Democracy and Participation

• • Undemocratic primaries and caucuses
  • Primaries and caucuses are not held on the same day

  e.g. New Hampshire: 5th Mar 2024; South Dakota: 4th June 2024

  But all the rivals of Trump and Biden had suspended their campaigns already, e.g. Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley -> Voters’ choices are narrowed or wasted because of the time sequence of primaries and caucuses (democratic deficit)
• • Widen participation

  Primaries and caucuses engage people to participate in elections to enhance democracy

  e.g. open primaries in South Carolina, Texas, and Alabama - any voters in the state can vote

  Semi-closed primaries in New Hampshire, North Carolina, etc. - registered supporters and independents

  Closed primaries in Louisiana, Florida, New York; Caucuses in Iowa, Nevada, Colorado (public meetings in public halls)

  Different forms of primaries and caucuses encourage people to focus on political issues and have a say on deciding  presidential candidates
• • Electoral college
  • Tyranny of minority

  Electoral college contains 538 votes based on population of states -> small states like Wyoming = 586K population; larger states like D.C. = 680K population; both have 3 electoral votes

  • Increasing significance of electoral votes over popular votes

  e.g. Hillary Clinton had won popular votes (48%>46%)  but Donald Trump won the election with more electoral votes (304>227) - some electoral votes in some states do not need to conform to the majority of popular votes
• Campaign finance

  • SCOTUS overturned the McCain-Feingold Act (BICRA 2002) by Citizens Utd v. FEC (2010). SO companies can donate to preferred presidential candidates like individuals (through super PACs and 501(c)4) -> judicial review is unconstitutional as it is not a power mentioned in the Constitution
  • Super PACs and PACs use donations to support candidates or attack rivals with adverts
• Democrats

  • progressive attitude on social and moral issues, including crime
  • greater governmental intervention in the national economy
  • government provision of social welfare.
• Republicans

  • conservative attitude on social and moral issues
  • more restricted governmental intervention in the national economy while protecting American trade and jobs
  • acceptance of social welfare but a preference for personal responsibility.
• • Divides can be seen as further widening on Israel/Gaza war as Biden declares the ICC charges against Netanyahu as it was "outrageous" to apply for arrest warrants. There was "no equivalence - none - between Israel and Hamas".  (BBC- 21st May)
• • Republicans have moved away from the Eisenhower ideology since the 1980s when Ronald Reagan entered the White House. Reagan moved away from the New Deal, New Look (centrist between liberals and conservatives), and established the identity of the Republican Party as a fiscally and socially conservative party, committed to small government and low taxation (limited government), and the advancement of the agenda of the Christian Right.
  • When Trump comes to power, the Republican Party is further divided distinctly into ‘Anti-Trump’ and ‘Pro-Trump’ (freedom caucus)
• Progressive Democrats

  • represent the more radical, left wing elements of the party. They use the federal, national government to achieve social justice by providing welfare, health and education to the disadvantaged, increase taxes on the wealthy, and support more government intervention in the economy and less military intervention abroad. e.g. pro-Affordable care, pro-Infrastructure Act 2022

  Individuals: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (member of The Squad, Rep. from New York), Bernie Sanders (independent, senator from Vermont)
• Moderate Democrats

  •  centrists who identify with compromise, most typically in areas e.g. economy and welfare, where they take a middle ground approach (e.g. accepting limits of abortion, restrictions on civil liberties like anti-terror laws (Patriot Act), death penalty). They are the dominant force in the Democrat Party at the moment.

  Individuals: Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton (increase army in Afghanistan, pro-death penalty)
• Conservative Democrats

  • socially conservative on moral issues e.g. religion, gun control, while disagreeing with Republican conservative views on trade and tax (e.g. anti-affordable care, anti-abortion, anti-infrastructure act, anti-voting rights). There are only 10 congressional members left in the Blue-dog coalition now so they can be seen as a dying breed in the Democrats.

  Individuals: Joe Manchin (opposed Obama's energy policies including reductions and restrictions on coal mining, because his family owns a waste coal brokerage company)
• Freedom Caucus 


  Tea Party movement, the conservative populist social and political movement that emerged in 2009, generally opposes excessive taxation and government intervention in the private sector while supporting stronger immigration controls. e.g. Anti-affordable care, Pro-Border Bill (not in Biden’s term), Pro-Travel Ban, Pro-Border wall, Pro-MAGA, Anti-abortion, Anti-gay rights, Anti-federal interference, Pro-deportation (repeal of DACA and DAPA)
• Moderate Republicans

  • typically do not share the zeal of the Christian Right for its goals, and are more pragmatic about the role of the state. They emphasise personal responsibility and personal freedom from government control, criticise government’s role as an infringement on personal freedoms and in the national economy, and promote more traditional values.

  Individuals: John McCain (dead, ex senator from Arizona)
• Social conservatives

  • The religious right, ultra-conservative religious response which promotes family values, opposes abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, civil partnership, illegal immigration, and discrimination laws.

  Individuals: Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell (opposes the Ukraine bid, Infrastructure Act, Chips Act, Respect for Marriage Act), Mike Pence (ex-vice president but some evangelicals are now more leaning to MAGA)
• Fiscal Conservatives

  • social and economic liberal conservatives. They support smaller government and laissez-faire policies. Mostly, they support the abolition of estate (inheritance) tax, tax reduction, and cuts in federal expenditure, e.g. Bush’s term: ‘No Child Left Behind’ legislation, Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill, McCain-Feingold Act (2002), prescription drug benefit to Medicare.

  Individuals: Susan Collins (pro-abortion), Liz Cheney (neo-conservative), Lisa Murkowski (Senator from Alaska), Pat Toomey (neo-conservative, ex-senator from Pennsylvania)
• The election was close, Trump won in Michigan by around 10.7K votes, while nearly 243K votes went to third-party candidates

  2016
• Trump cannot win the electoral votes without these states

  Including Winscoin, Arizona, North Carolina, Florida and Michigan
• White Blue-collar electorates (working class)

  Tended to vote for Trump in 2016 (67 Trump: 28 Clinton)
• In 2020, Trump earned strong Latino support among Cuban and South American communities in Miami-Dade County and earned 46% of the overall Latino vote in Florida
• This was interpreted as the Latino's response to the anti-socialist message delivered by the Trump campaign
• Voters who tend to vote for Republicans


  • White, heterosexual, married men
  • Protestants
  • Mormons
  • White evangelical
  • Catholics
  • Over 40 years old
  • No college degree
  • Veterans
  • Family income over $50,000
  • Midwest
  • South