POSC150 Chapter 14: CH 14 Book Notes: Voting, Campaigns, and Elections
31 May 2018
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CH 14 Book Notes: Voting, Campaigns, and Elections
Voting in a Democratic Society
● Global commitment to democracy is on the rise
● Elections provide a method for the peaceful transfer of power
○ Connects citizens with their governments
● Ideas about how much power citizens should exercise over government
○ Elite theorists- citizens should confine their role to choosing among competing
elites
○ Pluralists- citizens should join groups that fight for their interests in government
on their behalf
○ Participatory democrats- call for more active and direct citizen involvement in
politics
The Founders’ Intentions
● Electoral college: an intermediary body that elects the president
○ Now almost always endorses the popular vote for president
The Function of Elections
● Selecting leaders
○ Elections ensure only that the leader chosen is the most popular on the ballot
○ No guarantee that the best candidate will run or win
● Giving direction to policy
○ Indirect policy impact
○ The electoral process does a good job of directing policy in less dramatic ways
○ Elections speed up the process by which changes in public preferences for a
more activist or less activist government are systematically translated into
patterns of public policy
● Developing citizenship
○ Participation in government in and of itself is valuable for citizens and that
elections help citizens feel fulfilled and effective
○ Political efficacy: citizens’ feelings of effectiveness in political affairs
○ People who participate more have higher senses of political efficacy
● Informing the public
○ Election is a time of deliberation when alternative points of view are aired openly
so that citizenry can judge the truth and desirability of competing claims and the
competence of competing candidates and parties
○ Know a lot about our elections
● Containing conflict
○ Limit our options for political influence
○ Electoral vent prevents threatening behaviors
● Legitimizing and stabilizing the system
○ Making political outcomes acceptable to participants
○ Participation tends to make political results acceptable even to those who lose
What If We Don’t Vote?
● Consequences for election outcomes
○ It is unclear whether it would benefit one party or the other if more people voted
○ Nonvoters’ preferences are quite responsive to short-term factors, so they
disproportionately prefer the winning candidate
● Consequences for democracy
○ Nonvoting can influence the stability and legitimacy of democratic government
○ Nonvoters are underrepresented by not voting
○ Can aggravate already low feelings of efficacy and produce higher levels of
political estrangement
Exercising the Right to Vote
Regulating the Electorate
● Legal obstacle course, election rules
● Regulating the electorate: the process of setting rules that define who can vote and how
difficult or easy it will be to cast a ballot in an election
● Partisan divide
○ Partisan battle about who should be encouraged to vote
○ What is most beneficial to each political party
○ Demographic differences
○ Motor Voter Act: legislation allowing citizens to register to vote at the same time
they apply for a driver’s license or other state benefit
● State control of elections and the rule of the Supreme Court
○ Constitution gives to the states the primary responsibility for determining how
elections are held
○ Electoral rules are not settled
Who Votes and Who Doesn’t?
● Since 1984, women have been voting at a higher rate than men
● The likelihood of voting goes up steadily with income and education
● Turnout among members of racial and ethnic minority groups have traditionally been
lower than that of whites
How America Decides
Deciding Whether to Vote
● Attitude changes
○ Lower feelings of political efficacy lead to less participation
○ Attitudes reflect citizens’ reactions to what they see in the political world
● Voter mobilization: a party’s efforts to inform potential voters about issues and
candidates to persuade them to vote
○ Phone calls, knocking on doors, providing rides to polls
○ Personal contacts work best
● Decrease in social connectedness
○ Social connectedness: citizens’ involvement in groups and their relationships to
their communities and families
Document Summary
Ch 14 book notes: voting, campaigns, and elections. Global commitment to democracy is on the rise. Elections provide a method for the peaceful transfer of power. Ideas about how much power citizens should exercise over government. Elite theorists- citizens should confine their role to choosing among competing elites. Pluralists- citizens should join groups that fight for their interests in government on their behalf. Participatory democrats- call for more active and direct citizen involvement in politics. Electoral college: an intermediary body that elects the president. Now almost always endorses the popular vote for president. Elections ensure only that the leader chosen is the most popular on the ballot. No guarantee that the best candidate will run or win. The electoral process does a good job of directing policy in less dramatic ways. Elections speed up the process by which changes in public preferences for a more activist or less activist government are systematically translated into patterns of public policy.
