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Chapter 10: Elections and

Voting Behavior

• How American Elections Work

• A Tale of Three Elections

• Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First Choice

• How Americans Vote: Explaining Citizens’ Decisions

• The Last Battle: The Electoral College

• Understanding Elections and Voting Behavior

• Summary


Chapter Outline and Learning

Objectives


• LO 10.1: Distinguish the types of elections

in the United States.


• LO 10.2: Trace the evolution of the

American electoral process from 1800 to

the present.



Objectives

• Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First Choice • LO 10.3: Identify the factors that influence

whether people vote or not.

• How Americans Vote: Explaining Citizens’ Decisions • LO 10.4: Assess the impact of party

identification, candidate evaluations, and policy opinions on voting behavior.



Objectives


• LO 10.5: Evaluate the fairness of the Electoral College system for choosing the president.

• Understanding Elections and Voting Behavior

• LO 10.6: Assess the extent to which elections make government officials pay attention to what voters want.

How American Elections Work LO 10.1: Distinguish the types of elections

in the United States.

• Functions of Elections

• Institutionalize political activity – Make it possible for most political participation to be channeled through the electoral process.

• Regular access to political power – Leaders can be replaced.

• Legitimacy – Fair and free way of selecting political leaders.

To Learning Objectives Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman


How American Elections Work

• Three Kinds of Elections

• Primary elections – Voters select party

nominees.

• General elections – Between the

nominees of the parties.

• Elections on specific policy questions –

Voters make (initiative petition) or ratify

(referendum) legislation.

LO 10.1

To Learning Objectives


LO 10.1

A Tale of Three Elections LO 10.2: Trace the evolution of the American

electoral process from 1800 to the present.

• 1800: The First Electoral Transition of Power

• 1896: A Bitter Fight Over Economic Interests

• 2008: An Election About Change



A Tale of Three Elections

• 1800: The First Electoral Transition of Power

• No primaries, conventions, or speeches.

• Campaigns focused not on voters but on state legislatures who chose electors.

• After many votes in the House, the presidency was transferred to Jefferson peacefully.

LO 10.2




• 1896: A Bitter Fight Over Economic Interests

• Democrats’ main issue was unlimited coinage of silver.

• Bryan won the Democratic Party nomination with speeches about the virtues of silver.

• McKinley won the election and the Republicans regained majority status.


LO 10.2


LO 10.2



• 2008: An Election About Change

• Obama’s main issue was changing the health care system to extend coverage to everyone.

• McCain’s main issue was making changes to improve the economy and the financial institutions.

• Obama won and became the 1st African-American president.


LO 10.2


LO 10.2

Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First

Choice LO 10.3: Identify the factors that influence

whether people vote or not.

• Deciding Whether to Vote

• Registering to Vote

• Who Votes?




Choice

• Suffrage

• The legal right to vote, in the United States

gradually extended to virtually all citizens

over the age of 18.

LO 10.3




Choice

• Deciding Whether to Vote

• Anthony Downs – People who see policy

differences between the parties are more

likely to vote.

• Political Efficacy – Belief that one’s vote

does matter and can actually make a

difference.

• Civic Duty – Belief that a citizen should

vote to support democratic government.


LO 10.3


LO 10.3



Choice

• Registering to Vote

• Voter Registration – A system adopted by

the states that requires voters to register

prior to voting.

• Motor Voter Act – A 1993 act that

requires states to permit people to register

to vote when they apply for their driver’s

license.


LO 10.3



Choice

• Who Votes?

• Education – People with a higher than average education vote more than people with less education.

• Age – Older people vote more than younger people.

• Race – Racial minorities are usually underrepresented among voters relative to their share of the citizenry.


LO 10.3



Choice

• Who Votes?

• Gender – Women participate in elections

more than men do.

• Marital status – Married people vote more

than unmarried people.

• Government employment – Workers for

the government vote more than people

who have jobs in the in private sector.


LO 10.3


LO 10.3



Choice

• Who Votes?

• Possessing several of these traits (being

elderly, well educated, and married) adds

significantly to one’s likelihood of voting.

• Conversely, being young, poorly educated,

and single is likely to add up to a very low

probability of voting.


LO 10.3

How Americans Vote: Explaining

Citizens’ Decisions LO 10.4: Assess the impact of party

identification, candidate evaluations, and

policy opinions on voting behavior.

• Party Identification

• Candidate Evaluations: How

Americans See the Candidates

• Policy Voting




Citizens’ Decisions

• Mandate Theory of Elections

• The idea that the winning candidate has a

mandate from the people to carry out his or

her platforms and politics.

• Politicians like the theory better than

political scientists do.

LO 10.4





• Party Identification

• People still generally vote for a party that they agree with.

• Parties’ hold on voters declined in the 1960s and 1970s with rise of candidate-centered politics.

• Many floating voters make an individual voting decision and are up for grabs each election.


LO 10.4


LO 10.4




• Candidate Evaluations: How

Americans See the Candidates

• 3 most important dimensions of candidate

image are integrity, reliability, and

competence.

• Image plays a role in voting when a

candidate is perceived to be incompetent

or dishonest.


LO 10.4




• Policy Voting

• Electoral choices that are made on the

basis of the voters’ policy preferences and

where the candidates stand on policy

issues.


LO 10.4

The Last Battle: The Electoral

College LO 10.5: Evaluate the fairness of the

Electoral College system for choosing the

president.

• Electoral College

• A unique American institution, created by

the Constitution, providing for the selection

of the president by electors.

• Less populated states are

overrepresented.

• Winner-take-all concentrates campaigns

on close states. To Learning Objectives




College

• How Electoral College Works

• Electoral votes for each state equals its members in Congress.

• 48 states use winner-take-all system (not Maine and Nebraska).

• State electors vote in December following the November election.

• January – Congress counts votes.

• House of Representatives picks president if no majority vote.

LO 10.5



LO 10.5



College

• Important Electoral College

• The less populated states are

overrepresented because states get 2

electors for the senators regardless of

population.

• Winner-take-all means candidates will

focus on winning the states where the polls

show that there appears to be a close

contest.


LO 10.5

Understanding Elections and Voting

Behavior LO 10.6: Assess the extent to which

elections make government officials pay

attention to what voters want.

• Democracy and Elections

• Elections and the Scope of

Government




Behavior

• Democracy and Elections

• The greater the policy differences between

candidates, the more likely voters will be

able to steer government policy by their

choices.

• Retrospective voting – Voters cast a vote

based on what a candidate has done for

them lately.

LO 10.6




Behavior

• Elections and the Scope of

Government

• Elections generally support government

policies and power.

• Voters feel they are sending a message to

government to accomplish something.

• So the government expands to fill the

needs of the voters.


LO 10.6


LO 10.1 Summary


• Primary elections are held to select the political

parties’ nominees for elective offices.

• General elections are contested between the

nominees to determine who actually wins

these offices.

• Referendums are held to let the voters decide

specific policy questions at the ballot box.



An initiative petition can be

considered what kind of lawmaking?

A. elitist lawmaking

B. top-down lawmaking

C. indirect lawmaking

D. ground-up lawmaking

LO 10.1



LO 10.2 Summary


• Elections have changed dramatically since

1800 when Adams ran against Jefferson and

neither candidate participated in the campaign.

• By 1896, it was acceptable for candidates to

campaign in person, and William Jennings

Bryan did so with a vengeance.



LO 10.2 Summary

• A Tale of Three Elections (cont.)

• Almost all American citizens over age 18 have

the right to vote.

• One constant throughout American electoral

history is that the appeal of “it’s time for a

change” has been powerful when citizens are

dissatisfied with the government’s

performance; this was the case in both 1800

and 2008.



Based on the 3 elections described in

the chapter, elections have become

more over time.

A. elitist

B. democratic

C. controlled by the Electoral College

D. all of the above

LO 10.2



LO 10.3 Summary

• Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First

Choice

• In order to exercise their right to vote, citizens

must go through the registration process.

• Registration reform was thought to be the

answer to low turnout, but the Motor Voter Act

of 1993 has yet to produce the benefit of

greater voter participation.



LO 10.3 Summary

• Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First

Choice (cont.)

• Turnout in 2008 was virtually identical to what

it was in 1992, and in 2010 only about 40

percent of the eligible electorate voted.

• Among the factors that make people more

likely to vote are being better educated, older,

and married.



Which of the following is NOT true

about Americans’ voting behavior?

A. A college graduate is more likely to vote than a high school graduate.

B. A single person is more likely to vote than a married person.

C. Women are more likely to vote than men.

D. A 50-year-old is more likely to vote than a 22-year-old.

LO 10.3



LO 10.4 Summary

• How Americans Vote: Explaining


• Party affiliation is the best predictor of voting

behavior.

• Candidate evaluations and policy opinions are

two factors that can sway people to defect from

their preferred party, and play an important role

in decision-making among Independents.



LO 10.4 Summary

• How Americans Vote: Explaining

Citizens’ Decisions (cont.)

• Candidate evaluations involve important

performance-relevant factors such as

competence, integrity, and reliability.

• Policy voting – Voters see clear differences

between candidates and determine whose

stands on issues best represent their own

opinions.



Party identification the

political world for many voters.

A. simplifies

B. confuses

C. does not influence

D. none of the above

LO 10.4



LO 10.5 Summary


• Electoral College gives voters in the less

populated states greater weight in choosing

the president.

• The winner of the national popular vote does

not always prevail in the Electoral College, as

was evident most recently in the 2000 contest

between George W. Bush and Al Gore.



LO 10.5 Summary


(cont.)

• All but 2 states allocate all their electors in a

winner-take-all fashion and many states lean

solidly toward 1 party or the other (CA, TX, and

NY), so the candidates focus much of their

energies on winning about 15 battleground

states (PA, FL, and OH).



The Electoral College encourages

candidates to campaign in ,

battleground states.

A. small

B. large

C. southern

D. northern

LO 10.5



LO 10.6 Summary

• Understanding Elections and Voting

Behavior

• Under the right conditions, elections can

influence public policy, and policy outcomes

can influence elections.

• Most important condition enabling voters to

steer government policy is that the policy

differences between the candidates be clear.



LO 10.6 Summary

• Understanding Elections and Voting

Behavior (cont.)

• Voters can also make their voices heard by

simply voting to reward or punish incumbents

based on their performance in office.

• Elected officials who produce desired results

are reelected; those fail to do are thrown out of

office.



Retrospective voting is when voters make

their decisions based on their answers to

the question _______.

A. “What have you done for the world lately?”

B. “What have you done for the interest groups lately?”

C. “What have you done for your political party lately?”

D. “What have you done for me lately?”

LO 10.6



Photo Credits

• 280: Robert King/Zuma Press

• 281T: AP Photo

• 281TC: Library of Congress

• 281TB: Joshua Loft/New York Times

• 281B: AP Photo

• 282: AP Photo

• 284: Library of Congress

• 287: Joshua Loft/The New York Times

• 288: Dennis Renault/Renault

• 290: Tim Sloan/Getty Images

• 296: The New Yorker Collection/Mike Twohy/www.cartoonbank.com

• 297: AP Photo

• 299: Getty Images

copyright © 2011 pearson education, inc. publishing as longman · photo credits • 280: robert...

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