unit 1- elections

8/3/2019 Unit 1- Elections

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Voting & ElectionsCentral High School

CivicsMs. Paul



Unit I: ‘ Elections’ Essential Questions

● Is it important for citizens to beinvolved in the political process?

● How does the election process work?



Liberalism

● Favors an active role for thegovernment in solving society’s

problems●Considered to be left of center on a political

spectrum●Tend to associate with theDemocratic Party



Conservatism

– Calls for a limited role for government in economic affairs

● Considered to be right of center on a political spectrum

● Tend to associate with theRepublican Party



Political Party

● An organization thatseeks to achieve

power by electingits members topublic office

– Republicans

– Democrats

– Third Parties?



Two Party System

● Political parties did not existwhen the U.S. was founded

● Before long, leaders

developed differing viewsand divided into factions

● These factions gave rise tothe first political parties

●

By the early 1800’s, our twoparty system began toemerge.

http://www.montereyinstitute.org/courses/American%20Government/course%20files/multimedia/lesson09/lessonp.html

http://www.montereyinstitute.org/courses/American%20Government/course%20files/multimedia/lesson09/lessonp.html



Democrats vs. Republicans

● Democrats

– Liberal

– Left– Blue

– Dems

– Donkey

● Republicans

– Conservative

– Right– Red

– G.O.P

– Elephant



Third Parties

● Single Issue Party

– Right-To-LifeParty

● Economic Protest Party

– Populist Party ● Ideological Party

–

Libertarian Party ● Splinter Party

– Progressive ‘Bull Moose’ Party



Political Platforms

● An outline of a political party’s positionon important issues

● Seek to balance the interests andconcerns of party members from

across the country

● Goal is to unite party members toachieve their political objectives



Where can I go to findout a party platform?

ontheissues.orgdemocrats.org

gop.com



Public Opinion● The sum of many

individual opinions,beliefs, or attitudesabout a public personor issue– Influenced by:

● Family ● School ● News● New Media● Political Advertising



Political Socialization

The process by

which we gain our

political identity

Influenced by:

- Family - School- Religion - Peer Groups

- Gender - Ethnicity

- News Media - Historical events



Persuasive Advertising Techniques



News vs. News Media

● News:– Newspapers

–

News Magazines– News Broadcasts

● News Media:– Talk Radio

– Talk Shows

– TV News Magazines

– Cable Comedy Shows



Spin & Media Bias

● Spin– The deliberate shading

of information about a

person or an event in anattempt to influence

public opinion

● Media Bias– Real or imagined

prejudice that is thought

to affect what stories journalists cover and

how they cover it



Interest Group

● What is this artwork

saying about Congress

and Interest Groups?

Any organized group whoseAny organized group whose

members share a common goalmembers share a common goal

and try to promote their and try to promote their

interests by influencinginterests by influencing

government at all levelsgovernment at all levels

(Local, State, Federal)(Local, State, Federal)



Interest Groups

● U.S. Brewers● National Education

Association● American Association

of Retired People● Right to Life●

National RifleAssociation● The Wilderness

Society



How are Interest Groups

Funded?● Membership fees

●

Foundations● Grants● Fundraising

campaigns– Direct Mail



Political Action Committee

(PAC)Organizationsestablished by

businesses, labor unions, and interestgroups to channelfinancial contributionsinto politicalcampaigns.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/list.php

http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/toppacs.php





Political Action Committee (PAC)

●

Sponsored by:– Corporations– Trade Associations– Unions

– Other Interest Groups● Allowed to collect donations and

funnel that money into politicalcampaigns (over $300 million in '04)

●

Donations come from theemployees or members of thegroup that formed the PAC







Some facts about $$$$$

● According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a tight race for the House of Representatives cost approximately $1.5 million to$2 million in 2000. The average cost was $840,000.

●

Huge spending in New Jersey and New York in 2000 raised theaverage cost of a Senate seat to $7.3 million.

● A study by Common Cause reveals that before the BipartisanCampaign Finance Reform Act took effect on November 6,2002, the Democratic and Republican Parties raised a record-

breaking $470.6 million in soft money during the 2001-2002election cycle. In the 2000 cycle, Democrats raised$219,343,172 in soft money, while Republicans collected$243,780,583 in unregulated funds.



Contributors To Campaigns*

● Small Contributors● Wealthy Families &

Individuals● Candidates

themselves● Public Funds● PACs

http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/contriblimits.shtml

http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/09/congress-corporate-sponsors




Bundlers

● Political fundraisers who pool a large number of campaign contributions from political actioncommittees (PACs) and individuals

● Able to funnel far more money to campaigns

than they could personally give under campaignfinance laws– CEOs, lobbyists, hedge fund managers or independently

wealthy people

Example- Hillraisers





http://awesome.good.is.s3.amazonaws.com/transparency/web/1010/political-nascar2/flat.html

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/10/26/us/politics/campaign-fundraising-roundup.html?ref=politics

http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/



Recent Changes

● In January of 2010, the Supreme Courtruled in the case Citizens United v .

Federal Election Commission...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeTuWbXi5dY

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/10/08/us/politics/1248069149328/money-in-the-midterms.html



Citizenship

● The status of being acitizen

–

A person who by birthor naturalization

enjoys certain rights

and has certain

duties in a nation-state.



Lobbying

● An attempt to influencethe political process bypersuading public

officials to favor or oppose action on aspecific issue

– Lobbyists provide

useful informationthat helps officials

create policies that

serve the public

interest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hag4tJ84Isk



Public Policy

● Government actionsor programsdesigned to meet

certain goals.– Public officials, policy experts, political parties,

interest groupsand concerned citizens take part in policy making



The Dynamics of Policy making



General Election

● An election in whichvoters choose amongcandidates from differentparties to fill an electiveoffice

First Tuesday after the

first Monday in

November.

Presidential, Midterm,Off-year



Battleground States

States where thevote is likely to beclose

Blue States=

Dems

Red States =G.O.P

Blue & Red States 2008

http://www.270towin.com/




Electoral College

● The President is notelected DIRECTLY by

the people● Electors from each state

choose the president

(based on the popular vote results from their state).



Electoral Votes

● Total electoral votes -538 electoral votes– 100 Senators + 435 Representatives + 3

votes for D.C. = 538 electoral votes.● Number of electors =

# of Representatives + # of Senators– In 2008 Michigan: 2 Senators + 15 Reps = 17 Electoral Votes! (We will have 16 in 2012)





Election Process

-Primary Elections start in Jan.

Primary election or caucus

Party Conventions- latesummer

Popular vote- Early Nov. Determines who wins each

state Winner takes all except

Maine and Nebraska

http://www.history.com/topics/presidential-elections/videos#primaries-caucuses-and-conventions

http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/primaries/democraticprimaries/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCylh5kHsB4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCylh5kHsB4&feature=related

http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/primaries/democraticprimaries/

http://www.history.com/topics/presidential-elections/videos#primaries-caucuses-and-conventions



Election Process, cont...

Electoral Vote- Mid Dec.– Electors for winning candidate in each state

cast votes for President at state capitol

Senate Count- Early Jan.– Need 270 to win

– If no majority – House of Representativeschoose a President



Why An Electoral College?

Founders didn’t trust the majority toalways be right

They wanted to limit the ‘tyranny of themajority’



Why Small States Favor theElectoral College

How

Much Is

Your Vote Worth?

2008

This map shows each state re-sized in proportion to the relative influence of the individualvoters who live there. The numbers indicate the total delegates to the Electoral Collegefrom each state, and how many eligible voters a single delegate from each state

represents.



Problems with the Electoral

College● It is possible to win the

popular vote and not

win the Electoral

College.

– 2000- Al Gore

– 1876, 1888

House of Representatives could

determine the outcome.



Unit I: ‘ Elections’ Essential

Questions● Is it important for citizens to be

involved in the political process?

● How does the election process work?

unit 1- elections

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