Democracy Flashcards
What are the constitutional requirements to be President?
Natural born US citizen
35years old
Resident of the US
What are the candidate requirements to be President?
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
What are the 7 stages of the presidential elections?
- Invisible Primary
- Primary and Caucuses
- Choosing VP
- National Party Conventions
- General Election campaign
- Election Day
- Electoral College
When is the ‘Invisible Primary’ started and what does it entail?
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
What are some examples of withdrawals from candidacy during invisible primaries?
2016
Of 17 rep nominees, 5 withdrew during invisible primary
Jeb Bush - withdrew in Feb 2016 after criticised by Trump on social media
What activities are done during the invisible primary? (4)
TV Debates
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
What does PAC stand for?
Political Action Committee
What is a PAC?
A group which raises money to support a candidate
Max of $5,000 directly to a campaign
What is the difference between a Pac and a Super-Pac?
Super-Pacs
can raise and spend unlimited amount of money
cannot directly donate to the campaign
How do candidates attract finance from PACs and Super-PACs?
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
What are caucuses?
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)
How are caucuses used - democrats?
Raise of hand/ stand in one side of the room
How are caucuses used - republicans?
Secret ballot
How many states use caucuses?
12
What are primaries?
State-wide election of the candidate
What are the 3 types of primaries?
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
How many states use primaries?
38
What is Super Tuesday?
A lot of states have the primary on the same day
Super Duper Tuesday - almost half of the states
What is frontloading?
Primaries moved earlier, usually to increase turnout
What is the standard turnout in primaries/caucuses?
around 20-30%
What is an example of a high/low turnout?
2016
New Hampshire - 52%
Kansas - 5.5%
What factors affect turnout?
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)
Why are primaries important?
- allows new candidates to emerge
- eliminates unsuitable candidates
- creates media attention = less apathy
- shows their oratorical skills
Why are primaries NOT important?
- 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
How are delegates allocated? (Democrats)
Proportionally
How are delegates allocated? (Republican)
Winner takes all
Or
Proportionally unless the threshold is reached
What delegates are used? (Democrats)
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
What delegates are used? (Republicans)
Pledged delegates
⤷decided by primary/caucus
Unpledged delegates
⤷ anyone
How are Super Delegates controversial? (example)
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
How is the VP decided?
Formally at the National Party Convention
What are the formal functions of the NPC?
Nominating the President and VP
What is the party platform?
Essentially an informal manifesto
Lists all the policies the candidate intends to pursue
How are party platforms put together?
By a Platform Committee, instructed by the party’s National Committee
How did the party platforms differ in 2020?
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
What are the informal functions of the NPC?
- 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
Did the 2016 republican NPC fail or succeed to perform its informal functions?
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”
Did the 2020 democratic NPC fail or succeed to perform its informal functions?
Success
- unity on policy
⤷ Harris overshadowed her previous criticism of Biden
How did Trump (2016) and Biden (2020) enthuse voters?
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”
Are NPCs useful?
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
Where are campaigns focused?
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)
What is a Bellwether state?
State which historically votes for winning president
What are electoral college votes distributed based on?
Given per representative/senator
⤷Each state has 2 senators
⤷ Each state has 1 representative minimum - based on population
How many states use winner take all?
48
Which states don’t use winner takes all?
Maine and Nebraska
- 2 based on popular vote, 1 per district winner
⤷ Maine - 4 ecvs
⤷ Nebraska - 5 ecvs
What are faithless electors?
Delegates who vote against what their state voted for
How many faithless electors were there in 2016?
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
How do laws on faithless electors change?
30 states have laws requiring delegates to vote with state
20 without
When has the electoral college not worked?
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)
How does the electoral process compare to the UK?
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
How has electoral college reform been attempted
- 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
How are elections funded?
PACs, 527S, Super-PACs
How can PACs donate money?
- up to $5000 per campaign
- direct donations
How can 527s donate money?
- unlimited donations
- cannot directly call for defeat/success of a candidate
How can Super-PACs donate money?
- unlimited donations
- can call for the election of a candidate but cannot coordinate with those campaigns
What is soft money?
Money donated to a party for ‘party building activities’
What is hard money?
Donations directly made to a campaign
(subject to strict limits)
What are 527s?
- 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
How has reform of campaign funding been blocked?
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
Is the presidential election process effective?
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
Where is Congress’ framework in the Constitution?
Article 1
How do Senate elections work?
Every 2 years a third of the chamber is up for election (each Senator gets 6 years)
What voting system is used in congressional elections?
FPTP
What is a midterm election?
The elections which take place between presidential elections
When have midterm elections been important?
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
What are the advantages of incumbency?
- 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 $57m in the third quarter of 2020
⤷ new record for any single Senate race
However - still lost election by 10 points
What is gerrymandering?
Congressional districts are redrawn every 10 years.
It is when the controlling state legislature re-draws them to give them an advantage in elections
When has gerrymandering helped keep a candidate?
Redrew in 2020
- 2015-2017: incumbency was 95% for House and 82$ Senate
- 2017-2019: incumbency rate was 97% for House and 93% for the Senate
How has the government become more divided?
1901-1969 - government divided 21% of the time
1969-today - government divided 72% of the time
How does turnout in midterms compare to those in time with the presidential election?
Turnout increases by 10-20% when not midterms
