POLS 112: Electoral College
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What system decides who will be president?
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The electoral college
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Compare strength of presidency from the 19th century to the 20th century
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19: weak 20: more powerful
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Why did the founders want the President to be 35?
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Because this is a wiser age, you need more experience
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Why did Framers decide to have younger people in the house and older age cutoff for the senate?
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House: many members, its okay to be younger Senate: should be more experienced
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What are the 2 criteria for eligibility for a president?
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35 years, and natural born US citizen
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Before a precedent was set, what was the term for president like?
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People could be president as long as they wanted
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Why did Washington set a 2-term precedent?
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He didn't run for a 3rd term, he quit the presidency; he set a precedent that wasn't legally binding
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Why were official term limits set in 1951?
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FDR wanted to run for a 3rd term; so after this, they set limits
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What is the electoral college?
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Group of people who play a part in deciding who our president will be
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What type of process is the electoral college?
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the indirect selection process
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Why do we use an electoral College?
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type of check on popular will to safeguard against bad decisions, and also framers feared majority decisions, and tyranny of the majority
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How does the electoral college work?
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-Each state gets Electors (members of electoral college based on states members of Congress) -State gets as many electors as their members of Congress -Popular vote in early November (Presidential election by people) -Electors vote in December (after election) -Votes coutned by Congress in January
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Explain how there are 538 members of congress?
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435- House of Represetatives 100-Senate 3- Washington DC (not a state)
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What does the Popular vote in November do for the Electoral college?
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Voters vote in November, and this gives feedback to their Electors of how they want to vote
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What is the process of Electors voting in December?
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They meet in each state, vote based on state popular vote, and most states are winner take all which usually translates small popular margins to large electoral college margins
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How is the winner of the Electoral College chosen and when?
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January- winner of electoral college majority wins, must have 270 votes
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Who is the President of Senate
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Vice President of the IS
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If you win 51% of the popular vote in the state, how much of the electoral college vote do you get?
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100%
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If no one has the majority of the electoral college vote (say 4 people all receive electoral college votes but none reach the threshold of majority), how does President and Vice president get chosen?
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The house decides President and the Senate chooses Vice President
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How many times has a popular vote winner lost?
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4 times
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How many presidents have there been?
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44 presidents
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How many people didn't complete their presidential term?
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9
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What is the break down of the 9 presidents who didn't complete their term?
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4 from natural causes, 4 assasinations, and Nixon resigned
