Aim: What types of issues affect election outcomes? Do Now: What issues would make you vote for a particular party?

Staying in office Incumbent has advantage – especially in House of Representatives Sophomore Surge: The increase in votes congressional candidates get when they run for reelection. –Personal rather than party campaigns –Use of office for self promotion –Franking Privilege: The use of free direct mailings to publicize and promote the congressman’s record (during an election, these mailings cannot explicitly state: vote for…) –“Run against” Congress, not for it. –Getting on committees that help their constituents

Question for Discussion: Should Congressmen be seen as delegates that represent their districts, or as trustees who do what is best for the nation?

If both candidates accept federal funding, money does not impact the general election very much. It does have significance in Congressional elections. During peacetime, 3 things determine the winner: 1.Party affiliation 2.State of the economy 3.Character of the candidates Pocketbook vote: party holding the Whitehouse during good economic times usually wins the election. If times are bad, it does poorly. Money and Winning:

Issues: Position Issue: divisive issues. The public, parties, and candidates take opposing viewpoints. Valence Issue: Issues people agree on, and each party and candidate tries to prove they can best address the issue. Prospective voting: voting for a candidate because you like his or her positions on issues Retrospective voting: voting for candidate because you like or dislike what he/she has done in the past.

Can you tell? What types of issues are valence issues, and what are position issues?

Election Outcomes: Little Effect Of : Religion Vice Presidential Candidate Political Reporting in Presidential Election Abortion Public Policy: Some argue that there are no major changes in public policy after an election. Major changes only occur in times of national crisis Some say that there often is if power shifts to a new party with a specific ideological platform (Dealignment, Realignment). –1860: Lincoln, Anti-slavery –1932: FDR, The New Deal –1980: Reagan, Conservatism, Reaganomics Parties do usually enter into a period of consolidation, when major changes are accepted by party leaders

Party Decline 1. Proportion of people identifying with a party has declined since Split Ticket voting – voters elect people from different parties – has increased 3. Straight Ticket voting – voters only vote for one party 4. Party column or Indiana ballot (all candidates from a single party are in one column) was replaced by office- bloc or Massachusetts Ballot (lists all candidates by office). –Less voting along party lines with the office-bloc ballot –However, with modern voting machines, candidates often must be listed in a column so the machine may tally votes. Party ID has once again become the basis for creating these columns.

Old Indiana Ballot