US Democracy and Participation

how has there always been debates on what a US democracy should look like?

in Federalist Paper #10, James Madison argued that the US constitution creates a ‘republic’ rather than a ‘democracy’, arguing that:

-a largerepublic guards against the tyranny of the majority by having a large number of elected representatitves

-the free vote of the people would prevent elections being won through “vicious arts”
-a large republic would “render [parties and interest groups] less to be dreaded”

electoral college
what is the us electoral system?

the constitution establishes an electoral college (term not used in the constitution) as the method of electing the president every 4 years. States were to appoint a slate of eelctorswho would vote for the president on behalf of that state. together, tese form the electoral college and whoever gets the most electoral college votes becomes president.

the invisible primary
what is the invisible primary?

there is no official invisible primary. it is the period in which potential candidates for a party compete with each other to attract attention, money and endorsements for their campaign.

the growth of media, social media, and money in elections have made this an increasingly important part of the campaign. One could argue that Donald Trump won the ‘invisible primary’, and the official primary was sealed to his success before the start.

the invisible primary
what are examples of the invisible primary?

in 2020, a record 29 candidates ran to be the democratic nominee, with 11 dropping out before the primares and not appearing on the ballot, 7 withdrawing before the primaries but appearing on the balot, and 10 droppin out during the primareis .

the invisible primary
how can candidates utilise the invisible primary to their advantage?

candidates can use the invisible primary to attract public attention, and ‘name recognition’. the success of this is often judged by polling, and a lack of good polling can lead to a candidate withdrawing.

-jeb bush for example, announced his candidacy to great fanfare in 2015. however, he suffered bruising criticism from donald trump during the invisible primary, being attacked by trump on twitter more than all other republican candidtes combined. he withdrew from the race on the 20th feburary 2016.

the invisible primary
how are debates used?

in the 2020 democratic primary, teh democrats had 11 debates.

-the first debate had 20 candidate and had to be split into 2 debates of 10. by the final debate, only biden and sanders remained.

the invisible primary
how has money gotten more important during invisible primaries?

candidates raise money during invisible primary. increasingly, donations come from Political Action Committees (PACs) or Super PACs. PACs can donate directly to a caniddate but only to a limit of 5000 dollars.Super PACS can send unlimited amounts of money for or against candidates, but they cannot coordinate direclty with the candidate while doing so.

Attracting this money early is important for a candidate to be able to survive the long presidential campaign.

2020 election cost 6 billion dollars.

how does money not always mean success?

in 2020, michael bloomberg spent more than joe biden, spending 1,096 million, and yet failed to have any significant success. nonetheless, biden did outspend trump on his way to victory.

Primaries and caucuses
what are priamries and cauceses?

in order to choose a single presidential candidate for each party, primaries and caucuses are held across the country. these are organised by the individual parties within each state between februrary and june of an election yearr. this means there are 50 republican primaries and caucuses and 50 democratic primaries and caucuses.

Primaries and caucuses
whats the differece between a primary and a caucus?

-a primary is a state wide election in which people cast a ballot for their candidate of choice

-a caucus is a public meeting in which people vote either by moving to a part of the room or through a show of hands.

Primaries and caucuses
what are open primaries?

an open primary/caucus allow all voters in a state to take part, even if they are not registered member of a party. voters can take part in only one primary. therefore, they would have to decide whether to vote in the democratic or republican (or third party) primary/caucus.

-states such as Alabama and Virginia utilise this system.

Primaries and caucuses
what are closed primaries?

closed primaries/caucuses allow only voters who are registered with a party to take part. registered demoraitcs would be allowed to take part in the democratic primary/caucus. voters are sent a ballot only fi they are registered party members and no one else can take part.

-States such as Florida and new york utilise this system.

Primaries and caucuses
what are semi closed primaries?

semi closed parimaries and caucuses are a hybird of open and closed. registered party members are allowed to take part only in their partys primary or caucus. unregistered voters, however, are allowed to choose which party primary or caucus they want to vote in.

-states such as maryland and utah utilise this system.

Primaries and caucuses
when do they happen?

spread between february and june on electino year. traditionally, new hampshire primary and iowa caucus are the first to happen. there is an increasing trend for primares to be moved earlier, a proccess known as “frontloading.” the reason for this is that for those states later in the calender, the decision for each partys candidate has often ben finalised by the time they get a say.

in 2020, trump gained a majoriity of delegates on march 17th but 25 states had not held their primaries at this point, including highly populated states such as california.

National party conventions
what are NPC’s?

national party conventions are multiday events held for each party, attended by the delegates allocated in the primaries and caucuses. they formally nominate the presidential and vice presidential canidate for their party and hold discussions on the party policy for the coming election.

National party conventions
how have these gotten less important?

-by the time conventions are held, both the presidential and vice presidential candidates are already well known.

in 2004 one republican remarked “i dont frankly see the point of spending millions and millions of dollars that amounts to a tv set that gets used for one night”

formal and informal roles of party conventions
what is the formal role in terms of selecting the party candidates?

while most party delegates are bound by party rules as to whom they vote for, this is still a proccess that formally acknolwdges the partys nominee for president and thevice president.

-in 2024, the DNC confirmed Kamala Harris as the choice for president, despite joe biden winning the primary.

formal and informal roles of party conventions
what is the formal role of adopting the party platform and policies?

-the party convention allows for discussion on, and amendments to the party platform (manifesto)

-while parties do take account of their members views, the convention today is more rather just a rubber sstamp for the platform. most of the platform policy is created by “platform committees” of each party in the days before the convetion and today is often done in cooperation with the presumptive nominee.

formal and informal roles of party conventions
what is the informal role of selling the candidate?

-as a mutli million dollar event with tv coverage, the convention allows the candidate considerable media coverage, especially of their acceptance speech.

-obamas 2007 speech had an audiene of around 39 million television viewers. the 2024 DNC and RNC also saw celebirity endorsements, such as Hulk Hogan at the RNC to promote “trumpamania”

formal and informal roles of party conventions
what is the informal role of party unity and the conventions?

during the primary season, divisions in the party are exposed. the convention therefore affords an opporutnity to repair this damage and prepare to compete against the other party.

-having lost to obama in 2008, hillary clinton opened her convention speech with declaring that she is “a proud supporter of barrack obama”

the electoral campaign
why are campaign events not held equally accross all the states?

states identiied as battleground states, where the result is not easily predictable, are likely to see far more events and far more spending by each campaign. “bellwether states” are those that historically have tended to vote for teh andidate who will ultimtatley win the presidential election. these states see far more interest from candidates.

the electoral campaign
what statistics support this?

in 2020, 96% of campaign events by either trump, pence, biden or harris took place in just 12 states.

govener scott walker in 2015 argued that “the nation as a whole is not going to elect the next president. twelve states are.”

the electoral campaign
what are presidential debates?

since 1976, there has been an expectation for candidates to take part in televised debates. candidates who are polling at an average of 15% in the polls are eligble to take part in these debates. for all recent debates, this ahs meant there have been only 2 candidates, one democrat and one republican, with 3rd parties failing to meet the polling requirement.

the electoral campaign
are these debates important?

many argue that these debates are superficial and mean nothing to voter choice. in 2016, hillary clinton appeared to have “won” each debate according to polling, but still lost the election.

despite this, following a disasterous debate peformance in 2024, democratic nominee joe biden was pressured by the democrats to drop out of the race. biden was eventually replaced by kamala harris.

pundits agreed that harris peformed well against trump in the second debate, trump still continued to win all swing states in the election.

Election day and the electoral college
why was the electoral college put in the constitution?

included as a comrpimise. it prevented a direct election of the president by the population, which was feared by some of the founding fathers.

-it also added to federalism, as it ensured that both high and low populated states would have a voice at a national level, in much the same way the senate would protect this in congress.

Election day and the electoral college
how does teh electoral college work?

each state alllocated a number of electoral votes, being the same number of people representating teh sate in congress. therefore a minimum of 3 ECVs. the number of house of reps members per state is in proportiaonal to its population, therefore allocating ECV’s in this way meant it was broadly proportional.

Election day and the electoral college
how do electoral college votes become real votes?

before election day, each party selects people who cast ECV’s in each state (loyal party activists.)
-following election day, the state declares which presidential candidate will be allocated its ECVs. the electors cast their vote in the state capitol on thee first monday after the second wednesday in december.

Election day and the electoral college
what are faithless electors?

faithless electors are electoral college delegates who do not vote as their state did. the liklihood of these voters having any effect on the outcome is minimal.

in 2016, there were 10 faithless electors of the 538, 3 of these had their votes invalidiated as they broke state law and had to vote again, but 7 successfully cast their ballot for someone other than their state intended.

arguments in favour of electoral college reform
what is an argument of the popular vote?

in two of the last 7 presidential elections the winner of the popular vote has lost the electoral college, undermining the vote. This happened in 2000 with George W. Bush and 2016 with Donald J Trump.

arguments in favour of electoral college reform
what is an argument in terms of third parties?

third parties are effectivley excluded from the electoral proccess, as votes are not allocated proportionally and third party votes tend to be thinly spread across the nation.

arguments in favour of electoral college reform
how does the system create tryanny of the minority ?

small states are overrepresented through the system.

-caliofrnia has 54 ECVs and a population of nearly 40 million. wyoming has 3 ECVs and a population of nearly 600,000. this means that each ECV in wyoming represents around 200,000 people, while a californian ECV represents over 3 times as many people.

arguments in favour of electoral college reform
what is an argument in terms of campaigns?

the bellwether states are over represented as it is their votes that decide an election. a majoirity of stataes are thus almost ignored throughout the electoral proccess as their result is more predictable.

-in the 2024 presidential election, campaigns placed an extreme focus on these states, especially pennsylvania.

arguments in favour of electoral college reform
what is an argument in terms of possible constitutional crisis?

the fact that faithless electors exist undermines basic principles of democracy. reform is therefore needed to maintain the legitimacy of US elections.

arguments against electoral college reform
what is an argument in terms of representation of states?

the electoral college ensures small states remain represented. with the population heavily concentraded in a few big states such as California, the needs of smaller states could be ignored without the EC. it also maintains federalism due to different electoral procedurerss in each state.

arguments against electoral college reform
what is an argument in terms of tryanny of the majority?

the EC guards against tryanny of the majority. the founding fathers were not convinced about the wisdom of popular voters, and this indirect form of election disperses power away from the public.

arguments against electoral college reform
what is an argument in terms of lack of replacement?

there is no consensus on what should replace the EC. slight reforms have been suggested, such as the proportional allocation of ECVs. the idea of a straight up national popular vote is contrary to the values of the founding fathers. this is especially problematic given the diffiiculty of passing a constitutional amendment generally.

arguments against electoral college reform
what is an argument in terms of history?

historically, the electoral college has produced a clear winner. given the use of FPTP for US elections, the resulting 2 party ststem means the winnner has a clear majority of ECvs and therefore ahs a strong mandate to govern.

The two party system
how does the ‘winner takes all’ lead to a 2 party system?

the winner takes all system disadvantages third parties as they gain nothing unless they come first in a state or district. therefore, despite the threefold jump in third party votes in 2016 to more than 7 million votes, they gianed nothing for their achivements, compared to first past the post in the uk.

The two party system
how does the nature of the us create a 2 party system?

the federal nature of the country and the gaurentee of a states right to run its own elections, means that every election is a small single seat election. using the winner takes all system in itself creates a two party system.

-given that the usa effectivley conducts a series of mini elections on any election day, this problem is exacerbated.

The two party system
how does party ideology create a 2 party system?

the 2 main parties have a broad ideology and it is difficult for a 3rd party to carave out distinct policy that is not already covered by then.

-in the 2024 presidential elections, RFK jr initally decided to run as an alternative to democratic voters. despite this, he continued to withdraw from the race and endorse donald trump.

The two party system
how does the expense of politics createa 2 party system?

us elections have become so expensive the only parties able to compete are those with money. most smaller parties lack finances or membership to gain success.

The two party system

how do electoral rules create a 2 party system?

the rules of the presidential debate to exclude 3rd parties who struggle to achieve the populairity needed in the polls. this restricts their access to what amounts to free media and undermines the legitimacy of these parties.

diffiulcty in reforming campaign finance
why is it diffiulct to reform campaign finance?

those in power have benefitted from the current system and can be relluctant to reform it. where legislators have created legislation, groups have found ways around it, such as PACs, 527s, Super PACs.

on numerous occasions, the supreme court has made this issue worse, arguing that limits to campaigin finance are against the 1st amendment.

key ideas and principles of the democratic and republican parties
what are the different basic ideologies of the 2 parties?

democrats: generally liberal, believing in progressive rights and government socioeconomic intervention

republicans: generally conservative, believing in individual rights and a limited socioeconomic role for the government, although a larger role in defence and homeland security.

key ideas and principles of the democratic and republican parties
what are the key ideological principles of the democrats?

-improving the union
-government must serve the people
-liberty and equality
-government socioecnomic intervention
-strong military, while seeking peace.

key ideas and principles of the democratic and republican parties
what are the key ideological principles of the republicans?

-american exceptionalism
-rights of the individual
-organalist interpretation of hte constitution
-limited government
-political and economic freedom
-strong military, while seeking peace.

key ideas and principles of the democratic and republican parties
what are the general key policiy of the democrats?

-abortion rights
-gay marriage
-social welfare
-immigration reform
-eniromental policies
-gun ontrol
-larger government
-debt free education
-abolisihing death penalty

key ideas and principles of the democratic and republican parties
what are hte key policy of the republicans?

-abortion restrictions
-opposed to same sex marriage
-anti immigration
-rpo business
-gun rights
-smaller government
-state and parent run education
-tax cuts over provision of social welfare
-death penalty.

changing significance of the parties
how are the significance of the parties changing?

as hyperpartisanship increases in congress, parties become more important and less bipartisan action is seen in congress. this reflects the ideological shift of the US public, which also has become mroe polarised in recent decades.

changing significance of the parties
how have constituents changed the significance of parties?

-members of congress must be mindful of views of constituents. this is especially true given the nature of primaries.

changing significance of the parties
how have congressional caucuses effected the significance of parties?

groups of congress members who share a specific common interest often come together when voting on an issue, irresepctive of party lines. for example, there is the womens caucus, a black cacuus and a steel cacus for representatitves of states in which heavy manufactoring isa crucial part of the econom

changing significance of the parties
how have interest groups effected party significance?

it would be rare for an interest group to cause a member of congress to vote against their party.

however, in an age of such expensive elections, interest groups in funding both parties and candidates is crucial and can sometimes effect voting behaviour.

democratic factions
what is the liberal faction within the democratic party?

liberals/progressives within the democrats are on the left of the party. they are more comfortable with government intervention if it can help achieve equality and protection of rights.

-noteable figures include bernie sanders and elizabeth warren, who ran against biden in 2020.
sanders 2020 campaign included a policy of free education, univeral healthcare, and a green new deal.

-un 2018, 28 year old alexandria ocazio cortez caused a “political earthquake” as she defeated the incumbet congressmen joe crowley in the new york 14th districtdemocratic parimary.

democratic factions
how have the liberals faction recently effected politics?

in 2021, the liberal faction of the democrats held up bidens infastructure bill, a key part of his build back better agenda. they refused to vote for the bill alone, hoping to combine it with large social security package, or at least get a guaranteed vote on social security package. the infastructure eventually passed but only after guaranteeing a social security vote.

democratic factions
what is the moderate faction within the democratic party?

moderates are democrats who sit at the centre. they hold up liberal values while being willing to compromise on some of their specifics. Dianne Feinstein and Charles Schumer sit almost in the centre of the party.

feinstein, a senator from california, opposed the death penalty and supports the enviroment but does not support government take over of healthcare. in a 2017 town hall meeting, feinstein was booed by attendees when she suggested she did not support single payer healthcare. (she is dead now)

democratic factions
what is the conservative faction within the democratic party?

conservative democrats are on the very right of the party. this is increasingly uncommon in an era of hyperpartisanship. these are members who would tend to be socially and morally conservative but share agreement on the democras on fiscal and economic policy.

democratic factions

what is an example of a conservative democrat effect politics?

Joe Manchin was a a senator for west virginia, who advocated a measure of gun control despite his right leaning state, but was the only democratic vote for brett kavanaugh to be appointed to SCOTUS in 2018.

manchin routineley challenged bidens policies on social welfare, spending, voting rights and abortion.

Republican factions
what is the moderate faction within the republican party?

moderate republicans favour more conservative fiscal policy, looking for lower taxes and more business freindly policies. this is often balanced with more liberal views on issue of rights.

in februrary 2022, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins introduced a bill to codify in law the right to abortion. like conservative democrats, there are increasingly fewer moderate republicans.

Republican factions

what is the fiscal conservative faction within the republican party?

fiscal conservatives focus on the size and cost of government, with a goal of cutting it down to reduce taxes and allow more economic freedom for american business. social nad moral issues are not usually a large concern.

-these americans strongly supported trumps promises to free the economy from government regulation.

Republican factions
what is the social conservative faction within the republican party?

social conservatives have a keen focus on social and moral issues, often known as the ‘religious right’.

-they support the death penalty and gun rights while opposing abortion and social welfare.

as the 2020 republican platform identifies, they belieive in the sancitity of life of unborn children.

ted cruz’s 21 hour ‘fillibuster’ of 2013 was staged in opposistion to obamacare on an ideological, rather than cost basis.

in may 2022, republicans voted together with democrat joe manchin to block the codification of abortion rights in the US.

How gender impacts voting
how does gender effect voting turnout?

in every election since 1980, women have voted in higher proportions than men.

in the 2024 presidential election, women made up the majority (53%) of the vote.

How gender impacts voting
why do women traditionally vote democrat?

-usually between 40% and 49% of women ote republican, while little over 50% vote democratic.

one of the reasons could be womens issues, not only abortion but also the gender pay gap and employment equality. the democraitc party also has more female representatitves in both houses of congrss and typically has more female candidates running for office.

How race impacts voting
how does race impact turnout?

turnout of thw two biggest minority groups in the us, hispanics/latinos and african americans, typically turnout lower than white Americans..

How race impacts voting
how do racial minoritires typically vote?

like women, racial minorities in the us typically have been more likely to vote for the democrats in recent elections. however, a significant minority of these groups do vote republicam.

-in 2024, african american rap icon 50 cent argued that black amercians are “identifiying” with donald trump, highlighting the slow shift. Trump also made significant gains in votes from racial minorities in the 2024 electoin.

How race impacts voting
why do racial minorities typically vote democrat?

policies which help them have typically been championed more by democrats than republicans. voting rights and affirmitive action have traditionally been seen as particular relevant to african americans. For hispanic/latinos, the typically significant policy was assumed to be immigration, however, research in 2016 showed that immigration placed only 5th in a list of policy priorities for hispanics/latinos.

-there are also far more democratic african americans and hispanic/latino members of congress than republicans.

How race impacts voting
how has trump managed to gain support with latino/hispanics?

in the 2020 presidential elections, for the first time the majority of eligible hispanic/latino voters turned out.

-trump increased the republican share of the hispanic/latino vote copmared with 2012 and 2016. twice as many hispanic/latino voters in 2016 considered immigration policy in the US being too soft rather than too strict, therefore trumps harldine immigration policy won him support.

how education impacts voting
how is education being focused on more?

traditionally, poltical pundits focus on the voting patterns on age, race, gender and religion. education was seen as part of class.

however, in 2016, voters level of education became a big headline and contiuned in 2020 and 2024. they key trend appeared to be that those who had a higher level of education were more likely to vote for clinto, harris and biden, while those with lower education were more likely to vote for trump.

how religion impacts voting
how does religion impact policy support?

religion can become a factor in regard to moral issues:

-abortion, euthanasia, death penalty, laws surrounding marriage.


for voters with religious affilation, party stances on these matters can therefore influence their vote.

how religion impacts voting
how do the different religions traditonally vote?

-protestants are more likely to be republican voters, with President trump appealing greatly to Christian protestant voters.

-catholics have more split voting patterns, with issues such as abortion causing their votes to swing between democrats and republicans over the last 4 elections

-jewish americans are reliable democratic voters, traditionally being far more liberal in their views and sharing sympathy with minroity groups.

how religion impacts voting
how has religious voting changed?

in 2020, trump took a majority of the protestant and catholic vote, while biden took a majority of jewish and other religious voters.

types of interest groups
what are the different types of interest groups?

in a political system with many access points, groups often use whatever means they can to be heard. there appear to be 3 broad types of groups:

-single issue, professional, and policy.

single issue pressure groups
what are single issue groups?

a single issue group tries to gain influence over a specific issue that is narrow in scope.

the National Rifle Association (NRA) fights for the rights of gun owners in the us. that might be over storage of weapons, as in Disctirct of Colubia v. heller (2008)
they have also fought against restrictions on attachments, and an assault rifle ban.

single issue pressure groups
how can single issue pressure groups campaigns evolve?

in 2017, after the mass shooting in las vegas in which 58 died, a national discussion began about regulation of “bump stocks” which can achieve a far higher rate of fire from semi automatic weapons. all of these relate to the single issue of guns, under protetion of the 2nd amendment.

-in 2022, the NRA complained on twitter that bidens executive order banning untracebale guns made from a kit would “burden law abiding gun owners.”

Professional interest groups
what are professional interest groups:?

professional interest groups seek to represent the interests of a group of workers/professionals.

the american Farm bureau federation represents farmers across the USA. the issues that they consider to be relevant to their group, however, are more than just agricultural policy. they also campaign on immigratino reform, tax and energy.

policy interest groups
what are policy interest groups?

policy interests groups are similar to single issue groups but with greater breadth over the issues they care about.

likely to represent issues such as environment / foreign policy.

The American Israel public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) for eample, looks to promtoe ther reltationship between israel and the us while also campaiging on other middle eastern cocners such as the war on syria and defence issues.

resources of interest groups
how does money give interest groups power?

a group with alot of money can contribute to election campaigns, hire epxensive lobbyists and organise grassroots campaigns.

The NRA spent 4.2 million supporting trump in 2020, 12.2 million opposing biden in 145 congressional races. this included 4 millionin spending on two special elections for the georiga senate.

resources of interest groups
how does membership give interest groups power?

the larger a group is, the more likely it is to have an influencedue to the short election cycle.

-groups that can mobilise many voters can pose a significant threat to a member of congress up for election.

who is in their membership is also important. those with expertise on the field can help to shape campaigns, as can big odners, lawyers or professional experts.

resources of interest groups

how can points of access give interest groups power?

a group that has either access to, or the support of , a politican si more likely to be heard. this may come from a retired member of congress or it may be that former congressional staff members move into these groups.

in 2022, 453 former members of congress worked as lobbyists or senior advisors,offering these groups valuable information on the legislative proccess but also bringing with them access to the people they sued to work with.

tactic of interest groups
how has lobbying been successful in influeincing poltiics?

lobbying is a multi billion dollar endeavour.

-in 2013, a bill passed the house that would have rolled back parts of the DOdd-frank act, allowing banks to use savers money to trade in riskier things such as stocks. signficiantly, the language of the bill was almost indenticial to language suggests by lobbyyists for citigroup, one of the countries largest banks.


-in 2016, representattive tipton introduced a bill to allow drilling in a protected area. the language of the bill appeared to have been written by oil company SG interests, one of his top donors.

tactic of interest groups
how do report cards influence politics?

interest groups place pressure on politicans by issuing annual report cars on them, rnaking them on various issues.

-Senator Sanders was given a D- from the NRA in 2016 while he campagined for presidency. after sanders referenced his grade during a campaigin event, politico wrote “he is wearing his bad grade as a badge of honour”

tactic of interest groups
how has campaign finance and electioneering effected poltiics?

wall street reported nearly 3 billion dollars spent on lobbying during the 2020 election.

interest groups can offer endorsement to candidates. this “electioneering” offers an outward sign to voters that a candidate is supportive of their issue.

in 2018, The NRA publically advocated against the re-election of Joe manchin due to his stance on gun control.

tactic of interest groups
how do interest groups use grassroots activity?

organised protests is a simple method of action.

thousands of protestors attended the womens march in october 2020 the campaigin against the confirmation of Amy Coney barret to the supreme court.

tactic of interest groups
how do interest groups use litigation?

if they have money and legal reason, they can launc court cases to avance their cause.

Citizens united challlenged the fecs campaign finance laws, while the coalition to defend affirmative action challenged michiagans ban on affirmative action.