Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Criticisms
Two parties are too few to represent the vast range of interests that exist in American society. By discouraging the emergence of serious third party candidates the American electoral system, critics charge, denies an adequate voice to interests and values that would be represented in a multi-party system The Republican and Democratic parties are far more similar than different when it comes to crucial issues, particularly on matters of corporate power, the environment, and national security. The two-party system is, according to critics like Ralph Nader, really a one-party system masquerading as competition
Campaigning I: Money
The best democracy that money can buy? The amounts of money spent on election campaigns are without parallel Barack Obamas 2008 presidential campaign established broke all records for money raised and spent American (private and public money) v. European model (public money), with Canada somewhere in between
Money, cont
Election finance rules, www.opensecrets.org (Center for Responsive Politics) Political Action Committees (PACs) Matching funds 527 groups and issue ads What the courts have said about issue ad spending and the First Amendment (see box in text) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/poli
Media, cont
Political advertising: the dominant role of television The shrinking sound-bite Targeting key markets Genres of political ads: www.livingroomcandidate.org The Persuaders, at Frontline www.pbs.org
Mobilization, cont
Importance and methods of getting out the vote Republicans in 2004; Democrats in 2008 The rediscovery of retail politics
Voting, cont
Hispanics favor the Democrats, but there are divisions within the Hispanic community (see Figure 9.6) The median voter: but party activists seem to have become more polarized (see Figure 9.7)
Voting, cont
Retrospective voting: The electorate is, V.O. Key argues, an appraiser of past events, past performances, and past actions. It judges retrospectively; it commands prospectively only insofar as it expresses either approval or disapproval of that which has happened before. Table 9.3
Voting, cont
Voters assessments of national security, crime, or political corruption are among the issues that candidates often use to frame their opponents record and on which voters arrive at assessments of the past performance of a candidate and a party Valence and position issues