Essential Questions

1. Essential Questions • Explain the election contest stages. • How do candidates reach the voter? • What(who) makes up the campaign? • What are the types of elections and ballots? • What is the purpose of the 1974 Election Campaign Act? • What is the purpose of campaign finance laws? • Why is money so important to campaigns? • What is a 527? What is a PAC?

2. AP GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS CAMPAIGNS/ FINANCE VOTING BEHAVIOR

3. Most electoral contests are similar in structure. Nomination campaign aimed at winning primary. {Run to 1st base} General election campaign aimed at winning final race. {Run to 2nd base/middle of the field}

4. GOAL IS TO REACH THE VOTER • Voter Canvas: Process of reaching individual voter • Paid Media • Free Media • Inoculation Ad (“stop damage before it hits”) • Spinning • More Bang for the Buck (“sorry Ike”)

5. Assembling a Campaign Staff • A candidate, volunteers, campaign consultants, and a paid staff make up the campaign. • Volunteers focus on canvassing and getting out the vote. • The paid staff consists of • campaign manager; • finance chair; • communications staff; • press secretary.

6. Campaigns • Traditional vs. “Professional” Campaigns • More expertise • media consultants, pollsters, strategists, communications directors, fundraisers • More expensive

7. Elections • Types of Elections • National and State Level • Primary: elect nominees for party • General: elect candidates to office • State Only • Initiative: Citizen initiated legislation • Referendum: Voters asked to approve legislation • Recall: Voters asked to retain/remove official from office • Ratification: Voters asked to approve constitutional changes

8. Voting Paradox • Recall, democratic theory predicated on the idea that somehow the vote reveals “the will of the people” • That means we need to be able to move from individual preferences to something like a “social preference” • The winner of the election is in some meaningful sense reflective of what “the people” want • Yet as we examine the various voting systems put forth in the world we need to keep in mind some conceptual problems with voting theory • It may not be possible to move from individual to group preferences smoothly or meaningfully

9. Plurality (one person, one vote, most votes win) • Majority (one person, one vote, winner needs a majority of votes cast • Ranked (voters rank their candidate preferences • Non ranked (voters simply express a preference in a vote)

10. Methods of Voting • Secret vs. Public Ballot • Australian or secret ballot introduced in U.S. in the 1880s • Prior to that, ballots were colored coded by party • Voters asked for the ballot of a particular party • Elections are the responsibility of state, rather than the federal government • States then give that power to counties to determine election protocol • voter registration • polling places • ballot design • voting method

11. Parties, Elections, and Democracy • Elections are crucial to democracy politics • Parties play an essential role in both the electoral and governing process • Our concern depends on why people or organizations contribute • Do they contribute for policy/electoral reasons or for “service” reasons? • Who contributes?

12. 1974 Federal Election Campaign Act Public financing of presidential elections • Limits on spending if accept public finance • Created Federal Election Commission • Required candidates and donors to report donations to the FEC, with caps now on donations • Required candidates and donors to establish Political Action Committees (PACs) to handle money end of the campaigns • Limited amount of personal wealth candidates could spend

13. Loopholes within the FECA • No limits on donations to party (“soft money”) • No limits on party spending for “get out the vote” drives (“soft money”) • No limits on number of political action committees • “bundling”

14. Money Matters • In 2008 House elections, in only 2% of the races did the candidate with lower campaign contributions win • In 2008 Senate races, in only 6% of the races did the candidate with lower campaign contributions win. • Better financed campaigns generally have a better chance of success • They can hire better talent • They can buy advertising to rebut or make charges • They can extend the campaign longer and respond to changes in the election atmosphere • Efforts to curtail influence of money in campaigns began in earnest with post-Watergate reforms

15. Campaign financing: Raising Money To Learning Objectives • Congress has long limited campaign contributions: • 1907 Tillman prohibits corporations from making direct contributions to federal campaigns • The Corrupt Practices Act, Hatch Act, Taft-Hartley Act; The Federal Election Campaign Act • Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) Set limits on spending • Citizens United v. FEC, 2010 Corporations and unions have free speech rights to spend money on political campaigns

16. CAMPAIGN FINANCING LAWS • Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) governs • McCain-Feingold (2002): Upheld 5-4 by Supreme Court. Goal is not fairness but to limit single outside influences which can lead to corruption. • {opposition says violates free speech rights} • Political Action Committee (PAC): Officially registered fund raising committee and usually favor incumbents but the trend is changing. Most elected officials have set up their own. Incumbents can use their PACS to help fellow candidates or office holders (“think Hillary”)

17. FINANCING CONTINUED • Buckley v. Valeo (1976) : Supreme Ct. says no limit can be placed on $ candidate spends from his own family funds. • restrictions on personal spending violate the First Amendment • caps on contributions, however, do not • federal finance of campaign do not, as long as it is voluntary (that is, candidates can opt to accept the money -- and the limits -- or not) • Public Funding: As of now only for Presidential Candidates, and in some states, {“matching funds”} but what does the future hold.

18. FINANCING CONTINUED • Hard Money = clearly regulated, specific and limited • Soft Money = unregulated, unlimited, and usually raised by PACs and Individuals • Express Advocacy Ads: Intended to influence election and thus can only be bought with hard money • Issue Advocacy Ads: May be paid with soft $

19. JUST FOLLOW THE $ • 527 political committees: Unregulated interest groups focused on specific issue (used to avoid limits on PACs) • 6% of PACs spent 62% of all money on congressional election races in 2001-02 campaigns……………………..but • Internet and Obama appear to have changed everything when it comes to raising money

20. What are the individual contribution limits under BCRA?

21. To Learning Objectives How do PACs allocate their campaign contributions? Back

23. Essential Questions • Explain the election contest stages. • How do candidates reach the voter? • What(who) makes up the campaign? • What are the types of elections and ballots? • What is the purpose of the 1974 Election Campaign Act? • What is the purpose of campaign finance laws? • Why is money so important to campaigns? • What is a 527? What is a PAC?

24. Political Behavior & Voting WHAT FACTORs/INFLUENCES IMPACT PEOPLE’S VOTING BEHAVIORS?

25. factors Raining, my job, my cat died, no gas, hate ppl on ballot, to far away, lines too long, don’t wanna!, my vote doesn’t matter, …..

26. General Voting Facts • Trend of low voter turnout (Voting Age Pop. %) 1964 – 69.3% 1980 – 41.3% 1984 – 60.9% 1988 – 40.5% 1992 – 55.2% 1996 – 49.1% 2000 – 51.3% 2004 – 55.3% 2008 – 56.8%

27. Expanding Suffrage • Lifting of property restrictions (1830) – “universal manhood suffrage” gave voting rights to all white males • Suffrage for African-Americans (1863-1964) • 1865 - 15th Amendment – Voting Rights to all • 1954 - Brown v. Board – separate but equal is illegal, began to kill Jim Crow laws • 1964 Civil Rights Act – finally killed Jim Crow • 1964 24th Amendment – banned poll tax • 1965 – Voting Rights Act of 1965 – federal law prohibited (no literacy tests, fair elections etc.)

28. Expanding Suffrage • Women’s Suffrage (1920) – 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote • 18-21 year-olds (1971) – 26th Amendment, sparked by Vietnam

29. WHY DON’T PEOPLE VOTE? • Difficulty of Absentee Voting • Number of Offices to Elect too high • Weekday, non-holiday voting • Weak political parties – less “get-out-the-vote campaigns

30. Voter RegistrationDOES MAKING REGISTRATION EASIER INCREASE VOTER TURNOUT? • Motor Voter Bill of 1993-eligible to vote when you register to receive/renew driver’s license • Increased minority registration; NO IMPACT ON TURNOUT- STAYED THE SAME • Oregon, Washington: Auto registration. Will it impact voter turnout?

31. 4 Basic Types of Voter • Ideologues – 12% of people connect their opinions to party lines • Group Benefits Voter – 42% of people connect their opinion to their “group”. (labor union, interest group, class, race) • Nature of the times voter – 24% of the people linked good or bad times to the party in control and vote the opposite (usually based on economics). • No Issue Content – 22% of the people could give no reason

32. Voting Vocab • Ticket Splitting vs Straight Ticket voting • Political efficacy- Do you think your vote matters? • Presidential Elections vs Midterm Elections

33. What factors control the way people vote? • Income & Occupation • Education • Gender & Age • Religious/Ethnic Background • Geography • Family • Registration

34. Lower income brackets- Vote Liberal Middle to Upper- Vote Conservative Labor- Liberal White Collar- Conservative Income & Occupation In General •As income increases, more likely to vote •Government employees tend to vote in large numbers

35. Education • As education increases, more likely to vote • College tends to liberalize people

36. In General •As you get older, tendency to vote increases •As you get older, tend to become more conservative •WOMEN tend to vote in larger numbers than MEN •WEAKEST VOTING GROUP; 18-24 Women do not firmly commit to one party; GENDER GAP comes and goes; lean liberal “Soccer Mom” phenomena; WORKING MOMS now are concerned with money issues as well as family and children issues. Gender & Age

37. In General •Whites tend to vote in larger percentages than blacks •Those who claim to be religious tend to vote more often Blacks- LIBERAL (‘08: 97% Obama) Jewish: LIBERAL Catholic: Lean LIBERAL Protestant: CONSERVATIVE Evangelical Christians: CONSERVATIVE Hispanics: lean liberal; most important minority Religious/Ethnic Background

38. Geography • South tends to be strong conservative • Northerners more likely to vote than Southerner • New England & Sun Belt & Rural areas: Conservative • Northeast and Urban areas: Liberal • West: Liberal • Midwest: “Bell Weather” States: Go with the popular views of the day; signal winners

40. Family • Children tend to vote the same as parents • More registered Democrats • Independents are fastest growing segment of population