Elections and Campaign Ch 10 Elections and Campaign

Modern Campaigns Parties are less important Media has become more important Polling and fundraising paramount! Most money spent on TV ads! Evidence that this makes a difference? No! Extensive voter polling be done Importance of political professionals 2 parts of American elections-1st is getting nominated, 2nd is getting elected

Presidential versus Congressional Campaigns Presidential campaign are more competitive than Congressional elections

Congressional off-year elections

Congress v President Members of Congress can do things for their constituents that Presidents cannot-all politics is local Incumbents in congress run against the “mess in Washington” as individuals-difficult for incumbent Presidents to do this Sophomore surge-use of franking privilege and constituent services, pork barrel politics, greater name recognition

Coattails

Congressional campaigns Unlimited number of terms for members of Congress Incredible incumbency advantage Size of the first House was 65 members(now it is 435), Senate 2 per state-originally chosen by state legislatures, now chosen at large Congress decides how many representatives each state has in the House based on census population-tell the states how many reps each state gets-reapportionment State legislature draws district lines for their state to elect members of the House in a single member district Problem of malapportionment and reapportionment

California 23

North Carolina 12-Easly v Cromartie

gerrymandering Issue of gerrymandering-drawing odd shaped boundary lines to favor a particular candidate or political party 1964 Wesberry v Sanders Court ruled that that congressional districts had to be relatively equal in population-“one person, one vote”

The Nominating process- The process of naming people to run for office Self announcement-oldest form of nomination The caucus-group of like party activists debate and select the candidates to run in the upcoming election

The Convention delegates selected by local districts meet together to chose candidates for office-first held by Anti Masons in 1831  

Direct primary intraparty election held to pick candidates for general election, first held in Wisconsin in 1903-requires an individual effort-you decide to run, you raise the money, you get on the ballot, and you have to appeal to the voters

2 basic forms of direct primary Closed Primary -25 states Only declared party members can vote in the primary, usually established at registration Prevents one party from raiding another‘s primary Makes candidates more responsive to the party and its members Makes the voters more thoughtful because they must choose between the parties to vote in the primaries

Open primary-17 states Any qualified voter can cast a ballot; voters must declare which ballot they want the day of the election at the polls A. Voters not forced to make their party preferences part of the public record B. Allows independent voters a chance to vote in the primary

Blanket primary-3 states Every voter receives same ballot with all the candidates from all the parties on it

Takeaways low turnout in primaries-premium on mobilization of political activists-democrat candidates more liberal, republicans more conservative…how to appeal to average voter!!!! can be very costly can be very divisive within a party places a premium on name recognition

Winning and losing elections What makes a difference and what does not make a difference?

Not a difference! 1. Money (for presidential elections, it matters more in congressional elections) 2. Vice President 3. Issues like abortion 4. Political reporting or the media 5. Religion of the candidates

Makes a difference…. 1. Party affiliation 2. The state of the economy-VO Key…”the Voters are not fools” 3. Issues, especially the economy 4. The character of the candidates-being “Presidential” 5. Campaign-finding a winning coalition a. Awaken the partisan loyalties b. voters see how the candidates handle pressure c. gives voters ability to judge the character and core issues of the candidate

2 types of voting   Prospective voting-forward looking voting that tend to analyze the issues and candidates and which candidate will best handle these matters Retrospective voting—backward looking voters that look to performance of the party in power and vote on how they have done in office

2 kinds of Campaign issues   Position issue-rival candidates have opposing views on a question that also divides the voters Valence issues-question is whether or not the candidates fully support the public’s view on some issue on which nearly everyone agrees