WVU Pols 102 Exam 3

Two Party System

A political system dominated by two major parties

Winner Take All Elections

An electoral system in which legislative seats are awarded only to the candidates who come in first in their constituencies.

Biased Legal System

the democrats and republicans make the rules governing the electoral system. The constitution grants the ability to administer elections and states are run by democrats and republicans.

-the two major parties adopt issues from successful third parties

Issue Poaching

Duverger's Law

a regularity that only two parties tend to compete for control of the government in countries that have single-member, plurality electoral systems

Proportional Representation

An election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote.

Matching Funds/Ballot Access

Role of Primaries in Promoting Two Parties

single-member district

An electoral district in which voters choose one representative or official.

multi-member districts

electoral districts that send two or more members to a legislative chamber

third parties

electoral contenders other than the two major parties. American third parties are not unusual, but they rarely win elections.

Why parties are useful to stakeholders and Strategic Politicians : Coordination in campaigns and transaction cost of lawmaking

Investors/Benefit Seekers

Why Party's may be useful to voters : Collective Responsibility

Democratic Coalition

some northerners and southerners united as democrats because of unwanted high tariffs

Republican Coalition

includes veterans' groups and military supporters, religious conservatives, Libertarians, opponents of gay marriage, opponents of affirmative action, supporters of the development of natural resources on public lands, and rural dwellers.

Polarization

the presence of increasingly conflicting and divided viewpoints between the Democratic and Republican Parties

Polarization (ideological disagreement and Partisan Warfare/Teamsmanship

Causes of Polarization

Sixth Party System (logic)

Period of divided government from 1968-

- Civil Rights Movement

- Vietnam War (split the Democratic party)

- increasing numbers of American voters who do not claim affiliation to either party

Doom Loop Partisanship

Predicting Presidential Elections : The economy, presidential Popularity, Time for Change

Tides of consent explaining midterm loss

Blind Retrospection

Campaigns: Much Ado About Nothing?

(Public doesn't care about what candidates say) the quality of the Romney Campaign vs. the quality of the Obama campaign

--in the general election, the effect is thought to be small by political scientists; late events may matter a little

--campaigns can matter in presidential primary elections

Electoral College

a body of people representing the states of the US, who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.

Unit rule

allocate the votes in the electoral college

-the state gives 100% of its electoral college vote the the presidential candidate who gets the most votes in the state

Partisan Leanings of States

Trump's inroads on Democratic Voters

Incumbency Advantages

Gerrymandering

Process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power.

Census

the official count of a population

Post 1964 election/Wesberry v. Sanders Redistricting

Post 2010 Redistricting

Safe seats due to GerryMandering

Sorting

(lack of ) Competitiveness of House Districts

Republican Advantage in House Elections

125 are overwhelming Republicans, 66 are strong Republican so they're never going to lose 141 districts

Short- cuts (popkin,11-1)

Working Attitudes (11-1)

low information rationality (11-1)

The idea that voters can make sensible choices in elections even though they lack knowledge and sophistication about public policy, candidates, and current events.

Link between polarization in the electorate and lawmaking in congress (Jacobson, 11-2)

Patry Identification(Logic)/ "Power of Partisan Identification" (Logic)

Exposure to Fake News (14-1)

Prisoners Dilemma in considering the infrastructure and Reconciliation (BBB) Bill

bc there are 2 sides/players

human infra. bill - spend money on addressing climate change, etc. backed by progressives but opposed by some moderates

Infras. Bill - spend money on bridges and roads (moderate support)

they both had an incentive to compromise but didn't trust one another

so the dems gave up and let infrastructure bill pass but might not get the BBB bill at all

U.S. Code

A compilation of all the laws passed by the U.S. Congress.

Distributive,Regulatory, Redistributive laws

Distributive : The government provides payments to individuals/organizations.

Redistributive :

The government provides transfers of income/wealth to individuals to foster some minimum standard of living/condition.

Regulatory :

stipulate what individuals and organizations (like corporations and small businesses) can and cannot do (must and must not do).

Problem solving, politics, and Interest Groups benefits as bases for laws

majority party

the party that holds the majority of legislative seats in either the House or the Senate

Polarization

the presence of increasingly conflicting and divided viewpoints between the Democratic and Republican Parties

partisan conflict

caused by northerner's disillusionment w/ Republican policies and resurgence of southern Democrats, who became popular in Congress, population growth changed house of rep size, 7 new states added

Legislative Productivity/ Stalemate and Polarization (Binder 6-2)

LP = how much congress passes laws and if the amount is greater or less than the problems determine productivity

Stalemate occurs when Led.Prod. is low b/c of polarization between

House vs. senate

within house & senate

Congress vs. President

divided government

Governance divided between the parties, as when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.

Ideological Moderates

tend to fall in the middle of conservatives and liberals, but as with conservatives and liberals, moderates might be more toward conservatives than liberals and vice versa (not a rigid label)

Reed's Rules

(developed by Thomas Reed [R-ME] who was Speaker of the House in the late 1890s) used his power as Speaker of the House to control the agenda, dictate who was going to sit on which committees, and how the order of business should be decided. Speakers do not, generally speaking, have as much power today as Reed did, but to a large extent the House still operates under many of these rules, every member present in the House must vote, those present and not voting still counted for quorum

Hastert Rule

A rule adopted by Republicans in the U.S. House, under which a Republican Speaker will not bring a measure to the floor for a vote unless it has the support of a majority of the Republican members

Rules Committee

A standing committee of the House of Representatives that provides special rules under which specific bills can be debated, amended, and considered by the house.

nuclear option

a controversial Senate maneuver by which a simple majority could decide to allow a majority to bypass the filibuster for certain kinds of votes

Filibuster/Cloture

an action such as a prolonged speech that obstructs progress in a legislative assembly while not technically contravening the required procedures.

cloture is used to cut off filibusters, 60 senate members must agree to halt a filibuster

Speaker of the House

the leader of the majority party who serves as the presiding officer of the House of Representatives

Congressional Committees (Logic)

a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty

committee jurisdiction

The subjects and functions assigned to a committee by rule, resolution, precedent, or practice, including legislative matters, oversight and investigations, and nominations of executive officers.

budget reconciliation

the annual process of rewriting authorization legislation to comply with the expenditure ceiling and revenue floor of the concurrent budget resolution for the upcoming fiscal year

Aggressive Presidents and a Weakened Congress (Smith 6-1)

Crop Insurance salesperson

wrote on paper