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US Democracy and Participation - Coggle Diagram
US Democracy and Participation
Electoral System
Step 2
- National Conventions: Each party holds a national convention to select a final president nominee. They will then choose a running mate (Vice President) and campaign across the country to win the support of the public.
Step 3
- General Election: People across every state can vote for one president and Vice President. When people make these votes they are actually voting for people known as electors.
Effect of Incumbency:
Name recognition:
Rarely need to attend primaries and have the ability to raise more money. Also good decisions made in office will help with popularity.- However if your name is linked to something bad it will hinder your success (Carter with Iraq)
Fundraising:
Current president rarely has to raise as much money as they can use government money to help with campaigning. However, this may cause the president to not campaign enough (Trump) and/or run out of money.
8 of the last 11
presidential elections featured an incumbent and 71% of the incumbents have won since 1796.
Only 3 modern day presidents have been defeated in a re-election.
(Bush in 1992 as he received significant opposition from Pat Buchanan)
Step 1
- Primaries and Caucuses: Candidates from each political party campaign across the nation to try and win the favour of their party members.
In Caucuses
, party members select the best candidate through a series of votes and discussions.
Caucus state
- usually low populated Staes that use a show of hands to decide their candidate (e.g. Nevada)
In Primaries
, Party members vote for the best candidate that will represent them in the election.
Open primary
- anyone of any party is allowed to vote (e.g. Texas)
Semi-closed primary
- Only party members or non-affiliated people can vote (e.g. Californa)
Closed Primary
- Only party members can vote (e.g. New Mexico)
Advantages
and Disadvantages of the primary-caucus process:
1.
It allows the candidates to gauge and idea of what policies are popular.
However, it also shows the weaknesses in certain policies and the difference in views/ no clear party line.
2.
It's a long process and highlights the ability of certain candidates.
Creates internal party divides as it pits candidates of the same party against each other.
3.
Creates more representation as the people have a variety of choice.
Candidates pander towards the party and not the people.
Overall it hinders democracy as it causes more internal problems then solutions and causes low turnout- In 2012 the Obama turnout was 14.5%.
Step 4
- Electoral College: Each state gets a number of electors based on its representation in congress (538 in total). Each elector casts one vote following on from their states general election and the candidate who gets more then half (270) wins.
The newly elected president is then sworn in on January.
The electoral college is mentioned in the constitution and prevents the direct election of the population ( tyranny of the majority)
Arguments for Reform
:
1.
It is disproportional as the winner can technically win with only 22% of the votes.- In 2 of the last 5 elections the winner won the popular vote but lost. In 2007 72% of people said they would rather have a popular vote.
2.
It excludes third parties from the electoral process as the electoral college votes aren't allocated proportionally.
3.
Small states are over represented- Californa has 55 ECVs with a population of 40million and Wymoing has a population of 500k with 3 ECVs. One for Wyoming is 4 for californa.
Arguments for not reforming
:
1
. It produces a clear winner due to the use of FPTP.
2.
Guards against tyranny of the majority- Founding fathers placed in the constitution especially.
3.
Small Staes remain represented and it avoids larger states dominating politically.
The Party System
In the US there has always been a 2-party system. The parties in question are the Democrats and the Republicans.
Winner takes all
: This significantly disadvantages third parties as they are awarded nothing if they don't finish first. Therefore, despite the threefold jump in third-party votes in 2016, they got nothing.
Party ideology:
The two main US parties have such a breadth of ideology, its difficult for a third party to cover any distance policy area. Candidates struggle to carve out a distinct policy platform.
Expenses:
US elections have become so expensive that only parties with lots of money can compete.
Campaign Finance
1971: FECA requires the disclosure of donations over $100, max $50000 per candidate for presidential elections.
1974:FECA reformed after party gate, max donation $1000, $25000 cap for federal campaigns.
1976:
Major Parties