The Voter's Calculus Simulator

The Calculus of Voting Adjust the variables of rational choice. The Voter's Calculus Simulator lets you explore this hands-on instead of only reading about it.

Unit 5 analyzes the various ways citizens engage with the political system. It covers voting rights and behavior, the role of political parties, the influence of interest groups, and the impact of the media as 'linkage… It focuses on Voting Rights Act of 1965, Rational Choice Voting, Political Parties, Interest Groups, PACs and Super PACs, Citizens United v. FEC from the “Unit 5: Political Participation” section.

The “Probability (P) 0.05”, “Benefit (B) 50”, “Cost (C) 20” sliders change the key inputs; the “Rational Choice”, “Retrospective”, “Party-Line”, “Disenfranchised” buttons run actions or reset the demo. Every change updates the visualization in real time, so you can see exactly how each variable affects the outcome.

AP United States Government and Politics is a college-level course that explores the constitutional system, political institutions, and behaviors within the United States. Students analyze foundational documents, Suprem… This demo is the interactive piece for the “Unit 5: Political Participation” section. Open the full AP United States Government and Politics course wiki at https://www.getlykke.com/explore/public/ap-united-states-government-and-politics-04a4e56a-9a18-4afa-9536-d37811f42f55 for notes, flashcards, quizzes and the other demos.

You'll build intuition for Voting Rights Act of 1965, Rational Choice Voting, Political Parties, Interest Groups, PACs and Super PACs, Citizens United v. FEC — and, crucially, see how they behave when you change the inputs, which is hard to get from a textbook or lecture on AP United States Government and Politics alone.