Presidential Elections Flashcards
Fill the gaps…‘Presidential Elections occur on the ??? after the first ??? in November’
Tuesday/Monday
What are the 3 main constitutional requirements for the Presidency?
- Over 35 years of age
- Be a natural born U.S. citizen
- Have been a resident in the USA for at least 14 years
Which amendment in the Constitution states that a person can’t serve more than two terms in office? And what was the date of this amendment?
22nd Amendment, 1951
What are 3 functions of the invisible primary?
- Announce Candidacy
- Increase name recognition
- Fundraising
- Debates, Interviews
What is the main purpose of a Presidential primary?
To select a party’s candidate for the Presidency
What is the secondary purpose of primaries?
To choose delegates to go to the national party conventions
What is a superdelegate?
A democratic delegate who is not restricted to voting in line with the result of their state primary
Which primary is notoriously held first? Which caucus is notoriously held first?
Primary - New Hampshire
Caucus - Iowa
What is front loading?
A tactic in which states schedule their primaries or caucuses earlier in the cycle to try increase their importance and influence
State 3 advantages of using primaries
Any of these:
- Increased level of participation over caucuses
- Increased choice of candidates
- Opening up the process to ‘outsider’ candidates
- Removing power from the party bosses (1960s ‘smoke filled room’)
- Weeding out candidates not up to the contest
State 3 disadvantages of using primaries
- Turnout is generally low
- Voters are more elderly, ideological and wealthy when compared to caucus voters
- Too expensive, media ordinated or long
- Bitter personal battles can develop (inter party)
What are the 3 ‘formal’ functions of National Party Conventions (NPCs)?
- Choosing the Presidential Candidate
- Choosing the VP candidate
- Deciding the party platform (policy agenda)
What are 2 ‘informal’ functions of National Party Conventions (NPCs)?
- Promoting party unity
2. Enthusing the party faithful
What are 3 advantages to NPCs?
Any of these:
- The only time in a 4 year cycle that the parties meet together
- Introduce the new VP
- Can lead to a post convention bounce in the polls
- Presidential nominee acceptance speech is a key moment
What does ‘enthusing the party faithful’ mean?
Enthusing dedicated, longstanding members of the party to help out with admin, and promotion work on the campaign trail, such as making phone calls, collecting donations or delivering leaflets
What are ‘federal matching funds’?
When the federal government matches the money raised by th candidate personally at a point during the campaign
What is a Super PAC?
An independent expenditure committee, who are able to raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions and individuals - and then spend unlimited sums to support a candidate
What is dark money?
Political campaign spending to influence the decision of a voter, where the donor or the source of the money is not disclosed
What percentage support in the polls must a candidate hold to be allowed to compete in a presidential debate? And who is the only 3rd party candidate to have achieved this and in what year?
15%, only ever achieved by a third party candidate - Ross Perot - in 1992
Why might debates be more difficult for incumbents than challengers?
Because incumbents can have their own quotes from the past 4 years thrown back at them
Give 2 reasons why TV debates are still important?
Any of these:
- Often have huge viewing audiences
- Good sound bites will be played over and over on the news
- Can change the direction of the whole race (2012, 1st debate)
- The only time when a candidate can address the voters, unfiltered, for 90 minutes straight
Give 2 reasons why TV debates are no longer that important
Any of these:
- Many voters have already made up their minds before watching the debates
- They rarely have a lasting impact on the outcome of the election
- Candidates often have very pre-rehearsed answers
- They usually just confirm the front runner of the race anyway
In what year was the first Presidential debate held, and between who?
In 1960 - Kennedy vs Nixon - not used again until 1976
Between 1964 and 2000 women have generally supported which party’s candidate? And what could be a reason for this?
Democrats, because of their stance on policy issues such as abortion or gun control
Which way do the following religious groups generally tend to vote:
- Protestants
- Catholics
- Jews
- Protestants - Republican
- Catholics - Democrat
- Jews - Democrat
What policy issue causes a problems for Catholic democrat voters?
The Democrats ‘pro-choice’ stance on abortions
What is the correlation between geographic regions and voting affiliation?
The Northeastern states generally go to the Democrats
The Southern states generally go to the Republicans
Give 2 disadvantages of the Electoral College
- Candidates of third parties have little or no chance of winning any electoral college votes at all
- There is a risk of having ‘faithless electors’, where electors don’t vote in line with their states popular vote or how they pledged to
Give 2 advantages of the Electoral College
- Maintains a federal system of government and representation
- Ensures that states with small populations can still have a significant impact on the overall outcome of the election (swing states)
