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Politics > Democracy > Flashcards

Democracy Flashcards

1
Q

What are the constitutional requirements to be President?

A

Natural born US citizen
35years old
Resident of the US

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2
Q

What are the candidate requirements to be President?

A

Ability to raise money
⤷ e.g. Obama - $125mil in 2011, $66mil in Jan-Mar 2012
⤷ e.g. Harris - $150mil in Aug 2024
Effective organisation
⤷e.g. Obama better organised than Clinton in 2008
Oratorical skill
Sound and relevant policies
⤷ Biden - Covid and infrastructure

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3
Q

What are the 7 stages of the presidential elections?

A
  1. Invisible Primary
  2. Primary and Caucuses
  3. Choosing VP
  4. National Party Conventions
  5. General Election campaign
  6. Election Day
  7. Electoral College
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4
Q

When is the ‘Invisible Primary’ started and what does it entail?

A

Can begin months/years before actual primaries begin
Usually media presence
⤷interviews with News Hour on PBS gets you considered as a serious candidate
Formal announcement is then made
⤷ Newt Gringrich made his announcement 237 days before caucuses

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5
Q

What are some examples of withdrawals from candidacy during invisible primaries?

A

2016
Of 17 rep nominees, 5 withdrew during invisible primary
Jeb Bush - withdrew in Feb 2016 after criticised by Trump on social media

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6
Q

What activities are done during the invisible primary? (4)

A

TV Debates
16
2011 - Rick Perry forgot the 3rd department he would scrap, he came 6th

Special Events
Democrats - Jefferson Jackson day dinner

Visiting key states
Iowa + New Hampshire hold the first primaries/caucuses
Rick Santorum - visited Iowa 266 times by Jan 2012 (he won the caucuses)

Publish books
Obama - ‘Dreams of my Father’ and ‘Audacity of Hope’ in 2008
Mitt Romney - ‘No Apology: Believe in America’ 2012

Fundraising
Al Gore - his successful fundraising put off other candidates from 1999
Romney - significantly out fundraised competitors in 2012

Front runners
usually front runners become nominees

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7
Q

What does PAC stand for?

A

Political Action Committee

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8
Q

What is a PAC?

A

A group which raises money to support a candidate
Max of $5,000 directly to a campaign

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9
Q

What is the difference between a Pac and a Super-Pac?

A

Super-Pacs
can raise and spend unlimited amount of money
cannot directly donate to the campaign

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10
Q

How do candidates attract finance from PACs and Super-PACs?

A

Democrats:
Democrats for Education Reform (DFER)
-NY based
-encourages democratic party to embrace policy which improve public education

Republicans:
Citizens United
-non-profit
-2010 won Citizens United v FEC
⤷found it unconstitutional that federal law blocks expenditure of corporations and unions in connection to federal elections
⤷ allowed unlimited spending by corporations and labour unions
⤷gave rise to Super-PACs

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11
Q

What are caucuses?

A

Private meetings to decide candidates
vote to decide and candidates must meet the 15% threshold to enter the primary
(STV used when candidates don’t meet the quote)

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12
Q

How are caucuses used - democrats?

A

Raise of hand/ stand in one side of the room

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13
Q

How are caucuses used - republicans?

A

Secret ballot

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14
Q

How many states use caucuses?

A

12

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15
Q

What are primaries?

A

State-wide election of the candidate

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16
Q

What are the 3 types of primaries?

A

Open Primary
⤷everyone can vote and for any candidate
Closed Primary
⤷only party members can vote
Semi-Closed Primaries
⤷unregistered party members can choose a party and vote

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17
Q

How many states use primaries?

A

38

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18
Q

What is Super Tuesday?

A

A lot of states have the primary on the same day
Super Duper Tuesday - almost half of the states

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19
Q

What is frontloading?

A

Primaries moved earlier, usually to increase turnout

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20
Q

What is the standard turnout in primaries/caucuses?

A

around 20-30%

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21
Q

What is an example of a high/low turnout?

A

2016
New Hampshire - 52%
Kansas - 5.5%

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22
Q

What factors affect turnout?

A

Demography
-higher among educated, higher income, elderly

Types of primary
- open primaries - more eligible = higher turnout

Competitiveness
- one horse race = low turnout

Timing
- early primary = higher
- late primary = lower (usually can predict which way it will go)

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23
Q

Why are primaries important?

A
  • allows new candidates to emerge
  • eliminates unsuitable candidates
  • creates media attention = less apathy
  • shows their oratorical skills
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24
Q

Why are primaries NOT important?

A
  • often pre-decided during invisible primary
    ⤷ candidates leading at the start usually win
  • media coverage is usually more important than the primary
  • professional skills not tested
  • super-delegates can overrule
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25
Q

How are delegates allocated? (Democrats)

A

Proportionally

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26
Q

How are delegates allocated? (Republican)

A

Winner takes all
Or
Proportionally unless the threshold is reached

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27
Q

What delegates are used? (Democrats)

A

Super Delegates
⤷ often former VPs or members of Congress
⤷ can support any candidate
Pledged Delegates
⤷ expected to support the candidate voted for in the primary/caucus

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28
Q

What delegates are used? (Republicans)

A

Pledged delegates
⤷decided by primary/caucus
Unpledged delegates
⤷ anyone

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29
Q

How are Super Delegates controversial? (example)

A

2016 - West Virginia Primary
- all 55 counties voted for Bernie Sanders
- WV delegation pledged its support for Clinton
- Should have been: Sanders 18, Clinton 11
- Instead, was: Sanders 18, Clinton 19

(allegedly) Senator Joe Manchin whipped the other 7 superdelegates into supporting Clinton

30
Q

How is the VP decided?

A

Formally at the National Party Convention

31
Q

What are the formal functions of the NPC?

A

Nominating the President and VP

32
Q

What is the party platform?

A

Essentially an informal manifesto
Lists all the policies the candidate intends to pursue

33
Q

How are party platforms put together?

A

By a Platform Committee, instructed by the party’s National Committee

34
Q

How did the party platforms differ in 2020?

A

Democrat:
- policies to build on Obamacare
- increased funding of Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

Republican:
- focus on sexuality
- conservative message on same-sex marriage, trans rights and homosexuality

35
Q

What are the informal functions of the NPC?

A
  • party unity
  • enthusing the party faithfuls
  • enthusing ordinary voters
    ⤷ celebrity endorsements
    ⤷ 2024: rep - Hulk Hogan
    dem - Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Mindy
    Kaling, P!NK, Oprah
36
Q

Did the 2016 republican NPC fail or succeed to perform its informal functions?

A

Fail
- lots of republicans did not support Trump
⤷ Romney and G W Bush stayed away
⤷ i.e. his now VP (J D Vance) called him “America’s Hitler”

37
Q

Did the 2020 democratic NPC fail or succeed to perform its informal functions?

A

Success
- unity on policy
⤷ Harris overshadowed her previous criticism of Biden

38
Q

How did Trump (2016) and Biden (2020) enthuse voters?

A

Trump
“the election will decide if we save the American dream or whether we allow a socialist agenda”

Biden
acceptance speech showed how he was the peaceful option - “if you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of the us and not the worst”

39
Q

Are NPCs useful?

A

Yes
- only time when the national party meet
- promotes party unity
- can lead to a bounce in polls
⤷ Trump 2016 was just 1%
- millions of voters make their choice at this poit

No
- no significant decisions
- ordinary voters do not see them as impotant
- more focus on attention than policy
⤷ 2024 celebrity cameos

40
Q

Where are campaigns focused?

A

Battleground states
e.g. 2020 - Arizona, florida, Georgia, Michigan, NC, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
e.g. 2024 - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin (same but Florida changed to Nevada)

41
Q

What is a Bellwether state?

A

State which historically votes for winning president

42
Q

What are electoral college votes distributed based on?

A

Given per representative/senator
⤷Each state has 2 senators
⤷ Each state has 1 representative minimum - based on population

43
Q

How many states use winner take all?

A

48

44
Q

Which states don’t use winner takes all?

A

Maine and Nebraska
- 2 based on popular vote, 1 per district winner
⤷ Maine - 4 ecvs
⤷ Nebraska - 5 ecvs

45
Q

What are faithless electors?

A

Delegates who vote against what their state voted for

46
Q

How many faithless electors were there in 2016?

A

10
- 3 invalidated (broke state law)
⤷ all 3 voted for Sanders > Clinton
- 7 went through
⤷ 1 for Sanders > Clinton
⤷ 3 for Powell > Clinton
⤷ 1 for Faith Spotted Eagle > Clinton
⤷ 1 for Kasich > Trump
⤷ 1 for Paul > Trump

47
Q

How do laws on faithless electors change?

A

30 states have laws requiring delegates to vote with state
20 without

48
Q

When has the electoral college not worked?

A

Winning popular vote but lost ECV
- 2000 - Al gore won .5% more than W.Bush
⤷ Florida had Bush leading by 327 votes on 10th Nov
⤷ 5-4 SC ruling ended recount
⤷ meant Bush won by 0.009%

  • 2016 - Clinton won vote by 2% (3mil)
49
Q

How does the electoral process compare to the UK?

A

FPTP
- Loss of election but win of vote in 1951
⤷ Conservatives had 48% vote and 321 seats but labour had 48.8% vote and 295 seats

50
Q

How has electoral college reform been attempted

A
  • law reforms
    ⤷ 30 states prohibit faithless electors
  • National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC)
    ⤷ created after 2000 election
    ⤷ 17 states + DC make up 207 ECVs pledge to vote with national popular vote
    ⤷ 77% of the needed 270 ECVs
51
Q

How are elections funded?

A

PACs, 527S, Super-PACs

52
Q

How can PACs donate money?

A
  • up to $5000 per campaign
  • direct donations
53
Q

How can 527s donate money?

A
  • unlimited donations
  • cannot directly call for defeat/success of a candidate
54
Q

How can Super-PACs donate money?

A
  • unlimited donations
  • can call for the election of a candidate but cannot coordinate with those campaigns
55
Q

What is soft money?

A

Money donated to a party for ‘party building activities’

56
Q

What is hard money?

A

Donations directly made to a campaign
(subject to strict limits)

57
Q

What are 527s?

A
  • An organisation created to receive and disburse funds or influence a nomination/election/appointment
  • Not subjected to the same limits as FEC regulated organisations
  • Exempt from federal income tax on contributions received
  • Required to report their funding and expenditures
  • Many are ran by special interest groups
    ⤷ e.g. American Federation of Teachers, Laborers Union
    ⤷ 24/25 of the top 527s donated all their profits to Democrats
58
Q

How has reform of campaign funding been blocked?

A

SC case Citizens United v FEC
- ruled that the 1st amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations
⤷ includes non-profits, labour unions etc

59
Q

Is the presidential election process effective?

A

Yes
- lengthy process = resilient candidates
- primary = small state’s voices are heard
- broadly works
⤷ controversies are quickly overcome
⤷ e.g. Bush 2000, Trump 2016

No
- Electoral College needs reform
- NPC has little democratic purpose
- Cost makes the process elitist
- Cost forces candidates to mend their policy to attract corporations etc
⤷ removes more left wing candidates
⤷ e.g. Bernie Sanders 2016
- Lengthy process creates apathy

60
Q

Where is Congress’ framework in the Constitution?

A

Article 1

61
Q

How do Senate elections work?

A

Every 2 years a third of the chamber is up for election (each Senator gets 6 years)

62
Q

What voting system is used in congressional elections?

A

FPTP

63
Q

What is a midterm election?

A

The elections which take place between presidential elections

64
Q

When have midterm elections been important?

A

1994 - Clinton lost House and Senate
2014 - “red wave” election
⤷ Obama lost Senate and rep held the House
⤷ largest Senate gain since 1980 and House had largest majority since 1928

65
Q

What are the advantages of incumbency?

A
  • Name recognition
    ⤷ already known to the public
    ⤷ clear political views
    ⤷ website which shares their successes
  • Easier to raise funding
    ⤷ i.e. winning a Senate seat costs $10m
    ⤷ i.e. winning a House seat costs $1m
    ⤷ e.g. incumbents raised $12m whereas challengers got $1.5m
    ⤷franking privilege (Congress pays for their mailing to constituents)

EV: Jaime Harrison - South Carolina Senator 2020
⤷raised $57m in the third quarter of 2020
⤷ new record for any single Senate race
However - still lost election by 10 points

66
Q

What is gerrymandering?

A

Congressional districts are redrawn every 10 years.
It is when the controlling state legislature re-draws them to give them an advantage in elections

67
Q

When has gerrymandering helped keep a candidate?

A

Redrew in 2020
- 2015-2017: incumbency was 95% for House and 82$ Senate
- 2017-2019: incumbency rate was 97% for House and 93% for the Senate

68
Q

How has the government become more divided?

A

1901-1969 - government divided 21% of the time
1969-today - government divided 72% of the time

69
Q

How does turnout in midterms compare to those in time with the presidential election?

A

Turnout increases by 10-20% when not midterms

70
Q
A

Politics (5 decks)

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