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Summary US democracy and Participation
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In depth summary notes on US democracy and participation. Very helpful for exam season
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Electoral systems in the USAElectoral college: body of people who cast votes on behalf of their states to formally elect the
President and vice president of the USA. (A method from electing the president every 4 years)
Primaries Caucuses
- An intra party ballot to nominate the - An intra party town hall meeting to
candidate for a party nominate the candidate for a party
- Secret ballot - Voting often takes place in public
- Often conducted on a state-wide basis - Used by 4 states
- Used in 46 states - Often conducted in small local areas
within a state
The invisible primary
● The time between a candidate formally announcing their intention to run for president
and the first official primary or causes.
● In 2016, 17 candidates aimed to be the presidential nominee of the republican party. 5
withdrew during the invisible primary.
● Candidates have to use the invisible primary to attract public nomination. This means
gaining ‘name recognition’, being a candidate whose name is recognised by voters as a
viable candidate. Candidates can raise their profile through a range of events, including
announcement of candidacy which is often able to gain media attention.
● There are also televised debates between candidates of the same party, giving them a
platform to advance their views and policies while highlighting flaws in the other
candidates.
● In 2020, the Democrats had 11 debates; the first debate consisted of 20 candidates and
the final debate consisted of 2 candidates.
● They also allow candidates to raise money, they may be donations directly from the
voters themselves. Or PACs or Super-PACs. They can donate directly to a candidate but
only a limit of $5000 for PACs. Super-PACs can spend unlimited amounts of money for
or against candidates.
● The 2020 election cost nearly $6 billion.
● Although Hilary Clinton raised more money than Donald Trump in 2016, Trump benefited
from $2 billion worth of ‘free’ media attention due to his controversial comments while
Clinton gained just $746 million.
● Incumbents benefit from considerable name recognition which makes it easier to attract
funding far earlier than their competitors. Incumbents have fundraising advantages, they
can also dominate media coverage in a way that other candidates cannot. Incumbents
don’t have to spend time exposing any divisions within their own party to win the
nomination.
Primaries and caucuses
, ● Caucus is a public meeting in which people vote either by moving to a part of the room
for a certain candidate or through a show of hands
● Primary is a state-wide election in which people cast a ballot for their candidate of
choice.
● Open primaries and caucuses allow all voters in a state to take part, even if they are not
registered members of a party.
● Closed primaries and caucuses allow only voters who are registered as a party member
to take part.
There are also differences in how the delegates are allocated:
● Proportionally- In all democratic primaries and caucuses and some of the republican
ones, the delegates are allocated proportionally to the vote that a candidate receives.
● Winner-takes-all - In some republican primaries and caucuses, the candidate with the
biggest share of the vote is allocated all of the delegates for that state
- They often spread between Feb and June
National party conventions
● Day in which parties formally nominate their presidential candidates and affirm their
party platform for the coming election.
The electoral campaign
● Dominated by extensive fundraising, campaign events in states and nationally televised
presidential debates.
Formal roles Informal roles
Selecting the party candidates for presidency: Selling the candidate:
While most party delegates are bound by As a multi-million dollar event with extensive
party roles to whom they have to vote for, this television coverage, the convention allows the
is still a process that takes place at candidate considerable media coverage.
conventions and formally acknowledges the Obama’s 2007 speech had an audience of
party nominee for president and vice around 39 million viewers. It also allows time
president. In the vote of delegates, a simple for rising stars to speak up as did Obama in
majority of votes cast is needed to approve a the 2004 campaign.
candidate.
Adopting the party platform and policies: Party unity:
Party platform (US equivalent of a party Candidates from the same party battling it out
manifesto). The platforms are then simply for supremacy, they often point out the flaws
agreed to at the convention in a vote. in the other candidates. The convention
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