AP Government Unit 5: Political Participation and Linkage Institutions Study Notes
Expansion of Opportunities for Political Participation
The Amendment: This amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, which most notably included people who were formerly enslaved.
The Amendment: This amendment stated that a person could not be denied the right to vote based on race.
The Amendment: This amendment called for the direct election of United States Senators by the citizens rather than by state legislatures.
The Amendment: This amendment established that sex could not be a barrier to voting, effectively granting women the right to vote.
The Amendment: This amendment banned the use of poll taxes as a requirement for voting in federal elections.
The Amendment: This amendment lowered the formal voting age to years old.
Political Models Explaining Voting Behavior
Rational Choice Voting: Voting based on what is perceived to be in the voter's individual personal interest. * Example: An elderly individual voting for a candidate who specifically promises to expand Medicare benefits.
Straight Ticket Voting: This describes a voter who only votes for candidates from a single political party for all offices on the ballot (e.g., voting for all Republicans or all Democrats).
Retrospective Voting: This model involves voting based on the recent past performance of a party or candidate. * It is primarily focused on how a voter feels about the incumbent rather than the challenger. * Example: Voting for the challenger simply because you are dissatisfied with the performance of the current president.
Prospective Voting: Voting based on which candidate the voter believes will handle future issues more effectively. * Example: Choosing a candidate based on the types of federal judges you expect them to nominate.
Factors Influencing Voter Choice and Political Efficacy
Party Identification and Ideology: Party identification remains the best predictor of how a person will ultimately vote.
Candidate Characteristics: Voters are often influenced by the perceived honesty or competency of the individual candidate.
Contemporary Political Issues: Current events and specific policy debates significantly influence decision-making.
Personal Identity: Religious affiliation, gender, race, and ethnicity are all major factors that influence voter choice.
Political Efficacy: This refers to a person's belief that she can affect political outcomes. * High Efficacy: Individuals who believe their participation matters are more likely to vote and participate politically. * Low Efficacy: Individuals who believe their vote does not matter are less likely to engage in the political process.
Structural and Demographic Issues Affecting Voter Turnout
Demographic Trends: In broad terms, people are more likely to vote the older they get, the more education they have, and the higher their income level is.
State Election Policies: Each state makes its own election policies, which can affect turnout. * Voter Registration Laws: These laws can make it tougher or easier to register. Some states require in-person registration, others allow online registration, and some register citizens automatically. * Voting Opportunities: There are variations in early voting, absentee voting, and mail-in voting opportunities. * Logistics: The hours that polls remain open and the funding allotted for polling places and workers vary by jurisdiction. * Voter Photo ID Laws: Strict photo ID requirements implemented by some states can potentially decrease overall voter turnout.
Type of Election: Presidential elections consistently have higher turnout than midterm elections.
Political Parties as Linkage Institutions
Definition of Linkage Institutions: These institutions connect people to the government and include political parties, interest groups, elections, and the news media.
Primary Goal of Political Parties: The main objective of a political party is to gain power and win elections to influence public policy.
Functions of Political Parties: * Mobilization and Education: Parties provide information that supports their candidates and help get supporters to the polls. * Party Platform: This is a formal statement of the party's policies and goals for the next years. * Candidate Recruitment: Parties seek out and encourage individuals to run for office. * Campaign Management: Parties help manage campaigns, raise money for candidates, and facilitate media strategy.
Changes and Weakening of Political Parties
Candidate-Centered Politics: The rise of voters focusing more on the individual candidate than on party affiliation has weakened the party's control over candidates.
Critical Elections and Realignment: Critical elections occur when a major issue leads to new party coalitions and regional realignment. * Case Study: During the Civil Rights era, the American South, which had been strongly Democratic, shifted its alignment to the Republican Party.
The Primary System: The rise of primary elections allows citizens to choose their party’s candidates, thereby reducing the influence of party leaders.
Campaign Finance Laws: Changes in these laws have made it easier for candidates to raise their own money, making them less reliant on the party for fundraising.
Technology and Big Data: Parties use modern resources to target political messaging and mobilize specific blocks of voters.
The Two-Party System and Barriers to Third Parties
Structural Barriers: The way elections are conducted acts as a barrier to the success of third parties. * Win-or-Take-All Districts: The US uses win-or-take-all voting districts for the House of Representatives (all districts). Since a third-party candidate is unlikely to come in first place, they rarely win representation in Congress.
Informal Barriers: * Platform Co-opting: When a third party builds support for a specific policy, one of the two major parties often adopts that issue into their own platform, taking away the third party's support. * Wasted Vote Perceptions: Many voters believe that voting for a third party is a waste of their vote.
Interest Groups and Influence on Public Policy
Purpose: Interest groups aim to influence public policy for a specific or broad purpose.
Functions and Strategies: * Education: Interest groups hire lobbyists to provide information to policy makers. This information is not neutral but is designed to convince policy makers to vote for key legislation. * Drafting Legislation: Lobbyists meet with Congressional committees and assist with drafting or wording bills. * Mobilization: Groups put pressure on policy makers via social media, phone calls, and town hall meetings, or by helping voters get to the polls. * Campaign Finance: They raise money through political action committees () to support campaigns and make advertisements.
Iron Triangles and Issue Networks: Interest groups influence bureaucratic agencies. Agencies receive favorable legislation and regulations while giving electoral support to congressmen, who in turn fund the agency.
Amicus Curiae Briefs: Meaning ‘Friend of the Court,’ these are legal briefs submitted by groups not directly involved in a case to influence the Supreme Court’s decision.
Issues and Inequalities within Interest Groups
Resource Inequality: Some groups have larger memberships or are better funded, giving them a significant advantage.
Unequal Access: Well-funded groups typically have more access to policy makers and decision-making rooms.
The Free Rider Problem: This occurs when people benefit from a group's efforts without being members or financially supporting the group, which can hinder the group's ability to accomplish goals.
Social Movements
Definition: Broad-based, often grassroots efforts to achieve major policy change.
Mechanism: Large numbers of people rise up to demand change for a specific perceived problem.
Challenges: While they can achieve success, they often lack leadership, infrastructure, resources, and clear policy objectives.
The Presidential Election Process
Incumbency Advantage: In recent decades, the incumbent president often wins re-election because they have campaign experience, existing donor networks, and are already seen as ‘presidential.’
Primary Elections and Caucuses: * Primary: An election where party members vote for a candidate to represent them in the general election. * Caucus: A meeting of party members where they discuss candidates and vote in person in front of each other. * Open Primary: Allows any registered voter to participate in either party’s primary (but not both). * Closed Primary: Only allows voters registered with that specific party to participate.
National Convention: The official event where the candidate with the most delegates is nominated as the party's presidential candidate.
The Electoral College
Winning the Presidency: A candidate must receive a majority of electoral votes, which is . If no candidate reaches , the House of Representatives chooses the President.
Mechanics: states use a win-or-take-all system where the winner of the state's popular vote receives all its electoral votes. The number of votes per state equals its Representatives plus its Senators (minimum of ).
Impact on Campaigning: Candidates focus their resources on competitive ‘Swing States’ or ‘Battleground States,’ often ignoring solid Democratic or Republican states.
Arguments in Favor: * States retain a role in the decision. * Ensures geographic balance (prevents focus solely on urban areas). * Guards against ‘mob rule’ by uninformed voters.
Arguments Against: * Gives too much power to swing state voters. * It is anti-democratic as it can ignore the national popular vote. * The win-or-take-all feature discourages third-party candidates.
Congressional Elections and Modern Campaigns
Midterm Elections: Turnout is consistently lower than in presidential elections, and voters tend to be more partisan and ideological.
Incumbency in Congress: Incumbent congressmen typically win re-election due to: * Casework/Constituent Service. * Receiving the majority of contributions. * Better name recognition and media visibility.
Modern Campaign Characteristics: * Dependence on professional consultants. * Rising costs and intensive fundraising. * Long election cycles (sometimes over years). * Increased reliance on social media for communication and fundraising.
Campaign Finance Laws and Judicial Rulings
Hard Money: Contributions made directly to a candidate; these are restricted and regulated.
Soft Money: Unlimited and unrestricted money contributed to political parties for ‘party building’ purposes.
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act () of : * Banned soft money. * Established the ‘Stand by Your Ad’ provision. * Banned corporations from contributing directly to campaigns. * Placed timing limits on independent political ads ( or days before an election).
Citizens United v. FEC: Reshaped finance law by ruling that corporate funding of independent political spending cannot be limited because corporations have the same free speech rights as individuals. * Impact: The court struck down the ban on soft money and the timing restrictions on ads. * Debate: Proponents see it as a Free Speech case; detractors see it as a threat to election integrity due to corporate influence.
PACs and Super PACs
Political Action Committee (): An organization that raises money to support a candidate. Regular have limits on how much they can give directly to a candidate, and corporations/unions cannot contribute to them.
Super PACs (Independent Expenditure Only Committees): These can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money independent of a candidate. * Corporations and unions can contribute to Super PACs. * Super PACs are prohibited from giving money directly to a candidate.
Independent Expenditures: Money spent on politics (like making ads) to help a campaign that is not given directly to the campaign itself.
The Role of Modern News Media
Gatekeeper and Agenda Setting: The media chooses what to report and for how long. This focus determines what issues the public perceives as important, which then influences the governmental agenda.
Horse Race Journalism: Reporting that focuses on the popularity and poll standings of candidates rather than their substantive qualifications or platforms.
Watchdog Role: Investigative journalism that informs the public about government corruption or incompetence.
Consumer-Driven Media: The primary goal is to make money by increasing clicks and views, often by focusing on dramatic or outrageous stories.
Credibility and Bias: There is increased uncertainty over news source reliability, leading to debates over ‘fake news’ and media bias.
Ideologically Oriented Programming: News targeted at specific ideological groups (conservative, liberal, etc.) which can reinforce existing beliefs and contribute to political polarization.