Chapter 8 Campaigns Elections and Voting Behavior

Chapter 8 Campaigns, Elections and Voting Behavior

Who Is Eligible to Run for Office ? • there are few eligibility requirements to run for most U. S. offices • President – must be a natural born citizen – must be 35 years old – must be a resident of the country for 14 years before inauguration • Vice President – must be a natural born citizen – must be 35 years old – must not be a resident of the same state as the presidential candidate

Who Is Eligible to Run for Office ? (cont. ) • Senate – must be a citizen for at least nine years – must be 30 years old – must be a resident of the state from which elected • Representative – must be a citizen for at least seven years – must be 25 years old – must be a resident of the state from which elected

The Modern Campaign Machine • • longer campaigns than in past times greater emphasis on funds lesser emphasis on political parties greater reliance on political consultants, who are hired to devise a campaign strategy • greater emphasis on candidate visibility, or name recognition • greater use of polls and focus groups

Regulating Campaign Finance • Federal Corrupt Practices Act of 1925 – limited election expenses for candidates – required disclosures – was ineffective because of its many loopholes • The Hatch Act of 1939 – prohibited groups from spending more than $3 million in a campaign – limited individual contributions to committees to $5, 000 – restricted political activities of civil servants – designed to end influence peddling

Regulating Campaign Finance (cont. ) • Federal Election Campaign Act of 1972 – restricted mass media expenditures – limited contributions by candidate and family members – required disclosure of all contributions over $80 • Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974 – – – created the Federal Election Commission provided public financing of presidential elections’ limited presidential election campaign spending limited contributions required disclosure of contributions and expenditures

Regulating Campaign Finance (cont. ) Buckley v. Valeo (1976) declared the 1972 limitation on what an individual could spend on his or her own election unconstitutional The Bi-partisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002 – bans soft, limits interest group advertising, increases individual contribution limit to $2000

Running for President • Types of Presidential Primaries – closed primary – only voters who are declared party members can vote in that party’s primary – open primary – voters can vote in either party primary without disclosing their party affiliation – blanket primary – voters can vote in primary elections for candidates of more than one party (a Democrat for the presidential nominee and a Republican for the Senate nominee, for example) – run-off primary – if no candidate receives a majority in the first primary, some states require a second primary between the top two candidates

The Electoral College • Electors in the Electoral College actually elect the president and vice president of the United States • the numbers of electors in each state in equal to that state’s number of representatives in both houses of Congress • electors typically cast their votes for the candidate that receives the plurality of votes in that state • because of the winner take all system of the electoral college, it typically serves to exaggerate the popular margin of victory

How Presidents and Vice Presidents are Chosen General Election Electoral College (first Tuesday in November) (1 st Monday after second Wednesday in December) Voters vote for electors Top presidential candidate receives 270 votes or more President elected Electors vote for president and vice president respectively Top vicepresidential candidate receives 270 votes or more Vice president elected IF top presidential and vicepresidential candidates receive fewer than 270 electoral votes, decisions are made in the House and Senate. Each state gets one vote in the House, two votes in the Senate. Presidential candidate receives 26 votes or more. House Representatives vote for president by state. Majority is needed to win. Senate Senators vote for vice president (from top 2 candidates). Majority is needed to win. Vice presidential candidate receives 51 votes or more. President elected If no pres. Candidate receives 26 votes by Jan. 20, and v. p. has been elected, v. p. becomes acting pres. until pres. is elected by the House. If neither candidate is elected by Jan. 20, speaker of the House becomes acting pres. until pres. is elected by the House. If no v. p. candidate is elected by Jan. 20, and pres. has been elected, a v. p. is appointed by the pres. and approved by Congress. Vice president elected

Factors that Influence Who Votes • • • age educational attainment minority status income levels two-party competition

Figure 8 -2: Voter Turnout for Presidential and Congressional Elections, 1900 to Present

Hot Links to Selected Internet Resources: • Book’s Companion Site: http: //politicalscience. wadsworth. com/schmidtbrie f 2004 • Wadsworth’s Political Science Site: http: //politicalscience. wadsworth. com • Federal Election Commission: http: //www. fec. gov • Open. Secrets. org: http: //www. opensecrets. org • Center for Voting and Democracy: http: //www. fairvote. org