Week One

1
Week One

• Chapter 17

2
Election Day

• The first Tuesday after the first Monday in
  November
• All representatives 1/3 of the Senate (Every
  two years)
• POTUS every four years

3
Electing a POTUS

• Presidential campaigns are expensive and time
  consuming
• Now the campaign is usually a lot longer than the
  year the text refers to

4
Electoral College

• To be elected 270 out of 538 available votes
• The popular vote winner of each state usually
  wins that states electoral votes (electors)
• Maine and Nebraska have proportional allocation
• Each state has as many electoral votes as
  representatives and senators

5
Election Strategy

• Being Mentioned Name recognition
• Time
• Money
• Organization Campaign Manager Political
  Consultants
• Strategy Themes Tone Theme and Timing and
  Target

6

• Tone Positive (build me up) or Negative (Attack
  the opponent) (Issues or Personal Attacks)
• Theme an appealing idea that can be repeated
  over and over (Change)
• Carter 76 Trust, Reagan 80 -Competence 84
  its morning again in America, Bush 88 stay
  the course, Clinton 92 we need change, Bush
  00 compassionate conservatism

7

• Timing if unknown go for the early primaries
  become a front runner or if a front runner go for
  the knockout or hold back for the long haul
• Target only a small percentage of voters change
  from one election to the next
• Who is likely to change?
• Get out the vote!

8
Television Mass Media

• Image Who is more presidential?
• TV most important communication tool
• Appearance on news programs
• Debates
• Late night talk shows (Bill Clinton on MTV)

9
Campaign Financing

• Political Action Committee is an organization
  designed to support political candidates with
  campaign contributions
• Individual limited to contributing 5,000 to a
  PAC
• PACs can only give 5,000 to a candidate, but
  may support unlimited candidates
• Soft money raised by a political party for
  general purposes, not for a specific candidate
• (issues not candidates by name)

10

• Soft money is controversial
• How it is raised can be given w/o limits
• How it is spent not controlled by Federal
  Election Campaign Act
• Lack of accountability

11
Individual Contributions

• Limited by FECA and records are kept by the
  Federal Election Commission
• 1,000 limit to candidates
• 20,000 a year to parties
• 5,000 to state party
• 25,000 aggregate for a year

12
Expansion of Voting Rights

• Voting is a right The right to vote , or
  suffrage is fundamental to democracy
• Before Independence restrictions on voting
  included most women, African Americans,
  non-property owning males, non-tax payers, and
  people who did not belong to the dominant
  religious group

13

• Religious and property restrictions were the
  first to go
• 15th Amendment African American males the right
  to vote, but not realized until much later
• Grandfather clause
• Poll Tax
• Literacy tests Violence

14

• 19th Amendment womens suffrage
• Civil Rights Movement
• Voting Rights Act
• 26th Amendment Right to vote for citizens 18
  and over cannot be prohibited based on age

15
Influences on Voting

• Personal Background
• Age
• Education
• Religion
• Race
• Cross pressured voters one who is caught
  between conflicting elements in his or her life
• Religion, income level, and peer group

16
Origins of Political Attitudes

• Family
• Religion
• Gender Gap
• Schooling/Information

17
Cleavages in Public Opinion

• (Like cross pressures)
• Race
• Ethnicity
• Religion
• Region
• Education
• Income
• Occupation