5.1- the electoral system Flashcards
(23 cards)
How many more votes did trump get compared to hilary clinton in the E.C vote?
77
How much funding did Joe Biden raise in 2020
$1.69 billion
What is the president’s re-election rate compared to the Senate and the House, and why might this be
70% (president)
80% (senate)
90% (house)
representatives only need to look after the needs of their state; they can pork barrel
What did the spending total in the 2020 election
$14.4 billion
How often are senators voted on?
- 1/3 of senators are up for election every 2 years
- senators serve 6-year terms
why might it be argued that the 6-year term of senators is good for democracy?
- independence from public opinion, allows them to act more as delegates
- may be less responsive to lobbyists as they have less of a need to fundraise for re-election constantly
- can focus more on long term structural issues rather than policies that will win votes
why might it be argued that the 6-year term of senators is bad for democracy?
- insufficient accountability to the people- may become disconnected from constituent concerns
Why might it be argued that the 2-year term of members of the HOR is good for democracy?
- frequent accountability
- more responsive to constituent needs
Why might it be argued that the 2-year term of members of the HOR is bad for democracy?
- short-term focus, implementation of policies that will win short-term popularity rather than solve long-term issues
- increased influence of campaign finance and wealth donours
how much of the popular vote did obama get in 2012 and how many electoral college seats?
51% of the vote, around 62% of the E.C seats
What was the turnout for the Iowa caucus in 2024?
15%
How many people does one electoral college vote represent in Wyoming vs in california?
- 1 electoral college vote in Wyoming represents around 190,000 people
- 1 electoral college vote in california represents around 680,000 people
how many states use a winner-takes-all method?
48 states
what are 3 examples of swing states in the 2020 election?
Arizona, Georgia and Michigan all won by less than 3%
In 2016, what % of campaign events occurred in the 12 swing states?
94%
- in 2020 this was 96%
In how many of the last 40 elections has the candidate won with more than 50% of the popular vote?
27
How does the ‘big tent’ ideology leave little room for small parties?
- parties very significantly across states, some democrats hold traditionally republican ideology
- the two main parties encompass most of the left and right
- some say there are in fact 100 different parties
Give an example of when a minority candidate gained concentrated support and was able to win a high number of E.C. votes.
- George Wallace (American Independence Party)
- won 46 electoral college votes in 1968
- focused all his campaigning in the south and was, therefore, able to gain concentrated support
Give an example of a candidate who won a high % of the popular vote but got no E.C. seats.
- Ross Perot: reform party
- In 1992 he won 19% of the vote
What are the arguments that the E.C. system is undemocratic?
- overrepresents small states
- leads to too much focus on swing states
- underrepresented minority candidates
- high levels of wasted votes due to winner-takes-all
- unbound electors
- reinforces the two-party system
- candidate can win without a majority of the popular vote
- the E.C. vote takes precedence over the popular vote
What are the arguments that the E.C. system is democratic?
- protects small states- a popular vote would concentrate campaigning in densley populated areas
- provides governments with strong mandates
- prevents extremist parties
what are the benifits of the primary system?
- allows smaller candidates to increase popularity e.g obama
- encorages early participation
- maximises voter choice: they can choose from many candidates from the same party
what are the cons of the primary system?
- disproportionately benifits individuals with large ammounts of funding
- closed primarys mean that independent voters loose out on participation
