AP Government Unit 5 Notes

Voting Behavior, Political Parties, and Elections

Expansion of Suffrage

  • Originally, only white, land-owning males could vote.
  • By the 1830s, universal white male suffrage was introduced by removing property requirements.
  • Constitutional Amendments:
    • 15th Amendment: Granted black men the right to vote.
    • 19th Amendment: Granted women the right to vote.
    • 23rd Amendment: Granted residents of Washington D.C. the right to vote.
    • 24th Amendment: Abolished poll taxes.
    • 26th Amendment: Lowered the voting age to 18.
  • 17th Amendment: Provided for the direct election of senators by the people, rather than by state legislatures.

Models of Voting Behavior

  • Rational Choice Model: Voting based on individual self-interest and careful study of issues.
  • Retrospective Model: Voting based on a politician's past track record.
  • Prospective Model: Voting based on the potential future a candidate might bring.
  • Party-Line Voting: Voting for all candidates of one's preferred party.

Factors Determining Voter Turnout

  • Structural Barriers:
    • Examples include requirements for government-issued IDs.
    • Republicans often support these to reduce voter fraud.
    • Democrats argue these disenfranchise those without IDs.
    • Some states remove barriers through mail-in voting and same-day registration.
  • Political Efficacy: A citizen's sense of whether their vote can make a difference.
    • Low efficacy can result from feeling one's vote doesn't matter in a reliably partisan state.
    • Disillusionment with past politicians can also decrease efficacy.
  • Type of Election:
    • Presidential elections have higher turnout than congressional elections.
    • State and county elections have the lowest turnout.
  • Demographics:
    • Gender: Women tend to vote more for Democrats, men for Republicans.
    • Age: Younger voters turn out less and favor Democrats; older voters favor Republicans.
    • Religion: Evangelical Christians are a powerful Republican voting bloc. Jews vote in high numbers and tend to vote Democratic.
  • Party Identification: Strong party identifiers almost always vote for their party's candidates.
  • Candidate Characteristics: Voters may be swayed by a candidate's perceived honesty, likability, and trustworthiness.
  • Contemporary Political Issues: Major issues like the Vietnam War can significantly influence voting behavior.

Linkage Institutions

  • Linkage institutions connect people to their government and the political process.
  • Examples include political parties, interest groups, elections, and the media.
  • They allow individuals to communicate their preferences to policymakers.

Political Parties

  • Definition: An organization bound by ideological beliefs that puts forward candidates for election.
  • Role: Determine which candidates run for office and in the drawing of legislative districts.
  • Leadership Structure:
    • National Chairperson: Runs the party.
    • Republican National Committee (RNC) and Democratic National Committee (DNC): Subcommittees work on the party platform, recruitment, media strategy, and voter mobilization.
  • Functions:
    • Mobilization and Education of Voters: Voter registration drives, encouraging people to vote, and educating them on candidates.
    • Creating Party Platform: A formal set of principles and policy goals endorsed by the party.
      • Republican platform aligns with conservative ideology (e.g., lower taxes, national security).
      • Democratic platform aligns with liberal ideology (e.g., minority rights, public welfare services).
    • Candidate Recruitment: Identifying and recruiting strong candidates for public office.
    • Campaign Management: Hosting fundraisers and implementing media strategies.

Evolution of Political Parties

  • Shift from party-centered to candidate-centered politics due to new media technology.
  • Parties adapt platforms to appeal to larger groups of voters.
  • Coalition: Demographic group that can significantly alter election outcomes if they vote as a block.
  • Party Realignment: Large groups of voters move from one party to another, often due to significant election defeats.
  • Campaign Finance Laws: Laws and court decisions affecting how much money can be given to candidates and parties.
  • Changes in Communication and Data Management Technology: Parties use demographic and psychographic analysis to refine their messaging.
  • Demographics: Classify people according to external traits like race, gender, age, and religion.
  • Psychographics: Classify people according to their inner life like their personality, aspirations, and desires.

Third Parties

  • The U.S. operates as a two-party system, making it difficult for third parties to win elections.
  • Reasons for Difficulty:
    • Winner-Take-All Voting: The candidate with the most votes wins all of a state's electoral votes (except in Maine and Nebraska).
    • Voters are less likely to vote for third parties because they seem like a wasted vote.
  • Alternative System: Proportional Voting
    • Candidates from several parties run for multiple seats, and seats are awarded based on the percentage of votes received.
  • Role of Third Parties:
    • Act as conscience of the nation by focusing on specific policies neglected by major parties.
    • Major parties may incorporate third-party agendas into their platforms.

Interest Groups

  • Tend to form around single issues or demographics.
  • Goal: Persuade policymakers to pass favorable legislation.
  • Lobbying: Representatives of interest groups (lobbyists) meet with lawmakers to inform them about the potential impacts of legislation.
  • Interest groups draft legislation and educate the public on their issue.
  • Example: Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).
  • Iron Triangles: Interest groups are part of iron triangles with bureaucratic agencies and congressional committees.
  • Issue Networks: Short-term cooperative networks that form among various interest groups when a particular issue touches several different groups.
  • Factors Determining Influence:
    • Funding: More funding leads to more power and access to policymakers.
    • Free Rider Problem: When a larger group benefits from the efforts of an interest group than are members of the group.

Social and Protest Movements

  • Similar goals to interest groups: overturning or establishing new policies.
  • More grassroots and citizen-driven.
  • Examples: Civil Rights Movement, Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, Tea Party.
  • Often engage in civil disobedience to draw attention to injustices.
  • Can influence policy despite lacking the funding of dominant interest groups.

Elections

  • Presidential Elections:
    • Candidates win state primary elections or caucuses to earn the party's nomination.
    • Win a majority of delegate votes at the party's national convention.
  • Primary Elections:
    • Closed Primary: Voters must vote for candidates aligned with their declared party.
    • Open Primary: Voters can vote for any candidate regardless of their party registration.
  • Caucuses: Voting happens at a more local level, and voting is more public.
  • General Election: Candidates fight for votes to become president.
  • Incumbency Advantage: The candidate already in office has a significant advantage.
    • Reasons: Known quantity, use of the bully pulpit, access to financial contributors.
  • Electoral College:
    • Each state appoints electors equal to its number of seats in Congress.
    • Electors almost always vote along the lines of the popular vote.
    • Faithless electors vote against the popular vote.
    • The winner-take-all system can lead to situations where the popular vote winner does not win the presidency.
  • Congressional Elections:
    • Every two years, every seat of the House of Representatives is up for election.
    • Every two years, one-third of Senate seats are up for election.
    • Midterm Elections: Congressional elections that happen halfway through the presidential election cycle.
    • Lower voter turnout than presidential elections.
    • Incumbency advantage is more pronounced.
      • Reasons: Established donor networks, dedicated staff, name recognition, gerrymandered districts.
  • Campaigns:
    • Money is crucial.
    • Candidates rely on party funding, individual donors, and political action committees (PACs).
    • Modern campaigns are complex and require professional consultants.