question

• what is the CA for money/ campaign finance

  It's fit for purpose because money doesn't necessarily mean the president will win

  • →2020Michael Bloomberg spent $688 which clearly wasn't enough as he didn't get support from a single state before dropping out 

  → shows how spending unnecessarily large amounts of money are personal decisions by the candidates and does not mean the procedures for elections are not fit for purpose.
• Not fit for purpose because they solely revolve around money, a significant amount of money is needed to survive the long presidential campaign
• The vast amount of money being spent being used can be seen as in 2020 the federal election campaign spending cost a staggering $14 billion
• Same for congressmen/ women who must spend significant amounts of money to gain support within there distracts
• whats the CA for electoral college

  Electoral college successfully produces president as everyone's vote counts meaning it doesn't need reform

  → good for smaller states such as Wyoming which has a population of around half a million and are given 3 electoral votes

  Which means their 1 vote for every 166,000 people

  → Therefore, the process fulfils its ultimate role of producing presidents with popular support that is distributed across the country.
• whats the A for electoral college

  Electoral college is ineffective as it doesn't require a majority to win for the president to win 

  →In 2016, Donald Trump received over 2.5 million fewer votes than his opponent Hillary Clinton, yet won 304 electoral college votes, clearly highlighting that it is unrepresentative of the will of the people and not fit for purpose to carry out a good representation function.

  determining modern principles of popular sovereignty and highlighting the fact that the procedure is not fit for purpose
• whats the CA for incumbency

  Incumbency didn't affect Trump he wasn't reelected

  →Other factors affect them → the covid-19 pandemic was the unforeseen event that probably more than anything else damaged trump's chances of reelection ; events such as this highlight questions of the incumbents ability or otherwise to manage tricky and complex events

  → 2020 Trump was criticised for not actings as a supportive head of state during COVID, opinion polls showed that half of AMericans would prefer to follow local officials than the president
• whats the A for incumbency

  someone who's already ran for election is 69% likely to be re elected

  This does not allow other candidates to get a fair chance , for example , name recognition means that the incumbent will be well known , do not have to fund a campaign to be nominated , less likely to lose , often unchallenged within their party
• The various procedures utilised in the US for electing both the President and Members of Congress have been debated for many years
• Procedures for electing President and Congress

  • Democratic nature of elections
  • Equal representation provided by electoral college
  • Rigorous campaigning process
• Procedures can be seen as fit for purpose

  Due to the democratic nature of elections, the equal representation provided by electoral college, and a rigorous campaigning progress
• Procedures can be argued against

  • Winner takes all nature
  • Representation is limited by the lack of importance given to states with less electoral college voters
  • Long expensive process
• For such procedures to be fit for purpose, they must ensure that the key principles enshrined by the constitution regarding democracy, representation and constitutional principles are upheld