3.7

1.  What was Mayor Pete's background before running for president?
Mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

2. What was the high point of Mayor Pete's campaign for president?
H was the winner of the Iowa caucuses, and he is the most successful openly gay candidate. He surged to prominence in March 2019 through the media, selling himself as an intelligent and young voice committed to reforming the political system in the US.

3. What progressive positions did he adopt in the early stages of this campaign?
Medicare-for-all, abolishing the Electoral College, creating an automatic voter registration system, giving statehood to Puerto Rico and D.C., abolishing the filibuster, packing Supreme Court with new justices

4. When Buttigieg became more moderate, what two groups of voters did he struggle with?
ideological left, black voters

5. Why did his campaign struggle after Iowa and New Hampshire?
He mainly only appealed to white voters, and Nevada and South Carolina are much more diverse than the Iowa and New Hampshire. Therefore, Buttigieg didn't have ability to continue. 

6. What was Amy Klobuchar's background before running for president?
Hennepin County attorney, then Senator of Minnesota.

7. What was the high point of her campaign for president?
She pitched herself as a much more centrist lawmaker who gets results in Congress. She also advocated for gender equality. 

8. Why was she viewed by so many as a strong presidential candidate?
She had a record for being popular in Minnesota, performing well in Trump counties. 

9. How did she perform after New Hampshire?
She didn't perform well after New Hampshire, getting 6th place in Nevada and South Carolina. 

10. What were her main issues she highlighted while running for office?

She advocated for bipartisanship and gender equality.

3.6

1. Who made up the "universe" or polling population of this particular poll?
Voters in Nevada. 

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?
Between 20.2% and 29.8%

3. Using the margin of error, describe a possible scenario in which Sanders would not win, but still fits the polls data.
Bernie Sanders gets 20.2% of the vote, while Joe Biden gets 22.8% of the vote.

4. What were the results found in earlier polls taken in Nevada this year?
Before, results from Nevada showed Biden and Sanders about equal. 

5. What changes took place in Nevada's candidate selection after 2004?
The state switched from primaries to caucuses. 

6. Why does FiveThirtyEight say that it's harder to poll people in Nevada?
It's harder to talk to people because there are people who work odd hours and a transient population.




7. Why is it easier to poll the Iowa caucuses than the Nevada caucuses?
Iowa's caucuses are much older, so pollsters have more data there to accurately weigh different responses. 

8. How does Nevada allow early voting if this is a caucus instead of a primary?
They instituted a 4-day early voting period that attempts to model caucusing by using a system modeled on ranked-choice voting. 

9. Why does Nevada have a fluctuating population?
Nevada's population fluctuates due to casinos and tourism. 

10. Why is conducting a poll so much more expensive if you want to have an accurate Nevada poll?

Pollers have to collect data 24/7 because shifts take place over a 24 hour business day. 

3.5

1.  What was Lt Colonol Alexander Vindman's job in the bureaucracy?
He was a top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council.

2. What did Vindman testify during the impeachment investigation?

He testified that he found the call inappropriate and that he thought it was improper for the POTUS to demand Ukraine to investigate Hunter Biden.

3. What did the White House do to Vindman and his brother?

They removed him from his post in the White House. His twin brother was also reassigned.

4. How is the White House justifying this action?

They are framing this not as payback as Vindman but as shrinking of the NSC staff.

5. Why does the author argue that this creates a danger for other civil servants?

Trump may not stop at Vindman and may oust other officials who testified him. This might mean officials will be more fearful to speak out or testify against the president in the future.

6. What was Gordon Sondland's job in the Trump Administration? 

He was the ambassador to the EU.

7. What did Ambassador Sondland testify during the impeachment investigation?

He said there was a quid pro quo, and he also made it clear that the scheme to pressure Ukraine was not done by Guiliani alone. He provided extensive documentation. 

8. What was Sondland's background before becoming the ambassador?

Formerly, he was a Trump supporter. 

9. Who else might the Trump Administration take action against, according to this article?

He might pressure Secretary of State Pompeo to push out George Ken tor get Defense Secretary Mark Esper to kick out Laura Cooper. 

3.4

1.What's the difference between Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the primary calendar?
Phase 1 is just the 4 early states in February, which have an extraordinary impact on the race's overall narrative. Phase 2 is the briefest (March 1-17), where more than 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?
The political world looks at these results and takes them as cues about which contenders actually win. 

4. How many delegates are available in Phase 2?
more than half of 3979

5. Which regions are holding most of their primaries on Super Tuesday?
South, New England, West, Midwest

6. How many primaries are held the following week on March 10? And how many on March 17? 
7 primaries, 3 primaries

7. What is different about the California primary this year?
California moved from an early June to Super Tuesday. 

8. Why is Phase 3 less important than 1 and 2?
The nomination could be settled before this due to candidate dropouts, but there's a gap between April 7 and April 28. 

9. What is one argument in favor of letting Iowa and New Hampshire (small states) go first?
It lets lesser-known candidates make their case in a smaller, more manageable setting. 

10. How does the Democratic Party way of distributing delegates make this system even slower?
They allot delegates proportionally, with no winner-take-all contests. 

3.3

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 showed more support for removing Trump than opposition for removing Trump.

2. Which of these 7 polls found the most support for removing Trump? Which found the most opposition to removing Trump?
FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos and Monmouth, respectively. 

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% and 8.4%, respectively. 

4. What difference did the most recent Monmouth University poll find in the people who say they support removing Trump from office and those who support the House impeaching Trump?
People were evenly divided on whether to remove Trump, but people approved of the House's decision to impeach him. (49/48 to 53/46).

5. Why does the author suggest that some Republicans may support removing Trump from office?
They might believe Vice President Pence would make a better president. 

6. Why might the polls be misleading if they survey all adults as opposed to just likely voters?
The people who end up voting tend to be a tad more Republican than the adult population. 

7. How do men and women think differently about whether or not a woman candidate can win a presidential election?
89% of men said a woman could get elected while 9% disagreed. 79% of women said a woman could get elected while 20$ disagreed.

8. Which demographic group of people caused the Atlanta Journal Constitution to adjust its polling formulas? 
Underrepresented white voters without a college degree.

9. Related to issues we were discussing last week, how do Americans feel about the Supreme Court potentially overturning Roe v Wade?
69% of people don't want Roe v. Wade to be overturned. 

3.2

1. What issue is at the center of both the Trinity Lutheran and Espinoza cases?
They both involve state constitution provisions that prohibit those states from spending money to aid churches and other religious institutions. 

2. How does Justice Kagan argue that banning ALL funding to religious institutions would be ridiculous?
The provision could be read to prohibit the state from providing police protection or fire protection to churches. (If a church was on fire, the fire department would be required to let it burn.)

3. What choice do the plaintiffs argue that these bans force on students?
It forces students to choose between attending a school that accords with his beliefs or receiving thousands of dollars of government benefits. 

4. According to the Census, what's the average amount that states spend on each public school student?
$11,392

​5. How did Chief Justice John Roberts explain the Court's decision in Trinity Lutheran?
“Denying a generally available benefit solely on account of religious identity imposes a penalty on the free exercise of religion that can be justified only by a state interest ‘of the highest order."

6. Because of the current makeup of the court, how do the authors predict that the Court will settle the Espinoza case?
They may declare the case moot or follow the precedent from the majority opinion in Rucho v. Common Clause (2019). 

7. What issue is at the heart of both of these Pennsylvania cases?
The issue examines the Trump administration's rules allowing virtually any employer to deny birth control coverage to its employees.

8. What court precedent was established in the 1982 case US v Lee?
The general rule is that people of faith may sometimes seek exemption from laws they object to on religious grounds, but they could not claim an exemption that would undercut the rights of a third party. 

9. How did the Trump Administration expand the effects of the ruling in the Hobby Lobby case?
Trump issued an executive order to instruct his administration to "consider issue amending regulations, consisted with applicable law, to address conscience-based objections to the preventive-care mandate." 

10. How do Trump's additions to the Court help predict the outcome of these cases?
Trump's appointment of Gorsuch and Kavanaugh makes it likely that cases like these would favor religion. 

Blog 3.1

1. Why was General Soleimani an important target for the airstrike?
He was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq, so the airstrike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans. 

2. How did the Department of Defense (the Pentagon) justify this attack?
The airstrike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans

3. How have Iran's leaders responded to the US attack?
They vowed for revenge. 

4. How has President Trump responded to Iran's promises of "revenge"?
He threatened to attack multiple Iranian sites if they strike American people or assets.

5. Why have some said that Trump's response would be considered a war crime?
Trump's threat to target cultural sites is a war crime, especially after breaching international law in the assassination. 

6. What impact has this attack on Iran's leadership had on normal Iranian people?
The Iranian people loved Soleimani, so they all mourned his death. 

7. How has the government of Iraq responded to the US attacks on Iranian leadership?
Leaders recommended parliament order US troops to leave the country over concerns that the US violated Iraqi sovereignty in its assassination.

8. What was the 2015 Nuclear deal between Iran and the Obama Administration? 
It put tight restrictions on Iran's nuclear programs and in return, eased some international sanctions against the country. 

9. What did President Trump do to the Iranian government because he disagreed with the deal?
He reimposed sanctions on Iran's oil sector. He continued imposing more sanctions in order to pressure Iran to negotiate for a better nuclear deal.

10. Which parts of the deal does Iran say it will stop following?

They'll have no limitations in production including enrichment capacity and percentage and number of enriched uranium and research and expansion.

11. Which parts of the deal does Iran say it will continue to follow?
They'll continue to allow the IAEA to review its nuclear research and would be willing to rejoin the agreement if sanctions against it are removed.