Congress
Chapter 2
· What is the primary goal of any representative?
o Reelection
· Which house is closer to the people?
o House of representatives (because they only have a 2 year term so they are working towards reelection)
· Which house was originally elected by state legislatures?
o Senate
o What amendment changed this?
§ 17th Amendment
· Proportional Voting systems
o Do you vote for a specific candidate or do you vote for the party?
§ Voting for the party over the candidate
o During an election what happens when you receive 40% of the vote under this system?
§ Receives 40% of seats
Understanding Political Science/ How to Study Legislatures
· What is a variable?
o definable quantity that can take on two or more values
· What is a theory?
o Explanation of behaviors
· What is a hypothesis?
o Educated guess
· What is hypothesis testing?
o You have a null hypothesis that you are trying to test and support with
· What is a null hypothesis?
o No significance between the dependent and the independent variables
· What is Operationalization?
o Turning abstract ideas into measurable observations
· What is covariation?
o Assuming that the dependent and the independent variable are going to co-vary
· What is a positive relationship?
o When two variables are going in the same direction. So they are both increasing or both decreasing
· 5 Rules of political science research
1. Causality
a. Use more quantitative methods
b. Don’t think that you are causing the causality
c. Only showing A is correlated to B
2. Do not Let data alone drive your theories
a. Even when you’re wrong you are testing your hypothesis and adjusting your theory
3. As a scientist, you must only consider the empirical data.
a. Report all data regardless of if you are right or wrong
4. NEVER USE NORMATIVE STATEMENTS
a. Not about what YOU think the world should be
b. Conduct research and share results in a way that makes it hard for the reader to understand what side you are on
c. Do not use biased terminonology.
5. Pursue both generality and parsimony
a. Make sure your argument is application and simple
b. Make sure it is easily understood.
National Legislatures
· What is a faction?
o Group of people with a common interest who don’t do it for general welfare they just do it for whatever their end goal is.
· What is Institutionalization?
o Process in which an institution becomes more complex and well bounded
o Process in which an institution is created
o What are the three key aspects of it?
§ Well bounded
§ Seniority: Relatively complex and each section is NOT interchangeable
§ Has a criteria that is universalistic rather than particularistic for joining.
§ Internal complexity
§ Universalistic over particularistic
· 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act (What does it do?)
o President cannot impound certain budgetary items
o Conrgess has the power to control the budget and prevent the presiden from impounding federal funds
· 1946 Legislative Reorganization Act
o Strips down the amount of standing committees to 19 in the house and 15 in the senate (because there are less people in the senate)
o What does it do?
§ Narrowed congressional standing committees to enhance efficiency.
· Polbsy’s measure of internal complexity
o Growth in Autonomy and importance of committees
o Growth of Specialized Agencies in Party leadership
o The general increase in the provision of various emoluments and auxiliary aids to members in the form of office space, salaries, and office staff (More staff better pay)
· Four phases of Committees according to Polsby
o No Committee Era
§ Key exec members ruled congress
o Jeffersonian Era
§ Partisan Elite directed committee business
o Clay Era
§ Committee Appointments (congress) were determined by cingress not the executive
§ Made 5 oversight committees on executive expenditures in the executive branch
o Decentralized Era
§ Committee and leadership positions determined by seniority
§ Party whips, floor leaders and others were determined by congressional members
§ The rules for committee appointments are entrusted to reflect seniority.
State Level Legislatures
· Professionalization
o How consistently they are able to
· Calendar Days vs Legislative Days
o Calendar days are how many days there are and legislative days are more when they are legislating
· Citizen Initiative (What is it?)
o Citizens lock in and do something
Nominations and General Elections
· What is the money primary?
o For candidates to see how much money they can actually raise for their party
· Citizens United V. FEC outcome
o Allowed unlimited money to be spent on specific candidate under the assumption that political campaign contributed are covered under free speech
o Who did it benefit?
§ Allows corporations and other big businesses to give campaigns lots of money
§ Super PACs
· What is a Super PAC?
o (super political action committee)- an independent political action committee composed of supportive corporations or labor unions that have NO cap on how much money they can raise for a political campaign.
· What is “Pressing the Flesh”?
o Personal appearance by candidates and their surrogates
· What is “Shoe-Leather Campaigning”?
o When you have an effort to walk from door to door to do direct constituent work
o Deliver personalized messages to individual voters
· Midterm Loss Theories
o Surge and Decline?
§ Presidential election will create a surge in support and energy that carries the candidate to the presidency but there is a decline that can come from dislike or low energy for the president
o Referendum?
§ Midterms serve as a referendum on the president based off policies, scandals and their performance so far.
o Balance?
§ Voters prefer balance and tend to vote for the opposing party in power to balance out the party in power.
· What is the Cultural Gap?
o Differences between democrats and republicans because of where they are from (urban vs. rural).
· What is the Gender Gap?
o Men and women tend to support different political parties
· What is the Racial Gap?
o Majority white and racial minority voters tend to vote for different parties
· What are Opinion Leaders?
o Individuals that influence how people vote on a specific issues.
· What is Issue Uptake?
o When a political official (after winning police office) becomes more aware of what their opponent’s campaign themes were when they take office.
· What advantages does an Incumbent have over a Challenger?
o They were already in office working to be reelected until the election comes around again so citizens who know how that candidate works are more likely to vote fro them.
Who Runs for Congress and Why
· What is Strict Scrutiny?
o Highest form of determining if a law/case district subordinated all considerations to racial considerations over race-neutral districting principles.
· What is Leapfrog Representation?
o Congressional legislator is replace by a new member of the opposite party—one relative extremist is replace by an opposing extremist.
· What is Recruitment?
o Social and political processes through which people seek and win leadership posts.
· What is Gerrymandering?
o District line-drawing that purposefully maximizes seats for one party or coting bloc
o Cracking?
§ Cracking splits a party’s or a group’s strength among districts, diluting its voting leverage.
o Packing?
§ Draws districts dominated by voters of one party or group (safe districts)
o Tacking?
§ Reaching out from the bulk of a district to grab a distant area with a specific desired demographic.
· Partisan Gerrymandering?
o When one political party controls the district line-drawing process and draws districts to benefit its members.
· Majority-Minority Gerrymandering
o District lines are drawn to directly benefit racial minorities
Home Styles
· What is a “Home Style”?
o How a legislator interacts with their constituents in their district, presenting themselves in a way that builds a connection and trust with voters.
· What is Descriptive Representation?
o Elected officials should physically or demographically resemble the people they represent (race, gender, background)
· What is Substantive Representation?
o Representatives should act in their best interests of their constituents, advocating for politcies that align with their preferences (no matter what the shared demographic trait may be)
· Allocation of Effort?
o How representatives divide their time and energy among various activites such as constituency, service, legislative work and political campaigning.
· What is an Ambitious Entrepreneur?
o Describes politicians who focus on personal political advancement, seeking higher office/influence
· What is a District Advocate?
o A representative who prioritizes local concerns and woks to secure resources and address issues specific to their constituency
· What is a Party Builder?
o Politician that is committed to strengthening their political party, working on campaigns, fundraising, and fostering unity within the party.
· What is a Policy Specialist?
o A legislator who becomes knowledgeable about specific policy areas and focuses their efforts on crafting and advocating for related legislation.
· Who are the Intimates?
o Close confidants and personal supporters of a politician, such as family, friends or trusted advisors
· Who are the Loyalists?
o Supporters or party members who consistently back a politician, contributing to their campaigns and political efforts
· What is Expansion?
o Refers to efforts by representatives to grow their base of support and reach new voter groups or form new alliances.
· What is Protection?
o Involves safeguarding one’s existing support base, ensuring loyalty and maintaining strong ties with current constituents or allies.
· What is the Franking Privilege?
o Benefit provided to members of congress allowing them to send mail to constituents without paying postage, typically used to communicate governmental issues.