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Summary Democracy and Participation in the US
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includes - electoral college and voting behaviour
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Democracy & Participation: Summary1. Invisible primary – establishing themselves as a potential nominee (18 months before polling day)
Trump attacked Jeb Bush on twitter so he withdrew in 2016
$750 million spent in 2008 campaign by the democrats
2. Primaries/caucuses – public vote for the nomination of their party – can be open or closed
Can be won proportionally/winner takes all/proportional unless a threshold is reached
Frontloading: moving them earlier to give them more significance. In 2016 Trump gained a majority
of delegates on 26th May, but 7 states had not held their primaries yet
Super Tuesday – 2008 Super Duper Tuesday
3. National party convention – party nomination for president and VP and police platform
Obama 2007 speech had an audience of 39mil on television
Party unity - 2008 Clinton - 'I am honoured to be here tonight. A proud mother. A proud democrat. A
proud American. And a proud support of Barack Obama.'
Despite #NeverTrump he won 69.8% of the vote
4. The election campaign – Battleground states (swing state), Bellwether states
In 2016 - 94% of events by either Trump/Pence/Clinton/Kaine took place in just 12 states. Governor
Scott Walker: 'The nation as a whole is not going to elect the next president. 12 states are'
Republicans visited Florida 71 times, Texas and NYC only once
Television debates – 2016 Clinton appeared to have won it through a poll conducted after
5. Electoral college – 583 delegates from 50 states decide the president. Requires 270 to win.
Faithless electors – in 2016 there were 10 faithless, 3 had to vote again as they had broken state law,
7 successfully cast their ballot
4 times in a row the opponent has won the popular vote, but not become president – an illusion
EC IS GOOD: produces a clear winner (apart from 1800 and 1824), federalism as it protects smaller states that would
be rendered insignificant in comparison to California (could be overrepresentation though), forces candidates to
compete, protects against popularism and promotes suitability, culturally enshrined.
EC IS BAD: backwards elections in 1824/1976/1888/2000/2016, the original purpose of the EC protecting against
tyranny of the majority is no longer relevant as they would never overturn the vote, no opportunity for 3 rd parties,
politicians favour states with more ECVs, mathematically the Wyoming votes are more valuable than Californian
votes, system is not well understood, faithless electors.
Reforms: abolition (would be unpopular in smaller states), split electors by district (occurs already in Maine and
Nebraska), National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (adopted by 11 states and DC, pledges to give the ECV to the
person who wins the popular vote)
Campaign finance: 2012 campaign both candidates raised over $1bn each
a. PACs – no more than $5000 per candidate per election
b. Super PACs – unlimited funds to support or oppose any candidate but not coordinate with those campaigns.
c. 527 groups – raise unlimited funds for political activity but not for/against a specific candidate
d. Dark money
Reforms: 1974 Federal Election Campaign Act (legal limits to contribution), 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
(banned soft money to national parties, limits to $2000)
- 2010 supreme court ruling: Citizens United v Federal Election Commission – removed restriction on
fundraising that was independent of candidates’ campaigns which led to Super PACs
- Barriers to further reform – Citizens United v FEC (constitution prevents limits as free speech) and lawmakers
are benefitting of current rule so there is no incentive to reform.
- Proposed constitutional amendments – Democracy For All Amendment and We Are The People Amendment
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