US Democracy and partucipation

Question 1

What are the stages of presidential elections?

Answer 1

1} The Presidential nomination{also known as primaries or caucuses}. A primary election involves candidates from the same party competing with each other in a public vote to decide which candidate will stand in the election for office.

2} The presidential election process{ also known as the Electoral college}.

Question 2

What are some key features of the primary process?

Answer 2

• Candidates compete within states, not in a single national vote.
• Different states vote on different dates, starting with Iowa.
• Each state has a number of delegates, with candidates competing to win these delegates in each state. The more votes a candidate gets, the more delegates they capture.
• The delegates attend a party meeting and cast votes to determine who will be the presidential candidate for that party.
• A candidate requires over 50% of the votes to become the presidential nominee.

Question 3

What are the benefits and criticisms of primaries and caucuses?

Answer 3

Criticisms:

• Specific procedures: States using caucus elections create low turnout.
• Timing: Voting takes place over several months, with early states having greater influence and later states often being disenfranchised because the decision is made before all states is voted.
• Party divides: The process causes divisions within each party and can make it harder for them to win the presidential election.

Benefits:

• Voter choice: The process allows voters to choose which one of several candidates will be the candidate for their preferred party.
• Voter education: Primaries create a longer campaign period.
• Proven party candidates: Primaries benefit parties because they allow a popular candidate to become the nominee for their party.

Question 4

What are invisible primaries?

Answer 4

The period before primary voting in which candidates attempt to establish themselves as potential winners by raising funding and trying to secure public support.

Question 5

What affects voter perceptions?

Answer 5

Funding levels and polls affect voter perceptions. Those who perform badly in invisible primaries can lose credibility, with voters less likely to vote for them. The invisible primaries can force less successful candidates to drop out.

Question 6

What are national party conventions?

Answer 6

Each party holds a national party convention at the end of the primary process. In theory, conventions select the presidential candidate for that party but this role has become redundant.

Question 7

What were the traditional roles of conventions?

Answer 7

• Select the presidential candidate.
• Select the running mate.
• Determine the party platform for the presidential election.

Question 8

What are the modern roles of conventions?

Answer 8

• Launch the presidential election campaign.
• Enthuse party activists.
• Reunite the party.

Question 9

What happened at the GOP convention in Ohio and the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia?

Answer 9

• Ted Cruz used his speech to urge voters to ‘vote your conscience’ rather than vote for Trump.
• Trump’s final night speech attracted more viewers than Clinton’s speech at the Philadelphia Convention where she has appeared united on stage with her main rival Sanders.
• Trump’s policy promises conflicted with some of those developed by the Republican National Committee.
• The vice-presidential candidates of Mike Pence and Tim Kaine were announced by Trump and Clinton ahead of the conventions.

Question 10

What is the electoral college?

Answer 10

The Electoral College is the name given ti the process of electing the president. The process has the following key features:

• Voting takes place within states all on the same day.
• Each state is given a value.
• This value represents a number of delegates who make up the electoral college: a group of people who will later vote to decide who the president will be.
• Each state uses a winner-takes-all-system in which the candidate with the most votes gets all the delegates for that state.
• In order to become president, the Constitution requires a candidate to recieve over 50% of the Electoral college votes.

Question 11

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the electoral college?

Answer 11

Strengths:

• Prevention of mob rule.
• Protecting the power of states, especially smaller states by over-representing them.
• Producing a clear winner, using the Electoral college points rather than the popular vote to determine who has won.

Weaknesses:

• The winner loses.
• Rogue delegates.
• Over-representation of small states.
• The focus on swing states.

Question 12

What is the two-party system in the US?

Answer 12

The USA has a strong two-party system with only two parties dominating presidential and congressional elections. All presidents since the Civil War have been Democrats or Republicans. There is limited evidence for a two-party system. A presidential system in which only one person is elected discourages people from voting for third parties which are likely to lose. In addition, primaries have strengthened the two-party system.

Question 13

What is the incumbent president and what advantages do they have?

Answer 13

The incumbent{the person in office} appears to have an advantage in presidential elections. In the 32 US presidential elections where the incumbent stood, 22 of those candidates have won.

Incumbency advantages include the following:

• Using their role to increase public support.
• Making use of electoral experience.
• Name recognition.

Question 14

What disadvantages do they have?

Answer 14

• Presidents may take the blame either for their own policies or for evenrs in general.
• Incumbents do not always raise more than challengers.
• Challengers gain considerable publicity especially given the use of television debates which create level playing fields with candidates appearing on the same stage.

Question 15

What happens with campaign finance?

Answer 15

During elections, money is donated by individuals, interest groups and corporations, with candidates sometimes providing some of their own funding. Some money is donated to other groups who support or oppose a particular party or politician.

Question 16

What is it mainly spent on?

Answer 16

Campaign finance expenditure is mainly spent on advertising, as well as on campaign staff and travel. It has played an increasing role in US elections with a huge rise in expenditure in recent years. The role of campaign finance has led to a number of concerns:

• Excessive influence of major donors.
• Inequality of expenditure.
• A lack of openness about who is donating to whom.

Question 17

What was the impact of Citizens United?

Answer 17

• Major rise in campaign expenditure.
• There is significant inequality of expenditure.
• Corporate influence has increased.
• Adverts have become more negative orf misleading.

Question 18

What two parties dominate politics in America?

Answer 18

The USA is dominated by two parties. The Democrats are often described as the liberal party. The Republican party is associated with conservatis or more right-wing policies.

Question 19

What are the policy differences?

Answer 19

Social and moral policy:

Democrats:

• More liberal approach to social and moral policy.
• Stronger support for the protection of civil rights.
• Historically supported rights for women and racial minorities.
• Typically supportive of transgender rights.

Republicans:

• More conservative approach.
• Less supportive of civil rights.
• More likely to oppose abortion rights.

National economy:

Democrats:

• Tend to favour a more active role for the government in the national economy.
• Include higher taxes on the wealthy.
• Aim to promote improved life chances for those with lower socioecomic status.

Republicans;

• Republicans tend to favour a redyced role.
• Typically will cut income tax.
• Emphasise individual effort.

Federal welfare:

Democrats:

• Favour increased provision of federal welfare.
• Higher expenditure on health and education policy as well as benefits for the less well off.
• Promote the idea of social justice.

Question 20

What are the factions in the Democratic party?

Answer 20

Liberals:

• Tend to promote the main values of the party to a greater extent than moderates.
• More critical of capitalism and corporations.
• Much less willing to compromise with Republican policies than moderates.
• Represented by figures such as Bernie Sanders and Nancy Pelosi.

Moderates:

• Tend to favour key Democrat goals with less intensity or to a lesser extent.
• More willing to compromise with Republican goals.
• Favour free trade as desirable for the US economy.
• More likely to support defence expenditure and military intervention.
• Represented by Obama, Bill Clinton and Hilary Clinton.

Conservative democrats:

• Also referred to as Blue Dog Democrats, this faction has become considerably less important.
• Once a dominant faction, with solid Democrat support in the South until the civil rights movement of the 19250s and 1960s.
• Particularly conservative on social and moral issues.

Question 21

What are the factions in the Conservative party?

Answer 21

Social conservatives:

• This faction focuses on areas of social and moral policy.
• It is mostly based around conservative, Christian, evangelical views.
• This faction has grown considerably in recent years.
• Represented by figures such as Ted Cruz.

Fiscal conservatives:

• This faction focused on the economy as its main policy, with the aim to reduce the role of the US government.
• Advocates major tax and expenditure cuts as well as deregulation.
• A dominant faction in the party acting as the main driving force for Republican economic policy.
• Represented by figures such as Paul Ryan.

Moderates:

• Will tend to support the ideals of social or fiscal conservatism to a lesser extent.
• Are more willing to compromise with Democrat policies/ideas.
• Is organised under the main street partnership.

Question 22

Which party is more factionalised?

Answer 22

Arguably, the Republican party has been more factionalised than the Democratic Party in recent years, especisally with the growth of a more hard-line faction.

Question 23

What affects voting?

Answer 23

Race:
- Racial minorities groups are more likely to vote Democrat and white voters are more likely to vote Republican. This is a particularly clear pattern for black voters, with over 90% of black voters typically voting Democrat. This suggests that Obama received a high percentage of the black vote mainly because he is a Democrat and not because he is black. Voting turnout among black voters was at an all-time high in the 2008 and 2012 election, however, Democrats have supported minority rights much more strongly than Republicans. Donald Trump’s campaign was criticised for attacking racial minorities doing little to attract minority support.

Religion:
- Christians, particularly Protestant and evangelical Christians, strongly support the Republican party. The moral Conservatism of the Republican party is a major pull factor. Some religious groupings such as Jewish voters are more likely to vote Democrat. Typically, Jewish voters are supportive of all minority groups and those with low socioeconomic status. This liberal tendency attracts Jewish voters to the liberal moral, economic and welfare policies of the Democrats.

Gender:
- There is a close split among men and women and their support for each party but men are more likely to vote Republican and women are slightly more likely to vote Democrat. This is a long-term trend. Pull factors include the Democrats’ support for women’s rights as well as the prominence of female politicians in the Democratic party. TRump’s comments about women have not helped to switch the balance of support.

Education:
- There was a clear pattern in 2016, which shows that the more educated a person is, the more likely they are to vote Democrat.