Elections and Voting: Questions
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How often do presidential elections occur?
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Every 4 years.
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What are the three constitutional requirements to be president?
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A natural-born US citizen; at least 35 years of age; resident of the USA for at least 14 years.
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What does Amendment XXII state about the number of terms a president may serve?
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May serve a maximum of only two terms.
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What is the difference between a primary and a caucus?
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Primary is an election; caucus is a meeting.
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What are the two functions of primaries?
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Show popularity of presidential candidates; choose delegates to go to the National Party Convention.
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What is the difference between an open and a closed primary?
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Open primary: any registered voter may vote in either primary; closed primary: only registered Republicans may vote in the Republican primary, and only registered Democrats may vote in the Democratic primary.
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What is the difference between a proportional and a winner-takes-all primary?
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Proportional primary: delegates are awarded to candidates in proportion to the votes they win; winner-takes-all primary: winner of the popular vote gets the all the delegates.
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What is front loading?
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The phenomenon by which states schedule their presidential primary or caucus earlier in the cycle in an attempt to increase their importance in the choosing of candidates.
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What is the invisible primary?
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The year or so before the start of the primaries when potential candidates try to gain name recognition and money as well as put together the necessary organisation.
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What are the three formal functions of National Party Conventions?
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Choosing/confirming the presidential candidate; choosing/confirming the vice-presidential candidate; deciding on the party platform.
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What is meant by a 'balanced ticket'?
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When the presidential candidate chooses a vice-presidential candidate who is different in terms of region, political experience, age, gender, etc.
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What is the party platform?
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The statement of a party's policies for an upcoming presidential election.
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What are the three informal functions of a National Party Conventions?
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Promoting party unity; enthusing the party faithful; enthusing the ordinary voters.
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Give three reasons why the presidential candidate's acceptance speech is important.
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Any three of: first opportunity to address ordinary voters; chance to display presidential qualities to voters; chance to outline policies; boost opinion ratings.
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When does the general election campaign traditionally begin?
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Labor Day.
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What is the difference between the 'intra-party' and 'inter-party' campaigns?
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Intra-party: within one party; inter-party: between the two parties.
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How long does the general election campaign last?
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8-9 weeks.
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In which medium is the campaign mainly conducted?
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On television.
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Which two Senators were responsible for introducing the campaign finance reforms of 2002?
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John McCain and Russell Feingold.
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Make a list of the principal changes brought about by the 2002 reforms.
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National Party Committees banned from raising or spending 'soft money'; labour unions and corporate groups forbidden from directly funding issue advertisements; the banning of union or corporate money to fund advertisements that mention a federal candidate within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary; the prohibition of fundraising on federal property; increased individual limits on contributions to individual candidates or candidate committees to $2,300 (2007-2008), to be increased for inflation in each odd-numbered year; banned contributions from foreign nationals; 'Stand By Your Ad' provision, resulting in all campaign ads including a verbal endorsement by the candidate with the words, \"I'm [candidate's name], and I approve this message\".
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In which year were the first television debates held?
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1960.
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Which was the only year when a third-party candidate was included in the debates?
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1992.
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Why are the television debates more difficult for an incumbent president than for a challenger?
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Incumbents have a record to defend and can have their words from 4 years ago quoted back at them.
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What are the two important functions of television commercials in the general election campaign?
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Reinforcement and activation.
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How are the Electoral College votes allocated among the 50 states?
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According to each state's representation in Congress.
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How many ECVs does a candidate need to win the presidency?
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270.
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How do most states allocate their ECVs?
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Winner-takes-all.
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What are the strengths of the Electoral College?
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Preserves the voice of the small-population states; promotes a two-horse race.
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What are the weaknesses of the Electoral College?
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Small-population states over-represented; winner-takes-all system can distort the result; possible for winner of popular vote to lose in Electoral College; unfair to national third parties; 'rogue' or 'faithless' Electors; the system used in the case of an Electoral College deadlock could result in the House choosing a president of one party and the Senate choosing a vice-president of another party.
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What would be the main problem with abolishing the Electoral College altogether?
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Likely to lead to a multi-candidate election with the winner gaining maybe only 35-40% of the votes.
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What do the last 15 elections tell us about the importance of party in voting?
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The party with the highest level of support from its own identifiers usually wins.
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What policies tend to attract more women voters to the Democrats than the Republicans?
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Abortion, defence, law and order, gun control, women's rights.
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Why do African-Americans vote overwhelmingly for the Democratic candidates?
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Democrats have strongly supported civil rights for African-Americans.
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What patterns of voting are found among Protestant and Catholic voters?
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Protestants tend to vote Republican; Catholics tend to vote Democrat.
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What has happened to voting trends in the South over the past 50 years?
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Democrat vote has declined; Republican vote has increased.
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Which region is now the battle-ground region for presidential elections?
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The Midwest.
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What policy issue dominated the 2008 election?
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The economy.
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How do typical Democrat and typical Republican voters differ?
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Typical Democrat voting blocs: blue-collar, unionised workers; urban dwellers; West and Northeast; Catholic; Jewish; racial minorities, possibly black or Hispanic; female; liberal; less wealthy; less well educated. Typical Republican voting blocs: white-collar, professional workers; suburban and rural; sun-belt; Protestant, especially evangelical; white; male; conservative, wealthy; college-educated.
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What parts of Congress are elected every 2 years?
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Whole of the House of Representatives; one-third of the Senate.
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What are mid-term elections?
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Elections that occur midway through the president's 4-year term in office.
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How do the qualifications for the House differ from those of the Senate?
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House: at least 25 years old and US citizen for at least 7 years; Senate: at least 30 years old and US citizen for at least 9 years.
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What is a congressional district?
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A geographic division of a state from which a member of the House of Representatives is elected.
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What is the locality rule?
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A state law that requires House members to be resident within the congressional district they represent.
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What is the coat-tails effect?
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The effect of a strong candidate for a party at the top of the ticket (such as president or state governor) helping congressional candidates of the same party to get elected at the same time.
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What is split-ticket voting?
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The practice of voting for candidates of two or more parties for different offices at the same election.
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How high have the rates of re-election been in recent House and Senate elections?
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House: mostly over 90%; Senate: between 79% and 96%.
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What tends to happen to the president's party in mid-term elections?
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Loses seats in both houses of Congress.
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What is a proposition?
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A mechanism by which citizens of a state can place proposed laws, and in some states constitutional Amendments, on the state ballot.
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How many states provide for a proposition?
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24.
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Distinguish between a direct and an indirect proposition.
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Direct: proposals that qualify to go directly on the state ballot; indirect: proposals that are submitted to the state legislature, which decides on further action.
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Give two recent examples of propositions.
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Ban on same-sex marriage; increase in state minimum wage .
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What are the advantages of propositions?
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Provide a way of enacting reforms on controversial issues that state legislatures are often unwilling or unable to act upon; increase the responsiveness and accountability of state legislatures; can help increase voter turnout; increase citizen interest in state issues and may also encourage pressure group membership.
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What are the disadvantages of propositions?
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Lack the flexibility of the legislative process; vulnerable to manipulation by special interests.
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What is a referendum?
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An electoral device, available in all 50 states, by which voters can effectively veto a bill passed by the state legislature.
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What is a recall election?
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A procedure that enables voters in a state to remove an elected official from office before their term has expired.
