POLSCI 242 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - United States Constitution, President Of The United States, United States Senate
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
POLSCI 242
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
PoliSci 242 Campaigns and Elections
8.26.15
Rules of the game (AKA Constitution)
Outcomes
Influence choices
First few presidential elections helped shape the rules of the game
Day of the election:
Day of federal election: First Tuesday after the first Monday in November
No official day in Constitution
Political parties
Not part of the Constitution
Constitution
Article 1; 10 sections
o Section 2: people who are qualified to vote for the state legislature in the state are also
qualified to vote for the House
▪ Federalism
▪ A lot of discretion to the states
▪ "Qualifications requisite" just means that each state must allow anyone who can
legally vote in state elections also to vote for US Representative
▪ The states aren't allowed to limit voting rights for US House elections to a small elite
o Section 3
o Section 4: State controls how and when state elections take place
o 5 of the sections are on elections
Article 2
o Electoral college
Bill of Rights
Amendment 1 – free speech
o Important in the topic of campaign finance
Amendments – there have been 17 additional amendments (excluding the Bill of Rights)
9 amendments are on elections
12th amendment – provides the procedure for electing the President and Vice President
14th and 15th amendments – equal protection, citizenship rights
17th amendment – direct election of Senators
19th amendment – women’s suffrage
22nd amendment – only 2 terms for each president
23rd amendment – DC’s vote in the electoral college
24rd amendment – poll tax
26th amendment – lowers the voting age to 18
Why amend the Constitution?
War
o Ex: Civil war amendments, 26th amendment is from the Vietnam War
Democratization of elections
o Pushes mass participation
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
POLISCI 10.09.15 Lecture Notes – Campaigns
Kevin McCarthy withdraws from Speaker’s Race
Congressional reelection
o Want amendments
▪ Argues that under the current speakership, they cannot carry out the promises they
made to the constituents
o Want to vote on electorally beneficial issues
o Policy v. majority control
▪ If you’re in the leadership, you want to stay in the majority, so you won’t bring
certain issues to the floor
▪ If you’re in a safe district, then you don’t worry about reelection and worry more
about influencing legislation
Presidential Elections
Do campaigns matter in a presidential election?
Matters at the margins, but the fundamentals are much more important
We always end up at equilibrium (0% vote – no change in vote share). Why?
o Name recognition – most know who the candidates are
o Money – candidates have a lot of money – it’s rare that one side will outspend the other
side
o Both sides have comparable campaign resources
Both sides will campaign, even in the event of a landslide
Sub-presidential Elections
Campaign matters more
Equilibrium (+/– vote share)
o Name recognition
o Money
o Campaign resources
o We can measure these three factors and decide who it benefits
o In comparison to the presidential level, the factors are fairly balanced
o Incumbents have better condition of these three factors
o If the congressional race spends more than $5000, then they have to disclose their earnings
▪ Many races do not reach the $5 level, which most likely means they didn’t
campaign much
Why does it matter?
o Information that’s available to the voters
▪ Who are the candidates
▪ Partisan cue – is there information on the partisanship of the candidates even if
voters do not know who the candidates are?
o Leaves an opening for campaigns
o Money – one of the most accurate measures of a campaign is money (according to
Jacobson)
▪ We didn’t have accurate information on campaign spending until the 97s
How does money matter?
o Two opposing views
▪ Money benefits only the challenger (Jacobson argues for this)
• Name recognition – The money goes much further with the challenger since
voters are not familiar with the challenger as they are with the incumbent
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
First few presidential elections helped shape the rules of the game. Day of federal election: first tuesday after the first monday in november. 9 amendments are on elections: important in the topic of campaign finance. Amendments there have been 17 additional amendments (excluding the bill of rights) 12th amendment provides the procedure for electing the president and vice president. 14th and 15th amendments equal protection, citizenship rights. 17th amendment direct election of senators. 22nd amendment only 2 terms for each president. 23rd amendment dc"s vote in the electoral college. 26th amendment lowers the voting age to 18. War: ex: civil war amendments, 26th amendment is from the vietnam war. Democratization of elections: pushes mass participation. Congressional reelection: want amendments, argues that under the current speakership, they cannot carry out the promises they made to the constituents, want to vote on electorally beneficial issues, policy v. majority control.
