POS 4424 Exam 1

what is the dual nature of congress?

Congress as a national policymaking institution and Congress as an assembly of local representatives.

what influenced American legislative development?

English parliamentary institutions

Congress has a representative assembly of 541 individuals -

100 senators, 435 representatives, 5 delegates, and 1 resident commissioner

what is the operational goal of members of congress?

reelection

legislators have to balance what two tasks

conversing with constituents and lawmaking

what are the structural differences of the house and senate

Apportionment (population-based vs. equal state representation)

Constituencies (district vs. state)

Terms (2 years vs. 6 years)

Duties (different powers)

true or false

The public views the U.S. Congress differently from the way it sees individual senators and representatives.

true

citizens view their legislators in great part as _ _ _ _, while their view of Congress as a whole is much different; sending _ _ to lawmakers

agents of local concerns; mixed signals

Congress's mandate to write the nation's laws is found in

Article I of the Constitution

Congress's ____ functions are not specified in the Constitution, although these duties flow from the constitutional provisions for electing senators and House members.

representational

In 1913, the __ to the Constitution was adopted, providing for direct popular election of senators

seventeenth Amendment

other legislative systems tend to tie legislators more closely to their _____ ____ than to local constituencies.

political parties

Legislators in PR systems face fewer dilemmas about how to balance

Local constituency politics with national party platforms.

what are the duties of the house

Initiates revenue/tax bills (Article I, Section 7)

Has the sole power of impeachment (Article I, Section 2)

what are the duties of the senate

Confirms presidential appointments (judges, cabinet members, ambassadors) (Article II, Section 2)

Ratifies treaties (Article II, Section 2)

Holds impeachment trials (Article I, Section 3)

how do members of congress differ

experience (incumbents v amateurs)

resources (campaign fundraising and staff and political influence)

what makes a good candidate

Experience

Visibility

Access to resources

Policy Positions

Overall plan for winning the election (which voters/issues to target)

strategy

What does campaigns messaing involve?

• How campaigns communicate with voters

• Framing issues and candidate image

• Slogans, themes, and campaign priorities

• Shapes public perceptions of candidates

what is ground game in a campaign

Direct voter mobilization efforts

Door knocking, phone banking, and texting

how do senate elections work

they are staggered elections every 6 years

the house is up for reelection

every 2 years

how you draw the lines dictate who wins

gerrymandering

Why does it matter that the senate and house constituencies are different?

the house represents a smaller geographic constituency while the senate has a broader and more diverse constituency

the house has greater pressure to respond to district concerns, the senate is more insulated from immediate electoral pressures

A situation in which all individuals would be better off cooperating but fail to do so because of conflicting interests between individuals that discourage joint action

collective action problems

Benefiting from public good or goal without contributing.

Free riding

Prisoners dilemma comes down to

self interest

how do collective action problems relate to congress

Members have individual goals and incentives

Congress must act collectively

Individual incentives can conflict with collective goals

What are some way that institutions can help solve these problems?

Parties and leadership

Committees

Rules and procedures

Principal chooses agent to act on their behalf, Principals and agents have different amounts of information, different preferences.

Principal-Agent problem

adverse selection involves

incomplete info

moral hazard is when

you cannot perfectly monitor

Congress is endogenous, which means

it creates own rules through legislation

People vote to help preferred candidates or policies win, Assumes voting can influence election outcomes

instrumental voting

If one vote rarely decides an election, why do millions of people still vote?

paradox of voting

Voting based on perceptions of the national economy

Sociotropic voting

Voting based on personal financial circumstances

pocketbook voting

What is the key difference between Sociotropic and Pocketbook?

Sociotropic = national economy

Pocketbook = personal finances

Money given directly to a candidate's campaign, Can be regulated, Subject to contribution limit

direct contributions

Money spent independently to support or oppose a candidate, Greater constitutional protection, Cannot coordinate with campaigns

independent expenditures

Buckley v. Valeo (1976) was a major turning point in campaign finance, what was the supreme courts ruling

Contribution limits are constitutional

Limits on independent expenditures are unconstitutional

why: Political spending was viewed as a form of protected speech under the First Amendment

After Buckley v. Valeo (1976), groups learned they could often avoid certain campaign-finance restrictions by avoiding explicit

electoral language.

what is Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

Corporations and labor unions may make unlimited independent expenditures in elections, Direct contributions to candidates remain limited and Coordination with candidates remains prohibited, allowed Unlimited independent expenditures by corporations and labor unions

Citizens United v. FEC (2010) paved the way for

Super PACs

There are only three constitutional qualifications for holding congressional office

age (twenty-five years of age for the House, thirty for the Senate);

citizenship (seven years for the House, nine years for the Senate);

and residency (in the state from which the officeholder is elected).

the Supreme Court has held that states cannot

limit the number of terms their members of Congress can serve

Term limits on members of Congress can only be imposed through a

constitutional amendment.

true or false

The Senate is a legislative body in which the principle of "one person, one vote" emphatically does not apply

true

Once the figures are gathered by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau, House apportionment is derived by a mathematical formula called the

method of equal proportions

By law, the size of the House has remained unchanged since 1911 The upshot:

one state's gain now means another state's loss

Constitution describes the decennial census as an __ ___ ___ ___ (Article I, section 2)

"actual enumeration" of persons

Supreme Court confronted the controversial issue of whom to count for purposes of reapportionment and redistricting:

Every person (resident) in a state or only eligible voters.

Redistricting is fundamentally a ____ responsibility that is carried out mostly by ____ _____.

state; state legislatures

Congressional districting is regulated by two federal statutes

1967 statute that mandates that all states entitled to more than one seat create districts, each represented by a single member. At-large or multimember districts are prohibited

Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended; it requires that districts not dilute the representation of racial minorities.

In a series of landmark rulings in the 1960s, the Supreme Court held that…..

Districting schemes that fell short of standards of population equality violated the Constitution.

refers to district line-drawing that purposefully maximizes seats for one party or voting bloc

gerrymander

Two common gerrymandering techniques are cracking and packing

Cracking splits a party's or a group's strength among several districts, thereby diluting its voting leverage

Packing draws districts dominated by voters of one party or group.

Another form of gerrymandering involves the districting of

racial minorities

the decision to run raises some complex issues, such as these five

Time

Privacy

Winnable contest

Willingness to be harsh

policy/political message

The Republican and Democratic House and Senate campaign committees, however, are active in all phases of congressional elections

seek out and encourage promising candidates at the local level, sometimes even taking sides to help ensure their nomination.

They assist promising candidates with filing deadlines, lining up supporters, and handling finances

Candidate quality is measured in

strategic resources and personal attributes

How has campaign spending increased?

• Television and digital advertising Professionalized campaigns

• Competitive races

• Growth in outside spending

• Court decisions loosening restrictions

whether a legislature's membership reflects the diversity of backgrounds and interests in society. Does Congress look like the electorate?

descriptive representation

Occurs when legislators consciously act as agents for constituents and their interests—an activity legislators can perform regardless of their background or group memberships.

substantive representation

What are demographic characteristics that can map onto descriptive representation?

Education and Occupation

Race

Gender

what are some changes in the modern house

Greater reliance on formal channels over informal relationships

Party leadership has become more influential Members increasingly work through party structures rather than personal bargaining

Why is there less compromise in Congress?

• Changing incentives in Congress

• Primary elections can punish moderation Greater ideological polarization

• Fewer incentives for reciprocity and compromise

What are traits of policy focused members?

• Policy expertise

• Committee work

• Coalition building

• Legislative bargaining

what are some traits of agitators

Media attention

Challenging party leadership

National visibility

Issue advocacy

Campaigns are volatile mixtures of

personal contacts, fundraising, speechmaking, advertising, and symbolic appeals

The constituency itself shapes a

candidate's campaign

Strategists use these messages to frame the campaign: to set the election's agenda

Campaign slogan

chief resources in congressional elections are

money and organization

campaign expenditures made by party committees and other organized groups not under candidates' control

outside money

Congressional candidates may raise funds from four sources:

individual contributors,

political action committees (PACs),

party committees,

and themselves and their families.

PACs may also contribute ____ to congressional candidates

directly

cannot contribute directly to federal candidates' campaigns and cannot spend money in coordination with their campaigns, but they are permitted to make unlimited expenditures to influence the outcome of elections

Super PACs

Exemption from disclosure and reporting requirements.

What is a 501c4 ?

Campaigns are driven by the need to find a ______ way of reaching citizens and getting them to vote

cost-effective

how House and Senate candidates could be pulled into office by the strength of a popular presidential candidate.

coattails

Defeating a House incumbent is an ________, absent a scandal or misstep. Senate challengers—usually well known and generously financed—have a _______ of unseating incumbents than do those seeking House seats.

uphill struggle; stronger chance

Congress reflects the nation's large and varied population, though

not all groups receive representation commensurate with their presence in the population

Representatives' racial, ethnic, and gender identities shape…

Their priorities, positions, and legislative styles

The Senate's divergence from population-based representation affects the influence of many

social and economic groups

occurs when citizens feel they are served by any member of Congress, not just their local member

collective representation

As members carry out their representational functions, it is possible to distinguish three roles undertaken, to some degree, by most members of Congress

legislator, constituency servant, and partisan.

the longer members remain in office, the more they

sponsor bills, deliver floor speeches, and offer amendments

according to democratic theory, citizens can exert control by choosing _____ who will then deliberate on legislation just as their principals, the voters, would do if they could be on hand themselves.

fiduciary agents

legislators are faced with a central dilemma of representation:

whether to take actions that are popular with constituents or to do what the legislator believes is in their best interest

Legislators must instead use their superior information about….

Policy, their broader perspective, and their personal judgment in making decisions.

Demographically, constituencies may be

homogeneous or heterogeneous.

Heterogeneous districts tend to be more _____ than uniform ones.

competitive

As candidates or incumbents analyze their electoral base, three narrower constituencies can be discerned:

supporters (the reelection constituency), loyalists (the primary constituency), and intimates (the personal constituency)

Constituency careers have at least two recognizable stages:

expansion and protection

in the expansion stage, the member builds a

reelection constituency by solidifying the commitment of hard-core supporters and reaching out to attract additional blocs of support

in the protection stage, the member

stops expanding the base, content with protecting support already won.