Elections

Question 1

What is a presidentital election

Answer 1

Fixed election which elect the president every 4 years

Question 2

What is a Congressional election

Answer 2

Directly elect members of both chambers of Congress (every 2 yrs; whole of House and third of Senate)

Question 3

What is opposite to UK ‘snap elections’

Answer 3

Constitutional Rigidity - all US elections timings are set out in the Constitution

Question 4

Give an example of the idea of a ‘Permanent Campaign’

Answer 4

Trump rally day after he gets inaugurated

Question 5

Give 4 differences between English electoral requirements and US

Answer 5

1) Elections every 5 years
2) People vote for the party rather than the elected candidate (e.g. Conservative party membership vote for rishi Sunal or Liz truss)
3) Can serve more than two terms
4) No primaries

Question 6

What is the invisible Primary?

Answer 6

The time period between when the candidates declare an intention to run for the presidency and the first contests of the primary season

Question 7

Why is the invisible primary termed ‘invisible’

Answer 7

Invisible because much of what occurs cannot be seen (largely untrue now as tv debates now central)

Question 8

Most important 3 things for the candidate to gain during the Invisible Primaries

Answer 8

Name Recognition
- raise Money
- arrange state-based Organisation

Question 9

3 things candidates can do to win the Invisible Primary

Answer 9

1) Visit Key States (e.g. Iowa and New Hampshire)
2) Get a Mention in the Media
- ‘washington post’
- Trump used twitter a lot - appealed to younger voters
- In-depth interview
3) Money Raising
- Al Gore scared off challengers for the 2000 Democratic nomination because of huge amounts of money raised

Question 10

What is ‘Super Tuesday’

Answer 10

A Tuesday in Feb when a number of states arrange their primaries together has come to be known.

In 2008 Super Tuesday was in early Feb and was the biggest ever:
- 22 Democrat and 21 Republican contests being held.

In 2012 Super Tuesday was on March 6th and only involved 10 states

Question 11

What is a Primary?

Answer 11

A primary election is to choose a party’s candidate for an elective office, in this case the presidency

Question 12

What is a Caucus

Answer 12

A caucus is a meeting for the selection of a party’s candidate for president. In 2012 12 states held caucuses.

Question 13

3 unique features of a Primary

Answer 13

Primaries are run by the state and local gov’t

The primary process involves choosing the party’s presidential nominee. It does this by accumulating delegates that will meet at the party’s NNC

Most states have a binding primary – they are legally bound to vote for a particular candidate

Question 14

3 Unique features of a Caucus

Answer 14

Caucuses are run by political parties

getting rarer:
In 2008, 14 states held democratic caucuses and 10 held Republican caucuses
By 2020, only 3 states held democratic caucuses - hard to organise and not very effective

good way to engage in politics and can be quite fun

Question 15

What is a Delegate

Answer 15

Delegates are usually people who are prominent in the party in that state. They go forward to a state convention and eventually the national party convention.

Question 16

What is Front-Loading

Answer 16

This is the phenomenon by which an increasing number of states schedule their presidential primaries or caucuses earlier in the cycle

Done to Increase Importance of their State

Question 17

1 Advantage of Front-Loading

Answer 17

Less chance of a longer campaign which could potentially damage own party - compare to Truss/Sunak fight for PM

Question 18

1 Disadvantage of Front-Loading

Answer 18

Because the nomination is decided so early, there is little opportunity for any reassessment of a candidate’s potential weaknesses - can lead to ‘buyer’s remorse’

Question 19

Where ar emost electoral decisions decided?

Answer 19

At state -level

Question 20

What is the national nominating convention?

Answer 20

The occasion when the successful candidate is formally endorsed as their party’s candidate for the forthcoming presidential election

Question 21

One example of how Republicans have tried to reduce the vote of African-Americans

Answer 21

• Wisnconsin, presidential election during Covid
  Milwaukee officials opened just five polling places for the entire city. One study said that difficult access and long lines reduced turnout by more than 8% — and more than 10% for Black voters.

Question 22

Why can there be some exceptions to the majoritarian rule of elections?

Answer 22

Because there are no federal requirements for the electoral system (excl Electoral college)

Question 23

Explain California’s ‘Non-partisan blanket primary law’

Answer 23

• Means that the top two candidates regardless of party are selected in a state primary
• A consequence of tis is that the heavily democratic state meant that two Democrats came top in the blanket primary held in June 2018
• Which mean the November Senate election was between two Democrats, no Republican was on the ballot

Question 24

3 strengths of US electoral system

Answer 24

1) The Electoral college again reinforces the federal nature and ensures smaller states are not overlooked in election campaigns

2) A huge number of elections and elected offices offer many opportunities for political participation

3)An almost entirely majoritarian electoral system usually ensures clear results and single-party control of legislative chambers

Question 25

3 weaknesses of the US electoral system

Answer 25

1) Electoral distortion via electoral college which can considerably exaggerate the powrr of smaller states

2)plenty of scope for electoral manipulation (gerrymandering and voter ID laws) in individual states. A fully national electoral system could work far better

3)The two parties often control one chamber each of Congress or a state legislatre, making deadlock more common

Question 26

What is usually seen as critical in the midterm?

Answer 26

the economic situation

Question 27

What had Trump never done before, showing that money and fame are important in the US elections

Answer 27

Trump had never previously held elected office

Question 28

One example of Trump Slogan that became personal to the publc?

Answer 28

“Make America Great Again”

Question 29

Give one example of a party specifially targeting a voting group?

Answer 29

Trump gets Mike Pence as his running mate to get the vote of evangelical Christians

Question 30

Give 3 crucial swing states

Answer 30

Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania

Question 31

In what state was the most money spent in the 2016 election campaign

Answer 31

Florida

Question 32

How much did Trump spend in Florida in the 2016 election

Answer 32

Just under $35m

Question 33

How much did Hilary Cinton spend in Florida the 2016 election?

Answer 33

$93.7m

Question 34

what percentage of campaign events were held in just 6 mjaor swing states in 2016 ?

Answer 34

68.4% - 273/399

Question 34

what percentage of campaign events were held in just 6 mjaor swing states in 2016 ?

Answer 34

68.4% - 273/399

Question 35

What was the total price tag for the 2020 election?

Answer 35

$14b

Question 36

How much did Bernie Saunders make in donations in Feb 2020 alone?

Answer 36

$46m

came from 2.2m Americans; not just the rich)

Question 37

Trump lost control of the house in the 2018 midterms, what was it now harder to do?

Answer 37

Pass legislation

Question 38

What were nicknames used by Trump at toher Republican candidiates during the 2016 primaries?

Answer 38

“Cry-baby Rubio” - “Lyin Ted”

Shows aminosity created during Primaries

Question 39

What are closed Primaries?

Answer 39

Voters only allowed in party’s primary if already registered to a particularly party - (Oregon and New York)

Question 40

What are open primaries?

Answer 40

All registered voters can vote in any party’s primary, but only in that one primary (Georgia)

Question 41

An endorsement from who helped Biden’s fortunes massively?

Answer 41

African-American Congressman Jim Clyburn - the most powerful Democrat in the state

Question 42

3 reasons that suggests NNC still important

Answer 42

1) Promotes Party Unity
- Wounds from Primary must b healed
- 1992 - Bush v Buchanan - ‘Culture Wars’ speech by Bush heals rift publicsally

2) Riling up Party Faithful
- get supporters on side before election
- Clint Eastwood’s apperance in Rep convention 2012 - Ted Kennedy’s at Dem nnc 2008

3) Riling up Oridanry Voters
- ‘Bounce’ = increase of support - post convention
- Avg bounce = 5% – Obama at 4%, McCain at 6%
- Romeny got no bounce but stll recovered

Question 43

3 advantages of a primary

Answer 43

1) Present a large choice of candidates. In the Republican Primary in 2016, 16 candidates ran.
2) Primaries give people outside of politics a chance to run for election, for example, Donald Trump in 2016, who ran without any previous political experience
3) While the process is long and difficult, it is arguably necessary for electing such an important role

Question 44

3 disadvantages of a primary

E+A 3 ways in whih the process for selecting presidential candidates is open to criticism

Answer 44

1) Suitable candidates can be put off from running as the process is long and expensive. Hillary Clinton raised $275m in the 2016 Democratic primary (many candidates simply do not have access to this level of funding)
2) Primaries can often become a personal battle rather than about a candidate’s policies and suitability for president. In the 2016 primaries, Donald Trump made personal attacks towards fellow candidate Jeb Bush, calling him “an embarrassment to his family”
3) Voter turnout is often low, particularly when a president is running for re-election as only one party has a serious primary contest. In 2012, when Obama was running, turnout was only 14.5%.

Question 45

What are ‘faithless electors’

Answer 45

a member of the electoral college who does not vote for the candidate for whom they had pledged to vote.

• ‘swing voters’ ‘split-ticket’