government 2305-711

Elections in America

1. In democratic systems, citizens use elections to hold elected representatives accountable for their actions.

2. In the American federal system, the responsibility for organizing elections rests largely with state and local governments.

3. Most general elections in the United States use the plurality system, a type of electoral system in which a candidate need only receive the most votes in the election, not necessarily a majority of votes cast.

4. Prior to the 1890s, voters cast ballots according to political parties. The advent of the neutral ballot allowed voters to choose individual candidates rather than a political party as a whole.

5. State legislators routinely seek to influence electoral outcomes by manipulating the organization of electoral districts.

6. Presidential candidates secure a party's nomination by running in the state party primaries and caucuses. States that hold some of the first primaries and caucuses, like New Hampshire and Iowa, have an important, and perhaps disproportionate role, in picking presidential candidates.

7. Nominations of presidential candidates were first made in caucuses of a party's members of Congress. This system was replaced in the 1830s by nominating conventions, which were designed to be a more democratic, deliberative method of nominating candidates.

8. Contemporary conventions merely ratify a party's presidential and vice-presidential nominations, although conventions still draft the party platform and adopt rules governing the party and its future conventions.

9. Americans do not vote directly for presidential candidates. Rather, they choose electors who are pledged to support a party's presidential candidate. These electors cast their ballots in what is known as the electoral college.

10. Support for eliminating the electoral college in favor of a national popular vote is increasing among states.

11. Americans participate in direct democracy via ballot initiatives and the referendum. Eighteen states also have legal provisions for recall elections, which allow voters to remove governors and other state officials from office prior to the expiration of their terms.

Election Campaigns

1. The first step in campaigning involves organizing an exploration committee made up of supporters who will help the candidate raise funds and create public name recognition.

2. The next steps of campaigning involve hiring experts, including campaign managers, fundraisers, pollsters, and other political consultants.

3. Contemporary media-driven, capital-intensive campaigns rely on the media, debates, and micro-targeting to reach the voters they want to target.

Money and Politics

1. Three Supreme Court cases have dismantled government restrictions on campaign contributions on the basis of free speech.

2. Campaign funds in the United States are provided by individual donors, political action committees (PACs), independent groups like 527s, political parties, public funding, and the candidates' personal resources.

How Voters Decide

1. Three factors influence voters' decisions at the polls: partisan loyalty, issues and policy preferences, and candidate characteristics.

2. Partisan loyalty predisposes voters in favor of their party's candidates and against those of the opposing party.

3. The impact of issues and policy preferences on electoral choice is diminished if competing candidates do not differ substantially or do not focus their campaigns on policy matters.

4. Candidates' attributes and personality characteristics always influence voters' decisions.

5. The salience of these three bases of electoral choice varies from contest to contest and from voter to voter.

The 2016 and 2018 Elections

1. In 2016, both the Democratic and Republican nominations were sharply contested, with Hillary Clinton prevailing over her main rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Donald Trump beating out a crowded field of Republican contenders to win the nomination.

2. Up until Election Day, Clinton seemed to be poised for success given the voting patterns in recent years, like the 2012 presidential election. She believed she would be able to assemble what was thought to be a growing coalition of minorities, as well as young people and women in general. The Trump campaign was successful in overcoming the Democrats' perceived advantage through a strong appeal to blue-collar white voters, which made him competitive in what were assumed to be Democratic strongholds in the Midwest.

3. The 2016 presidential race was marked by some of the strongest personal attacks by the nominees on each other. Clinton was continually assailed for her use of a private email server, as well as investigations into her perceived role in the deaths of several American officials in an attack in Benghazi, Libya. Outside factors, like hacks of DNC and Clinton campaign emails by Wikileaks, and its alleged collaboration with Russian spies, further clouded Clinton's reputation. Donald Trump was routinely criticized by his offensive comments, many perceived to be racists, xenophobic, and misogynistic. The most explosive revelation of Donald Trump came in October of 2016 when it was revealed he had made extremely crude comments boasting about what some accused to be sexual assault. Both candidates were considered among the most unlikeable and unpopular ever nominated for the presidency.

4. Trump's victory on election night stunned the media and defied the polls. What had been predicted as an easy Clinton win was instead a Trump blow-out in the electoral college, though he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes. Overall turnout was down slightly from 2008. Ultimately, Trump prevailed with his strong support from Republicans and members of the white working class

5. The 2018 election, more than most midterm contests, revolved around the president. In part because of President Trump's outsized personality and frequent inflammatory rhetoric inspired anger on the part of some voters and fierce loyalty on the part of others. On November 6, 2018, the blue wave crashed against Trump's red wall with mixed results. Democrats won control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since 2010, while Republicans expanded their majority in the senate. Democrats won seven Governor's races gained control of handful of state legislatures, and also won four new state Attorney General offices. The voter turnout in 2018 was 49 percent-the highest level since 1966 and a strong increase over recent midterm elections.

6. Women were critical to democratic victories. Women made up more than half the 2018 electorate and supported Democratic candidates by margins of as much 20 percentage points. The new 116 Congress would include nearly 100 women in the House and more than 20 in the Senate, an all-time record.

7. In a number of states, voters were also asked to decide ballot measures, such as gerrymandering, medical marijuana, minimum wage, and a variety of other issues.

8. The mixed results of 2018 election were something of a disappointment to Democrats who thought they would hand President Trump a more crushing defeat. Despite losses in the Senate, taking control of the House of Representatives was an important achievement. With control of the House, democrats are in a position to block Trump's legislative efforts and to conduct investigations into the president's conduct as well as the activities of Trump appointees in the executive branch.

9. The 2018 elections also made clear that if the Republican Party is to remain competitive nationally it must develop a message that appeals to voters outside its current base of older white men in America's small towns and rural areas. The Democrats have built a coalition that includes women, minorities, and young people.

Campaigns and Elections: What Do We Want?

1. As the Supreme Court continues to rule that campaign donations are a form of political speech, small donations continue to arrive in large numbers. Will the 2016 election be seen as an outlier, with a celebrity candidate reshaping how campaigns are run and funded?