Campaigns and Elections
Political Competition in Democracy
This presentation is the property of Dr. Kevin Parsneau for use by him and his
current students. No other person may use or reprint without his permission.
• What are the different types of elections in the
U.S.?
• Who runs for offices and who wins?
• How do voters decide?
• How do elections fit into the big picture for
democracy?
• How are presidential elections different?
Types of Elections
• General Elections
– Presidential
– Midterm
• Primaries and caucuses
– Closed
– Open
Types of Intra-party Elections
• Caucus
• Primary
• Closed caucus or primary
• Open caucus or primary
Who runs for Congress?
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White
Elderly
Males
Lawyers
Less now than in the past
Theoretical “Ideal” Campaign
• Median Voter Theory: (PARAPHRASE) the
candidate that endorses policies that appeal
to the “median voter” (i.e. the voter that
represents the winning vote (50% +1)) will win
the election. Thus candidates choose policies
designed to win the vote of the “median
voter.”
Campaigns
• Election Strategies
– Win Your Primary/ Caucus
• i.e. appeal to your party in the electorate
• Secures volunteers and contributions
– Win your general election
• i.e. appeal to moderates
• pick up undecided, low motivated and low info voters
• avoid abandoning your partisan supporters
The “Shift”
• After trying to appeal to their party bases of
relatively extreme and activist voters,
candidates must shift their positions to attract
moderate, independent and often less
motivated or informed voters.
The “Shift”
Two Potential Strategies
• Compromise-“move” to the center by
changing your policy positions to centrists
positions similar to the “median voter.”
• Crafted Talk-appear to change your positions
by using language designed to sound centrist
but that blurs your real positions and plans.
Hmmm…
• To some extent candidates compromise…
• To some extent candidates engage in “Crafted
Talk”
• Candidates who do it well tend to win
• Candidates who do not do it lose
• It is too easy to blame the politicians
Campaigns
• Who wins elections?
– Incumbency advantage
– Name recognition
– Constituency Service and “pork”
– “War chests”
– Coattails
– Final Steps to Winning the Campaign—G.O.T.V.
How Do Voters Choose?
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Party Identification (PID)
Party Platform
Ideology
Image
Issues
Elections and Responsiveness
• Prospective voting
• Retrospective voting
• Sociotropic voting
Unique Aspects of Presidential Elections
• Presidential Primaries and Caucuses
– Go state by state winning delegates to the
national conventions
• National Conventions
– Delegates and Superdelegates vote to select the
party nominees
• General Election
– Campaigning for the Electoral College
Effects of the Electoral College
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50 (51 w/ DC) separate elections for electors
Have to win states not just votes
Not only population centers and big cities
Focus on big electoral states
Focus on swing states
Hard for third parties to compete
Faithless electors
Can have an “undemocratic” outcome
Is what it takes to get elected the same as what
it takes to govern?
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Compromise
Principles
Rally support for yourself
Vilify opponents
Effect on turnout and faith in democracy