Chapter 8
Campaigns,
Elections and
Voting Behavior
Who Is Eligible to Run for Office
• there are few eligibility requirements to run for most U.S. offices
• President
•must be a natural born citizen
•must be 35 years old
•must be a resident of the country for 14 years before inauguration
• Vice President
•must be a natural born citizen
•must be 35 years old
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must not be a resident of the same state as the presidential candidate
• Senate
•must be a citizen for at least nine years
•must be 30 years old
•must be a resident of the state from which elected
• Representative
•must be a citizen for at least seven years
•must be 25 years old
•must be a resident of the state from which elected
The Modern Campaign Machine
• longer campaigns than in past times
• greater emphasis on funds
• lesser emphasis on political parties
• greater reliance on political consultants, who are hired to devise a campaign strategy
• greater emphasis on candidate visibility, or name recognition
• greater use of polls and focus groups
•tracking polls -- indicate how well a campaign is going by polling nearly every day
•focus groups -- are small groups of people consultants use to gather information about
reactions to candidates and issues
Regulating Campaign Finance
• Federal Corrupt Practices Act of 1925
•limited election expenses for candidates
•required disclosures
•was ineffective because of its many loopholes
• The Hatch Act of 1939
•prohibited groups from spending more than $3 million in a campaign
•limited individual contributions to committees to $5,000
•designed to end influence peddling
• Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1972
•restricted mass media expenditures
•limited contributions by candidate and family members
•required disclosure of all contributions over $80
•provided $1 voluntary check-off for presidential campaigns on federal income tax form
Regulating Campaign Finance (cont.)
• Amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974
•created the Federal Election Commission
•provided public financing of presidential elections’
•limited presidential election campaign spending
•limited contributions
•required disclosure of contributions and expenditures
•allowed corporations, unions and special interest to establish
political action committees (1976 amendment)
• Buckley v. Valeo (1976) declared the 1972 limitation on what an
individual could spend on his or her own election unconstitutional
Beyond Campaign Finance Law
Soft Money: contributions to parties that escape the limits of federal election law
• Soft money – the Supreme Court said that “party building activities” (like voter
registration drives and education) should be encouraged, thus allowing unlimited
and unregulated contributions to political parties
• Independent (issue advocacy) expenditures – are non-regulated funds spent by
individuals or interest groups on advertising or other campaign activities that are not
coordinated with any candidate’s expenditures
• Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 - increases the limit on individual
contributions to federal candidates from $1,000 to $2,000 and increases amount one
can give to all federal candidates in a two-year period from $25,000 to $95,000
• Bundling – is the practice of adding together maximum individual contributions and
presenting them to the candidate together to maximize their impact
What is a Presidential Primary?
• a statewide primary election of delegates to a party’s national
convention to help a party determine its presidential nominee
• The purpose was to open the nomination process to ordinary party
members and to weaken the power of party bosses
• Until 1968 there were few primaries. Most were just “Beauty
Contests” that didn’t factor into the convention nomination process
• National Conventions were a gathering of the party elite where deals
were made between candidates and delegates were informed who to
vote for
• McGovern-Fraser Commission changed the way nominations work
Types of Presidential Primaries
• closed primary – only voters who are declared party members can
vote in that party’s primary
• open primary – voters can vote in either party primary without
disclosing their party affiliation. Must choose one party, though.
• blanket primary – voters can vote in primary elections for candidates
of more than one party (a Democrat for the presidential nominee and a
Republican for the Senate nominee, for example)
• run-off primary – if no candidate receives a majority in the first
primary, some states require a second primary between the top two
candidates
The Electoral College
• Electors in the Electoral College actually elect the president and vice
president of the United States (538 electors)
• the numbers of electors in each state is equal to that state’s number of
representatives in both houses of Congress, CA = 55
• electors typically cast their votes for the candidate that receives the
plurality of votes in that state. (not what framers envisioned)
•The first Monday after the second Tuesday in Dec.
•Ballots are counted and certified by Congress in Jan.
• because of the winner-take-all system of the electoral college, it
typically serves to exaggerate the popular margin of victory
Why Don’t People Vote?
• political withdrawal – fewer citizens feel involved enough in their
community to be interested in voting
• rational ignorance – people choose not to inform themselves on issues
because they do not believe their vote is likely to be a deciding factor
• campaign effects – the length of campaigns and negative advertising
may drive voters away
How elections are conducted
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Australian ballot
Office-block ballot
Party-column ballot
Coattail effect
Mail ballots
Vote fraud
Voting
• Low voter turnout (apathy or satisfaction?)
• Legal restrictions on voting
– Citizen, age, and residency
• How do voters decide?
– Socioeconomic factors (next slide)
– Psychological factors
• Party identification, perception of candidates (emotions), Issue
preferences (economy, foreign policy)
• Are issues more important than image and party loyalty?
Factors that Influence Who Votes
• age: The older you are the more you vote
• educational attainment: The more education the more you vote
• minority status: Whites vote more, but blacks are close
• geographic location: Dems. North, East cities, GOP rural except South
• income levels: The wealthier you are the more you vote
• two-party competition: States with higher competition in an election
get more people to turn out to vote
Factors that Influence How People Vote
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Education: More Education – Republican; Less Education - Democrat
Income and socioeconomic status: Higher – Rep.; Lower – Demos.
Religion: Protestants – Rep.; Catholics/Jews – Demos.
Ethnic background: Northern Europeans – Rep.; Others – Demos.
Gender: The “Gender Gap” varies from election to election
Age: Older – Rep.; Younger – Demos.
Geographic region: Coastal – Demos.; Inland – Rep.
• Psychological factors
•party identification: The most important determinant in voting behavior in national
elections. This is caused by political socialization
•perception of the candidates: Based on emotions rather than experience
•issue preferences: “issue voting” it is difficult to determine how issues
overshadow party loyalty or candidate personality in voters
•Issues could be economic, foreign, or social
Hot Links to Selected Internet Resources:
• http://www.wadsworth.com/cgiwadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M2&discipline_number=20&
product_isbn_issn=0534592651
• http://www.wadsworth.com/politicalscience
• http://www.fec.gov
• http://www.opensecrets.org
•