Help with Pearson Edexcel A Level US Government and Politics. Includes notes on The US Democracy and participation, alongside essay plans in a table format. Evidence and quoted are colour coordinated to help with easy access. Information is perfectly concise and up to date ( up to 2023). Includes ...
Invisible Primary - Candidate announcement Calendar year before the
- Increase name recognition election
- Fundraising- 2020 Dem Primary was the
most expensive with candidates who
dropped out spending $1bn. Whilst the
winner Joe Biden spent $116m, Michale
Bloomberg spent $409m and didn't make
the final 2
- Intra party TV debates-2019 Bernie
Sanders + Elizabeth Warren got personal
over weather Sanders said a women
couldn’t win P
Primaries (state based - Show popular support for candidates Jan to June
election to choose - Choose delegates to attend national party
candidate for P) + conventions
caucuses (state based - Caucuses tend to favour more ideological
meeting to choose a candidates e.g. liberal and technically
party’s P candidate) independent Bernie Sanders, who has ties
w/ Dem, won more caucus votes than
Biden who would go onto be P
Choosing VP candidate - Confirm candidates July/August
- Approve party platform
- Acceptance speech delivered by P
candidate
General election - Campaign between the candidate of
campaign various parties
- Focus point is now the P and VP debates
Election Day - Registered voters go to polls Tue after 1st Mon in Nov
- Polling stations close at 7
- Popular vote- the winner also wins the
ECV e.g. 2020 but in 2016 hilary clinton
won popular vote by 3m and Drump own
ECV so became P
Electoral college voting - Electors vote in their state capitals to Mon after 2nd Wed in Dec
choose VP + P
Requirements:
- Born in US
- 35y/o
- Residency for 14y
- Limit 2 terms in office
Primaries:
● Most heels Jan-June
, ● Some schedule their primaries early and on a day when no other primaries are being held
e.g. New Hampshire
● Earlier primaries is called front loading- they believe they gain more influence over candidate
selection
● Other states arrange their on a day which coincides with another, often neighbouring, state
creating a regional primary
● In 2020 14 states had their on the same day- ‘super Tuesday’
● Types of primaries
○ Closed- only allow registered voters of their party to vote e.g. florida
○ Open- allows cross over voting (dem can vote in rep primary etc) e.g. Texas
○ Modified primaries- allow those who are independents to vote in either party’s primary
e.g. New Jersey 2020
● When an incumbent runs for reelection, like Trump in 2020, the primaries go with no or little
coverage and some states don't even bother holding a primary e.g. Arizona. Incumbent P’s
are usually renominated by their parties w/o comp e.g. Trump had 2 challengers however they
were hardly registered w a party
National Party conventions
Important Not important
The only time national parties meet-2016 one was VP candidates announced before, not during
controversial with Republican viewed as homophobic convention- confirms rather than announces e.g.
due to Obergefell v Hedges Kamala Harris announced as Biden’s running mate
days before 2020 convention
Promoting party unity after divisive primary campaigns Party platform mostly agreed before, rather than during
e.g. 2020 primaries there were exchanges between convention
Biden and Kamala who criticised Biden's previous
views against busing. The Dem party convention gave
them an opp to come together as Harris praised Biden
who was to become P
Enthuse party members and activists e.g. 2020 speech TV coverage is reduced
by Michelle Obama, which said ‘Trump is the wrong P
for our country’, attracted wide publicity
Intro P and VP candidates More balloons and commercialism rather than serious
politics
Delivery of P candidates acceptance speech- 2020 2020 saw no post convention ‘bounce’ in polls as a
acceptance speeches were v different in tone with CNN poll saw Biden’s support rise by 1%
Trump presenting a stark choice (polarisation) and
Biden optimism in his view that despite a divided
nation, a hope that they will again come together
Leads to significant bounce in the polls Absence of traditional large scale conventions in 2020
didn't alter dynamics of fortunes of either candidate
significantly
Many voters don't tune un t the campaign until
conventions start
A significant number of voter make their decision about
whom to support during conventions
, Electoral college votes
➢ There are 538 ECV and winner needs 270
➢ Electors rep states
➢ In case of a draw the P would be elected by HofR out of the 3 candidates with most votes-
one rep from each state would vote
➢ The VP would be elected from the senate out of 2 candidates and each senator would vote
➢ Only twice in the 1800 has the election been in congress
➢ Fathers feared popular sovereignty so created electoral college as a filter on public opinion
➢ Number of votes isn't proportional to population but is senators and reps
➢ Leads to small states being over-repped e.g. california has 63x pop but only 18x ECV-
Wyoming votes worth 36% more than Califonian
➢ Winner takes all system
➢ Prontes federalism by basin gloves on individual states
Need for reformed electoral college
➢ As trump said its ‘rigged’
➢ Favours Republicans as the EC system favours smaller states, won mostly by Rep e.g.
Trump only needed 120,000 to win each ECV in Wyoming but Biden needed 308,000 per
ECV in california
Campaign Finance
- The federal election campaign act limited hard money contributions to reduce candidates’
reliance on few wealthy donors and to equalise money spent by major parties
- Limited act: Buckey v Valeo SC ruled that limitations on political donations infringed
1A so was unconstitutional
- Limited Act: soft money donations- indirect donations
- Reform:McCain Feingold Act 2002
- National party commissions banned from spending soft money
- Labour unions forbidden from directly funding ads
- Individual limits on contributions- 2,300 fro candidate committee
- No union money for ads that mention a federal candidate within 60 days of election
- Campaign ads need verbal endorsement by candidates
- Foreign contributions banned
- Limit on Mccain Feingold Act:
- Citizens united v Federal Election Commission which allowed Citizens United
to air a critical film about Hilary Clinton as the Mccain Feingold Act went
against 1A
- Granted political free speech and unlimited expenditure
- Led to the setting up of independent expenditure committees (super PACs)
- the 2020 election broke records with a campaign bill for all election resulting in $14bn
- 2020 election saw ‘dark money’ donations e.g. Republican senate leadership fund PAC received
$63m from its allied dark money group 1 nation
- total raised by all dem democrat candidates and groups= $6.9bn
Republican candidates and groups=$3.8bn
Does money influence outcomes?
Yes No
In 2020 Biden out fundraised Trump and won Whilst the winner Joe Biden spent $116m, Michale
Bloomberg spent $409m and didn't make the final 2
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