US election process and direct democracy Flashcards
The electoral college should be abolished
Winning popular vote does not guarantee victory. E.g. 2000 Al Gore beat Bush by half a million votes. Undemocratic, happened in two of the last five elections. Non-proportional, winner takes it all nature of FPTP means that lots of ECVs are wasted. E.g. 1992 Ross Perot received 19 million votes and 0 ECVs. Distrust in system
Faithless electors and voter apathy. There were 7 faithless electors in 2016, Bernie Sanders and Collin Powell received votes despite not standing. Unfair focus on certain states has led to voter apathy. Nature of electoral college means that the election comes down to a few states e.g. Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Minnesota. 2016 - 96% campaigning took place in 12 states and PA was visited 12 times. Voter apathy = decreased turnout. Around 59% in 2024 GE
The electoral college should not be abolished
Consideration of smaller states. Smaller states are fairly represented, following wishes of Founding Fathers. Eg. Wyoming has 1 vote for every 192,000 people. Is this arguable over-representation upholding the federal nature of US or is it unfair on larger states like CA who have 55 votes for 39.2 million inhabitants?
Promotes a two horse race and ensures the winner receives a strong mandate. E.g. In 2024, Trump received 77 million votes. Also, last 18/25 (1920-2016) elections have resulted in a leader who won the popular vote. Three of the losers fell short by less than a point.
Issues with reform. All states adopting a system like Maine and Nebraska would have still resulted in a Trump victory in 2016 AND Romney would have beat Obama in 2012 (despite receiving 5 million fewer votes). Using the popular vote would deprive the president of any national mandate and reduce their ability to unite the country. Popular vote could have resulted in an anti-Trump Republican in 2016, who would have splintered the vote.
The primary and caucus system is unfair and undemocratic
All primaries are held on different days which creates a democratic deficit because voters’ choices are narrowed or wasted due to the time sequence. E.g. 4th June 2024 South Dakota, the rivals of Trump and Biden had suspended their campaigns (Niki haley and Ron DeSantis)
Caucuses are unrepresentative and contribute to the low turn out. They tend to be on the extreme end of the party spectrum, labelled by some as political zealots. Unrepresentative of society in terms of age, race and education. They ‘bask in the ascendance of the purists’ and often vote for an ideology rather than a candidate. Contribute to low turnout, since 1996, only one election has contributed a turnout above 25% and in 2012 the republican caucus turnout was 3%
The primary system is fair and democratic
Voters’ voices matter, their votes count. In presidential elections, most states are considered ‘safe’ so votes arguably do not mean as much. In 2020, Darren Bailey lost the Illinois primary despite support from far-right representatives like Matt Gaetz
Political outsiders have a chance. In the presidential election, votes for a third party often get wasted so political outsiders do not have a chance. In 1992, Ross Perot received 19 million votes and 0 ECVs. BUT in primaries, they do have a chance. In 2014 in Virginia David Brat beat incumbent Eric Cantor despite him being set to become House Speaker
The presidential campaign is too long
Encourages voter apathy. Primaries and Caucuses begin 10 months before the election itself, since 1996 only one election has produced a turnout above 25% and in 2016 there were 6 primaries with a turnout lower than 10%. Sequencing of primaries and caucuses leads to democratic deficit. SD June 2024, Haley and DeSantis dropped out
Better-resourced candidates have an advantage. 2016 Hilary for America campaign allowed her to use her knowledge of the allocation of delegates and super delegates. Trump exploited his television fame and, on Super Tuesday, he was mentioned in 80% of tweets pertaining to the GOP race. Lengthy campaign consolidates the lead of candidates who were already well-placed to succeed. BUT it arguably allows time for outsiders to establish themselves e.g 2008 Obama
The presidential campaign is not too long
Importance of decisions being made. Multiple decisions being made and they are of the utmost importance. Decision of who will run in primaries and caucuses e.g. in 2015, 2 democrats and 5 republicans were eliminated from the race during this period. Parties also have to decide who their candidate will be and then who the VP will be.
The size of the USA (the entire of the UK is smaller than the state of Oregon, for example)
