4.4 - American Elections

Political parties in the states

• the Us typically has 2 parties, Republicans (right), and Democrats (left)

two party vs multiparty system pros and cons

two party:

• pros: clear cut winner

• cons: ideologically focused on the center

multiparty:

• pros: greater ideological representation

• cons: minority governments/coalitions

the US electoral college

• On election day citizens vote for president

  • The votes are added up – whoever gets the most votes wins the state (first past the post) 

  • This information given to electoral college that actually casts the real vote for president

(the college is a group of representatives that belong to each state (more reps per state population). after the citizens in each state vote, a party is declared the winner, and the electoral college members for that state will cast their votes for that party to form gov’t)

what are “swing states”

states that have a valuable number of elec. college members, but don’t have a long history of voting for one party. as a result, their college votes are up for grabs, and candidates will campaign harder in these areas to hopefully secure their votes

fixed date elections vs periodic elections

fixed:

• pros: Governing party cannot manipulate date in their favor (can’t call for election when ppl like them)

• cons: The next election campaign can begin as soon as the election is over

periodic:

• pros: Shorter election campaign periods

• cons: Governing party can manipulate the date to extend their mandate

what are safe states?

states that have historically voted for one party always, so candidates don’t have to campaign as hard there.