The Legislative Branch Congressional Elections US Government Mrs. Lacks

Congressional Elections Congressional unfavorable ratings have always been much lower than that of Presidents, including Nixon and GWB November 2013: 9% approval Avg Presidential approval: 54% overall Presidential lowest: 27% - Nixon At the same time, typically 96% of incumbents in the House win re-election; 92% of incumbents in the Senate win re-election

Approval Ratings Presidential approval ratings over time (Gallop) Congressional approval ratings over time (Gallup)

Congressional Elections Why unfavorable? Most Americans go negative if their economic situation hasn’t improved since an election Most Americans can’t name their representative and senators

Congressional Elections Why do they get re-elected if so unfavorable? Incumbents have name recognition; challenger is normally unknown Challengers have to spend a tremendous amount of money to simply develop name recognition

Incumbency Advantages Franking privilege: allows those already in office to mail newsletters informing their constituents of their accomplishments Self-generated report cards – always favorable Tax payer pays for this at no cost to Congressman Challenger doesn’t have this luxury (direct mailing is expensive)

Incumbency Advantages Each Congressman has a staff; a challenger probably cannot afford to hire and keep a dedicated staff (relies on volunteers, or people sent from their party) Incumbents get more support from Political Action Committees (PACs), the financial muscle of interest groups

Favorability & Elections Other reasons why incumbents almost always win (until they decide to retire) Absence of term limits (22nd Amendment places term limits only on the President) Seniority lends itself to committee leadership positions.. the longer you serve, the more likely one is to be able to influence legislation for your state or district

Favorability & Elections safe seat: incumbent runs with no challenger (opposition party doesn’t even put up a candidate because incumbent is so popular) Open election: all candidates are new or running for the first time Marginal seat: winner wins by slight margin (usually happens in open elections) Sophomore surge: having at least one term in

Pork Barrel Legislation

Pork Barrel Legislation Aka Ear Marks MCs push Congress for money for projects in their district/state Often gets them re-elected Questionable? Money is from taxpayers nationwide States already receive grants from the federal government

Pork Barrel Legislation 2011 - Banned in House by Speaker Boehner + President Obama stated in his SOTU to veto any legislation that included them Ban still stands (with loopholes) In 2016, many MCs pushed to reinstate them As of Nov 2016, Paul Ryan stalled the vote on whether or not to do so