and summary are ours, and so is the explanation.