Chapter 10 Elections and voting behavior
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, students should be able to:
• Explain how elections provide regular access to political power and how the process is related to the level of
political legitimacy.
• Describe procedures that permit voters to enact legislation directly, such as the initiative, petition, and
referendum.
• Trace the historical evolution of the American style of campaigning from 1800 to 2004.
• Identify the characteristics of voters and nonvoters.
• Explore the reasons why voter turnout has actually declined as the right to vote was extended to new groups.
• Ascertain the role that voter registration procedures and requirements have played in structuring voter
turnout.
• Explain why party identification is crucial for many voters and review the decline of party affiliation since the
1950s.
• Identify the conditions that must be present for true policy voting to occur.
• Outline the procedures of the electoral college and compare the present system with the process that was
envisioned by the framers of the Constitution.
• Understand the tasks that elections accomplish, according to democratic theory.
• Establish how elections may affect public policy and how public policy may affect elections.
• Analyze how elections influence the scope of government in a democracy.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. HOW AMERICAN ELECTIONS WORK
A. The function elections serve in American society, include…
1. Elections make it possible for political participation to…by...
2. Political legitimacy is defined as
3. What voter attitude allows office holders to take the voting process for granted
B. Some unique American electoral features.
1. the United States has three kinds of elections ID and explain how each works and what the intent
of each is
2. What did the progressives intend the initiative to reform? The referendum? Do these still
perform the way the progressives intended?
3. Political entrepreneurs
II. A TALE OF THREE ELECTIONS
A. How was campaigning for the 1800 presidential election different from today’s?
a. What unforeseen problem cropped up after the elected was over?
b. Which amendment fixed the problem that cropped up in this election?
B. The election of 1896
a. Who were the candidates and what were the issues?
b. Describe the change in electioneering during this campaign, and what of this change
remains in our process to this day
C. The election of 2000
a. What controversies arose after this election?
b. What policies did President Bush follow?
c. What was Kerry’s strategy to defeat Bush?
d. Why didn’t this strategy succeed?
D. [We will look at the election of 2008 on line to continue the author’s examination of the election
process]
III.
While more Americans have the ability to legally vote (who doesn’t?) many choose not to.
A. Deciding whether to vote (or not)
a. Realistically, in national elections individual votes may not have a major impact on the
results, BUT in local elections, a few votes can make a difference between winning or
losing an office (as we will see)
b. Changing voting day (Never happen on a Saturday)
c. Why do rational people vote? Downs
d. Political efficacy
i. What it means
ii. How it is measured
e. Civic duty
B. Comparing US to foreign voting turnout
a. Reasons why US ranks so low compared to turnout in other countries
C. Registering to vote
a. Need and consequences of requiring voters to register
b. Different regulations to register to vote by state
c. Motor Voter Act
D. Registering and voting by email
a. And internet
b. Issues w/electronic voting (you can register to vote on line now in Cal)
i. Using electronic machines to vote
E. Who Votes?
a. You need to know the 6 demographic factors that are used to describe and discuss voters
b. Note there is a cumulative effect for those more or less likely to vote
IV. How Americans Vote
A. Mandates: What does receiving a mandate do for a winning candidate
a. Did GW receive a mandate as it is conceptually considered
i. Then how did he govern as if he did?
b. Party affiliation: how does this affect political elections?
i. I’m devising strategy for my candidate. What would I consider if my candidate was a
a. Democrat b. Republican? Does my strategy change over time or is it always the
same?
ii. What can I expect from younger voters?
B. See is perceiving
a. What would a campaign consultant try to show in campaign ads regarding the candidate
she/he represents vs. ads attack/negative ads he/she would produce?
b. The three important dimensions of candidate image? Plus…?
c. Why pay attention to personality than policies when planning a campaign?
i. How will the education of the voter affect strategy?
d. PSs: Rosenberg/McCafferty Miller et al
C. The four conditions of policy voting…Abramson found that…
a. Obstacle to policy voting ex Nixon and Humphrey
b. How/why the media does not help clarify the obstacle
c. How has the primary selection process forced candidates to focus on policy during campaigns
D. Summary: party voting/candidate evaluation/policy voting role in elections
IV.
Electoral college
A. Historic background for electing the president through this process
B. Process
a. What if no candidate wins a majority of the electoral vote?
C. Criticisms of the electoral college? Why won’t it end anytime soon? What would have to take
place for the electoral college process to be modified or abandoned?
V.
Understanding elections and voting behavior
A. Two tasks accomplished according to democratic theory: selecting policy makers and shaping
public policy
B. Edwards surmises that the connection between elections and public policy is a two-way street,
meaning…?
C. Why is it easier to decide how to vote if the policy differences between the candidates is greater
than narrower? Is the 2012 election going to be easier or harder for voters to steer public policy?
D. Pages “art of ambiguity” Goldwater’s “ …choice, not an echo…” RR and whether he kept to
his campaign promises with the policies he followed
E. Prospective and retrospective voting
a. According to Edwards, is Obama nervous?
b. The election and economics
VI.
Elections and Scope of Gov’t
A. Why do voters believe that elections force gov’t to be responsive to their needs? Ginsberg’s
comments
B. Which voters believe gov’t should have more power?
C. Why has gov’t continued to grow?