Campaigns and Elections

The Structure of American Elections Structured to limit popular control and minimize chances of factions controlling government  Schedule  Terms  Geography

Political Geography of House districts Apportionment Gerrymandering

Electoral College Created to provide a check on popular will Allocation of Electoral Votes based on size of states’ congressional delegation Thwarting the Popular Vote  1876—Hayes over Tilden (controversial)  1888—Harrison over Cleveland  2000—Bush over Gore (controversial)

Elections in the U.S. Occur in Two Stages Nomination (Primaries) The General Election Campaign

Functions of campaigns Inform Persuade Mobilize

Impact of campaigns Conventions  Usually the most important campaign events  Frequently produce large swings in public opinion  Large swings are not always decisive Debates  More modest effects  Generally informative, especially for low-information voters Minimal effects?  Leader on Labor Day almost always wins

Perspectives on Voting Behavior Social-psychological model  Party Identification  Social groups Retrospective Voting  Reward-punishment  Valence issues Prospective Voting  Issue proximity  Positional issues

Factors Influencing Voters in 2000

Predicting Election Outcomes Economy Presidential Approval Terms in Office

Why Isn’t Al Gore President? Economy and Presidential Approval? Clinton Fatigue? Campaign? Information Environment?

Political Participation Activities we undertake to choose leaders, give information to government, take part in politics. Many modes of participation  Conventional  Unconventional

Who Votes? Demographic groups  Socioeconomic Status  Age  Race  Religion  Gender Resources

Who Votes (cont.)? Political Attitudes  Partisanship  Efficacy  Civic Duty  Political Knowledge  Interest

Who Votes?

(De)Mobilization Activities  Party and group activities  Campaign spending Competition, information, GOTV  Type of election Information, interest  Registration Requirements

Trends in Voter Turnout Declining turnout since 1960  Explanations  Does low turnout matter? Cross-national Comparisons: Why is turnout so low in the U.S.?  Underlying Civic Attitudes?  Differences in political systems?