Political parties, elections, campaigns, interest groups and the media
American Voting Trends
Preisdential Elections: 55%-60% of eligible Americans
Midterm Elections: 30%-35% of eligible Americans
Reasons for not voting:
Too Busy - 20%
Sick - 15%
Not Interested - 12%
Out of town - 10%
Didn't Like Candidates - 7.7%
Regisration Problems - 7%
Forgot - 4%
Other - 10%
Steps to get Elected Pres.
Announce Candidacy
Fundraise
Campaign w/ Party
Campaign against other party's candidate
Collect enough delegates through primaries
Formal nomination. at party convention
"Move to the middle" seeking indpendents
Win at least 270 electoral votes on election day
Be elected by electoral college
Inauguration (Jan. 20)
Flaws in the Electoral College System
Winner of popular vote does not always become Pres.
Nothing requires electors to follow the votes of their states
If no one wins majority of electoral votes, House of Reps. decides election
Big "swing" states become key to an election, and candidates spend all their time and money there
Congressional Elections
Incumbents reign supreme
Most districts consider safe for one of the parties
Leads too many one sided elections - which decreases voter turnout and increases partisanship
The Media
Basics of mass communication
Media is pural for medium, or the way the message gets from sender to reciever
4th Branch of Gov.
Importance
Gov. uses media to get info to public
Roles of Media
Gatekeeper - what topics become national issues
Scorekeeper - who is winning, losing in the game
Watchdog - investigate and examines for the people
Media Powers
Playing Favorites
Media is often tough on front-runners
Tolerant on underdogs
New News
Internet, deregulation, social media and globalization have made the last decade a new era for media
Hard to predict the future of the industry
Media Bias
Comercial Bias
Higher # of viewers = higher ad fees
Bad News
More viewers
Cover stress filled stories over a positive happy story
Fairness
Not always giving both sides a say
Being first to cover sorry trends to be more important than the accuracy of the story
Interest Groups
Lately interest groups have become synonyms with "evil"
Interest groups hope to promote, persuade, or prevent something
In a typical day, senator can meet with 15 lobbyists in their office, plus those that approach them in the halls of Congress
Two Views on Interest Groups
Negative
Gov. is influenced by interest groups and this dilutes the power of the people
Positive
Interest groups is the people
How else can you efficiently get the ear of your Reps. in a democracy of 300 million people
Free speech is most effectively practiced by interest groups
Ticket Splitting
Voting w/ one party for one office and w/ another party for other offices
Closed Primaries
Elections to select party nominees in which only people who have registered in advance with the party can for that party's candidates, thus encouraging greater party
National Convention
The meeting of party delegates every four years to choose a presidential ticket and write the party's platform
National Committee
One of the institutions that keeps the party operating between conventions
The national committee is composed of reps. from the states and territories
National Chairperson
Responsible for the day activities of the party and usually does a lot of the handpicking of presidential nominations
Coalition
A group of individuals with a common interest on which every political party depends
Critical Election
An electoral "earthquake" where new issues emerge, nw coalitions replace old ones, and the majority party is often displaced by the minority party
PartyRealignment
The displacement of the majority party by the minority party
Usually during a critical election period
NewDeal Coalition
A coalition formed by the Democrats, who dominated American politics from the 1930's to the 1960's
Hard Money
Can be donated to a specific candidate
Soft Money
Funds given to politica organizations in unlimited amounts