106 mid Flashcards
(26 cards)
executive power in the Articles of Confederation
- No Executive Branch
- Other critical structural features
- Delegates Elected by State Legislatures
- Each state had one vote.
- Major laws required 9 out of 13 states to agree. (Amending the constitution required unanimity).
problems at the time of the Articles of
Confederation due to lack of executive power
- War Debts
- Foreign policy – (example of piracy)
- Public Order – (example of Shays Rebellion)
executive power in the US Constitution
- Commander in Chief / Head Diplomat: The president leads the military and directs foreign policy but cannot declare war or fund military actions—those powers belong to Congress. Treaties require Senate approval.
- Chief Executive: The president must ensure laws are faithfully executed and can appoint officials (with Senate confirmation, unless exempted).
- Legislative Role: The president delivers the State of the Union and can veto legislation, but overall has a limited, reactive role in lawmaking.
- Pardon Power: The president alone can issue pardons, a unique power not shared with Congress.
Major differences between the “traditional era” presidency (19th century) and the “modern era” presidency
- Traditional Era (19th century): Presidents were weak, mostly reactive to Congress, spoke rarely to the public, had small staffs, and were seen as administrators.
- Modern Era (20th century–today): Presidents are powerful, lead policy, speak directly to the public via media, manage large staffs, and are expected to lead in crises and represent the U.S. globally
“traditional era” presidency (19th century)
- Presidents typically assumed a small role.
- They did not play a leadership role in domestic
policy formulation. - Thus their accomplishments were limited to their
responses to wars, rebellions, or other national crises.
“modern era” presidency
- Routinely engage in direct policymaking not requiring congressional approval
- routinely enter office
with an ambitious legislative agenda
Basic differences between the older convention model of selecting presidential nominees versus the modern primary system
- Older Convention Model: Party leaders had most of the control. Nominees were chosen at conventions, often through deals and negotiations. Voters had little direct influence.
- Modern Primary System: Voters in state primaries and caucuses now play the main role. Most delegates are chosen through these public votes, and the nominee is usually clear before the convention
congressional Caucus System (1800-1828)
aka “King Caucus”
- Presidential nominees chosen by a party’s members of Congress.
- In other words, nominees chosen by fellow politicians.
- A form of peer review
Convention System (~1830s-1968)
- Nominees chosen at national party conventions by delegates mostly under the control of state & local party bosses.
- Voters not directly involved
- Winner not necessarily known in advance.
- Abraham Lincoln
- James Garfield
modern primary system (1972-the present)
- A) The invisible primary
- B) Entry
- C) Primaries and caucuses
- D) The National Nominating Conventions
- E) The General Election
- F) Converting votes into delegates to the Electoral College
- G) Electoral College/House of Representatives
1968 Democratic National Convention
- police crackdown on
demonstrators in the streets of Chicago; also battles inside the convention hall - exposed deep divisions in the Democratic Party and sparked outrage when Hubert Humphrey won the nomination without winning any primaries. Violent protests and the lack of voter input led to the creation of the McGovern-Fraser Commission
McGovern-Fraser Reforms (1972)
- Delegates to be chosen in primaries or caucuses in all states (i.e., by party
voters). - Delegates pledged to a candidate on the first ballot at the convention
- Democrats implement the reforms
- Republicans soon follow
step 1: The Invisible Primary
- E.g., Barack Obama traveling to Iowa in 2007
- The invisible primary winnows the field even
before any primaries or caucuses
step 2: Winning delegates in party primaries and caucuses
- Rules for allocating delegates vary across states and parties. Just know that the game at this point is to win delegates
state-by-state. - Note: Democrats also have “super-delegates.” These are officeholders and other party
elites. They have a vote but are not pledged in advance to a candidate. Superdelegates comprise about 15% of total delegates. - In 2020 the national party decided superdelegates could not vote on the first ballot.
Role of the primary and caucus calendar
- Uneven influence of states – frontloading
- Frontloading – doing well early necessary but not sufficient.
- B. Clinton in 1992 – “The Comeback Kid”
- Obama in Iowa; H. Clinton in New Hampshire
- Biden in 2020
- Do well early or leave
- E.g., Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy
The Convention
- As a procedural matter, nowadays conventions simply ratify a
foregone conclusion - Media event to rally & unify the party and promote the message of
the nominee
The Electoral College
- Formula for each state
#of Senators + # of Reps.= Electoral Votes 538 total electoral votes. Need 270 to win. If no candidate receives 270, then House of Representatives decides. (In the House, each state gets one vote. The state delegations decide each states vote). - Electoral votes in almost every state are “winner-take-all”. The candidate who receives the most votes in the states gets ALL the electoral votes for that state. Not specified in the Constitution. Each state gets to decide method of
allocating electors.
The “time-for-change” forecasting model presented in the article by Alan Abramowitz
The Time-for-Change model by Alan Abramowitz is a presidential election forecasting tool that uses three main factors: economic growth, the incumbent president’s approval rating, and how long the president’s party has been in power. It predicts the incumbent party’s share of the popular vote and has been historically accurate, though not perfect (e.g., it missed in 2016)
The different messaging strategies used in presidential campaigns, as presented in the chapter by Lynn Vavreck
“The Message Matters” Lynn Vavreck (2009
book)
* Vavreck argues that presidential campaigns strategically remind
voters about the state of economy
* There are 2 basic types of campaign strategies: clarifying and
insurgent.
* A clarifying campaign reminds voters of the economy
* An insurgent campaign tries to change to a different issue
concept of “presidential job approval”
- Presidential Approval tends to decay over a
presidential term - Presidential job approval is a measure of how much the public approves or disapproves of the president’s performance, usually shown as a percentage from opinion polls. It reflects overall public support and can change based on current events.
main causes of changes in presidential job approval.
- Time – presidential approval simply decays over time. There is a
“honeymoon” at the start of a presidential term. Approval then declines. - The economy
- Events
a. “Rally-around-the-flag” events (see the example of George W. Bush’s
approval after 9/11)
b. Foreign policy debacles (see the example of Jimmy Carter and the Iran
Hostage Crisis of 1979-1980)
The formal roles of the president in the legislative process
- The Constitution gives presidents only a modest role in the legislative
arena. - May call Congress into special session
- Must report “from time to time” to Congress with State of the Union address
- Sign into law or veto legislation
- May recommend legislation to Congress
The informal roles of the president in the legislative process
- Persuasion
- Going Public
- Unilateral Actions
Persuasion
- Richard Neustadt “Presidential Power” (first published in
1960. JFK carried a copy with him into the White House). - President’s cannot command others, including Congress, do
his bidding. - Instead President’s must rely on persuasion.
- “Presidential power is the power to persuade according to Neustadt.
- Persuasion and bargaining are an “insider activity”
