GOVT 2305 Week 2 Data Activity  | Assignment  Help | Central Texas College

 Chapter 2 Data Activities

 Question 1

3 out of 3 points

Data Activity 2.1: Population and the House of Representatives

Estimated Population per U.S. House Seat (State)

Because each state has two seats in the Senate, voters in small states are proportionately more powerful than voters in large states. For example, the 37.2 million residents of California (the largest state) are represented by the same number of Senators as the 0.6 million residents of Wyoming (the smallest state). Because there are 62 voters in California for every voter in Wyoming, Wyoming voters are 62 times more powerful in determining senators than California voters. This disparity was supposed to be eliminated in the House of Representatives by equalizing the size of congressional districts. Check out the estimated population for House seats in California and Wyoming in 2018. You can do this either by clicking on the state on the map or switching to Table View and finding California and Wyoming on the list. Calculate the ratio between the population of California districts to Wyoming districts. In the House of Representatives, how does the power of voters in Wyoming compare to those of California? In comparison to California voters, Wyoming voters are ______ powerful.

Question 2

3 out of 3 points

Data Activity 2.1: Population and the House of Representatives

Estimated Population per U.S. House Seat (State)

How unequal is population across congressional districts? Change from “Map” view to “Table” view and sort the districts by size by clicking on the heading for “Rate.” How much does the population of House districts vary? The smallest district is ______ the largest district.

Question 3

3 out of 3 points

states with congressional districts that are smaller in population are considered more powerful in the House.   Look at Texas in the map above and check rank (given in parentheses) and the district size for 1994, 2000, 2010 and 2018.  Note: For rank, the nearer to 1 is weak, nearer to 25 is neutral and nearer to 50 is strong. 

What do the numbers show about the power of congressional districts in Texas?