US Democracy and Participation Flashcards
(26 cards)
What are the different types of elections in US
presidential - 4 years to serve two terms
senate - 1/3 elected every 2 years to serve six years
house - 2 years serving two years
gubernatorial, state legislature vary by state
What is the constitutional requirements to be president
natural born citizen
at least 35 years old
US resident for at least 14 years old
What is the invisible primary
Feb-June of election year
potential candidates get support both political and financial - this is done behind the scenes
more often than not the front runner in this ends up getting the nomination
examples from the invisible primaries
Trump - interview on CNN - criticising opponents like Ted Cruz being born in canada
Rick Perry - couldn’t name one of the proposals
Clinton - gain $1.8 million in funding by giving 8 speeches to major banks
What are the three types of republican primaries
winner takes all - candidate who gets the most votes gets all the state delegates
proportional- number delegates determined by share of votes
hybrid - delegates allocated proportionally unless someone gets over 50% of cotes
What type of primaries do the democrat use
entirely proportional so the candidate must get a majority of delegates to win
What is Super tuesday and front loading
super tuesday - multiple states have their primaries in this day and tests the candidate popularity
front loading - when states try to make their primaries earlier as they have more influence
Examples of incumbent presidents being challenged in primaries
1976 Ford and 1989 Carter just for a majority but lost elecrion
1968 LBJ and 2024 Biden resigned mid primairss
advantages of primaries process
raises key issues before election - unifies party around a consensus
opportunity of participation - hear voters views of candidates
effectiveness of candidates - long and gruelling process and can build reputation e.g Obama
greater choice - 2016 features 22 candidates across both parties
disadvantages of primaries
exposes divides - insults can be lasting and people may feel unfulfilled if the person they vote for does not get the nomination
low turnout - 23% in 2020 and caucus 1.6% 2016
imbalance in voting power - open primaries
long and expensive - Ted Cruz announced his candidacy 11montjs before the 1st primary
What are the functions the national party conventions serve
formal - elect presidential candidate and vice presidential candidates and decide party platform
informal - promotes party unity, enthuses the party, publicise the candidate to the voters
What is the electoral college
electors elect the president from the popular vote - this was set up so the common people don’t have the ultimate say
there are 538 electors
2016 there were 7 faithless electors
What are swing states
states that show no bias to either party and where most campaigning takes place
2020 33 out of 40 states saw zero campaign evenga
What are the advantages of the electoral college
respects federalism by ensuring smaller states are not dominated
states voting power is not influenced by the our - Oklahoma votes are not on signed by 5.5% teunour xomalread to Minnesota with 80%
grants a mandate so candidates can’t focusly too heavily on cities
faithless electors grant defence on a tyrnncial president
disadavtages of electoral college
over representation of smaller states - wyoming has under 600k and gets 3 electives
unfair to third parties - 2016 5% of votes but not elector
swing states determine elector so more focus on them
faithless electors are undemocratic- 2016 7 electors vote against states wowhes
What are the pros and cons for scrapping the electoral college
replacing it with direct vote using FPTP - voids winner losing but small states won’t agree and president could have low vote percentage
use instant runoff voting - avoids loser winning and no spoiler effect but smaller states won’t support
What are the pros and cons about keeping electoral college
use congressional district system - regions get their own elector but gerrymandering becomes tempting
allowcate electors proportionally - encourage candidates to campaign in all states and could make 3rd parties more tempting to vote dor
How can third parties can influence
spoiler effect - they can prevent parties from winning 2000 Nader took votes of Al Gore, 2020 Jorgenoson won more votes than the number separating Biden and Trump
influencing policy - 1992 Perots common sense economics was popular and Clinton and Bush adopted many of these policies
What are the details on US two party event
outsiders can use parties to a vehicle to presidency 3.g Trump used to be a democrat
party politics vary per state e.g Texas republican Cole Hefner is very anti abortionwhixh Matt underdspn a republican california is pro choice
both parties are broad churches
Why can incumbency be an advantage
lack of primary challenge - only 5 times has the sitting president been defeated and these are outside modern era
citing achievements in office -2011 Obama announced Osama Bin Ladens death
attracting publicity - own press sexreatahe can use rose garden e.g Obama in 2012 about the death of US officials in Benghazi
extra experience
What are the exceptions for incumbency
challenges can be damaging e.g Carter in 1980 and Bush in 1992
forced to take personably for failure e.g Carter for weakening america economically and Ytump for covid
media platforms are more level now - 1992 bush criticised for checking watch during debate
more money doesn’t grant success e.g Ford 197) lost despite spending $2 mil more
What is the trend with campaign finance
spending goes up until 201)
biggest spender wins every election since 1980 (except 2016)
super PACS since 2016
what did the Federal election campaign acts (1971 and 1974) do
placed limits on camping contributions (individual 3,300 and groups 5000)
maximum expenditure
disclosure of sources of contributions
state funding as long as they accept certain limits
established political action committees where groups wishing to donate must register with the federal election commission
What were the issues with FECA
weakening of the law - supreme court rulings like Buckley v Valero said this restricted feeedom of speech
soft money - donations taht can avoid regulation by businesses spending money on their own campaign
finished role of federal funding - matching funds not accepted as they are able to generate income that exceeds the limit
