AP U.S. Government and Politics · Past multiple choice · Question 16, Effective Fall 2014
Turnout patterns
Choose the best description of voter turnout across all elections at every level.
The lesson this question tests
1 Read the question
The question is College Board's: sample question 16 in AP Government and Politics: United States Course Description. It starts on page 19 of the PDF.
Open Question 16 (PDF, page 19)
2 Pick your answer
3 Check the explanation
Why the answer is B open once you have picked
Counting every election, federal, state and local, general and primary, most eligible voters stay home in most of them. Presidential general elections draw the biggest turnout, often around 60 percent of eligible voters. Midterms draw less, and primaries and local elections often fall well under a third. Because most elections are not presidential ones, in most contests the people who vote are outnumbered by the eligible citizens who do not.
Each choice
- A. Primaries usually draw far fewer voters than general elections, so this has the relationship reversed.
- B (correct). Outside presidential general elections, turnout usually falls below half, so in most contests the nonvoters outnumber the voters.
- C. Who turns out often decides who wins, which is why campaigns spend so much on getting their voters to the polls.
- D. Citizens under 30 vote at the lowest rate of any age group. Older citizens vote most.
- E. Strong party identifiers vote more regularly than independents, because they care more about which side wins.
Question and answer key: College Board. The title and summary are ours, and so is the explanation.