campaigns and elections - cengage · 2008. 6. 27. · campaigns and elections i. reviewing the...

American Government: Brief Version 6/e

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 89

6

Campaigns and Elections

I. Reviewing the Chapter

Chapter Focus This chapter provides an overview of some of the scholarly examinations, the common folklore, and the amazing intricacies of America’s most enduring and exciting political institution, the election. Major topics include, but are not limited to, the debate over just how democratic elections are (given a very low voter turnout), the new personalistic na-ture of campaigning in the latter part of the twentieth century, the role that money plays in determining outcomes, the role of special interest groups, so-called realigning elec-tions, and the elements of successful coalition building by Democrats and Republicans. After reading and reviewing the material in this chapter, you should be able to do each of the following:

1. Explain why elections in the United States are both more democratic and less de-mocratic than elections of other countries.

2. Show how control of elections has shifted from the states to the federal government, while explaining what effect that shift has had on blacks, women, and youth.

3. Argue both sides of the debate over how much of a decline in voter turnout has oc-curred over the past century, as well as those factors that tend to hold down voter turnout.

4. Demonstrate the differences between the party-oriented campaigns of the nineteenth century and the candidate-oriented ones of today, explaining the major elements of a successful campaign for office today.

5. Discuss the partisan effects of campaigns, or why the party with the most registered voters does not always win the election.

6. Define the term realigning election and discuss the major examples of such elec-tions in the past, as well as recent debates over whether realignment is again under-way.

7. Describe what the Democrats and the Republicans, respectively, must do to put to-gether a successful national coalition to achieve political power in any election.

8. Outline the major arguments on either side of the question of whether elections re-sult in major changes in U.S. public policy.

9. Discuss the importance of campaign funding to election outcomes, and the major sources of such finding under current law. Consider how successful reform legisla-tion has been in purifying U.S. elections of improper monetary influences.

90 Chapter 6

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Study Outline I. Introduction

A. Many U.S. elections, but low participation B. Weak political parties in the United States and many offices to fill C. Voter participation higher in parliamentary democracies where fewer elections

held II. Political Participation

A. Forms of participation 1. Voting the most common 2. Money to a candidate and political organizational membership common 3. Six forms of political participation 4. Striking fact: over 40 percent vote only or do nothing

B. Why people participate 1. Strong sense of civic duty 2. Americans face difficulties in voter registration 3. American parties do less to lure voters to polls than Europe 4. Americans more likely to join community organizations than to vote.

C. Who participates? 1. Those with more education; older voters; men more than women; higher in-

come 2. Blacks: participate less, but considering education/income, more 3. Rate of participation increasing (nonvoting ways) 4. Officials more in tune with activists

III. Historical Voting Patterns A. The rise of the American electorate

1. Vote limited to taxpayers or property owners 2. By Jackson era, suffrage was broadened 3. Fifteenth Amendment, Supreme Court, and 1965 Voting Rights Act all re-

moved voting restrictions on race 4. Black registration in South dramatically increased 5. Women suffrage through Nineteenth Amendment: rise of gender gap 6. Twenty-Sixth Amendment gave vote to 18-year-olds

B. Voting turnout 1. Debate over declining percentages (real vs. apparent) 2. Australian ballot, strict registration reduced turnout (reforms) 3. Voter turnout—when measured against voting age population—has not

fallen since the early 1970s IV. Explaining—and Improving—Turnout

A. Apathy a poor explanation B. Problem: small fraction of voters registered

1. Burden on citizen to register, politics not as important here, parties weak 2. Alternatives: same day registration, compulsory voting, larger government

role C. Parties not as important in United States D. Parties do not mobilize voters

V. Political Campaigns (see CHAPTER BOX) A. Factors increasing personalistic campaigning

1. Primary elections weaken parties 2. Political funding and jobs go to candidate

Campaigns and Elections 91


3. Reliance on mass media, candidate image 4. Decline in party identification

B. Assembling a staff 1. Core group: a few paid professionals (same staff) 2. Rise of professional political consultants 3. Unpaid senior advisers 4. Citizen volunteers 5. Issues consultants

C. Strategy 1. Campaign is an “exercise in uncertainty” 2. Strategy must attract wavering voters 3. Need to win the primary campaign: attract enthusiasts 4. Must move to political center once nomination attained 5. 1988: Dukakis (competence), Bush (Reagan VP), Clinton (nontraditional) 6. Incumbency can dictate choice 7. How to use television to reach the most people

D. Using television 1. Paid ads (“spots”); news broadcast (“visuals”) 2. “Visuals” are cost-free—perhaps greater credibility with voter 3. Campaign debates—difficult to know exact effect on election outcome

VI. The Effects of Campaigns A. Do campaigns make a difference? B. Three reasons why Democrats do not always win:

1. Democrats less firmly wedded to party than Republicans 2. Republicans do better among independent voters 3. Republicans more likely to vote than Democrats

C. Usefulness of private polls 1. Ascertain voter perceptions and candidate appeals 2. Usually provide only general guidance (Reagan’s competence theme)

D. Fewer the sources of voter information, more significant the campaign E. Single-issue groups

1. Prominent in the 1980s and 1990s with decline in parties 2. But nothing new about their existence 3. Little evidence that ideological groups make a significant difference in gen-

eral 4. Such groups can be important in primary elections

VII. How to Win an Election A. Three things decide presidential elections

1. Political party affiliation 2. State of the economy 3. Character of the candidates

B. Other things affect presidential elections 1. Vice-presidential nominee 2. Role of the media 3. Issues candidates propose 4. Religion

C. How issues affect presidential elections 1. Voters may think parties represent their positions on issues: liberals vote

Democratic; conservatives vote Republican

92 Chapter 6


2. Some issues are more important than others, and importance of issue varies from election to election

3. Many people try to judge issues by engaging in retrospective and prospec-tive voting

D. Congressional elections are different than presidential ones (see CHAPTER BOX) 1. In many districts, one party or another has a huge advantage 2. Small size of congressional district means that member of Congress gets to

know most voters 3. Same factors affecting presidential elections affect congressional elections

where one party does not have a big advantage VIII. Election Outcomes

A. Republican-Democratic party shifts over time B. Party realignments

1. Critical or realigning—“sharp lasting shift in the popular coalition support-ing one or both parties”

2. Five realignments: 1800, 1828, 1860, 1896, 1932 3. Regularity of cycle—28 to 36 years 4. Two kinds of realignments: disappearance of major party or a shift 5. Clearest cases: 1860 (slavery); 1896 (economics); 1932 (depression) 6. Realignment function of new vital issue that cuts across party lines 7. Was 1980 to 1988 a realignment? No mandate 8. Some realignment of whites in South moving to GOP

C. Party decline 1. Evidence: ticket splitting and party identification decline 2. Office-bloc ballot made straight-party ticket voting more difficult

D. A winning coalition 1. Loyalty of key party groups as well as importance 2. Democratic coalition—blacks most loyal, then Jewish voters; has lost hold

on Catholics, Southerners, white blue-collar workers 3. Republican coalition: businessmen, professionals, farmers (though volatile),

poor people (under $5000 per year) 4. General conclusions: winning coalition must be put together each election

IX. Modern Technology and Political Campaigns A. Little evidence on effect of media B. Television, radio, and newspapers

1. TV and radio suffer from “selective attention” and “mental tune-out” 2. “Spots” give viewers more information than visuals 3. Newspaper endorsements important in some circumstances

C. Computers and direct mail D. Are today’s voters manipulated? Media focuses less on how people vote than

on how politics is conducted; consequence is running campaign divorced from governing

X. Elections and Money A. Impact of money

1. Winner usually outspends loser 2. Outspending opponent more important to challenger than to incumbent

(hence, incumbents’ interest in restricting campaign funds) B. Sources of campaign funds

1. The candidate—no limits



2. Individuals—$1000 limit 3. Organizations—$5000 per PAC 4. Small individual donors dominate 5. Public financing—presidential elections and full federal support 6. Independent expenditures and soft money

C. The effect of campaign finance reform 1. Campaign contributors would be identified by name 2. Candidates with resources have an advantage 3. Candidates who are not rich spend more time fund-raising 4. Incumbents continue to have advantage 5. Ban on soft money contributions 6. Individual contribution limit raised to $2,000 7. Independent expenditures sharply restricted

XI. The Effects of Elections on Policy A. Are elections meaningless?

1. Does policy remain the same regardless of officeholder? 2. Any policy proposal will encounter opposition

B. Elections in parliamentary systems can affect policy C. American elections can signal dramatic change (1860, 1932, 1964, 1980, 1994) D. Periods of consolidation may make elections “appear” unimportant E. Kind of campaign affect kind of people willing to run

Key Terms Match Match the following terms and descriptions.

a. Austrailian ballot b. complete activists c. critical or realigning pe-

riod d. Fifteenth Amendment e. inactives f. independent expenditures g. matching funds h. mental tune-out i. motor voter registration

bill j. New Deal coalition

1. Legislation that gave women the right to vote in all elections.

2. A filmed episode showing a candidate doing some-thing newsworthy.

3. Legislation that made it illegal to exclude potential voters on the basis of color.

4. A document that is government-printed, of uniform size, and cast in secret.

5. A time during which a sharp, lasting shift occurs in the popular coalition supporting one or both par-ties.

6. The practice of voting for one major party’s candi-dates in state or local elections and the other’s at the national level.

7. A party realignment that occurred during the 1932 election in which urban workers, southern whites, northern blacks, and Jewish voters joined together to make the Democratic party the majority party.

8. Those who avoid all forms of political participa-tion.

94 Chapter 6


k. Nineteenth Amendment l. office-bloc ballot m. party-column ballot n. prospective voting o. retrospective voting p. selective attention q. single-issue groups r. soft money s. split-ticket voting t. spots u. straight-ticket voting v. Twenty-Sixth Amend-

ment w. visual x. Voting Rights Act of

1965

9. Federal money given to a presidential candidate that equals, dollar for dollar, what he/she raises from individuals who contribute $250 or less.

10. Those who take part in all forms of political par-ticipation.

11. A phenomenon in which a citizen simply ignores or is irritated by messages on radio and television that do not mesh with existing beliefs.

12. PAC contributions for advertising supporting or opposing a candidate that are made without a can-didate’s direction and approval.

13. Required states to allow people to register to vote when applying for a driver’s license, at various state offices (e.g., those serving the disabled or welfare recipients), and by mail.

14. Legislation that gave eighteen-year-olds the right to vote in all U.S. elections.

15. A ballot listing all candidates for a given office under the name of that office.

16. A ballot listing all candidates of a given party to-gether under the name of that party.

17. Ideological groups that urge their followers to vote for or against a candidate solely on the basis of some cause.

18. A federal law that suspended the use of literacy tests for voting and authorized the appointment of federal examiners to order the registration of blacks.

19. Voting for a candidate because one favors his or her ideas for addressing issues after the election.

20. Voting for the candidate or party in office because one likes or dislikes how things have gone in the recent past.

21. Short television advertisements used to promote a candidate for government office.

22. Voting for candidates who are all of the same party.

23. A phenomenon in which a citizen sees and hears only what he/she wants from television and radio.

24. Monetary donations given by individuals, unions, and corporations to state political parties that can be spent in ways that help presidential candidates.



Did You Think That…? A number of misconceptions are listed below. You should be able to refute each state-ment in the space provided, referring to information or argumentation contained in this chapter. Sample answers appear at the end of the Study Guide. 1. “Once the Fifteenth Amendment gave blacks the right to vote, they were able to do

so with little difficulty.”

2. “Registered American voters vote less frequently than do their counterparts in Europe.”

3. “Democrats usually win presidential elections because their coalition includes the young, the college-educated, the poor, and independents.”

4. “Paid television advertising is generally less informative on candidates’ views than are appearances on the nightly news.”

5. “Most money for presidential and congressional campaigns comes from large cor-porate donors, labor unions, and PACs.”

96 Chapter 6


6. “Voters generally choose candidates on the basis of issues presented during cam-paigns.”

7. “The declining voter turnout rate is caused by the difficulties associated with regis-tering to vote.”

Data Check

Figure 6.1: Economic Performance and Vote for the Incumbent President’s Party 1. What is the relationship between the state of the economy and presidential vote?

Table 6.2: Percentage of Popular Vote by Groups in Presidential Election, 1960–2000 This table indicates how voters with each set of identifiers (Republicans, Democrats, independents) claim to have voted in a series of presidential elections. For each year the total percentages for each party equal 100 percent, divided among the various candi-dates. Columns are read down to see how group support has changed from one election to the next. Columns are read across to see how a candidate won votes, whether he or she built a partisan or bipartisan coalition, and whether she or he won the independent vote. Remember again that these figures are based on how people said they voted, not on how they voted. 2. In which elections did Republicans give the GOP candidate at least 80 percent of

their vote?



3. In which elections did Democrats give the Democratic candidate 80 percent or more of their vote?

4. Which group of voters was the most changeable from one election to the next?

Table 6.4: Who Likes the Democrats? Percentages refer to the proportion of the group stating that they voted for the Democ-ratic presidential nominee in the indicated year. 5. Which groups appear to be the most stable in the Democratic coalition?

6. Which groups are most likely to swing from one party to the other?

7. Which groups have been predominantly Democratic?

8. Which groups have been predominantly Republican?

98 Chapter 6


II. Practicing for Exams

True/False. Read each statement carefully. Mark true statements T. If any part of the statement is false, mark it F, and write in the space provided a concise explanation of why the statement is false. 1. The percentage of Americans voting in elections is lower than the percent-

age of voters in most European countries.

2. Since 1960, fewer than 60 percent of the voting-age population in the United States have actually cast presidential ballots.

3. The fact that Americans are involved in politics in many more ways than just voting may help explain why the turnout in American elections is so much lower than in most other democratic countries.

4. Blacks vote at higher rates than whites when educational and income lev-els are the same.

5. Mass access to voting occurred in this country before it occurred in most other countries.

6. The Fifteenth Amendment effectively secured the right to vote for all for-mer slaves.

7. Women secured the right to vote before blacks did.

8. Proportionately fewer voting-age Americans vote today than in the latter part of the nineteenth century.

9. Voting fraud was once easier to carry off than it is now.



10. The percentage of registered American voters participating in elections is lower than the percentage of registered voters participating in European elections.

11. Apathy is largely to blame for low voter turnout in the United States.

12. “Get-out-the-vote” campaigns are unlikely, in the text’s view, to do much good.

13. In this country, the ability to reward followers with patronage jobs often is in the hands of an elected official.

14. To win a primary, a candidate must mobilize a relatively small number of enthusiasts.

15. It is usually harder for a candidate to avoid taking controversial stands in a primary than in a general election.

16. What helped Bill Clinton in winning the 1992 presidency was his success-ful mobilization of the issue-oriented activists in the party.

17. For most voters, an election is a retrospective judgment on the perform-ance of whoever has been in office.

18. Visuals are likely to have greater credibility than spots with television viewers, although they probably give viewers less information.

19. Presidential races are usually more competitive than congressional races.

20. A higher percentage of Democrats than Republicans vote in elections.

100 Chapter 6


21. As usual, the president’s party (Democratic) lost seats in congress in the 1998 off-year election.

22. Campaigns are more likely to be important for low-visibility than for high-visibility offices.

23. Single-issue groups have their greatest effect in primary elections.

24. The biggest factor affecting how the 20 percent of the voters who cannot be counted on to vote either Democratic or Republican typically is the state of the economy.

25. Realigning elections take place about every ten to fifteen years.

26. An electoral realignment will most likely occur if an important issue cuts across party lines.

27. The number of voters who vote a straight party ticket has increased over the past 40 years.

28. The largest groups in the Democratic coalitions (e.g., Catholics, southern-ers) are those most willing to defect to an attractive Republican.

29. Modern political consultants run campaigns and also take an active role in governing.

30. Federal campaign reforms have largely succeeded in their goals of elimi-nating the “fat cats” from the election process.

31. “Connected” PACs, such as most corporations and unions, tend to support incumbents.



32. Congressional election campaigns are funded from a combination of public and private sources.

33. Federal campaign finance reforms limit the amount of money that can be spent on congressional campaigns.

34. One effect of campaign finance reforms is to make a challenger’s job of defeating an incumbent more difficult.

35. American elections rarely produce changes of the magnitude of those that can occur in Britain.

Multiple Choice. Circle the letter of the response that best answers the question or completes the statement.

1. Americans may not vote at high rates, but voting affects a far greater part of the po-

litical system here than abroad. This is because: a. Americans vote for so many offices. b. American votes more accurately reflect the country. c. American votes more accurately reflect American opinions. d. Americans vote for the leader of our nation.

2. Political participation encompasses all of the following activities except: a. voting. b. paying one’s taxes. c. writing your congressperson. d. signing a petition.

3. One way that blacks were prevented from voting prior to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was by requiring them to: a. sign grandfather clauses. b. register six months in advance of an election. c. become American citizens. d. pass literacy tests.

4. Between 1915 and 1925 the size of the eligible voting population in American al-most doubled. The main reason for this was that: a. the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. b. women were given the right to vote. c. grandfather clauses that prevented blacks from voting were outlawed. d. literacy tests for blacks were ruled unconstitutional.

102 Chapter 6


5. In the twentieth century, voter turnout in U.S. presidential elections has generally varied between: a. 10 and 20 percent. b. 30 and 40 percent. c. 50 and 60 percent. d. 70 and 80 percent.

6. One explanation given by the text for the decline in American voter participation in presidential elections after 1900 is that: a. parties began functioning to mobilize mass voter turnout. b. fewer citizens were directly affected by the outcome of presidential elections. c. other forms of political participation became less accessible to citizens. d. election fraud was rampant in the nineteenth century.

7. Adoption of the Australian ballot enables United States citizens to vote: a. by party rather than candidate. b. more easily. c. by absentee ballot. d. in secret.

8. All of the following are reasons cited by the text for recent declines in voter regis-tration and voting except: a. a decrease in the number of blacks eligible to vote. b. the declining role of parties in mobilizing voters. c. remaining impediments to voter registration. d. a feeling among Americans that politics is not that important.

9. In states that have instituted same-day voter registration, the effect on voter turnout has been: a. a decline. b. a slight increase. c. a major increase. d. no impact at all.

10. Which of the following statements about campaigning in America is true? a. Parties play a minor role compared to Europe. b. Parties play a larger role today than they did at the beginning of the 20th cen-

tury. c. Campaigns for national office are usually organized on behalf of a slate of can-

didates of the same party. d. A candidate’s staff will usually continue to function even after the election.

11. A campaign organization set up by a presidential candidate typically consists of all of the following except: a. a group of PACs and union leaders. b. a paid staff of fund-raisers, lawyers, accountants, and others. c. a volunteer staff from several key states. d. a number of advisers on key issues.



12. In order to win the party nomination, candidates need to appear: a. as moderate as possible. b. as non-ideological as possible. c. liberal if Democrats, conservative if Republicans. d. conservative if Democrats, liberal if Republicans.

13. To a political candidate, the drawback of television visuals and debates is: a. their expense. b. the risk of slipups. c. the low audience response. d. their lack of credibility.

14. In recent presidential elections, the independent vote has usually favored: a. a third party. b. the Republicans. c. the Democrats. d. no one party.

15. What would happen if presidential campaigns were decided simply by party identi-fication? a. The Democrats would always win. b. The Republicans would always win. c. The Democrats would win most of the time. d. The Republicans would win most of the time.

16. “I’m voting for Candidate Goodbrain because I like her views on the environment, social welfare, and revenue sharing.” Such a vote is called: a. prospective. b. retrospective. c. matching. d. preemptive.

17. “I’m voting for Congresswoman Goodjob because she got us that new defense con-tract. I think she’s been doing great.” Such a vote is called: a. prospective. b. matching. c. retrospective. d. preemptive.

18. An election that results in one party’s gaining long-term dominance over the others is referred to as a: a. landmark election. b. shifting election. c. realigning election. d. consolidation election.

19. In an off-year election, the president’s party almost always: a. gains seats in Congress. b. neither gains nor loses seats in Congress. c. loses seats in Congress. d. disassociates itself with the president.

104 Chapter 6


20. Presidential elections are usually decided by all of the following except: a. political party affiliation. b. the state of the economy. c. the character of the candidates. d. popularity of state governors.

21. Party realignments most often occur as a result of disagreement over real issues. An example of an issue that caused a realignment is: a. the War of 1812, which split the Federalist party in half. b. slavery in 1860, which split the Democratic party in half. c. the gold crisis of 1910, which split the Republican party in half. d. the civil rights movement of the 1960s, which split the Democratic party in half.

22. A retrospective vote against the incumbent seems to have been a significant factor in the presidential election of: a. 1968 (Nixon). b. 1976 (Carter). c. 1980 (Reagan). d. 1988 (Bush).

23. The one dramatic shift in presidential voting patterns since 1972 has been among: a. women, who have grown increasingly Democratic and independent. b. blacks, who have grown increasingly Republican and independent. c. Hispanics, who have grown increasingly Democratic and independent. d. southerners, who have grown increasingly Republican and independent.

24. The office-bloc ballot made it possible for voters for the first time to: a. vote in secret. b. connect party labels to candidates’ names. c. cast a straight-party vote. d. split their votes between party tickets.

25. One major effect of ticket-splitting in national elections is a(n): a. increase in the frequency of major party realignments. b. divided government, in which one party controls the presidency, the other Con-

gress. c. decrease in the number of races in which the two candidates are separated by

less then ten percentage points. d. gradual emergence of parties as a political force.

26. Blacks and Jews have been the most loyal supporters of: a. the Democrats. b. independent candidates. c. minor parties. d. the Republicans.



27. In numbers rather than percentage, the smallest contribution to Democratic vote to-tals is made by: a. union members. b. blacks. c. Catholics. d. southerners.

28. Since the early 1950s, politicians campaigning for public office have recognized that: a. the media has a significant effect on the public’s understanding of the issues. b. the media is not interested in covering political events. c. the media is not particularly useful in their campaigns. d. the media can assist them in developing a name recognition and a national

constituency. 29. Compared with paid television advertising, television visuals, such as an appearance

by a candidate on the nightly news, are probably: a. more expensive. b. less credible with voters. c. less informative. d. less influential on election outcomes.

30. Assume you are running for office on the “Greenbelt” ticket and need to reach all of the environmentalists in your area. Your best bet is to rely on: a. a paid television ad. b. direct mailing. c. a news broadcast. d. a televised debate.

31. Campaign-finance rules prohibit cash contributions from any individual in excess of: a. $10. b. $100. c. $2,000. d. $10,000.

32. Unlike funding for presidential campaigns, the money for congressional campaigns comes from: a. both private and public sources. b. public sources only. c. private sources only. d. federal matching grants only.

33. When PACs make independent expenditures on behalf of a candidate, the legal limit on such expenditures is: a. $3,000. b. $15,000. c. $20,000. d. $5,000 per candidate per election or $15,000.

106 Chapter 6


34. Campaign contributions by political action committees (PACs) generally favor: a. incumbents. b. conservatives. c. Republicans. d. supporters of organized labor.

35. Which of the following candidates would automatically be entitled to full federal support for his/her general election campaign? a. one who obtained more than 5 percent of the popular vote in the election b. one who took no money from PACs or other interest groups c. one who has obtained as least 50,000 signatures in all fifty states d. one whose party received at least 25 percent of the vote in the preceding

presidential election 36. The two major U.S. political parties can best be described as:

a. strong coalitions of groups that traditionally support each party. b. weak coalitions of diverse elements. c. broad coalitions of single-issue groups. d. stable political entities of growing strength.

37. One study of some 1,400 promises made in political parties’ platforms between 1944 and 1964 found that what percent of them were kept? a. less than 10 percent b. about one-third c. around half d. around three-quarters

38. Which of the following statements is true about most presidential elections? a. They do not produce any major party realignment. b. They are generally decided by prospective voting patterns. c. They generally provide the winner with a clear mandate. d. They are usually fought over a dominant issue.

Essay. Practice writing extended answers to the following questions. These test your ability to integrate and express the ideas that you have been studying in this chapter. 1. Discuss those aspects of elections that can be said to make American politics more

democratic than the politics of most other countries, along with those aspects of elections that can be said to make American politics less democratic.

2. What are the major factors that appear to hold down the level of voter turnout in the

United States? What sort of program might you design if you wanted to overcome some of these problems and thus increase voter turnout?

3. Outline the history of the growth of voting in this country. Discuss where we are

likely to go from here: broadening the franchise to include more groups of people, keeping it about the same, or constricting it in the future.

4. What, if any, reforms of the voter registration system in this country would you ad-

vocate? What might be the consequences, intended and/or unintended, of such re-forms?



5. Discuss the definition and the significance to American politics of realigning, or critical, elections. Analyze presidential elections since 1980 to determine whether they can be called realigning elections.

6. Explain how each of the major parties must put together a successful coalition to

win national elections. Design a strategy for the Democrats or the Republicans to win the next presidential election.

7. List the major regulations on campaign financing imposed by Congress prior to

2002 and the effects that these regulations are likely to have on candidates, donors, parties, and American politics generally.

8. Discuss three major changes in campaign financing due to the Bipartisan Campaign

Finance Reform Act of 2002. III. Applying What You’ve Learned

The previous chapter showed why presidential nominees rarely represent the prefer-ences of the average voter. Chapter 6 outlines the mechanics of the election process. If political candidates do not share the concerns of the majority, it is not enough to com-plain about the quality of candidates; much of the blame must be assigned to the selec-tion procedures. What can be done to remedy the situation? The text discusses not only how elections are conducted in the United States but also the consequences—both posi-tive and negative—of each facet of the current system. This exercise provides an opportunity to apply the chapter’s material by dealing with a problem of enormous national concern: how can the election process be modified to produce presidential nominees more aligned with the preferences of the majority? The chapter provides the information necessary to identify the factors that skew elec-tions away from the political center. The assignment is to locate these areas and to ap-ply the appropriate solution. Attention should be given to the following considerations:: 1. The power of political parties in choosing candidates has been diminished by recent

changes, such as the passage of campaign finance laws and the adoption of delegate selection rules (for presidential nominations). Should the power of parties in the nominating procedure be increased? If so, how? From your knowledge of the past, what dangers can you see in allowing parties a large role in candidate selection? What benefits could the nation obtain from more active party involvement in the nominating process?

108 Chapter 6


2. Political campaigns have been permanently altered by the growing role of the media in determining the outcome of elections. How does television contribute to the problem of party nominees who are not representative? How can the media be used to enable challengers to oppose incumbents without violating the First Amendment?

3. The nature of primary elections contribute to the lack of representativeness of presidential nominees. Since elections are dominated by ideological voters, candi-dates are compelled to take extreme positions on issues to attract support. Have primaries become a national liability? Is the European method of candidate nomina-tion preferable? Given the material presented in this and other chapters, how can the average voter be enticed to participate in primary elections? Is the caucus system a better alternative? Did any of the earlier methods of selecting presidential nominees more dependably produce representative candidates?

4. The consequences of finance reform laws have been both positive and negative. One of the negative consequences is that certain types of candidates benefit from these restrictions: incumbents, candidates who are wealthy, and those with close ties to PACs. How can campaign finance laws be refined to allow more equitable competition in elections?



IV. Research and Resources

Suggested Readings Brady, David W., John F. Logan, and Morris P. Fiorina, Continuity and Change in

House Elections. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000. Excellent collection of news analyses about getting elected to the House.

Burnham, Walter Dean. Critical Elections and the Mainsprings of American Politics. New York: Norton, 1970. An argument about the declining voting participation and the significance of the realigning election of 1896.

Ehrenhalt, Alan. The United States of Ambition. New York: Random House, 1991. A

brilliant analysis of the kinds of people willing and able to practice modern-day politics.

Erikson, Robert S., and Kent L. Tedin. American Public Opinion, 5th ed. Boston: Allyn

and Bacon, 1995. A careful analysis of how polling is done, what Americans think about political issues, and how elections affect policies.

Fiorina, Morris P. Retrospective Voting in American National Elections. New Haven,

Conn.: Yale University Press, 1981. A careful analysis of how voters judge politi-cians retrospectively—and rationally.

Jacobson, Gary C. The Politics of Congressional Elections, 2nd ed. Boston: Little,

Brown, 1987. How people are elected to Congress, with close attention to the role of money.

Key, V. O., Jr. The Responsible Electorate. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University

Press, 1966. An argument, with evidence, that American voters are not fools.

Page, Benjamin I. Choices and Echoes in Presidential Elections. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978. Analyzes the interaction between the behavior of candidates and of voters in American elections.

Sundquist, James L. Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Po-

litical Parties in the United States, rev. ed. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institu-tion, 1983. Historical analysis of realigning elections from 1860 to the non-realignment of 1980.

Resources on the World Wide Web Federal Elections Commission: www.fec.gov Project Vote Smart: www.vote-smart.org Campaigns and candidates: voter96.cqalert.com Election history: clerkweb.house.gov Electoral college: www.avagra.com/politics.ec zine League of Women Voters: www.lwv.org

campaigns and elections - cengage · 2008. 6. 27. · campaigns and elections i. reviewing the...

Documents