Parties and Elections Final Exam

qualities voters look for

1. Interpersonal warmth, accessibility, likability; in the 2016 election Clinton was criticized by many as being 'cold' and 'mechanical' 2. personal morality; Romney was criticized for making his dog ride on the top of his car during a road trip 3. 'outsider' candidates;' this is why many preferred Trump over Clinton, because he was an outsider with no political experience and therefore could change the status-quo

"we hate our political opponents now," three factors reinforcing this in 2016

1. The combination of major-party nominees 2. The alignment of economic issues that took prominence in the campaign and which favored Trump 3. The nature of polarization was transferred to the media and a news and fake news were blended together

key influences on the outputs of American politics

1. constitutional arrangements; ex: separation of powers 2. public demand for policy making 3. electoral surges, usually short-term but capable of changing policy products when they occur these are important because all of these influences have an effect on the policy-making process and on what kind and how many policy changes are made

three main reasons "why Trump"

1. he completely dominated news coverage 2. many Republicans liked what Trump was saying 3. for a large part of the electorate, Trump's critics didn't have enough legitimacy in order to make their criticisms stick; because of these reasons Trump was able to win the Republican nomination and eventually the presidency

negative Trump traits

1. he made false statements very frequently 2. he insulted opponents and critics 3. he ran his businesses in a way to encourage illegal conduct 4. he had a history of sexual assault toward women 5. prone to make racist statements 6. lacks any experience in government 7. very uninformed about issues 8. very casual policy positions 9. made comments that imply that he is ignorant of provisions of the constitution 10. has narcissistic personality

three points explaining the rise of Trump after he declared his candidacy

1. he spent relatively little on paid advertising because he received an extraordinary amount of free publicity from the media 2. Trump's controversial comments, despite giving him a negative public image, were clearly things that some Republicans wanted to hear 3. Most of his opponents refused to take him seriously These are important because all of these factors helped him to win the Republican nomination and eventually the presidency

McGovern-Fraser Commission

A commission created after the 1968 Democratic National Convention to reform the party's presidential nomination process due to the demands of party activists so that they can play a role in the process; it's important because this commission recommended to increase the influence of insurgent Democrats and eventually resulted in both parties' current presidential nomination process, and now rank-and-file members vote for their party's nominee rather than the party organization

superdelegates

A large, uncommitted bloc of delegates that are made up of individuals loyal to the party like: governors, members of Congress, current and former presidents and vice presidents, members of the DNC; they make up 15% of the Democratic delegates that vote at the DNC for the presidential nominee; this is important because superdelegates give the party more influence over who becomes the presidential nominee, because all superdelegates are acting with the party's best interest in mind

robocalls

A method used by campaigns to reach voters in which volunteers or computers can direct automated phone calls to large numbers of people on the campaign's target list; this is important because it is a cheap way for campaigns to directly contact voters, but it is less persuasive than face-to-face contact, in addition, they can also be used to send negative messages or to do push polling

push polling

A method used by campaigns, which are attack messages disguised as public opinion polls; this is important because push polls are used to manipulate the opinions of voters by asking leading questions that implant negative or false information about the campaign's opponent in the voters

proportional representation and how the major parties have used it in presidential primaries

A proportional representation system means that any candidate gets approximately the same share of delegates as they received in the popular vote; the Democrats use this system in their primary and caucus elections, and any candidate who wins more than 15% of the vote receives the number of delegates proportional to their vote share; this is important because this system ensures that all candidates with significant amounts of support will receive delegates, but it does tend to draw out the Democratic nomination process and victories seem less decisive than the Republican race

partisan-motivated reasoning and its impact on 2016

A psychological process in which people perceive the economy as being how they want it to be rather than how it actually is, so a member of the party not in power has higher incentives to see the economy as poor because they don't want to give the other party credit and believe that their party could do a better job, even if in reality the economy is actually improving; now people see the economy through a partisan lens, and it's important because it shows the degree of ideological polarization, because members of the two parties can see the same economy so differently, because after the 2016 election, many Democrats stated that the economy was worsening, when a week before, when Obama was president, they had said that it was good and improving

Who can be president? The Constitutional answer (including debates over the presidency)

According the Constitution, in order to be president one has to be at least 35 years old, a natural born citizen, and has to have been a resident in the United States for at least 14 years, at the Constitutional Convention, there were debates over how the president was to be elected, the delegates eventually decided against the president being chosen by Congress, but they rather created the electoral college system; before that decision was reached, they had made no eligibility requirements, because the president was formally to be elected by Congress, for whom there is eligibility requirements and were therefore qualified to make that decision, there are no such requirements for regular voters, so the delegates established eligibility requirements for the presidency, which was an uncontroversial decision; this is significant because these requirements eliminate around 60% of the US population from being president

Who can be president? Social background

All presidents have been male, and all have been white besides Obama, nearly all have been protestant, all have been older than forty and younger than 70, with the exception of Trump, but they have come from a wide variety of class backgrounds; this is important, because these age, race, gender, and religion barriers have kept a significant percent of the population from being considered serious presidential candidates

Sanders' advantages and disadvantages as a candidate

Although Sanders raised less money than Clinton, but he raised money from more people and most of his funds from individual donors, so he built a solid base of support of people who were personally invested in his campaign, and he was able to strongly challenge Clinton due to her weakness; however, he had just joined the Democratic party so that he could run for president, which put off many Democratic voters, and he was also seen as too extreme; this is important because although Sanders did not have a good chance at winning the nomination, he was able to put up a fight and draw the primary race out further - which weakened Clinton

purposes of national party conventions

Although the party's presidential nominee is normally already decided before its national conventions, they serve other purposes as well: they unify the party and bring back the supporters of the candidate who lost the nomination, it approves the party's platform, and it also kicks off the general election and provides the party's candidate with a 'boost'; this is significant because it's important that the party stands strongly together in the general election and not fracture apart

circumstances in which negative ads/campaigning work

Attack ads do the most damage to unknown candidates, such as challengers, and these negative ads could provide information to the public before the candidate has a chance to establish a public image for themselves; they also work better earlier in the campaign, before voters have chosen which candidate they're going to vote for, as they can provide information about candidates; it's important because negative ads can result in a decrease in voter turnout and are more likely to harm challengers, who are less known to the public

college-education whites versus non-college educated whites and 2016 voting patterns

Between the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections, the gap in voting behavior between non-college educated whites and college educated whites increased by more than 10 percentage points, with those without a degree mostly supporting Trump and most of those with a college degree supporting Clinton; this is important because it illustrates the appeal of Trump's rhetoric and economic promises to white working class voters, who were drawn in by Trump

why Joe Biden didn't run for the Democratic nomination

Biden is seen by many as not presidential material, due to the fact that he is too old and prone to make errors, and in addition, he ran for the Democratic nomination in both 1988 and 2008, and both times he performed very poorly, and although Biden was very popular, Clinton was seen as the party's likely nominee and this scared off many challengers; although the 2016 election may have played out differently if Biden had ran, as Democratic front runners have a rocky track record

role of momentum in the presidential nomination process

Candidates who win primaries and caucuses that are held early in the nominating season can create momentum that boosts them to win later elections because they attract more media coverage from their early wins and therefore get more name recognition, it is also easier for those candidates to raise money cause they seen unstoppable; this is important because momentum helps early winners to win subsequent elections and to maybe eventually win the nomination, while the losers fall farther and farther behind

arguments for why campaigns matter

Canvassing has been shown to have a small but possibly meaningful effect on voter turnout and voters' choices, television news and advertisements can influence voters' decisions, but face-to-face contact is a more effective campaigning technique; this is important because canvassing is thought to have had a significant impact on the turnout of African American and Latino voters during the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, which helped Obama to win

canvassing

Canvassing is when activist volunteers of a party or of a campaign of a specific candidate, go door-to-door to talk with individuals one-on-one about their candidate and why they should vote for them; this is important because the most effective way to persuade voters is to speak with in person, canvassing has increased along with polarization, because there is now a steady stream of volunteers

importance of superdelegates to Hillary Clinton in 2016

Clinton had a massive lead among the superdelegates over Sanders, because she was the favorite of the party and superdelegates are unpledged party leaders and elected officials, but the support of superdelegates was not essential to Clinton's victory, because even without them she still would have won the Democratic nomination, their support just gave her a lead; this is important because after the 2016 DNC many Sanders'' supports complained that the superdelegate system was unfair and was the reason for Sanders' defeat, but this was not the case, Clinton won the nomination because won a majority of the delegates

Clinton's advantages and disadvantages as a candidate

Clinton raised more money than Sanders and the support of big-donors, due to being the front runner and having more resources she was able to build a strong campaign organization, and she had a lot of name recognition; however, he ties to Wall Street put her at odds with many Democrats and she was seen as dishonest and untrustworthy, and her experience in government worked against rather than for her; this is important because Clinton was an overall weak candidate, which allowed Sanders to be as big as a threat as he was

why Bernie Sanders became Clinton's principal opponent

Clinton was able to scare other strong candidates away due to the fact that she was the party's favorite and was seen to have many advantages, but Sanders did not back off and became her principal opponent; and polls in crucial early states, Iowa and New Hampshire, showed Sanders as leading Clinton, which gave him a boost because this indicated that he was a stronger candidate than previously thought, in addition, Sanders' emphasis on income inequality attracted many young voters who otherwise would have supported Clinton; this is important because Sanders was able to strongly challenge Clinton despite being an underdog unconventional candidate, and this caused the Democratic nomination race to drag on much further than it might have

descriptive representation

Congress does not represent the American public well demographically, as members tend to be white, male, and wealthy; instead, Congress is representative of the types of people who obtain leadership positions across the country; it is important because our electoral system produces a Congress of local elites from all over the nation and who have diverse interests and therefore representative of the many divisions in American society

Ted Cruz, what/where he did well and why he didn't win the nomination

Cruz performed well in the Iowa Caucus and among strong partisans and evangelical Christians, but that success did not help him with the New Hampshire primary, as the electorates are very different and there are less of those two social groups, he gained no momentum from winning the Iowa caucus and was unable to overtake Trump in any following races; this is important because Cruz was not able to emerge from the pack of Republican candidates as Trump's principal rival, which in the end ultimately helped him win the nomination

what presidential debates do/don't reveal about candidates

Debates reveal personal qualities of candidates such as their level of preparedness, quickness on their feet, propensity to anger, etc.; but debates do poorly in exploring the candidates' positions and claims because they are able to divert difficult questions and give prepared remarks; this is important because debates are the most intense exposure voters have to candidates, but they are not able to glean from them much information about the candidates' views and policy positions

consistency of partisan voter loyalty in 2016

Despite the unpopularity of both major party candidates, the levels of partisan loyalty remained consistent with recent elections, and was only slightly lower than 2012, but still remained extremely high; this is important because it demonstrates the high levels of ideological polarization, although many viewed their own party's candidate as undesirable, most remained loyal to their party

direct contact methods

Direct mail, e-mail, text messaging, and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter; all of these methods are efficient ways for campaigns to reach a large amount of people, and some allow campaigns to tailor messages to the special interests of the voter to make them seem more personal, and each has their advantages and disadvantages

how presidential candidates can deal with barriers by facing the issue

Directly addressing the issue has been a way for presidential candidates to overcome prejudice concerning their religion, age, etc.; for example, JFK directly addressed the fact that he was Catholic because he knew that some voters would have issues with voting for a Catholic presidential candidate; John McCain addressed issues with his age, as many believed that he was too old to become president, although he faced the issue and was able to win the Republican nomination, this hurt him in his race for the presidency; this is important because presidential candidates have been able to break down social barriers in order to win the presidency or their party's nomination, and paved the way for those to come after then

significance of decline in shared electoral constituencies

Due to an increase in party-line voting, the amount of constituents shared by the president and members of Congress of the opposing party has decreased, because not many are willing to vote for a president or member of Congress who is not part of their party, the consequence of this is that Congress members in the opposing party of the president then have less incentives to follow the initiatives of the president and cooperate because they know that a majority of their constituents did not vote for that president; this is important because increased ideological polarization has resulted in the decline in shared electoral constituency, and now members of Congress have no incentive to cooperate with a president of the opposing party

consequences of Clinton's changing position on TPP

Due to both Trump and Sanders' condemnation of TPP, Clinton was forced to change her position on the issue, from supporting it to opposing it; however due to her longstanding support of free trade, voters were not inclined to believe that her position change was genuine and she was seen as even more untrustworthy; this is important because Clinton's moderate views ended up hurting her chances with Democratic supporters

ways that Trump agreed with but also disagreed with Republican orthodoxy

During Trump's campaign, his economics were a mix of standard Republicanism, including tax cuts and deregulation, and populist and liberal positions on things like infrastructure and trade protectionism; he agreed with Republican orthodoxy on Republican culture issues, like abortion, but he sometimes expressed progressive opinions of issues like LGBT rights, and he was farther right than mainstream Republicans on immigration issues; this is important because it brings up the question if Trump was really a Republican, as he hold views that conflict with the Republican party's central platform

evidence of judicial voting along party lines

Evidence includes that judges appointed by Democratic presidents tend to vote more liberally on issues like civil rights and liberties, crime, labor issues, and regulation of business than those who were appointed by Republican presidents and they tend to uphold redistricting plans created by their own party; although judges are meant to remain nonpartisan, their actions are shaped by their beliefs and values consciously or unconsciously, but judges have much less party cohesion than legislators do

the nature of the electorate and its influences of parties

Examples of changes in the electorate include changes in the social characteristics of the electorate such as race, age, income and the demographic composition of both parties' coalitions; changes in the citizens' political interest and knowledge, because the more interest citizens have in politics the higher voter turnout; the nature of the electorate is important for parties because the demographic makeup of their coalition helps to define both parties' agendas, they adopt issues that are important for these groups, and changes in political interest affects voter turnout, which influences parties because they cater to the needs of politically active groups

six states that changed sides from 2012 to 2016

Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin; this is important because all of these states flipped from Democrat to Republican, most on very slim margins, and the flipping of these states is how Trump was able to win the presidency

social barriers to presidency that may still exist

For the presidency, social barriers that may still exist include: being Muslim, being an atheist, being of Middle Eastern descent, being LGBT, and the gender barrier has yet to be broken as well; although many barriers to the presidency have been broken, many do still exist

elite perspectives on attributes presidents need, especially Greenstein

Greenstein lists six attributes that he believes that presidents ought to have: 1. public communication skills 2. organizational capacity 3. political skill 4. vision 5. cognitive style 6. emotional intelligence; this is important because it is not possible for a president to possess all of these attributes and major things that happen during a presidency are usually not caused by a president's personal attributes, sometimes presidents simply have no control over a situation, and it is difficult to identify these attributes in past presidents

rocky track record of Democratic front runners

In Democratic primaries, the early front runners have a history of being overtaken and losing the nomination due to the nature of Democratic primaries and caucuses, with its system of proportional representation; an example is in 2008 Clinton was the early front runner and projected to win the nomination, but when the nomination season began she was quickly overtaken by Obama; this is important because Clinton was the early front runner in the 2016 Democratic primaries, and if other strong candidates had not been scared away by her supposed advantages, this pattern maybe would have repeated itself and it illustrates that Clinton was not as strong as a candidate as many thought

significance of polls and databases for running election campaigns

In competitive races, campaigns want to gather as much information about voters as possible, including their attitudes towards issues and their voting history, they get this information through polls and databases; this is important because polls and databases allow campaigns to know the attitudes and preferences of voters, and therefore can better appeal to them personally

dissatisfaction with government and 2016 voting patterns

In exit polls, many of people reported being dissatisfied with the government and believing that the country was going in the wrong direction, and Trump performed very well with both of these groups and won a majority of each of them; this is important because Trump was able to take advantage of this dissatisfaction with the status-quo because he was an antiestablishment candidate and a complete newcomer concerning politics, and it was believed that he would bring change

Front-loaded presidential nomination process

In recent elections, the nomination process has become front-loaded as states have been moving their primaries and caucuses closes to the beginning of the nominating season; this is important because states which hold their elections earlier get more attention from candidates and have more influence on the result of the nomination process due to candidate momentum

72 hour project of 2002

In the 2002 midterm elections, Republicans experimented with canvassing and flooded precincts in some competitive states with volunteers and paid staffers, especially in the last 72 hours of the campaign; this is important because this has thought to have caused Republican turnout to increase by 3% and performed well in the elections, this experiment also brought back canvassing programs and it is still used extensively in recent elections

(individual) responsiveness without (collective) responsibility

Individual members of Congress strive to please and get benefits for constituents and politically important groups so that they can be reelected, members are rewarded individually by their constituents, but are not punished for failing to make national policy and are not held individually responsible for the collective performance of Congress; this is important, because the only way to impose collective responsibility is through strong political parties, strong parties have the ability to keep party members in line and for members to think and act in collective terms, so that the whole party can be held accountable if the public is unsatisfied

Abramowitz "Time for Change" model, variables and 2016 prediction

It uses three variables to predict the outcome of presidential elections: the second quarter annualized change in GDP, incumbent president's job approval rating, and variable penalizing incumbent party seeking a third term; for 2016 it predicted a narrow Republican win; this is important because the model was correct even though many were sure that Clinton would win

Comey/FBI late October announcement as an example of priming

Less than two weeks before the 2016 general election, FBI director released a letter to Congress saying that he was reopening the investigation into Clinton's emails even though the Justice Department previously decided not to pursue criminal charges against Clinton, although the investigators found nothing problematic in her emails, the damage was already done to her campaign due to priming, the reopening of the investigation reminded voters about the controversy caused them to evaluate her based on her trustworthiness, one of her weaknesses; this is important because if this incident had not happened, Clinton may have been able to win the presidency

micro-targeting/niche marketing

Micro-targeting is a technique used by both parties, in which they gather extensive information on voters in order to know individual interests, attitudes, candidate preferences, etc.; using this data, the parties are able to tailor their messages and appeals according to the preferences of the individual voter, they are also able to identify likely partisans and appeal to them specifically; this is important because by directly appealing to the individual tastes of voters makes them more likely to support you, and Obama's extensive canvassing and micro-targeting programs played a large role in both of his victories

media coverage of Clinton, patterns and significance

Much of Clinton's media coverage seemed to be negative, and rather than focusing on her extensive qualifications and how she could possibly be the first female president, the media focused mainly on her email scandal and she was characterized as dishonest and corrupt; this is important because the media chose to focus on negative aspects of her candidacy, making it seem like she was on the same level of dishonesty and scandals as Trump

Who can be president? Career background patterns, how Trump differs from these historical norms

Nearly all presidents since 1876 have held the office of senator, governor, or vice president, who are much more; Obama was a senator, and George W. Bush was a governor for example; and in the past others have either held cabinet positions or were famous war generals; what almost all of them have in common is that they have political experience and most have held elected office, which adds to their credibility; Trump significantly differs from this historical norm because he has absolutely no political experience and has never held elected office, this is important, because candidates who have no political experience have become more attractive to voters in order to change 'politics as usual'

the president as a minority leader

Neither political party holds a commanding majority, and because of this presidential elections are usually very close and sometimes neither candidate gets over 50% of the vote or the margin is very tight, resulting in a large minority, and like in 2016 there are times that the candidate who wins the presidency actually lost the popular vote, this means that a substantial amount of voters did not actually vote for the president nor support them, and even more considering those who chose not to vote, and due to the extreme ideological polarization of the era, those who voted for the other candidate are likely very unsupportive of the new president and the president tends to cater to their own party, and ignore partisans of the other party who did not vote for them

arguments for why campaigns don't matter

News, ads, and canvassing offer voters a wide range of conflicting messages about candidates, and this inconsistency makes it difficult for campaign to have a single, consistent impact on voters because in high-level office races, both candidates are likely to have significant amounts of resources; voters often ignore information that conflicts with their opinions and find media outlets that reinforce their views so their voting decision will not likely change; this is important because candidates and parties spend an extensive amount of time and resources campaigning, and this could mean that all of that money and effort is actually a waste, in addition it explains why campaigns focus on increasing voter turnout rather than changing the views of voters

views on trade taking away jobs and 2016 voting patterns

Of those in exit polls who reported that they agree that trade takes away jobs (42%), a vast majority of them (65%) voted for Trump; this illustrates how Clinton's position change on TTP did not convince voters that genuinely changed her position on free trade

particularism

Particularism is when members of Congress promote narrowly targeted programs, projects, and tax breaks for their constituents, there are incentives for members to seek local benefits in this because their primary goal is to please constituents and get reelected, and because they aren't held accountable for its impact on spending and revenues because the cost is not large enough to be noticed; this is important because particularism can result in the inefficient use of government money and resources, and there can be aggregate consequences

how parties' intermediary roles are changing

Parties now serve as efficient guides to choose which candidate you should vote for, voters use party label as a cue of who to vote for and as a shortcut because most voters don't know a lot of information about candidates; this is important because parties provide a way for voters to sort through the sea of political information that is now available that allows them to make thoughtful decisions

conditions that produce strong legislative parties

Party polarization and cohesion, state legislators tend to represent more similar constituencies and with more distance between the two parties members are more likely to accept party leadership; greater interparty competition, there is a higher degree of party-line voting in state legislatures that have a strong two-party system; no competing centers for power because committee chairs are chosen based on party loyalty; needed resources, party leaders have benefits to offer members and parties provide campaign resources; lesser legislative professionalism, not legislator's full-time job and welcome help of party leader; style of individual leaders

political institutions and rules that influence parties

Political institutions and rules influences include separation of powers, federalism, direct primaries, campaign finance laws, structure of the party organization; these are all important because they greatly influence the nature and the functioning of political parties, for example, direct primaries greatly hindered the influence of the party organization as they lost the ability to nominate their own presidential candidates, and due to federalism parties are decentralized

why presidential approval tends to go down the longer the president remains in office

Presidential approval tends to be high when a president begins their first term, but as presidents make decisions in office, there are policy winners and policy losers, and those losers tend to be unhappy, and throughout the presidency the amount of those unhappy with the president gradually increases until they become a majority, which is why presidential approval tends to go down the longer the president remains in office

divided government, implications for the president

Presidents get much less support if one or both houses of Congress are controlled by the opposing party, a divided government; presidents either can try to cooperate with members of the opposing party in order to pass legislation, or they can roadblock progress in hopes that their party will gain the majority in the next election; this is important in parties and elections because in the modern political era the government is often divided, and it is very difficult for presidents to get legislation that they support passed in Congress due to deadlock

reasons for partisan behavior in the courts

Reasons for apparent partisanship of judges is not due to efforts by the parties to influence court decisions, but because judges have some discretion in applying the law to specific cases and have developed political views and values over time that align with one party or the other; the partisan behavior of judges and justices is especially important for presidents who wish to appoint those who share the same views and attitudes as them

explanations for GOP support of the four antiestablishment candidates (Trump, Carson, Cruz, Fiorina)

Republican voters expressed hatred for the Democratic party, but a majority of them also did not express love for even their own party, and this structured their preferences for a nominee, Republican voters were sick of the party establishment and the status-quo, and therefore supported antiestablishment candidates; this is important because this sentiment is a factor that helped Trump win the Republican nomination and the presidency, many were drawn in by is lack of political experience

Marco Rubio, what/where he did well and he didn't win the nomination

Rubio got third place in the Iowa caucus behind Cruz and Trump, and after his respectable finish his numbers in New Hampshire opinion polls jumped to 16%, but his numbers tanked after he performed horribly in the Republican presidential debate, and went on to perform very poorly in subsequent races, including in his home state of Florida, until he dropped out of the race; Rubio didn't win the nomination partly because his debate performance, but his candidacy also never caught on and he was unable to emerge as a rival to Donald Trump

reasons to question whether Sanders would have done better than Clinton against Trump

Sanders only had high favorability ratings throughout the campaign due to the fact that not made any serious attacks on him, but if he had won the Democratic nomination the Republican party had a lot a material that they could attack him with; this is important because it is very unlikely that Sanders could have won the general election if he had been the one facing Trump rather than Clinton

exit poll evidence of key demographics supporting Clinton and Sanders

Sanders won a large majority of younger voters and a majority of votes cast by independents and those who are more partisan, in addition, most people of color supported Clinton, as Sanders had difficulty in appealing to black and Latino voters, most moderate Democrats voter for Clinton as Sanders was seen as too extreme, Clinton also won a majority of female voters; this is important because it is clear that Clinton had a large advantage compared to Sanders and she appealed to voters that make up a large part of the Democratic party's coalition

merit appointment of state judges

Several states have moved towards a merit appointment system of state judges, in which nominating commissions screen prospective judges or recommend a shortlist to the governor, the appointed judge would then later have to run in a retention election; this is important because it is an attempt to remove partisanship from the processing of choosing state judges, as they are supposed to be more free from party pressures because when they eventually run for office they will already be incumbents and therefore have a higher likelihood of being reelected

gender-based obstacles to Hillary Clinton in 2016

She had to deal with overt displays of gender bias from Trump, Trump supporters, and others; some said that she only rose to prominence due to being the wife of Bill Clinton and many of her husband's shortcomings were tied to her, and many feminists stated that her gender was less meaningful due to the fact that Clinton is wealthy and white; Clinton faced all of these obstacles in the primary race and the general election, and despite not winning the president, she did break social barriers barring women's way into the presidency, but it is surprising that the large amount of sexism coming from Trump did not pull white women away from him and towards Clinton

changing social tolerance (for presidential social background), specifically considering Trump and Sanders in 2016

Social tolerance has grown within the public across time, JFK was able to win the presidency despite doubts because he was a Catholic; and divorce used to be an obstacle for presidential candidates, but this changed after Reagan; and Clinton was the first female major party nominee; Trump had been divorced twice, but this didn't hinder him, Trump was more damaged by his degrading comments about and attitudes towards women, but was still able to win the presidency despite the public's growing intolerance of this; Sanders was the first Jewish candidate to win a presidential primary; this is important, because in recent history, more and more social barriers are being broken, despite there being many more to come down

social/societal forces that influence parties

Societal forces that influence parties include the state of the economy, war, terrorist attacks, attitudes towards political parties, organized interests, and others; they are important because they are able to alter the nature and functioning of political parties at a particular time, for example during a time of economic recession the appeals and platforms of the parties may be altered in order to address the electorate's concern

why members become spokespeople for interests and causes not confined to their constituencies

Some members of Congress take up causes and issues that aren't confined to their constituencies, for example African American congresspeople may become a spokesperson for African Americans as a whole, or a congresswoman may become a spokesperson for women and promote feminist issues; usually members do this because they care deeply about a particular issue, cause, or group of people, and this advocacy usually coincides with pleasing constituents, and becomes a way of also pleasing them

retention election

Some states have a merit appointment system of state judges, and the appointed judge must then run in a retention election around 4-12 after their appointment in which voters are asked whether that judge should remain in office, and can be removed with a majority of votes; this system is supposed to free judges from party pressures because they would have a higher likelihood of being reelected because they would run as incumbents in the retention election

significance of fixed worldview verses fluid worldview

The Republican party is dominated by those with a fixed worldview who are: tradition-minded, hierarchical in their thinking, resistant to change, and concerned about racial, ethic, and sexual differences, and are concerned about threats of safety; the Democratic party is dominated by those with a fluid worldview who are: skeptical about tradition, inclined to question authority, open to new experiences, embracing of differences, and are less likely to perceive the world as a threatening place; this is important because Democrats and Republicans hold drastically different worldviews and has contributed to the growing ideological distance between the two parties and explains why there is so much conflict between them

why Jeb Bush never caught fire as a candidate

The country had already had two Bush presidents, and the name had taken a severe beating by the time George W. Bush had left office, the US public was sick of the Bush family and did not want another Bush president, so despite his high name recognition, he performed extremely poorly; this is important because Bush was the early favorite before the nomination season began, out of all of the many Republican candidates, no clear front runner emerged out of the pack to become the principal opponent of Trump

changing partisan perspectives in the federal bureaucracy

The federal bureaucracy does respond to partisan forces in the long run despite limits on party and presidential control over it, for a long time the federal bureaucracy had a liberal slant, because in the 1930s Roosevelt drew people into the bureaucracy who supported his programs, but by the 90s the Republicans had held the White House for a significant period of time and the bureaucratic environment changed and it was no longer hostile towards Republicans; this is important because although the federal bureaucracy is largely resistant to partisanship, the power of partisan has been able to penetrate the barrier in the long run

"invisible primary"

The process of early fundraising and jockeying for media attention and support that takes place before the primary season begins a in presidential election; important because how well a candidate performs in this period is very important to the eventual result of the nomination race, and that means that candidates have to start campaigning much time before the primaries begin

the open-close divide

There is a divide between those who favor an 'open' society and economy, which would include allowing immigrants to enter the country, and those who favor it 'closed' because they feel threatened by openness; this is important because those who wanted an open society and economy supported Clinton, and those who felt threatened by it voted for Trump

powers of party leaders in state legislatures

They are able to choose committee chairs and members of powerful committees on the basis of their support for the party leader, they are able to exercise influence through the party caucus, in states with strong two-party systems, party leaders may call meetings with party members to inform them about bills and to encourage them to vote with the party; this is important, because party leaders in state legislatures typically have more control over members of their party than party leaders in Congress, because state parties are more cohesive

why the 2016 contest saw an uptick in the number of competitive states

This was due to the collapse of the Democratic 'blue wall' in the Midwest, which as been a stronghold for the Democrats, over elections, the Democratic majority in Midwestern had been slowly decreasing, until it finally flipped in the 2016 election; this is important because if several Midwestern states had not flipped to the Republicans, Clinton would have likely won the presidency

income and 2016 voting patterns

Those with incomes under $50,000 still gave a majority of their vote to Clinton, but they were less supportive of Clinton than Obama; Clinton and Trump performed fairly even in other income brackets, with Trump having a slight majority; this is important because although Clinton won a majority of low-income voters, it was not at the levels that Democratic candidates typically enjoyed

significance of Trump's win in New Hampshire primary

Trump's victory in New Hampshire established him as a front runner and demonstrated to the country that he is capable of winning, in addition this result ended all momentum which Cruz and Rubio had gained from their performance in the Iowa caucus; this is important because Trump's victory propelled him to win subsequent races and also damaged his two main opponents

role of vice presidential succession in breaking down social barriers

Vice presidential succession to the presidency has been a means of breaking down social barriers to the presidency, after LBJ's succession to the presidency after JFK's assassination broke the barrier of anti-southern prejudice by championing civil rights; this is important because several southern presidents were able to win the office after him

reasons why term limits would not improve the performance of Congress or representation

Voters are able to establish term limits themselves by voting out incumbents that they are not satisfied with; members of Congress would have no incentives to do a good job because they know that no how matter well they do they will eventually be 'fired;' unlikely to receive better representation because officials would have less experience and knowledge; the political costs of ignoring constituents are reduced, so members would be less responsive to constituents; opportunities and incentives for members to get to know their district and constituents are diminished and there would be a weaker relationship between constituents and their representatives

positive bias, why it helped Obama in 2008 but not Hillary Clinton in 2016

When a candidate faces barriers to the presidency due to their religion, gender, race, etc., they may lose votes due to prejudice, but they also receive more support from voters who are also a part of these social groups; for example, Obama may have lost some votes due to being an African American, but in 2008 he received 95% of the black vote, and Romney benefited from overwhelming support from fellow Mormons; before the 2016 presidential election, many thought Clinton would win overwhelming support from women, being the first female major party nominee, but this wasn't the case as only 54% of women voted for her; maybe the case because the pull of being a woman wasn't strong enough to draw in Republican women - party ties too stronger, Obama increased the turnout of minority voters - didn't draw people in across party lines

conditions under which Congress is most popular

When the country is at peace, the economy is booming, and when leaders cut successful legislative deals with the president; this is important, because Congress' approval rating rising and falls with evaluations of the president, the president's approval rating is nearly always higher

how Clinton worked both sides of the gender issue

While campaigning, Clinton referred to the large amount of political experience that she had to demonstrate that she had masculine qualities that are typically associated with the president, but she also emphasized that she would be the first female president, referred to issues involving children's need and 'women's issues,' and she talked about the importance of breaking the glass season; this is important because the media seemed to reject both sides of Clinton, and she was often described as 'cold' and 'mechanical'

media norms to get an audience

drama, movement, and conflict; these are important because the media focuses on these things because they know that they will draw in a large audience, but that also means that citizens may not be being education about some workings of the government or about candidate issues and stances during campaign season because it is not seen as news worthy