Interpretations and Debates Around US Democracy and Participation Flashcards
How does the Electoral College provide a voice to smaller states? Why is this an advantage? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
The Electoral College provides a number of electors for each state calculated by adding the number of House and Senate members together, meaning that smaller states are provided with the ability to impact and effect an election and are not disadvantaged compared to larger states.
How does the Electoral College over-represent smaller states? How is this a disadvantage? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
The Electroal College provides disproportionately high representation to low population states such as Wyoming compared to the representation available to high population states such as California. This means that the valuation of larger states, although numerically great, is not as large as a smaller state would be.
How many votes were needed for Biden to win a single EC vote in California? How mang votes were needed for Trump to win a single EC vote in Wyoming? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
Biden needed over 300,000 votes to win a single Californian EC vote, whereas in Wyoming, Trump required only 120,000 votes to win a single EC vote. Wyoming vote is effectively 3x more valuable than California.
How does the Electoral College provide distorted results? Why is this a disadvantage? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
The Electoral College provides results whereby the popular vote being higher for one candidate may not translate into their victory, undermining the general will of the population and producing results which a minority of the population favour.
How many fewer votes did Trump recieve than Clinton in 2016? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
Trump recieved 3 million fewer votes than Clinton in 2016 yet still won the Presidency.
How does the Electoral College produce a 2 horse race? Why is this both an advantage and a disadvantage? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
The Electoral College uses a winner-takes-all system which eliminates all candidates from outside the 2 main parties. This may be an advantage as it is likely that a winning candidate will recieve > 50% of the popular vote (or EC votes), uniting the country, yet may be a disadvantage as it prevents a plurality of candidates from having a chance of election.
How does the Electoral College have a detrimental impact on third parties? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
The Electoral College’s ‘winner-takes-all’ style results in a very minimal chance that any third party candidate will recieve a sufficient volume of votes in order to receive any EC votes.
What instances are there of third party candidates having qualified successes in elections but winning no/few EC votes? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
In 1992, Ross Perot won 19% of the popular vote yet no EC votes.
In 1968, George Wallace succeeded in taking 45 EC votes as a regionally based candidate.
How does the Electoral College system promote rogue electors? Why is this a disadvantage of this system? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
The Electoral College does not enforce that electors must support the candidate that their state elects at an election, hence meaning that the verification of the votes of electors does not necessarily mirror that of what was created following a Presidential Election.
How many elections since 1968 have seen rogue electors? How many did Clinton/Trump have in 2016? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
In 7/13 elections since 1968 there have been rogue electors. In 2016, 5 Clinton and 2 Trump supposedly committed electors chose to vote for alternative candidates.
What would be the advantages and disadvantages of a direct election of candidates in the place of the Electoral College? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
Advantages: would remove disproportionate results and mean that winners that do not win on the popular vote would be eliminated, meaning candidate with largest support would win.
Disadvantages: candidate would not require an absolute majority of votes, meaning a winning candidate may be elected with < 50% of the popular vote.
What % of people in the US supported a popular vote system of election in 2007? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
In 2007, 72% of Americans claimed to support a popular vote system of election.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the use of a congressional district system for Presidential elections? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
Advantages: would adopt the Maine/Nebraska system nationwide, would deliver a more localised and specified form of FPTP rather than a directly winner takes all system based on states.
Disadvantages: would only marginally alter last 7 election results, is still a winner takes all system and hence disadvantages minor party candidates.
What impact would a congressional district system have had on the 2000 general election? What impact would it have had on the 2012 election? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
If a congressional district system were employed in 2000 then an even less proportional result in favour of Bush would have been produced. Furthermore, in 2012, Romney would have only lost by 5 EC votes instead of a much larger losing margin despite his 5 million vote loss to Obama.
What advantages and disadvantages would there be of a proportional system operating in Presidential elections? - Debates over US Democracy and Participation
Advantages: a proportional system would abolish a winner takes all system at any level and mean all votes would be represented at state (and then national) level. Would remove rogue electors. Would increase third party representation.
Disadvantages: effectively abolishes the Electoral College, increases popularity of third parties and produces outcomes where no candidate takes a majority of EC votes.
