5. us democracy and participation Flashcards

Question

the electoral college is still democratic

Answer 1

- EC is flexible to changing times - e.g. 1972, California had 42 electors and now has 55 as the population has grown more that any other state, ensures fairer representation of the population - produces a clear winner - e.g. when Biden won in 2020, more legitimacy, governing more effective and excludes extremist ideological parties - EC requires popular support across the US in order to win <270 EC votes, Nixon (1960) announced at the republican NPC that he was going to campain in all 50 states

Answer 2

- in 2020, the total cost of elections was close to $15 billion - campaign finance: all funds raised to promote candidates, political parties or political initiatives - it is a huge part of the political system but is very controversial

Answer 3

money donated directly to a political party or an individual candidate’s campaign, these donations are capped by federal law

Answer 4

money donated indirectly to political parties and political action committees, and therefore not tightly regulated by the law

Answer 5

- federal election campaign act (1974) - Buckley V. Valeo (1976) - congress (1979) - financing (1976 - 2008) - McCain - Feingold act (2002) - citizens united V. FEC (2010) - McCutcheon V. FEC (2014)

Answer 6

- a direct result of the watergate scandal - it reduced the amount of hard money that could be donated to a candidate, aiming to reduce the reliance on one or two very wealthy donors - the law had many loopholes and was weakened by congress and the supreme court

Answer 7

the supreme court ruled that limitations on what individuals or political action committees could spend either supporting or opposing a candidate infringed on first amendment rights

Answer 8

- congress further weakened the law by allowing parties to raise money for such aspects as voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives as well as 'party-building' activities - this so-called soft money would soon be regarded by most as out of control, leading to the need for further reform

Answer 9

- between 1976 and 2008, elections were largely funded through what are known as matching funds – federal money administered by the FEC and given to presidential candidates who met certain criteria and agreed to certain limitations - however, in 2008, democrat nominee Barack Obama opted out of matching funds, which left him free of the FEC’s fundraising and spending limitations, and was therefore able to significantly outspend his opponent, John McCain

Answer 10

- further reform to campaigning happened in 2002, where senators John McCain and Russel Feingold created the bipartisan campaign reform act, commonly known as the McCain-Feingold act - it had a number of provisions, limiting contribution to individual candidates to $2300, banning national party committees from raising or spending soft money and banning contributions from foreign nationals

Answer 11

- this case was brought to the supreme court by the non-profit organization citizens united - they wanted to air a film critical of Hillary Clinton in 2008, but the district court of Colombia ruled this to be in violation of the McCain-Feingold Act, as it prohibited broadcasts that mentioned a political candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary - however, when the case was taken to the supreme court they ruled in favour of citizens united, saying that the McCain-Feingold act violated the first amendment right to free speech - this case granted corporate and labour organizations the same rights of political free speech as individuals, thereby giving such groups the right of unlimited independent political expenditure - along with another judgement, speechnow.org v FEC, lead to the setting up of independent expenditure-only committees, which were soon deemed, super PACs

Answer 12

- In several subsequent cases, the supreme court has continued to favour first amendment rights over legal caps on political donations - the 2014 McCutcheon case concerned how much and individual could donate in total to candidates and political parties - both the McCain-Feingold Act and FECA before it only placed limits on how much could be donated to individual candidates but also placed a limit on how much one individual could donate in any election cycle to their favoured candidates - in the 2011-12 cycle, this was set to $117,000, which was less than if someone decided to donate the maximum to all democrat or republican congressional candidates - this was challenged successfully in the courts, meaning that individuals are now free to donate the capped amount to as many candidates as they like

Answer 13

- the increasing importance of the invisible primary means money raising is crucial to get a big enough 'war chest' to contest the primaries - the salaries of campaigners, office workers, consultants, media and image advisors etc. racks up huge sums of money - citizens united v FEC 2010 allowed for the growth of something called 'super-PACs' which have now become vital for success

Answer 14

- **PAC** (political action committee): a committee which raises money and spends it on defeating or supporting a candidate - **superPAC**: a political committee which makes independent expenditure in support/against a candidate, they do not make direct contributions so are unlimited - **527**: a niche PAC that is named after the tax loop-hole that allows them to donate money without limits by bypassing tax law

Answer 15

- elections have become more and more expensive - wealthy donors: Koch brothers for republicans and Bloomberg for democrats - the 2020 election campaign saw a total spending more than the entire GDP of Armenia - rich, elite individuals dominate fundraising; in 2020, one thousandth of the population donated one-fifth of all campaign money - both parties benefit from this as big liberal tech owners support the democrats

Answer 16

- dark money is money that has been donated by a secret donor - this increased dramatically in 2020 - the pro-republican senate leadership PAC received $63 million from its allied dark money group, one nation - across independent expenditure, only 30% came from groups that fully disclosed their donors

Answer 17

- in 2020, Biden out-fundraised Trump and won - superior funding leads to more airtime on TV and a bigger team of campaign employees - it is far too risky for an individual to neglect the importance of good fundraising, especially if you are an incumbent facing a tough opponent - in the 2020 senate race for Arizona, republican incumbent Martha McSally was outspent by $30 million by Mark Kelly and lost her seat

Answer 18

- money seems to follow strong and viable candidates as those who are incumbents or strong challengers tend to raise more money, it seems to confirm than create viable candidates - in 2016, Clinton significantly outspent Trump and still lost - money is just one factor in determining electoral success along with personality, incumbent advantage etc - in the 2020 South Carolina senate race, republican incumbent Lindsay Graham was outspent by $40 million by the democrat challenger and still got re-elected

Answer 19

- high turnout - all votes are counted fairly and consistently - no discrimination against candidates - pluralism - multi party system - no restrictions on who can vote - accessibility to voting - equal access to political education - secret ballot - no gerrymandering

Answer 20

- variety of candidates (excludes poor politicians ad a base line of wealth in needed) - pluralism (more wealthy are more able to run because their voices are heard more) - high turnout (more money = more participation because they can spend more on a better campaign) - multi party system

Answer 21

- not everyone has the money required to run, as fundraising is the key to success - bribery - influences the range of political parties - democrats and republicans can raise more money whereas third parties can't - advertising and media exposure is expensive but has the biggest influence on low income and less politically educated households, candidates with more money to spend on this and can therefore 'buy' support - people might not be able to afford access to information on candidates -the rise of dark money is affecting the transparency of elections - there is correlation between money and success, e.g. Biden in 2020 outspent his opponents and was successful - there have been successful attempts to restrict campaign finance, e.g. McCain-Feingold

Answer 22

- Hillary Clinton outspend Donald Trump in 2016 and still lost - there are multiple other factors that affect the outcome more: candidate popularity, issues and events, the incumbency advantage etc - campaign finance restrictions infringe upon the first amendment right to free speech

Answer 23

- executive control and experience - resources and access - no need to run in the primaries - fundraising advantage - name recognition and media coverage

Answer 24

- got reputation and proof of the basis to their promises - presidents can target key groups with policy shifts before an election: Obama rewarded key blocs such as hispanics with an executive order on illegal immigrants, stopping them from being deported - then in 2011, he withdrew troops from Afghanistan, these policy successes were not available to his challenger

Answer 25

- the incumbent has an established campaign teach and typically outspends his opponents: - the use of airforce 1 to get around the country - the presidency as a permanent campaign

Answer 26

no one in their party will try to run against them because it would be futile (most times)

Answer 27

- usually the incumbent has money left in the pot from the previous election and therefore money at their disposal - Obama had raised a lot of money in 2008 and he was able to use it in 2012 (as did Biden) - the exception to this is often self funded candidates (e.g. Trump), who was not able to use this to his advantage in 2020

Answer 28

- they do not have to worry about the invisible primary, which often depletes and exhausts presidential challengers - the presidency almost becomes the campaign - need to do less campaigning as they are already well known - airtime and TV time is expensive, the serving president gets that automatically through fulfilling their role

Answer 29

- americans tend to want to stick with what they already know - this only really changes if there is an unforeseen event or crisis, such as the covid 19 pandemic where Trump's response was widely criticised

Answer 30

- being president gives you a chance to demonstrate doing a good job, but the reverse is also true, a bad presidency will make re election harder - higher level of scrutiny for serving president, compared to a challenger - voter fatigue - they might be bored of the current presidency and look for a change - presidential record can used against you by the challenger - surprising or negative events can work against you (e.g. Jimmy Carter and the iranian hostage crisis in the last year of his presidency) - a strong third party challenger (e.g. George H. W. Bush (sr) faced a 3rd party challenge from an independent candidate called Ross Perot) - the economy - a poor economic record can be fatal for re election (e.g. George H. W. Bush said 'read my lips, no new taxes' and then imposed new taxes; and Trump's failure to kickstart the economy)

Answer 31

- a national government, with power delegated down to state governments - because of federalism, USA parties are very much state based - does not have a single, unified national organisation or leader when in opposition - there is no concept of party membership, instead there are small numbers of regular workers and a larger group of activists who go into action at election time - party organisation can only be understood as a series of layers which corresponds broadly to the levels which american government operates

Answer 32

- **layer 1**: precincts the smallest units with US government (party role here is largely threefold: nominate delegates to the state party conventions, raise funds for candidates, campaign locally to mobilise votes) - **layer 2**: wards, countries, cities (similar role but on a larger scale) - **layer 3**: the state (each party has a central committee headed by chair, they attempt to coordinate the work of the party's electoral reps at all levels, within the state, they oversee primaries and caucuses) - **layer 4**: national party convention (main function is to organise the npc every 4 years)

Answer 33

- third parties - 100 party theory - 1 party dominance - 4 party system

Answer 34

- there have been third parties which although not usually electorally success or permanent - the green party in 2008, the reform party in 1996 or the american independence party in 1968 - they have offered some choice to american voters in some presidential elections, e.g. Ross Perot got 19m votes in 1992

Answer 35

- the USA doesn't really have a two party system, but rather an 100 party system because the 2 main parties are highly centralised and organised under state law and so are different in each of the 50 states both ideologically and organisationally - e.g. the democratic party in california is very different from the democratic party in alabama (which is more right leaning) and the republican party in texas is very different from the one in maine

Answer 36

- it can be argued that there is a one party dominance in several states - e.g. the republican party in much of the midwest and increasingly the democrats dominate new england

Answer 37

the four party system argument that suggests both parties have their highly distinct conservative and liberal/moderate wings, e.g. compassionate conservatives and blue dog democrats

Answer 38

- traditionally, there was very little difference between the two parties (both very centrist) - when the US public were asked whether there are important differences between what parties stand for in 1972, 46% said yes and 78% in 2008 - suggesting that perceptions of political parties are changing

Answer 39

- ronald reegan - gerrymandering - the new media - democrats loss of southern support - end of the cold war

Answer 40

- previous republican presidents (e.g. Nixon, Ford) governed from the centre - Reagan wooed conservatives away from the democrats and made the moderates in the republican party feel uncomfortable - he pushed to become a more right wing party - democrats reacted to this and became a bit more left

Answer 41

- redrawing the boundaries is left to the state boundaries is left to the state government, which is partisan - only a few dozen of the 435 house seats are genuinely to play between parties

Answer 42

- new media (direct mail talk radio, cable TV, internet) have made it easier for those with similar ideologies to communicate - this new media is replacing the old media (the times, news-week, CBS, ABC) as a shaper of opinion - americans are now being exposed to extremes rather than a balanced view - whilst americans used to be exposed to balanced comments, they now have access to sources that reinforce their existing positions more partisan

Answer 43

- democrats loss of its southern wing (1968 - 1992) allowed the party to shift away from the centre - 'signing away the south' - LBJ - no longer had to worry about gaining support from the southern states and therefore could be more left

Answer 44

- it altered attitudes or foreign policy away from a shared fear of soviet communism - during the cold war, the parties were united as they had a common 'enemy' (USSR) - when the cold war ended, the focus of the USA didn't have to be competing with Russia - this led to greater opportunity to create a distinctive ideological focus for each party

Answer 45

- since the 1960s, the democrats have been influenced by the idea of modern liberalism and the idea of an enabling state - prefer positive freedom and therefore an empowering role for the state in the economy - e.g. obama and the democrats were inspired by the idea of Keynesian deficit, spending when they supported and passed the american recovery and reinvestment act (2009) - a $787 billion package post the 2008 financial crisis - democrats were also instrumental in the passage of the cornering aid, relief and economic security act (2020) - $2.2 trillion economic stimulus for a covid 19 US economy - more willing to intervene to regulate the free market - to fund a larger state, democrats favour increased taxes for the more wealthy and support the Buffett rule

Answer 46

- informed by modern liberalism and the ideas of equality of opportunity for every individual in society - the democrats were instigators of the civil rights acts (1964), which sought to end legal segregation - crime - favour a mixture of punishment and rehabilitation in dealing with crime and have long argued to rectify the racial dimensions of crime - pro choice

Answer 47

- social conservatives: traditional social values and strong links to the 'religious right', they support prayer in public schools, tough on crime and staunch defenders of the 2nd amendment - fiscally conservative: focused on reducing government spending and 'waste', want small government and reduced deficit, want to repeal obamacare to cut costs - moderates: less socially conservative than other factions of the republican party, supportive of obamacare and sympathetic towards migration

Answer 48

- moderates/centrists: - conservatives - liberals/progressives:

Answer 49

- pro increased spending on social welfare programmes, opposed to cutting federal taxes, pro strict environmental controls, pro obamacare - this was heavily influenced by modern liberalism as seen by Johnson (1960s) with great society policies, which saw a 'war on poverty' and obama proposing healthcare legislation (affordable care act 2010) - increased rights for illegal immigrants and greater gun control

Answer 50

- heavily influenced by neo conservativism and christianity, protestantism in particular - opposes abortion, same sex marriage, recreational drug use - on moral and religious grounds - prefer to uphold traditional values through a tough law and order stance - upholds the traditional nuclear family, focuses on family values

Answer 51

- prefer neo liberal negative freedom of limited government, where the state has minimal interference in the lives of individuals - restrictions and regulations have been rolled back to the further interest of industry and big businesses - minimal at limiting environmental damage

Answer 52

- republicans argue that the state should provide a safety net for those genuinely struggling, but not handouts that erode individual responsibility (e.g. support medicaid) - however, the republicans have often suggested to cut social welfare programmes - anti 'anti-poverty' programmes by saying they are counter productive because humans are not naturally moral or hard working - prefer lower taxation - allows individuals to benefit from their hard work - opposed to free healthcare

Answer 53

- gerrymandering is the redrawing of congressional or electoral districts in order to gain a political advantage over another party - redistricting is the process of redrawing electoral district boundaries, this happens every ten years after the federal census - political gerrymandering occurs when one party controls the redistricting of a state, typically done through the governor or state legislature - when in control, political parties will seek to pack as many of their opponents into each district as possible, resulting in fewer seats for their opponents, but in the seats they do win, they do so by a landslide - consequently, it allows the original party to pick up the seats that are left - if you guaranteed a safe seat in an gerrymandered state, the house representative is less likely to do their job properly

Answer 54

- want rights for minorities but caution over extreme reform of police, making college more affordable, humane immigration reforms - associated with the blue dog coalition

Answer 55

- socially conservative but fiscally more conservative than most democrats - a public option for healthcare, tax reform for the middle class - e.g. Joe Manchin, senator for west virgina who opposed same sex marriage but said no one should be discriminated against because of their sexuality - keen to reach bipartisan compromises with more moderate republicans

Answer 56

- most socially progressive, opposing the death penalty, promoting gay rights, free college education, action against climate change (new green deal) and equality - e.g. Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - associated with the congressional progressive caucus (CPC), which had just under 100 members in the 116th congress (2019-21)

Answer 57

- minor parities in the usa can be local, national, permanent, temporary - many are state based such as the constitution party of oregon or the liberal party of new york - this helps represent minority interests at a local level as minor parties find it very hard to get national influence - the three main minor parties currently are: libertarian party, green party and constitution party

Answer 58

third parties have had limited success through indirect influence: - **the spoiler effect** - when a minor party candidate helps prevent a candidate from winning - influencing the policies of one of the major parties - infiltrating one of the two main parties, using primaries to gain prominence within a party, e.g. Trump. - Reince Priebus, (then head of the RNC) refused to campaign for him and Paul Ryan initially refused to endorse him. - ideologically, he is not a typical republican, very right wing on social issues and big business but opposes international trade deals

Answer 59

- George Wallace (1968) - american independent, 13.5% of vote, splitting the democrat vote leading to a republican victory - Ross Perot (1992) - 19%, took votes largely from republicans, leading to a democrat win - Ralph Nadir (200) - green, 2.7%, took votes almost exclusively from democrats, decisive in Florida and therefore the election; Nadir polled 100,000 in Florida where Bush won by 537 votes; an exit poll suggested at least half of these votes would have gone to Gore with many of the rest not voting

Answer 60

- even in debates before the presidential election, minority party candidates have been refused the opportunity to participate in presidential debates, Ross Perot was the exception - FPTP does not favour national minor parties, even if they have large support, regional parties do better, FPTP means parties have to convince voters to donate money to potential no hopers and potentially waste a vote - matching funds system handicaps them, major party candidates qualify by raising at least $5,000 (in contributions of $250 or less) in at least 20 states but 3rd party candidates qualify only by winning 5% of the vote in the previous election, in the past 50 years, only 3 people have managed this Wallace (1968), Perot (1992 and 1996) and Anderson (1980) - despite successful legal challenges, electoral law in many states has offered privileges to major parties such as special prominence on ballot papers, ballot access laws vary from state to state: in New York, a candidate must get signatures in every county in the state, in California it is necessary to get signatures equal to 1% of the electorate in the state - they suffer from a lack of media coverage: can rarely afford the cost of ads and stations don’t consider them newsworthy, lack of resources means they do not have their own cable channels

Answer 61

- there are around (estimated) 200,000 interest groups in the US - 8/10 people belong to a pressure group - the average American belongs to 3 interest groups - they operate on a national, state, and local level

Answer 62

- NAACP - national association of realtors - the Sierra group - NRA - AARP - AIPAC

Answer 63

- national association of the advancement of coloured people - sectional interest group - founded in 1909 - the oldest and largest civil rights group/organisation - half a million adult and youth members throughout the US

Answer 64

- estate agents - somewhat akin to a trade union - 1.5 million members (2022) - the biggest trade related interest group in the US

Answer 65

- causal pressure group - aims to protect the environment - main goals: find better energy sources, protect habitats, and preserve water - 1.4 million members

Answer 66

- national rifle association - pro gun ownership - most famous and active pressure group - membership surpassed 5 million people

Answer 67

- American association of retired people - 50% of over 50s belong to it - 38 million members - the largest interest group

Answer 68

- American Israeli public affairs committee - very powerful - insider group, strong links with the government - only 100,000 members

Answer 69

- influencing elections - lobbying - using legal action - scorecards - direct/grassroots action

Answer 70

- since campaign finance reforms of the 1970s, considerable changes have taken place in the role of interest groups and political fundraising - the reforms limited the amount that any interest group could give to a candidate in a federal election - the reforms did encourage the setting up of PACs and superPACs (that could make donations) - many PACs and super PACs are affiliated with interest groups - e.g. the NRA and the victory fund PAC - interest groups also actively support/oppose presidential/congressional candidates on the basis of the candidate's position on the concerned policy areas - e.g. 2020 - coalition to stop gun violence endorsed Biden

Answer 71

- large well funded interest groups use professional lobbyists to help put their argument to legislatures - for interest groups, this may mean maintaining offices in Washington DC, state capital, and other major cities - iron triangles: used to describe the dynamic of policy making between congress, special interest groups and governmental agencies - e.g. the Sierra group, environmental agency (government), and the environmental committee (congress) - **congress** ---funding and politician support---> **beaurocracy** ---regulation and special favours ---> **IG** ---electoral support---> **congress** - **IG** ---congressional support---> **beaurocracy** ---policy choices---> **congress** ---legislation and oversight---> **IG** - the interrelation between these three factions can create a self sufficient (and sometimes corrupt) sub governmental situation in which American citizens' best interests are ignored - special favours and regulation changes are traded for passing legislation

Answer 72

- interest groups have sought to achieve influence through the courts - have often helped support and finance legal cases that have a bearing on their policy area - e.g. 1954 Brown V. Topeka was brought by the NAACP, their chief council (Thurgood Marshall - later a supreme court justice) argued the case before the supreme court - in June 2020, a coalition of LGBTQ+ groups combined to file a lawsuit against Trump administration, which had announced the rolling back of Obamacare-era trans healthcare protections - 'amicus curiae' briefs - supreme court allows interest groups to provide information during a court case - e.g. Roe V. Wade - American civil liberties union gave a briefing - 1989 Webster v. reproductive health service (RHS) - 78 briefs submitted, 41 pro life

Answer 73

- progressive liberal democrats took to groups such as the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL - CIO), and Americans for democratic action (ADA) to provide reassurance that they are taking the right stand on a particular issue - conservative republicans find the American conservative union (ACU) and pro life groups helpful - such interest groups publish regular ratings of legislation, showing how often/rarely a particular legislation has supported policy positions in line with views of that particular group - guidance on which candidates to support or oppose

Answer 74

- grassroots - actions by these members are thought to be most effective of interest groups' methods, especially when these activities are aimed directly at legislators/policy makers - such grassroot activities include: organisation of a social media or phone 'blitz' on congress, the white house or government department - with the knowledge that members of congress pay little attention to the arrival of such communications, interest groups encourage members to frame their own written and verbal protests - marches and demonstrations are sometimes aimed at state and federal courthouses - whenever the supreme court delivers a judgement on a contentious issue (e.g. abortion), there are protests outside the court building - e.g. George Richard Tiller: worked for one of three nationwide facilities which provided late term abortions; a pro life group (operation rescue) harassed this clinic for years - in 1993, Shelley Shannon shot him twice in both his arms, Tiller lived but was killed by Scott Roeder (also an anti abortion activist) in 2009

Answer 75

- Obama did best among atheists, agnostics and from religions other than protestants and Catholics - McCain predictably got most of his support from white evangelical Christians and regular church goers as his vice president running mate Sarah Palin had put religion at the forefront of the campaign - 74% of them voted for republican

Answer 76

- African Americans overwhelmingly supported Obama as he was the first AA president - 95% of African Americans voted for Obama, this was even higher among black women - 43% of white people voted for Obama, 55% for McCain

Answer 77

- Obama had initially struggled to win over Hispanic voters in the primaries - this was seen as a key group for him to try and win - traditionally, the hispanic vote does not always follow strict party lines, as it is dependent on gender and education - 67% of Hispanics voted for Obama, 31% for McCain

Answer 78

- those without a high school education voted in higher amounts for Obama than they did for McCain - many felt Obama was more approachable and inclusive with his policies - the vast majority of the non educated voters were also not white - 83% - Obama - McCain did best among white college graduates - 51%

Answer 79

- men were more evenly split than they have been in subsequent elections - 49% of men voted for Obama, 48% for McCain - both were perceived to be strong and principled men without any controversial news - small gender gap with women - 56% of women voted for Obama, 43% for McCain

Answer 80

- protestants: 56% - Trump, 39% - Clinton - catholics: 52% - Trump, Clinton - 44% - unaffiliated: 24% - Trump, 65% - Clinton - white evangelical christians - 77%

Answer 81

- Clinton was overwhelmingly more popular than Trump - 82% of black men voted for Clinton, 13% for Trump - 94% of black women voted for Clinton, 4% for Trump

Answer 82

- Clinton was more successful with Hispanics than Trump - 62% of Hispanic men voted for Clinton, 33% for Trump - 68% of Hispanic women voted for Clinton, 26% for Trump

Answer 83

- Trump was more popular with those with less education - high school graduates - 51% for Trump, 45% for Clinton - post graduates - 37% for Trump, 58% for Clinton

Answer 84

- Clinton was more popular with women - 54% - Trump was more popular with men - 53%

Answer 85

- for Biden - 35% protestant, 19% Catholic, 35% unaffiliated, 11% other - for Trump - 58% protestant, 22% catholic, 14% unaffiliated, 6% other

Answer 86

- 19% of voters who cast a ballot for Biden were Black, compared with the 2% for Trump - Biden was overwhelmingly supported by those who were non white - every 4 in 10 people who cast a vote for Biden were black, hispanic, or asian

Answer 87

- 85% of voters who cast a ballot for Trump were white non hispanic - this compares with 6% for Biden - Biden held on to the majority of the hispanic votes - however, Trump did make some gains, he did better with those without a college degree (41%) than college educated (30%) hispanics

Answer 88

- 31% of Trump voters had at least a four year college degree, 68% did not have a college degree and voted for Trump - 46% of voters had a college degree and voted for Biden, 53% did not have a college degree and voted for Biden

Answer 89

- 50% of men voted for Trump, 48% for Biden - 55% of women voted for Biden, 44% for Trump - black women - 95% for Biden, 5% for Trump - white women - 46% for Biden, 53% for Trump

Answer 90

- targeted policies - incumbent legacy - charisma/legacy

Answer 91

- african americans - women (especially african american women) - non/less educated people (with Trump being the anomaly) - unmarried people (especially women) - non christians and those who are not religious

Answer 92

- white, evangelical christians - those with college degrees, especially if they are white - married and 'family oriented' people - men (by a small margin)

Answer 93

- white and overwhelmingly protestant (WASPs) - often joined by practicing catholics (because of their stance on abortion) - rural or suburban (very socially conservative) - believe that the government does too much and should leave things to private companies - pro life, pro guns, pro traditional marriage - fox new associations

Answer 94

- a multi cultural coalition of black, hispanic and asian voters - wealthier, urban and more socially liberal - federal government should do more and federal tax should be higher for the wealthy - pro choice, gun control and same sex marriage - CNN and SNL viewership

Answer 95

- according to Bruce Keith (1992), many of those who call themselves independent regularly vote for candidates from a particular party - moreover, people who consistently identify themselves as pure independents are less likely to vote

Answer 96

- Watternburg (1998) argues that there has been a partisan dealignment - he argues that the success of independent candidates over consistent elections, such as Ross Perot, underpin this theory

Answer 97

- the number of those who are truly independent and apolitical have not really changed - however, there has been change with how strongly people feel to be affiliated with a party - the number of people 'strongly democrat' or 'strongly republican' is decreasing, whilst the number of people who are 'weak democrat' or 'weak republican' is increasing - fewer people consider themselves as apolitical - more people consider themselves as independent, but this does not corelate with voting behaviour - there is still a rigid two party system

Answer 98

- independents were crucial in giving Obama victory in 2008 - = 29% of the electorate - in 2004, Kerry had +1% in this category - in 2008, Obama has +8% - in 2012, Romney won among independents by 5 points - in 7 of the last 8 elections, independents had voted for the winner

Answer 99

- issues - events - personalities

Answer 100

- 2012 candidate - moved his personality sharply to the right during the primaries in order to win the nomination to appeal to the hard right in the Republican party - this made it difficult to appeal to the centre during the campaign - he was very wealthy - the democrats pressured him to show his 2012 tax receipts, showing he had paid tax - he overstated his wealth and appeared out of touch with the average voter

Answer 101

- 2016 candidate - 11th September 2016 - Clinton was caught collapsing on camera - for months, Trump has been arguing that Clinton was in declining health - Clinton didn't help by first dismissing the incident as a minor hiccup and only admitting to pneumonia later - Trump then claimed that she was deceptive and a liar - commentary on Clinton's fashion choices and hairstyles took up more column inches than any other candidate in history

Answer 102

- an event that hugely effects the campaign for a candidate when it is too late for them to recover - can be positive or negative

Answer 103

- e.g. **sandy hook (2012)** - after the school shooting, Obama travelled down to Sandy Hook and led a prayer with the people of the town - media coverage switched, before it had been critical of Obama's economic policies now they were praising him for being compassionate and a man of the people - e.g. **October 2016** - reports emerged that Clinton had sent secretary of state emails from her personal email account; she failed to recover from this, Trump spun it to make it seem she is incompetent

Answer 104

**1992** - the democratic victory was achieved in the context of a damaging recession - efforts made by the incumbent (Bush Sr) to appeal to the Christian right backfired because even republicans felt less strongly on these issues than the economy - 'its the economy stupid' - a revived economy and a move to the centre by Clinton ensured success in 1996 too **2008** - main issues of the Iraq war and the economy - 63% of voters said the economy was their top concern, many independents gave him is votes because of his economic aims - he won two swing states that eluded the democrats in 2004 (Florida and Ohio)

Answer 105

- e.g., abortion - NARAL (pro choice) organised mass protests and online campaigns to stop Brett Kavanagh (who has a terrible record for women's rights), from being appointed to the supreme court

Answer 106

- e.g., pharmaceuticals - hugely influential - spent $2 billion on lobbying in the last 10 years - dictate the prices of drugs, and therefore mostly anti medicare

Answer 107

- e.g., environment - league of conservation votes (LCV) opposed the keystone SCL pipeline from Canada to Texas

Answer 108

- Ron DeSantis (2024) - whose popularity declined throughout the invisible primary - Mike Pence (2024) - despite having been a vice president, did not get much media attention at all

Answer 109

- super Tuesday - example of the most important day of the primary season when the most primaries are held; in recent elections, it has dictated who the nominees will be - Iowa caucus - the earliest caucus and those who do poorly in this usually drop out in the following days (Vivek Ramaswamey pulled out in 2024 from the republican race after faring poorly)

Answer 110

- 2004 democratic NPC used as a chance for then senator, Obama, to address the crowds and get himself known ahead of the 2008 presidential bid - 2020 held remotely - suggesting that they are not a vital part of a campaign

Answer 111

1. invisible primary (year before the election) 2. January - June of the election year (primaries and caucuses) 3. weeks/days before the election - announce/choose a VP candidate 4. July/August - NPC 5. September - October, first week of November - general election campaign 6. first Tuesday after the first Monday in November - election day 7. Monday after the second Wednesday in December - electoral college voting 8. January - inauguration of the new president