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Introduction to the American Political Process

Introduction to the American Political Process. Elections. The Dynamics of the Electoral Campaign. ● Winnowing ● The “Big Mo” ○ Election –The horserace ○ Pre-Election: Name recognition and money ● The Horserace ○ Creating Momentum. CNN/USA Today Poll.

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Introduction to the American Political Process

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  1. Introduction to the American Political Process Elections

  2. The Dynamics of the Electoral Campaign ●Winnowing ●The “Big Mo” ○Election –The horserace ○Pre-Election: Name recognition and money ●The Horserace ○Creating Momentum

  3. CNN/USA Today Poll ●Democratic systems designed to facilitate participation by the mass public ●America is a representative democracy ○ How much do we really want citizens to make their voice heard? ○ Are they qualified to do so? Kerry Dean

  4. Money Raised

  5. Money Spent

  6. Presidential Elections ●Electoral College􀁺 ●Strategy􀁻 ○Series of Local Elections􀁻 ○NY vs. PA􀁻 ○Battleground States

  7. Margin of Victory Electoral Votes State Bush Wins Florida New Hampshire Missouri Nevada Ohio Tennessee Arkansas West Virginia Arizona Total Gore Wins Wisconsin New Mexico Oregon Minnesota Pennsylvania Maine Michigan Washington Total

  8. Congressional Elections ●House Elections ○Name recognition ○The advantages of incumbency ●Franking ●Fundraising ●Senate Election ○Lessened incumbency advantage

  9. Incumbent Victory Rate: 1946-1998 Percent Win House Senate Year

  10. How Do Voters Decide ●The Multiple Bases of the Vote ○Party identification ○Issues and policies ○Candidate attributes ○Retrospective evaluations

  11. Party Identification ●Measurement and predictive ability ○“Generally speaking, do you consider yourself a Democrat, a Republican, or an independent?” ○High loyalty ●The psychological perspective ●The rational perspective ●Bringing it together ○Theories not exclusive ○Party identification is the baseline for the vote

  12. Other Bases of the Vote ●Issues and Policies ○Elect candidates who share your views ○Issue conflicts ●Candidate Attributes ○Voting for a person, not policies ○Less “rational”? ○Attribute components ●Retrospective Voting ○“Throw the bums out”

  13. Campaigns ●Candidates and Campaigns ○How do candidates attract supporters? ●Candidate Strategies ○Adapt to voter sentiment ●Move to the middle ○Framing ● Defining the race

  14. Campaigns (continued) ●Negative Advertising ○How do candidates attract supporters? ○Effects of negative campaigns ●Turnout effects ●Cynicism

  15. NJ 12 –DCCC

  16. NRCC –NJ 12

  17. Campaigns ●Negative Campaigns (cont) ○Are things getting worse?

  18. Campaigns ●Campaign Effects ○Predictive Models ○Mobilization vs. Conversion

  19. Campaign Finance ●The importance of money ●Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) ●Circumventing the system: Soft Money ●Issue ads and “magic words” ○"vote for," "elect," "support," "cast your ballot for," "Smith for Congress," "vote against," "defeat," and "reject”

  20. President PAC, Congress General, President Congress Millions of 2000 Dollars Year Spending Over Time in Real 2000 Dollars

  21. Soft Money Activity Non-Federal Disbursements

  22. NRCC ––WA 2WA 2

  23. Campaign Finance (cont) ●Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 ●McConnell v. FEC ○Ban soft money and limit issue ads ○Through out bans on contributions from minors, non-candidate party spending ●New definition of issue ads ○Magic words or depicting a federal candidate within 60 days of a federal election ●527 organizations –MoveOn.org

  24. General, President Congress Total, President PAC, Congress Millions of '2000 GDP' Dollars (Deflated by Current GDP/2000 GDP) Year Spending Over Time Deflated by GDP

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