Lecture – Political Participation and Voting and Elections
Part 1 – Political Participation and Voting
1. Forms of Political Participation. Political participation refers to a wide range of activities
designed to influence government. Today, voting is the typical form of participation, although
political participation also includes activities such as petitioning, protesting, and campaigning.
By voting, citizens seeks to determine who will govern. However, in recent years fewer
Americans have exercised their right to vote. Nonelectoral political participation can indicate in
greater detail what citizens want or how intensely they feel about issues. It takes many forms,
including the following:
A. Lobbying. Lobbying is the strategy by which organized interests seek to influence the
passage of legislation by exerting direct pressure on members of the legislature. By
lobbying, citizens attempt to determine what those in power will do. Many interest groups
employ professional lobbyists. Congress and the bureaucracy are also lobbied every year by
thousands of volunteers who call, write, and petition elected and appointed officials.
B. Public Relations. Public relations is the attempt, usually through the use of paid
consultants, to establish a favorable relationship with the public and influence its political
opinions. In this case, corporations and interest groups want to influence public opinion to
sway citizens in support of their goals. For example, oil companies air TV commercials to
affirm their support for a clean environment to create goodwill in the public eye and to
avoid future regulations.
C. Litigation is the attempt to use the courts to achieve a political goal. A lawsuit or legal
proceeding seeks to affect policy; as a form of political participation, litigation is an attempt
to seek relief in a court of law – for example, environmental class action suits in which a
settlement results in the establishment of new environmental regulations.
D. Protest is a political participation that involves assembling crowds to confront a government
or other official organization. Most Americans reject violent protest, but they recognize that
peaceful protest is protected by the 1st Amendment. For example, recently groups opposing
the size of the federal government staged Tea Party marches and demonstrations.
Generally, alternative political action requires more time, effort, or money than voting does.
Voting gives ordinary citizens a more equal chance to participate in politics.
A. Voting. In practice, citizen participation in the United States is limited to voting and other
electoral activities such as campaigning. However, American voter turnout (the percentage
of eligible individuals who actually vote) is relatively low. The American system
overwhelmingly counts on electoral participation to take direction. As a result, suffrage (the
right to vote, also called the franchise) is by law available for all American citizens over the
age of eighteen. Electoral participation studies show turnout has declined. These studies
also conclude that the least well off Americans are least likely to participate and the most
advantaged are likeliest to vote.
1. Voting Rights. In principle, states determine voting requirements. However,
constitutional amendments, federal statutes, and federal court decisions have limited
the states’ discretion over voting rights because of civil rights conflicts. In the past, the
right to vote belonged to white, property owning, tax paying males over the age of
twenty one. After the Civil War, the federal government tried to change this. However,
the southern states create the “Jim Crow” racial segregation system. This system
included tools to prevent all blacks from voting, including the poll tax (a state imposed
tax on voters as a prerequisite for registration). In the 1960s, civil rights movements
demanded the restoration of African American voting rights. The 1965 Voting Rights Act
resulted in the restoration of black voting rights. Poll taxes were rendered
unconstitutional in national elections by the 24th amendment. In 1966, the Supreme
Court outlawed poll taxes and literacy tests in state elections. Women won the right to
vote in 1920 with the adoption of the 19th amendment. The most recent voting rights
expansion took place in 1971 during the Vietnam War with the 26th amendment, which
lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.
2. Voting and Civic Education. Americans are taught to equate citizenship with electoral
participation. Civic training is a legally required part of the elementary and secondary
school curriculum.
3. Voter Participation. The United States’ voter participation, or turnout, is very low.
Studies conclude voter turnout is tied to ethnic group, education level, employment
status, and age. This trend has created a political process with strong class bias.
II. Who Participates and How? The original American political community, the group of citizens who are
eligible to vote and who participate in American political life, consisted of white adult male property
holders. “We the people” expanded in the next two centuries as a result of forces organized around
conflicts over race, gender, religious identity, and age. The ongoing participation groups with distinctive
social and cultural identities has transformed altering political conditions and changing political debates.
A. Participation and New Technologies. The Internet has helped to increase the participation of
some groups. Although a socioeconomic gap continues to plague participation rates in the
United States, the 2008 election revealed a promising increase among young people that was
largely attributable to Internet based mobilization of this demographic.
B. African Americans. Political and legal pressure and protest played a part in the modern civil
rights movements. These victories, and the organizations behind them, had an impact on the
number of black citizens exercising their voting rights. De facto racial segregation remains a fact
of life in the United States, however, and new problems have emerged, such as black urban
poverty. Public opinion and voting evidence show African Americans continue to vote as a bloc
despite economic differences. Some analysts argue that the structure of party competition
frustrates African American attempts to win policy benefits through political participation. The
votes of African Americans are taken for granted by the Democratic party and not courted by
the Republican party.
C. Latinos. Known as the “sleeping giant,” the Latino group has low political mobilization levels as
result of low registration and naturalization levels. Today, the Latino group is of critical
importance due to rapid population growth, increased political participation, and uncertain
political party affiliation. The increased Latino vote resulted in public officials immediate
attention to learn what Latinos want from government.
D. Asian Americans. The diverse Asian national identities with different experiences have impeded
the development of group based political power. With a population of 15 million in 2009, this
group is too small to exercise a significant influence in national politics. Still, in some states such
as California, Asians are an important political presence. Politically, Asian Americans are a
diverse group, but they have been moving toward the Democratic Party during the last decade.
E. Women versus Men. The gender gap (voting pattern differences among men and women) best
exemplifies American gender issues. Women tend to vote Democratic, whereas men tend to
vote Republican. Yet this does not mean that all women tend to vote more liberally than men,
because among women of different ages there are voting differences as well. Another key
development in women’s participation is the growing number of women running for and
obtaining political office.
F. Religious Identity and Politics. For some people, religious groups provide an organizational
participation infrastructure. For example, black churches and Jewish groups help transport
citizens to the polls to protect the interests of the people they represent. Religious values have
shaped American politics. For example, school prayer and abortion issues brought policy
decisions redefining religion’s role in public life. The decisions made on these issues resulted in
the mobilization of religious organizations and other groups aiming to reintroduce morality into
public life. The mobilization of white evangelical Protestants into alignment with the Republican
party helped elect different public officials. In 1980, 80 percent of evangelical Christian voters
case their ballots for Ronald Reagan. In 1994, the Christian Coalition was credited with helping
to elect the Republican majority Congress. Although former president George W. Bush was
closely aligned with religious conservatives to support his elections and administrative decisions,
they were not as thrilled with the choice of John McCain as the Republican candidate for
president in 2008 because of the views he expressed during the 2000 primaries when he had
previously run for president.
G. Age and Participation. One of the most significant political participation patterns is the age
divide. Older people have much higher participation rates than young people. One reason that
younger people turn out to vote less is that political campaigns rarely target young voters.
Political campaigns target older voters because the elderly are better organized to participate
than young people. Active mobilization has increased the youth vote in every election since
2000. Although young people have been politically disengaged at the polls, they have a strong
record in community service because they feel this is the best way to deal with national
problems. In contrast, they view politics and politicians with cynicism, pointing to a future of
political disengagement.
III. Explaining Political Participation. Participation is higher among those with more education and
money. To understand these patterns, it is essential to ask, “Why do people participate in politics?”
A. Socioeconomic Status. Individual characters explain participation levels. Survey results show
that Americans with higher socioeconomic status participate much more in politics than those
with lower socioeconomic status. Other factors playing a role in participation include ethnicity,
race, and age. Present education levels are higher than in the past, but participation has
declined, not increased. This puzzle indicates that political participation over time is determined
by more than just the characteristics of individuals.
B. Civic Engagement. Civic Engagement is the sense of concern among members of the political
community about public, social, and political life, expressed through participation in social and
political organizations. Social settings affect political participation. Participation depends on
three elements: resources (time, money, and know how), civic engagement (Are you concerned
about public issues, and do you feel you can make a difference?), and recruitment (Are you
asked to participate by someone you know?). Whether people have resources, feel engaged,
are recruited depends on their social settings – family, friends, church, and other associations.
Americans have a tendency to form local associations to address common problems. However,
recently Americans’ membership in associations has been declining. Their social trust is also
declining, and they are pulling back from public engagement. This decline in civic engagement
can be explained by the rise in TV and the electronic media, by crime’s reduction of social trust,
and by the effects of generational experience. Still, the political system settings also play an
important role in public participation. Those settings can induce or prevent participation.
C. Formal Obstacles. Formal obstacles can greatly decrease participation. As mentioned
previously, the poll tax, white primaries, and other measures deprived minorities and the poor
of their right to vote. Other important political factors reducing voter turnout are registration
and voting requirements. Most American states require citizens to register well in advance prior
to the election. Elections are held on working days. Also, served, a felony sentence place a legal
obstacle on participation. Americans’ lack of political involvement differs from the situation in
European countries, where voter turnout is much higher. New methods to increase
participation have been implemented with only modest success, suggesting that people need to
be motivated to vote even after barriers are removed.
D. Political Mobilization. The process by which large numbers of people are organized for a
political activity is called political mobilization. The most significant factor affecting participation
is whether people are mobilized by parties, candidates, interest groups, and social movements.
Half the dropoff in American participation can be attributed to reduced mobilization efforts.
People are much more likely to participate when someone – especially someone they know –
asks them to get involved. Face to face or person to person interaction with a candidate or a
canvasser greatly increases voter turnout. In the past, political parties, organizations, and social
movements relied on personal contact to mobilize voters. Recently, our political institutions
(organizations that connect people to politics, such as a political party or a governmental
organization, such as the Congress or the courts) have ceased to mobilize an active citizenry.
Rather than mobilizers of people, political parties and interest groups became essentially
fundraising and advertising organizations. Their connections to citizens seem to extend no
further than citizens’ checkbooks. Nevertheless, in recent elections candidates have begun to
reemphasize direct voter mobilization techniques. These techniques include door to door
mobilization, getting voters to the polls, and Internet mobilization. Still, it is too soon to tell if
these efforts to energize voters will overcome the socioeconomic bias in mobilizing citizens.
Although these initiatives are significant, they coexist with demobilizing features of political life,
such as negative advertising.
Part 2 – Elections
1. Elections in America. American elections are held at regular intervals. Presidential elections are
held on the first Tuesday in November every four years. Congressional elections are held on the
same day every two years, some being midterm elections (congressional elections not coinciding
with presidential elections, also called off year elections). State and local elections may or may
not coincide with national elections. States and local governments organize elections. They
determine election administration, electoral district boundaries, and candidate and voter
qualifications.
A. Types of Elections. In the United States, elections include primary, general, and runoff
elections. Americans sometimes vote for referenda or ballot initiatives, but these are not
technically elections.
1. Primary elections: These elections are used to select a party’s candidates for the
general elections. Primary election winners face each other in the general election.
Presidential primaries are indirect; only delegates to the nomination convention are
chosen, and they choose the presidential candidates. Under state laws, primaries can
be as follows:
a. Closed primary: a primary election in which voters can participate in the
nominations of candidates, but only of the party in which they are enrolled for a
period of time prior to primary day.
b. Open primary: a primary election in which the voter can wait until the day of the
primary to choose which party to enroll in to select candidates for the general
election.
2. General Election: the primary is followed by the general election. The winner of the
general election is elected to the office for a specified term. Some states also provide
the following voting opportunities:
a. Referendum: the practice of referring a measure proposed laws or actions.
b. Recall: procedure that allows voters the opportunity to remove a elected state
official from office before his or her term expires.
B. The Criteria of Winning. There are different electoral systems and winning methods.
1. Majority system: a type of electoral system in which, to win a seat in the parliament or
other representative body, a candidate must receive a majority of all the votes cast in
the relevant district. In the United States during primaries to win the party’s
representation, the candidate must receive 50 percent plus one of all the votes cast.
2. Plurality system: a type of electoral system in which, to win a legislative seat, a
candidate need only receive the most votes in the election, not necessarily a majority of
the votes cast. In virtually all American elections the plurality system in used – a
candidate receiving 50, 30, or 20 percent of the vote wins if not other candidate
received more.
3. Proportional representation: a multiple member district system that allows each
political party representation in proportion to its percentage of the total vote. In
European elections, a party is awarded legislative seats in proportion to the amount of
votes the party won. In general, proportional representation works to the advantage of
smaller or weaker groups in society, whereas plurality and majority rules tend to help
larger and more powerful forces.
C. Electoral Districts. The states redraw their congressional and state legislative district
boundaries every ten years to reflect population changes or to respond to legal challenges.
This process is called redistricting or the redrawing of election districts and redistribution of
legislative representatives. The Supreme Court has ruled that districts must include roughly
equal populations to uphold “one person, one vote.” However, the legislators often seek to
influence total outcomes by manipulating organization of electoral districts to their
advantage. This is called gerrymandering (apportionment of voters in districts in such ways
as to create districts made up primary disadvantaged or underrepresented minorities. Court
decisions have undermined such majority-minority districts (a gerrymandered voting district
that improves the chances of minority candidates by Supreme Court has generally rejected
majority-minority districts, however, holding that districting based exclusively on racial
criteria is unlawful.
D. The Ballot. In the past, the ballots cast were straight party votes. Today, a neutral ballot
allowing for choice is used, and it is administered by the states rather than by the party.
This gave rise to split ticket voting, or the practice of casting ballots for the candidates of at
least two different political parties in the same election. On the other hand, straight ticket
voting is the practice of casting ballots for candidates of only one party. Straight-ticket
voting can often produce a coattail effect in which voters casting their ballot for president or
governor “automatically” vote for the rest of that party’s candidates. Actual ballots vary
from paper to mechanical, punch card, and electronic or computerized systems.
E. Electoral College: The electoral college is made up of the presidential electors from each
state, who meet after the popular election to cast ballots for president and vice president.
This is a product of indirect elections, where voters choose an intermediate body to select
public officials. On Election Day, American voters do not vote directly for their president.
Instead, they choose electors selected by the state’s party to support and cast their vote for
the party’s presidential candidate (except in Maine and Nebraska, where one electoral vote
goes to the winner in each congressional district and two electoral votes go to the winner
statewide). There are 538 electoral votes. Electors can cast their vote for the other party’s
candidate but in all save three occasions these votes have ratified the national popular vote.
Electors cast their vote in the state’s capital and then send them to Congress, which then
formally announces the winner. If there is no majority winner, then the three top
candidates are submitted to the House, which each state gets one vote to pick the winner.
Point 2. Election Campaigns. Campaigns are efforts made by political candidates and their staffs
to win the backing of donors, political activists, and voters in the quest for political office.
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Campaigns precede primary and general elections. Campaigns consist of a number of steps,
including first organizing groups to raise funds and gain media attention. This is easy for current
office holders, the incumbents running for positions that they already hold.
Advisers. The next step is to create a formal campaign organization. Candidates need a
campaign manager, a media consultant, a pollster, a financial adviser, a press spokesperson, and
a staff director to coordinate volunteer and paid activities. Professional campaign workers
prefer to work with candidates who seem likely to win. These advisers must begin work early
with candidates to start serious fund raising efforts, which increase the likelihood of winning.
Polling. To win, a candidate must collect voting and poll data to assess the electorate’s needs,
hopes, fears, and past behavior. Polls help candidates and staff to formulate a campaign
strategy. Pollsters have become central figures in most national campaigns, and some continue
to advise their clients after they win an election.
The Primaries. For many candidates, the next step is the primary election. In this election the
candidates will receive the major parties’ official nominations. Independent candidates can also
run, but they must amass thousands of petition signatures to qualify for the general election.
There are two primary contest types: the personality clash and the ideological or factional
struggle. The first type occurs when ambitious individuals compete to secure election. The
second type occurs when one wing or faction of a party decides that it is not willing to
compromise its principles for the sake of the party’s electoral success. This can cause friction
within party factions and undermine their chances in the general election.
Point 3. Presidential Elections. The major party presidential nominations follow a pattern this is
quite different from the nominating process for other political offices. The presidential
nominating process includes primary elections, but these are different from those for other
political offices. In some years, especially when an incumbent president is running for reelection, one party’s nomination may not even be contested. In contested races, candidates
typically compete in primaries or caucuses in all fifty states, attempting to capture national
convention delegates. Most states use presidential primaries to choose delegates for national
conventions. A few states use the caucus, a normally closed meeting of a political or legislative
group to select candidates, plan strategy, or make decisions regarding legislative matters.
Caucuses can vary as follows:
Open Caucus: presidential nominating caucus open to anyone who wishes to attend.
Closed Caucus: presidential nominating caucus open only to registered party members.
Primaries and caucuses begin in February and end in June of an election year. The Democratic
Party requires that states allow primaries on the basis of proportional representation. The
Republicans do not require proportional representation, but many states have this requirement
as part of their laws. However, other states use the winner take all system, the system in which
all of the state’s presidential nominating delegates are awarded to the candidate who wins the
most votes, while runners up receive no delegates. Traditionally, early primaries and caucuses
are particularly important to the presidential nomination process, although 2008 was a notable
exception.
The Convention. A national party convention is held to choose the nomination for president.
The Republican and Democratic conventions take place every four years to certify their
presidential nominees. In addition, these conventions draft the platform, a party’s document.
The platform is written at a national convention and contains the party’s philosophy, principles,
and positions on the issues that will govern party activity for the next four years.
1. The History of Political Conventions. For more than fifty years after the founding,
presidential nominations were controlled by each party’s congressional caucus. However in
the 1830s, because of criticism of “King Caucus,” the party convention was devised to allow
fore more participation in the nomination process. As it developed, the convention became
a decisive institution for bringing party factions to agreement. Initially, the convention was
seen as democratic reform promoting presidential independence, because it took the
nomination process out of congressional hands. In later years, however, the convention
became associated with rule by party leaders and associated with party machines and
patronage.
2. Contemporary Party Conventions. Traditional party conventions were deliberative
assemblies, but contemporary conventions act more to ratify than to determine presidential
nominations. Today, nominations are determined in primary elections and local party
caucuses, which determine how each state’s convention delegates will vote. Although
conventions no longer determine nominations, they have important tasks. The first is the
adoption of party rules on convention delegate selection and future presidential primary
elections. Another important convention task is the drafting of the party’s platform.
3. Convention Delegates. Today, delegates are strong political activists selected to vote at a
party’s national convention. Republican delegates tend to be more conservative than
Republican voters, whereas Democratic delegates tend to be more liberal than Democratic
voters. Democratic delegations are required by party rules to be representative of the
state’s electorate in terms of race, gender, and age. Republican delegates are more likely to
be male and white. The Democrats also reserve slots for the superdelegates, elected party
officials.
4. Convention Procedure. Conventions last several days. Party committees such as the
credentials and platform committees and a convention chairperson are selected. Speeches
are made on behalf of the nominees. Nomination speeches are carefully scrutinized by the
mass media. After the nominations have been settled and voted on, the presidential and
vice presidential nominees deliver acceptance speeches.
B. The General Election Campaign and High Tech Politics. After the nominations come the general
elections. There are two types. The first type is the organizationally driven, labor-intensive
election (local and congressional elections). The other type, the media-driven, capital- intensive
campaigns, includes statewide campaign and congressional and presidential races. Today,
political campaigns rely less on armies of workers and more on “air power,” or communications
techniques as opposed to campaign workers. The six techniques that are especially important
include the following:
1. Polling. Voter opinion surveys provide the information that candidates and their staff sue to
shape their campaigns.
2. Broadcast media. Extensive use of the media, TV in particular, is the modern campaign’s
hallmark. Candidates, especially incumbents, try to secure as much positive free news
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coverage as possible. In addition, they spend millions of dollars for paid media time. Many
of these paid commercials consist of thirty to sixty second spot advertisements that permit a
candidate’s message to be delivered to a large audience. The 1992 campaign introduced
two media techniques: the talk show interview and the “electronic town hall meeting.” The
first permitted candidates to reach large populations and allowed audience members to
telephone with questions. The town meeting format allowed the candidates to interact
with ordinary citizens in auditoriums and allowed candidates to deliver messages without
the presence of journalists or commentators.
3. Phone Banks. Phone banks allow campaign workers to make personal contact with
thousand of voters. Polling data identify the groups that will be targeted for phone calls,
including those previously identified as uncommitted or weakly committed.
4. Direct mail. Direct mail communicates with the voters and raises funds.
5. Professional Public Relations. Modern campaigns are directed by professional public
relations consultants. They offer candidates the expertise necessary to conduct accurate
polls, television ads, direct mail campaigns, and computer analyses.
6. The Internet. The Internet has become a major weapon in modern political campaigns.
Campaigns use Web pages to provide candidate information, raise funds, mobilize
supporters, and get out the vote.
Campaigns and Political Equality: From Labor-Intensive to Capital-Intensive Politics. New
political technology, including computers, electronic communications, and polls, has altered
campaigning. The tasks that were once performed by masses of party workers and some cash
are now done by fewer workers but with a great deal more money.
Point 4. How Voters Decide. The ultimate decision is made by the voters. There are three
factors that influence voters’ decisions at the polls: partisan loyalty, issue and policy concerns,
and candidate characteristics.
Partisan Loyalty. Most voters with a major political party. This partisan identification
predisposes many voters in favor of their party’s candidates and against those of the opposing
parties. At the level of presidential races, issues, and candidate personalities may become very
important. Partisanship is more likely to assert itself in the less visible races, in which less is
known about the candidates.
Issues. Most voters tend to cast their votes for those candidates they perceive as sharing their
outlook on economic policy, foreign policy, or social or moral issues. However, this voter
awareness is diluted when candidates do not differ substantially or do not take clear positions
on policies or issues. Voting on issues involves a mixture of the voter’s judgment about the
party’s past behavior and hopes and fears about the party’s future behaviors. There are two
types of voting behavior. The first is prospective voting, or voting based on the imagined future
performance of a candidate or a party. The second is retrospective voting, or voting based on
the past performance of a candidate or party.
The Economy. The condition of the economy affects voters’ behavior at the polls. If the
economic prospects are positive, voters favor the party in power. However, if voters are uneasy
about the economy, then they favor the opposition.
D. Candidate Characteristics. A candidate’s personal attributes always influence voters’ decisions.
The most important characteristics affecting voters are race, ethnicity, religion, gender, region,
and social background. Voters also pay attention to their personality characteristics, such as
decisiveness, honesty, and vigor.
Point 5. The 2008 and 2010 Elections. Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election with
365 electoral votes to Republican candidate John McCain’s 173.
A. The 2008 Primaries. Despite suspicions on the right about the conservative credentials of John
McCain, he was able to starve off a challenge from evangelical preacher and former Arkansas
governor Mike Hukabee.
B. Clinton vs. Obama. In an historic turn of events, the United States had for the first time a viable
female and African American candidate for president battling it out in closely contested
Democratic primaries and caucuses. In the end, Obama won out with 1,763 pledged delegates
to Clinton’s 1,640. Since the majority of Democratic “superdelegates” and pledged their support
to Obama going into the convention. Clinton withdrew her candidacy and threw her support
behind Obama.
C. The General Election: Obama selected Senator Joe Biden from Delaware as his running mate in
the hopes that Biden’s working class roots would appeal to middle class voters in important
battleground states. McCain selected then Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin, a relative unknown.
After Palin delivered an impressive convention speech, it looked as if the McCain ticket might
experience a prolonged resurgence in the polls. However, the McCain campaign struggled
under the weight of a fund raising gap with the Obama campaign.
D. The Debates: Although McCain was the more seasoned legislator, Obama established himself
during the three televised debates as an eloquent and thoughtful debater, capable of assuming
the role of president.
E. Obama’s Victory: Although fears were raised over the so called Bradley effect in polling (the
phenomena of white voters telling pollsters they would vote for a black candidate when they
intended to vote for the white candidate), the lead that Obama carried in national polls going
into the general election carried over to his victory in November 2008. The faltering economy
and unpopular war in Iraq proved too difficult for McCain and Palin to overcome.
F. The 2010 Elections: Discontent over the slow pace of the economic recovery and continued high
unemployment led the Republicans to retake the House and add considerably to their numbers
in the Senate. The self described “Tea Party” movement proved an important force in
Republican resurgence. Time will tell how easily the demands of limited government Tea
Partiers can be reconciled with Republican leaders in the House.
Point 6. Money and Politics. Modern national political campaigns are fueled by enormous
amounts of money. In a national race, millions of dollars are spent on media time, on public
opinion polls, and on media consultants.
A. Sources of Campaign Funds. In 2008, candidates for federal office raised and spent
approximately $3 billion. Roughly $300 million came from political action committees (PACs,
private groups that raise and distribute funds for use in election campaigns), and the remainder
came from individual donors.
1. Individual Donors. Politicians spent a great deal of time asking people for money. Many
contributed greatly, not only as donors but also as fundraisers. They donated via candidate
contributions, PACs, and party committees.
2. Political Action Committees (PACs). These organizations are established by corporations,
labor unions, or interest groups to channel member contributions into political campaigns.
By law, they can make larger campaign contributions than individuals can.
3. The Candidates. By law, individuals have the right to spend their own money to campaign
for office. Therefore, wealthy individuals often contribute millions to their own campaigns.
4. Independent 527 Committees and 501c(4)s. 527 and 501c(4)s can raise and spend unlimited
amounts on political advocacy so long as their efforts are not coordinated with those of any
candidate’s campaign.
5. Political Parties. Before 2002, campaign dollars took the form of soft money (money
contributed directly to political parties for voter registration and organization). To
circumvent campaign money regulation, national parties forwarded much of the money
they raised to disguised advertising and campaigning that stopped short of urging citizens to
vote for or against a candidate. The 2002 federal campaign legislation crafted by Senators
John McCain and Russell Feingold sought to ban soft money. The law diminished political
parties’ campaign roles, but it did not reduce the importance of money in politics.
6. Public Funding. The Federal Elections Campaign Act (FECA) provides for public funding of
presidential campaigns. As they seek the presidential nomination, candidates are eligible
for dollar to dollar matching public funding by raising at least $5,000 in individual
contributions of $250 or less. Candidates who do not accept public funding are not bound
by expenditure limits and can therefore spend more. In recent years, most candidates have
opted to fund their own campaigns.
B. Implications for Democracy. The important role played by private fund in the United States
affects the balance of power among contending social groups. Politicians need large sums of
money to campaign successfully. This fact inevitably ties their interests to the interests of the
groups and forces that provide this campaign money. In the United States, these contributors
come from business groups, labor groups, environmental groups, and prochoice and prolife
forces. Interests that donate large sums expect and often receive favorable treatment from the
beneficiaries of their largesse. Not all American interests play a role in political campaign
finance. Only those with a great deal of money do, thus not reflecting the diversity of American
society. The poor, the disadvantaged, and the destitute also have an interest in political
campaign outcomes, but who is to speak for them?