USA DEMOCRACY AND PARTICIPATION Flashcards
what are the stages of the presidential election?
Primaries and caucuses:
DEMOCRATS: Biden vs Dean Phillips vs Jason Palmer
REPUBLICANS: Trump vs Nikki Haley
Presidential election:
Kamala Harris (Biden later dropped out) vs Trump
what is the significance of primaries and caucuses?
There is one democratic and one republican, each state will hold their own primary. Candidates will compete to win delegates, for example South Caroline had 50 delegates, Trump received 33% of the vote and received 100% of the delegates. In 2024, Biden won 91% of the vote in New York, so he won all 268 delegates.
The difference between Republican Primaries and democratic primaries:
- Republican use a winner-takes-all system.
- Democrats award delegates to candidates in proportion to their vote in that state.
To win in 2024, the Republican candidate needed 1215 delegates.
The democrat candidate needed, 1976.
Super Tuesday when the most number of states hold their primary on one day, this was 15 in 2024.
Super delegates- these are party elites, unelected officials.
what are the voting rules in the US primaries and caucuses?
Caucus states- hold a public meeting and debate before voting, turnout tends to be lower and attracts radical voters; Iowa.
Open primary states- a voter can vote in either a republican or democrat primary, they can choose on the day; Alabama.
Close primary states- only allow registered party voters to vote in that party primary, independent cannot vote; NEW YORK.
Semi-closed primary- they can participate if they are registered with that party, or are an independent- North Carolina.
what is the significance of Nevada in 2016?
The caucus held the vote in three stage, Clinton won the first stage by 52.6% of the vote, yet the next stage was won by sanders.
Yet, with sanders expected to win this state, the party changed the rules to disregard the second stage of voting- so Clinton won 20 delegates and Sanders took 15.
what are the advantages of the primary/caucus process?
Raises key issues; more ideas from more than one candidate, the competition between the candidates tests different policy, political education, successful policy of losing candidates can be adopted by winning candidates.
Electability:
- tests ability to overcome difficulty, proven candidate more likely to win the presidency, tests the ability to raise funds.
- they will narrow down the correct candidates, in the 2020 Democratic primary candidates were narrowed down from 29-11.
Voter choice and democracy: increase the participation in the electoral process, choice of competing ideologies, choice by characteristic.
what are the disadvantages of the primary process?
internal divide in parties; people lose faith in their candidates, negative campaigning is common, can reduce the popularity of the winning candidate.
specific procedures; creates low, turnout- 2020 Iowa was 17%.
some states have dubious practices, different states follow different rules.
timing- voting is over an extended time, early states influence later states, late states can be disregarded from the process.
what is the significance of the invisible primary?
This is when candidates begin to establish themselves in the race
- the impact of this increase as the date to the first primary vote in Iowa gets closer. Establishing a presidential bid can also allow a candidate to establish themselves, for example in 2016 Ted Cruz announced his bid to be president 9 months before any voting- he gave a speech which appealed to the socially conservative, so this gave him backing.
This period was critical for Obama in 2007 as he established himself, he had solid performances in pre-voting debates which helped his case. Yet, whilst Clinton was said to “win” the invisible primary, it was Obama’s work during this time that won him the nomination.
what was the significance of the Republican invisible primary in 2015?
This highlighted a record number of candidates that announced their bid to win the presidency, there were 17 candidates. This also highlighted a key time when candidates should drop out of the race, for example Jeb Bush- his lack of public support meant that he dropped out, despite the record $114 million that was raised for his campaign.
what is the significance of the party conventions?
This takes place prior to the presidential election in November. This takes place in election year and lasts 3-4 days.
This has key roles:
- to select the presidential and vice presidential candidate for the party rules require that candidates gain 50% of delegates.
- decide policy platform- there is detailed policy debate during this time.
Superficial role:
- to act as publicity for the candidate
- to reunite the party
- to rally party activists- they are a good opportunity to raise funds.
what were the key events are the RNC and the DNC?
RNC: many prominent Republicans did not attend, though Trump did gain endorsements from figures such as Chris Christie.
Ted Cruz used his speech to attack Trump as he urged voters to “vote your conscience”. The speech from Trump on the last night recorded a 3-4% bounce in ratings, 34.9 million people watched.
Though, whilst the official party platform does oppose Gay marriage, the pay-pal founder gave a key speech which openly referred to his homosexuality.
DNC: This was a united convention with Sanders giving speeches in support of Clinton, though there were some protests against the so-called bias against Sanders.
There were key stars such as Lady Gaga, Clinton used her speech to attack “little men” like Trump.
why does the USA have an electoral college system? and the 2024 election result?
This system is based on the respect for federalism, the constitution states that if no candidate receives 270, then it is up to the house to decide the president, the vice president is chosen by the senate.
What is the 2024 election result?
Trump- 312, 49.8% of the vote.
Harris- 226, 48% of the vote.
what is the significance of rogue or faithless electors?
There are 21 states with no requirement of the electors to follow public voting, in 2016 there were 7 rogue delegates.
how do third parties have limited success through indirect influence?
The spoiler effect: this is when a third party candidate is able to prevent a candidate from one of the big parties winning, Gore would have won the presidency if he won Florida, he lost by 537 votes.
influence the policy of the two main parties: the policy of Ross Perot, his economic policy was embraced by Clinton in 92-96.
use primaries to gain recognition within a party: Trump can be seen as a successful third party candidate.
what is the significance of incumbency?
There is evidence to suggest that to be the incumbent nominee is a benefit to gain influence within a party. Trump lost his place in 2016, though he was soon able to revive it in 2024.
what are the advantages of being the incumbent?
Executive control and experience:
The president can bring benefits to key groups and swing states, for example in 2011 Obama announced the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, he could claim major success in the killing of Osama Bin Laden- Mitt Romney could not do this.
Media attention- They can continue to have influence in their role as commander in chief, for example in the 2012 speech that Obama gave on the death of US officials.
Electoral resources and experience:
The incumbent has an established campaign team that they know works.
lack of primary challenge.
what are the limits to being the incumbent
Executive control and experience:
Presidents can also make things go wrong, for example in 2016 Trump had political weaknesses and had no “honeymoon” period as president.
media:
people can exploit the media to go against the president, Nancy Pelosi was said to privately encourage Biden to step down.
electoral resources:
money does not guarantee success, Jeb Bush and the $114 million that he raised.
lack of primary challenge:
incumbents do face challenge, in 1992 win the primary but lost the election
what is the significance of campaign finance? INCLUDE 2024
This refers to the funding of election campaigns, this can come from businesses, interest groups and individuals.
in the case of McCutheon vs FEC, 2014 the Supreme Court struck down limits on individual campaign contributions, ruling there to be federal limits.
In recent years democrat candidates have tended to spend more than Republicans, for example in 2016 Clinton received $600 million in campaign spending, around 1/6 of that came from super PACs, though evidently money does not win elections. Yet, Trump spent around $300 million.
Where does the finance go, and what is the significance of the FECA?
They go to:
national parties
presidential candidates
Super PACs
THREE MAIN CONCERNS:
excessive influence of major donors
secrecy surrounding who is donating and receiving cash
inequality of expenditure between candidates or parties.
FECA- 1974
this placed legal limits on how much someone could donate, a group can only done $5000 to an individual candidate.
This created federal funding of presidential and primary elections
creation of a Political Action Committee, this has to be create for any group wanting to donate money to a campaign.
what was the flaws in the FECA?
Soft money- this was money that was done that could not be regulated
Supreme Court- there were SC rulings that made it harder to restrict funding- Citizens united vs FEC
The end of federal funding- candidates became increasingly effective as raising their own money, Bush rejected federal funds in 2000, 2012 was the first year when neither side took matching funds.
