Electoral College test

The Political Spectrum

Conservatives and liberals want the same thing but argue about how to mix them

Liberals (democratic)

- Larger government, wants to solve problems
- Stronger regulation of businesses
- Support more gun control
-- Donkey symbol due to a picture of Andrew Jackson in 1828

Conservatives (republicans)

- Want smaller government
- Free markets
- Personal responsibility
- Traditional Christian values
- Stronger national defense
-- Elephant symbol due to Thomas Nast in 1874

Abortion

Liberals: the decision to have an abortion should be the woman's choice
- A fetus is not human life
Conservative: abortion is murder, the unborn baby has rights
- The government should not be funding

Affirmative action

Liberals: America is still racist, action is necessary
- Minorities are still behind in whites
Conservative: individuals should hired based on ability and not race
- American society is not racist

Death penalty

Liberals: should be abolished - inhumane and violates the 8th amendment
- Risks innocent lives
Conservative: fits the crime of murder
- Eye for an eye

Economy

Liberals: The government should regulate
- Should protect from greedy big businesses
Conservative: free market system and capitalism
- Free markets make economic growth and jobs

Embryonic stem cell research

Liberals: supports to find treatment for diseases
- The embryo is not human
Conservative: adult and umbilical cord stem
- Using embryo cells is murder
- Should use adult/umbilical cells bc it's more effective

Energy

Liberals: We need other sources of energy not just oil
- The government should have a plan and control gas
Conservative: oil, gas, coal are good energy
- More oil drilling
- Support the production of nuclear energy

Global warming

Liberals: Carbon dioxide is increasing because of the burning of fossil fuels
- Laws to reduce emissions are urgent
Conservative: natural over a long time
- Humans aren't impacting the environment

Gun control

Liberals: do not have the right to keep guns- only the National Guard can
- Need gun control to stop criminals
Conservative:
- Have the right to own a gun and defend themselves
- Gun control does not help

Health care

Liberals: healthcare is right and everyone should have it
Conservative: run by private sectors
- The government should not control healthcare

Immigration

Liberals: support legal immigration
- Undocumented immigrants have the same rights as American citizens
- Should not arrest them
Conservative: only legal immigrants
- Do not have the same rights
- Borders should be secured

Religion and government

Liberals: supports separation of church and state
- There is no place for religion in government
Conservative: separation of church and state is not in the constitution
- The government should not interfere with religion and religious freedom

Same-sex marriage

Liberal: marriage is a union of two people who love each other
- All individuals regardless of sexual orientation have the right to marry
Conservative: marriage is one man and one woman
- Violates moral and religious beliefs

Taxes

Liberal: higher taxes to wealth and government should help the poor
- Taxes create jobs and provide wealth
Conservative:
- Supports lower taxes and smaller government
- Help people work, save, and invest in business

Welfare

Liberal: support long term
- safety net provides the needs of the poor
Conservative Opposes long-term
- Need to have reliance rather than needs to be dependent on government

Education

Liberals: good public schools
- Help poor district
Conservative: vouchers
- Bad districts have to pay for students to go to a good school

Male

Trump

Woman

Biden

Hispanic

Biden

Black

Biden

White

Trump

College Grad

Biden

High school or less

Trump

Republican:

Trump

Democratic

Biden

Independent

Biden

Silent Generation

Trump

Millenials / Gen Z

Biden

Rural

Trump

Urban

Biden

Suburban

Biden

Catholic

Trump

Protestant

Trump

Unaffiliated religion

Biden

In-person election day

Trump

Mail or absentee

Biden

Political Parties

A political party is a group with similar beliefs who attempt to gain influence and public office

Watchdog

The party out of power oversees the party in power to ensure their actions are legal and legitimate

Governing

- Parties provide a more predictable system to help the government function more smoothly
-- Gun laws will be passed by Republicans
-- Social programs will be approved by Democrats

Seal of Approval

Screens potential candidates and encourages good behavior of current officeholders (same party)

Informer

- Educates and encourages voters to participate in the political process
- Gets you excited to vote for a candidate

Nominating function

Select candidates and work for their election

Brief History of Two-Party System

- Framers did not foresee political parties
- George Washington in his Farewell Address in 1796 said political parties would destroy and disunify America

Bipartisan Laws

Democrats and Republicans create laws that make it difficult for minor parties to win

Historical Basis

The US has always had a two-party system

Redistricting

Redrawing voting districts to account for population shifts

Gerrymandering

- Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry drew state lines in 1812
- His goal was to make as many congressional districts to benefit his political party (Democratic)

- redrawing districts along partisan lines

Ideological parties

Based on a particular set of social, economic, and political beliefs
- Socialist, libertarian, communist party

Single issue parties

Focused on a single public issue
- Prohibition party, National Right to Life

Splinter parties

- Split away from one of the major parties, normally around a strong personality
- Green party, bull moose party
-- Bull Moose Party was the only time a 3rd party received more votes in a two-party system

Critic/innovator parties

brings attention to a controversial issue or idea ignored by the major parties

Spoiler role

can pull enough votes away from one of the major parties to affect the outcome of an election

When is the election held?

- Tuesday after the first Monday in November every fourth year
- Tuesday because it gave a day to travel after Sunday
-- Established congressional law in 1845

How do electoral college votes work?

- Determined by the number of representatives and senators in Congress
- 538 total
- Pennsylvania has 19 (our highest was 38 in 1928)
-- 23 amendment - District of Columbia would have the minimum number of electors (3)
-- Congress runs D.C, considered very liberal, republicans won't allow it to be a "state"

Winner Takes all (48)

the overall winner of the popular votes receives all the electoral votes

Congressional district method (2) (Nebraska and Maine)

- The candidate that wins the state popular vote wins 2 at-large electoral votes but the winner of each congressional district wins that particular distinct

How many votes are needed to win?

270/538 to win

Clean and Accepted Outcome (P)

EC provides and clean and widely accepted outcome

Small states relevant (P)

- All states are involved in presidential election
- If the EC were eliminated, candidates would not campaign in smaller states
-- Small states have disproportionate power
--- Ex. Wyoming has 194,423 votes/elector, California has 720,449 votes/elector

Historical Tradition (P)

- Founders created the EC b/c they thought it was the best method to choose the president and it should be kept
- Wanted to safeguard against uninformed and uneducated voters

Stability Promoted in the two-party system (P)

Many factors involved but Italy has had 69 different governments since 1946

Strong Partisan states efficiency (P)

- Candidates do not have to spend time and money in strong partisan states
- Ex. Republicans do not have to campaign heavily in wyoming

EC is no longer relevant (C)

Modern technology and media allows voters to get information on candidates that could not have been foreseen by the Founding Fathers

Can override the popular vote (C)

5/59 times in history

Every vote doesn't matter (C)

Ex. 2020 election in CA-55 electoral votes- 61% were D 34% were R; if Republican, does your vote even matter

Swing states have too much power (C)

- Total spending in the 2020 presidential election: 1 billion dollars
- 882 million dollars spent in FL, PA, MI, NC, WI, AZ

Faithless elector (C)

- There has been one faithless elector in each of these elections: 1948, 1956, 1960, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1988; a blank ballot was cast in 2000
- In 2016, seven electors broke with their state on the presidential ballot

Constitutional change will be difficult

- Need ⅔ of both HOR and Senate
- Need ¾ of state legislatures or conventions
-- Which types of states would oppose the elimination of the EC? Small and republican

General Election Grant (1976-Present)

President nominees can qualify for a 103 million grant but must receive 5% of the popular vote in the previous election

Drawing Congressional Districts

- Each state will be assigned a number of districts based on the census that is taken every 10 years (started in 1790. Article 1, section 2)
- In 1929, the Reapportionment Act established 435 as the permanent number of congressional districts
- Pennsylvania, like 37 other states has state legislatures draw lines
- The political party that wins the most seats will have a majority advantage to draw the district lines
-- Pennsylvania has 17 congressional districts

General redistricting rules

- Required to be single-member districts (only one office holder from the district)
- Equal population, either contiguous (one piece) or compact (in a small area)
- Cannot draw lines based on race or ethnicity
- Rules have been difficult to enforce and are not generally followed
- Only about 40 of 435 house races are competitive early year

Framers Intent

a. no direct election
- The people could not be trusted to make informed and educated decisions
b. No congressional election
- Wanted separation of powers between the president and congress

Electoral College

- a special body of electors to elect the president
- Electors would be "the most enlightened and respectable citizens from each state" and were to act as "free agents"

How many ballots did they cast originally?

2:
President - the person with the most votes
Vice president - person with the second most votes

Tie-breaker

If no majority or tie between two candidates:
- For the presidency:
-- The top 3 candidates go to the House of Reps
-- 1 state is 1 vote (majority wins)
- For vice presidency:
- The top 2 candidates go to the senate
- 1 state = 1 vote (majority wins)
What if tie in 2020?:
- The state count in the house was 23 Democrats and 26 Republican
- Pa had 9 and 9

The election of 1800 and the rise of political parties

- Political parties chose presidential electors and created a tie
- After 35 votes, Jefferson 8, Burr, 6, undecided 2
- The House of Representatives broke the tie after 36 votes
Jefferson 10, Burr 4, Blank 2
- Rise of political parties negatively affected the Election of 1800

12th amendment

electors cast 1 vote for President and 1 vote for vice president; no longer have two votes for president