Elections Flashcards
what is the 7 stages of the presidential election process
1st- invisible primaries 2nd- primaries and caucuses 3rd- choosing VP candidates 4th- national party conventions 5th- general election campaigns 6th- election day 7th- electoral colleague voting
constitutional what requirements are there to run to be the president
- have to be American
- have to be older then 35
- if you have already don’t two terms you cant do anymore
- lived in America for 14 years
what additional requirements are suggested to be a presidential candidate
- link with a party
- preferable political experience- senator/ governor/ VP
- wealth/ fund raising support
- married/ family
- background
- good speaker
- policies
- personal characteristics
- media skills
what is an invisible primary
the period between candidates declaring an intention to run for the presidency and the first primaries and caucuses
what is the big mo
its what candidates seek to gain within the invisible primaries to gain popularity and media attention, also know as big momentum
what different techniques do candidates use in the invisible primaries to gain big mo
- candidate announcements, can be done up to 10 months before the primaries and caucuses
- televised TV debates
- fundraising
- front- running, the gaining of media attention and looking the most likely to win the Iowa Caucus
what is a presidential primary
a state-based series election to choose a party’s candidate for the presidency. it shows support for candidates among ordinary voters.
what is a presidential caucuses
a state-based series of meetings to choose a party’s candidates for the presidency. they attract unrepresentative and low turnouts.
what is a closed primary
a primary in which only registered party members can vote for there party
what is an open primary
a primary in which any registered voter can vote in either party’s primary
proportional primaries
a primary in which delegates are awarded to the candidates in proportional to the vote they get.
winner-take-all primaries
a primary permitted only by the republicans, in which whoever gets the most votes wins all that states delegates
what are the two first primaries and caucuses and when
- Iowa (Caucuses), around early February
- New Hampshire (Primaries), mid February
why are the 2 early primaries important
for big mo, its crucial to influence the people of these two states as the results of them detrained what the rest of the states think.
what is the average turnout in primaries
20-30%
why are turnouts so low
- demographics
- types of primaries
- the competitiveness of the race
- whether nominees have been decided yet
what weaknesses are there in the nominating process
- widespread voting apathy and boredom
- voters are underrepresented of the voting-age population
- process is far too long
- process is very expensive
- process is to dominated by the media
- primaries can develop into bitter personal battles
- lack of press review
- super-delegates
what are the advantages of the primaries?
- increased participation
- increased choice of candidates
- process opened up to outsiders
- a gruelling race for a gruelling job
what are the disadvantages of the primaries
- leads to widespread voting boredom
- voters are underrepresented
- process is too long and too expensive
- can develop personal bitter battles
- lack of ‘peer review’
- role of super delegates
what is a national party convention
the meeting held every four years by each of the two major parties to select presidential and vice presidential candidates and agree the party platform.
what are the 3 formal functions of a party convention
- choosing the party’s presidential candidate
- choosing the party’s VP candidate
- deciding the party platform
what are the 4 informal functions
- promoting the party unity
- enthusing the party faithful
- enthusing the ordinary voters
- post-convention ‘bounce’
why are national party conventions still important
- the only time the party meets together
- promoting party unity
- enthusing party members and activists
- introducing the presidential and VP candidates
- presidential candidates acceptance speech
- leading to a bounce of confidence
- convention is the start of the campaign for many voters
- many voters make their decision on the party convention
why are national party convention not important anymore
- the presidential candidate is already likely to be chosen during the primaries
- VP also are chosen before the convention
- party platforms are agreed before
- reduction in being televised
- its more a party then a series convention
how are presidential candidates funded during the general elections campaign
- hard money
- soft money
- dark money (PACs and super PACs)
what is hard money
money given straight to the candidates
what is soft money
money given to the party
what is dark money
money given to PACs (political action committees)
what are PACs (political action committees)
a political committee that raises limited amounts of money and spends these contributions for the express purpose of electing or defeating candidates
why are PACs used
Due to acts (FEC act of 1974 and BI-partisan campaign reform act of 2002) limiting the use of soft and hard money candidates have used PACs as a means to indirectly and legal defeat opponents.
what are super PACs
a political committee that makes independent expenditures, but does not make contribution to candidates.
what 3 things are money spent on
- organisations
- campaigning
- media
what are the 3 types of TV debates
- Podium
- Town hall
- roundtable
what is the October surprise
an event occurring late in the presidential campaign to disadvantages of one candidate, leaving the candidate with little time or no time to recover before election day.
how do you become president
win more the 270 electoral colleges (there are 538 in total)
what are electoral colleges
the institution established by the founding fathers to indirectly elect the president and VP. The electors cast their ballot in their state capitals.
how do electoral colleges work
- each state has a set number of ECVs, bigger the state population the more you get.
- the number of ECVs is decided by how many HOR (districts) you have plus 2 (senators).
- each state can choose what type of voting they use
- Maine and Nebraska use proportional representation
what happens if the ECVs are tied
HOR chooses the president and Senate chooses the VP
what are the weaknesses of EC
- small states are over-representative
- winner-takes-all/ electoral college system distorts the result
- unfair to national third parties
- ‘rouge’ election
- president and VP of different parties is possible
what are the advantages of EC
- it preserves the voice of the small-populated states
- it tends to promote a two-horse race
