A primary election in which the two candidates with the most votes, regardless of party, become the nominees for the general election?

• A. Winner-take-all system
• B. Top-two primary
• C. Agenda setting
• D. Beat

Answer: (B)

This item is about a top-two primary system, where all candidates run in the same primary and the two candidates with the most votes, regardless of party, advance to the general election. This means the general election could be between two candidates from the same party or from different parties, depending on who already performs best in the primary. It differs from a winner-take-all setup, which awards all the available nomination or delegates to the single candidate with the most votes in a given race. Agenda setting and Beat refer to media concepts—the former is about how media decide which issues to emphasize, and the latter about a reporter’s regular topic area—neither of which describe how nominees are chosen. Top-two primary is the right concept because it directly captures how the nominees are determined under this system.