1. Chapter 8 Campaigns and Elections

2. Enduring questions about elections • Basic purposes in democracies? • How do U.S. election laws compare? • Consequences of our election laws? • Major factors influencing the public’s vote choices? • “Normal” elections versus “critical” elections? • How polarized are: • the U.S public? • our elected officials?

3. 1) What are the two basic purposes of elections in a democracy? • Mandate • Safeguard • Two external safeguards • Free, fair, frequent, & competitive elections • A pluralist rather than a polarized society • Three internal safeguards • Division of power by levels • Separation of powers by branches • Overlapping (shared or concurrent) powers across both levels and branches

4. 2) How do U.S. election laws compareto those in other democracies? • Number of political parties • Number & frequency of elections • Unitary v. federal • Parliamentary v. presidential • Primary v. general • Number of offices on the ballot • Short v. long • Cost of running for public office

5. 3) What are the consequencesof our election laws? Political elites Polarization Fundraising chores Representativeness • Mass public • Political trust • Political efficacy • Party identification • Turnout • Issue publics • Political trust • Political efficacy • Party identification • Turnout

6. 4) What influencesthe public’s vote choices? • Long-term factors • Ideology • Party id. • Age • Gender • Class • Region • Race/ethnicity • Religion • Short-term factors • Candidate evaluations • Competency • Honesty • Issue attitudes • Salience • Policy preference

7. Two economy issues and the incumbent party’s presidential vote Federal Debt Personal Income

8. 5) What are the consequences of “normal-vote” & “critical” elections? • Definitions • “Normal-vote” elections • “Critical” elections • Political-party systems or eras • Examples of Party Eras • 1788 Founding • 1824 De-alignment • 1860 Civil War & Reconstruction • 1896 Industrial Revolution • 1932 New Deal • 1968 De-alignment • 2004 ??

9. Presidential voting in fourpolitical-party eras in the U.S. 1876 2000 1888

10. 6) How polarized was the 2008presidential vote? Electoral-vote winner by state Popular-vote winner by county http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2008/

11. 6) How polarized was the 2008presidential vote? Popular-vote division by county weighted by county’s population size Popular-vote division by county http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2008/

12. How polarized is Congress?