Transcript Slide 1

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
Chapter 10: Elections and
Voting Behavior
•
•
•
•
How American Elections Work
A Tale of Three Elections
Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First Choice
How Americans Vote: Explaining
Citizens’ Decisions
• The Last Battle: The Electoral College
• Understanding Elections and Voting
Behavior
• Summary
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
How American Elections Work
LO 10.1: Distinguish the types of elections
in the United States.
• Functions of Elections
• Institutionalize political activity – Make it
possible for most political participation to be
channeled through the electoral process.
• Regular access to political power –
Leaders can be replaced.
• Legitimacy – Fair and free way of selecting
political leaders.
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How American Elections Work
LO 10.1
• Three Kinds of Elections
• Primary elections – Voters select party
nominees.
• General elections – Between the
nominees of the parties.
• Elections on specific policy questions –
Voters make (initiative petition) or ratify
(referendum) legislation.
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LO 10.1
To Learning Objectives
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A Tale of Three Elections
LO 10.2: Trace the evolution of the American
electoral process from 1800 to the present.
• 1800: The First Electoral Transition of Power
• 1896: A Bitter Fight Over Economic Interests
• 2008: An Election About Change
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LO 10.2
A Tale of Three Elections
• 1800: The First Electoral Transition
of Power
• No primaries, conventions, or speeches.
• Campaigns focused not on voters but on
state legislatures who chose electors.
• After many votes in the House, the
presidency was transferred to Jefferson
peacefully.
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LO 10.2
A Tale of Three Elections
• 1896: A Bitter Fight Over Economic
Interests
• Democrats’ main issue was unlimited
coinage of silver.
• Bryan won the Democratic Party
nomination with speeches about the virtues
of silver.
• McKinley won the election and the
Republicans regained majority status.
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LO 10.2
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.2
A Tale of Three Elections
• 2008: An Election About Change
• Obama’s main issue was changing the
health care system to extend coverage to
everyone.
• McCain’s main issue was making changes
to improve the economy and the financial
institutions.
• Obama won and became the 1st AfricanAmerican president.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.2
To Learning Objectives
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Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First
Choice
LO 10.3: Identify the factors that influence
whether people vote or not.
• Deciding Whether to Vote
• Registering to Vote
• Who Votes?
To Learning Objectives
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Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First
Choice
LO 10.3
• Suffrage
• The legal right to vote, in the United States
gradually extended to virtually all citizens
over the age of 18.
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Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First
Choice
LO 10.3
• Deciding Whether to Vote
• Anthony Downs – People who see policy
differences between the parties are more
likely to vote.
• Political Efficacy – Belief that one’s vote
does matter and can actually make a
difference.
• Civic Duty – Belief that a citizen should
vote to support democratic government.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.3
To Learning Objectives
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Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First
Choice
LO 10.3
• Registering to Vote
• Voter Registration – A system adopted by
the states that requires voters to register
prior to voting.
• Motor Voter Act – A 1993 act that
requires states to permit people to register
to vote when they apply for their driver’s
license.
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Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First
Choice
LO 10.3
• Who Votes?
• Education – People with a higher than
average education vote more than people
with less education.
• Age – Older people vote more than
younger people.
• Race – Racial minorities are usually
underrepresented among voters relative to
their share of the citizenry.
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Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First
Choice
LO 10.3
• Who Votes?
• Gender – Women participate in elections
more than men do.
• Marital status – Married people vote more
than unmarried people.
• Government employment – Workers for
the government vote more than people
who have jobs in the in private sector.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.3
To Learning Objectives
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Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First
Choice
LO 10.3
• Who Votes?
• Possessing several of these traits (being
elderly, well educated, and married) adds
significantly to one’s likelihood of voting.
• Conversely, being young, poorly educated,
and single is likely to add up to a very low
probability of voting.
To Learning Objectives
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How Americans Vote: Explaining
Citizens’ Decisions
LO 10.4: Assess the impact of party
identification, candidate evaluations, and
policy opinions on voting behavior.
• Party Identification
• Candidate Evaluations: How
Americans See the Candidates
• Policy Voting
To Learning Objectives
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How Americans Vote: Explaining
Citizens’ Decisions
LO 10.4
• Mandate Theory of Elections
• The idea that the winning candidate has a
mandate from the people to carry out his or
her platforms and politics.
• Politicians like the theory better than
political scientists do.
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How Americans Vote: Explaining
Citizens’ Decisions
LO 10.4
• Party Identification
• People still generally vote for a party that
they agree with.
• Parties’ hold on voters declined in the
1960s and 1970s with rise of candidatecentered politics.
• Many floating voters make an individual
voting decision and are up for grabs each
election.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.4
To Learning Objectives
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How Americans Vote: Explaining
Citizens’ Decisions
LO 10.4
• Candidate Evaluations: How
Americans See the Candidates
• 3 most important dimensions of candidate
image are integrity, reliability, and
competence.
• Image plays a role in voting when a
candidate is perceived to be incompetent
or dishonest.
To Learning Objectives
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How Americans Vote: Explaining
Citizens’ Decisions
LO 10.4
• Policy Voting
• Electoral choices that are made on the
basis of the voters’ policy preferences and
where the candidates stand on policy
issues.
To Learning Objectives
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The Last Battle: The Electoral
College
LO 10.5: Evaluate the fairness of the
Electoral College system for choosing the
president.
• Electoral College
• A unique American institution, created by
the Constitution, providing for the selection
of the president by electors.
• Less populated states are
overrepresented.
• Winner-take-all concentrates campaigns
on close states.
To Learning Objectives
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The Last Battle: The Electoral
College
LO 10.5
• How Electoral College Works
• Electoral votes for each state equals its
members in Congress.
• 48 states use winner-take-all system (not
Maine and Nebraska).
• State electors vote in December following
the November election.
• January – Congress counts votes.
• House of Representatives picks president
if no majority vote.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.5
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.5
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.5
To Learning Objectives
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The Last Battle: The Electoral
College
LO 10.5
• Important Electoral College
• The less populated states are
overrepresented because states get 2
electors for the senators regardless of
population.
• Winner-take-all means candidates will
focus on winning the states where the polls
show that there appears to be a close
contest.
To Learning Objectives
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Understanding Elections and Voting
Behavior
LO 10.6: Assess the extent to which
elections make government officials pay
attention to what voters want.
• Democracy and Elections
• Elections and the Scope of
Government
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.6
Understanding Elections and Voting
Behavior
• Democracy and Elections
• The greater the policy differences between
candidates, the more likely voters will be
able to steer government policy by their
choices.
• Retrospective voting – Voters cast a vote
based on what a candidate has done for
them lately.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.6
Understanding Elections and Voting
Behavior
• Elections and the Scope of
Government
• Elections generally support government
policies and power.
• Voters feel they are sending a message to
government to accomplish something.
• So the government expands to fill the
needs of the voters.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.1
Summary
• How American Elections Work
• Primary elections are held to select the political
parties’ nominees for elective offices.
• General elections are contested between the
nominees to determine who actually wins
these offices.
• Referendums are held to let the voters decide
specific policy questions at the ballot box.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.1
An initiative petition can be
considered what kind of lawmaking?
A.
B.
C.
D.
elitist lawmaking
top-down lawmaking
indirect lawmaking
ground-up lawmaking
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.1
An initiative petition can be
considered what kind of lawmaking?
A.
B.
C.
D.
elitist lawmaking
top-down lawmaking
indirect lawmaking
ground-up lawmaking
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.2
Summary
• A Tale of Three Elections
• Elections have changed dramatically since
1800 when Adams ran against Jefferson and
neither candidate participated in the campaign.
• By 1896, it was acceptable for candidates to
campaign in person, and William Jennings
Bryan did so with a vengeance.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.2
Summary
• A Tale of Three Elections (cont.)
• Almost all American citizens over age 18 have
the right to vote.
• One constant throughout American electoral
history is that the appeal of “it’s time for a
change” has been powerful when citizens are
dissatisfied with the government’s
performance; this was the case in both 1800
and 2008.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.2
Based on the 3 elections described in
the chapter, elections have become
more
over time.
A.
B.
C.
D.
elitist
democratic
controlled by the Electoral College
all of the above
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.2
Based on the 3 elections described in
the chapter, elections have become
more
over time.
A.
B.
C.
D.
elitist
democratic
controlled by the Electoral College
all of the above
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.3
Summary
• Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First
Choice
• In order to exercise their right to vote, citizens
must go through the registration process.
• Registration reform was thought to be the
answer to low turnout, but the Motor Voter Act
of 1993 has yet to produce the benefit of
greater voter participation.
To Learning Objectives
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
LO 10.3
Summary
• Whether to Vote: A Citizen’s First
Choice (cont.)
• Turnout in 2008 was virtually identical to what
it was in 1992, and in 2010 only about 40
percent of the eligible electorate voted.
• Among the factors that make people more
likely to vote are being better educated, older,
and married.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.3
Which of the following is NOT true
about Americans’ voting behavior?
A. A college graduate is more likely to
vote than a high school graduate.
B. A single person is more likely to
vote than a married person.
C. Women are more likely to vote than
men.
D. A 50-year-old is more likely to vote
than a 22-year-old.
To Learning Objectives
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
LO 10.3
Which of the following is NOT true
about Americans’ voting behavior?
A. A college graduate is more likely to
vote than a high school graduate.
B. A single person is more likely to
vote than a married person.
C. Women are more likely to vote than
men.
D. A 50-year-old is more likely to vote
than a 22-year-old.
To Learning Objectives
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
LO 10.4
Summary
• How Americans Vote: Explaining
Citizens’ Decisions
• Party affiliation is the best predictor of voting
behavior.
• Candidate evaluations and policy opinions are
two factors that can sway people to defect from
their preferred party, and play an important role
in decision-making among Independents.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.4
Summary
• How Americans Vote: Explaining
Citizens’ Decisions (cont.)
• Candidate evaluations involve important
performance-relevant factors such as
competence, integrity, and reliability.
• Policy voting – Voters see clear differences
between candidates and determine whose
stands on issues best represent their own
opinions.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.4
Party identification
the
political world for many voters.
A.
B.
C.
D.
simplifies
confuses
does not influence
none of the above
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.4
Party identification
the
political world for many voters.
A.
B.
C.
D.
simplifies
confuses
does not influence
none of the above
To Learning Objectives
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
LO 10.5
Summary
• The Last Battle: The Electoral College
• Electoral College gives voters in the less
populated states greater weight in choosing
the president.
• The winner of the national popular vote does
not always prevail in the Electoral College, as
was evident most recently in the 2000 contest
between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.5
Summary
• The Last Battle: The Electoral College
(cont.)
• All but 2 states allocate all their electors in a
winner-take-all fashion and many states lean
solidly toward 1 party or the other (CA, TX, and
NY), so the candidates focus much of their
energies on winning about 15 battleground
states (PA, FL, and OH).
To Learning Objectives
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The Electoral College encourages
candidates to campaign in
battleground states.
A.
B.
C.
D.
LO 10.5
,
small
large
southern
northern
To Learning Objectives
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The Electoral College encourages
candidates to campaign in
battleground states.
A.
B.
C.
D.
LO 10.5
,
small
large
southern
northern
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.6
Summary
• Understanding Elections and Voting
Behavior
• Under the right conditions, elections can
influence public policy, and policy outcomes
can influence elections.
• Most important condition enabling voters to
steer government policy is that the policy
differences between the candidates be clear.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.6
Summary
• Understanding Elections and Voting
Behavior (cont.)
• Voters can also make their voices heard by
simply voting to reward or punish incumbents
based on their performance in office.
• Elected officials who produce desired results
are reelected; those fail to do are thrown out of
office.
To Learning Objectives
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LO 10.6
Retrospective voting is when voters make
their decisions based on their answers to
the question _______.
A. “What have you done for the world
lately?”
B. “What have you done for the
interest groups lately?”
C. “What have you done for your
political party lately?”
D. “What have you done for me
lately?”
To Learning Objectives
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
LO 10.6
Retrospective voting is when voters make
their decisions based on their answers to
the question _______.
A. “What have you done for the world
lately?”
B. “What have you done for the
interest groups lately?”
C. “What have you done for your
political party lately?”
D. “What have you done for me
lately?”
To Learning Objectives
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Longman
Photo Credits
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280: Robert King/Zuma Press
281T: AP Photo
281TC: Library of Congress
281TB: Joshua Loft/New York Times
281B: AP Photo
282: AP Photo
284: Library of Congress
287: Joshua Loft/The New York Times
288: Dennis Renault/Renault
290: Tim Sloan/Getty Images
296: The New Yorker Collection/Mike Twohy/www.cartoonbank.com
297: AP Photo
299: Getty Images
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