1/30/12
How are candidates chosen for
the presidential election?
I.
What is the difference
between a primary and a caucus?
A.
States decide whether they
have a primary or a caucus
B.
Primary
1.
You walk into a voting booth
and vote for a nominee for a political party to run in an election
2.
It’s like any other election
3.
First introduced in the early
1910-20s progressive era (people wanted more democracy and more influence over
government- we got to vote for senators directly during this period), but took
hold in the 1960s
4.
Three types of primaries- up
to the individual states to decide
a)
Open primary- anyone can vote
in the primary. You don’t need to be a
member of that party to vote
b)
Closed primary- you have to
be a member of the political party to vote in the primary
c)
Blanket primary- like voting
in a general election. You can switch
back and forth in parties for different offices like in a general election (no
states use this anymore)
5.
Secret Ballot
C.
Caucus
1.
Instead of going to a booth
to vote, people gather in a room and debate the nominees and then write down
who they vote for
2.
Takes a few hours, so they
are more influenced by activists who are heavily involved in the political
process, especially caucuses because they require a commitment
3.
Publicly voting
D.
Front-loading- when states
try move up their primary date to have more influence
1.
If a state tries to make its
primary too early/before Iowa and New Hampshire, the national party might
punish the state and not allow its delegates to vote at the national convention
2.
This year, Florida moved up
its primary so as a punishment only half their delegates can go and vote at the
convention (this also happened in 2008)
II.
How were presidential candidates
picked before the primary system?
A.
Party caucuses in Congress
picked presidential candidates (occurred up until the 1820s)
B.
1820s- set up National
Nominating Conventions, where each party would meet and choose the candidate
for their party to run in the election
1.
For the first 100 years it
was the party elites who would be at the conventions and choose the nominees
(average people did not have a say)
a)
Convention was exciting
because you did not know who would get the nomination
2.
In the 1920s primaries and
caucuses were adopted and gave people a say in choosing nominees. It became widely accepted in the 1960s. The party bosses did not have all the power,
the people had a voice too
1/31/12
III.
The National Convention
A.
Occurs 2 months before the
general election in October
B.
Before we had primaries, the
conventions were very important because the nominees were picked at the
conventions. Now that we have primaries
and caucuses, we usually know who the nominee is going to be
C.
What is the purpose of the
convention today if it is not about picking the candidates?
1.
Sometimes they announce and
formerly introduce the vice presidential nominee
2.
Motivate the party to get
support for the election
3.
Officially introduce the
nominee
4.
Write the party platform- the
party’s goals and beliefs
D.
Brokered Convention- if no
candidate gets a majority of delegates
1.
Each delegate is sent to the
convention pledged to vote for a certain candidate who they are loyal to. Each candidate gets a certain amount of
delegates based on how many votes they got in the primary/caucus for each state
(if a state has proportional primary/caucus a candidate gets delegates based on
the percent of votes he got in a primary/caucus. If a state has winner takes all
primary/caucus the candidate who wins gets all the delegates for that state to
the convention)
2.
Going into the convention you
don’t know who the nominee is
3.
The Delegates go and cast
their first vote to the candidate they pledged loyalty, and then after the
first vote if no candidate gets a majority the delegates can vote for anyone
they want
E.
The democratic party has superdelegates
1.
They are not pledged to vote
for a certain candidate. They can vote
for whoever they want and can swing an election against the will of the
primary/caucus voters
2.
Consist of Democratic members
of Congress and democrats who served in office
3.
The democratic party created
it to check the liberal wing of the democratic party. The superdelegates make sure no one too
liberal is nominated to run in the presidential election because they know
someone who is too liberal could not win the national vote
2/1/12
IV.
Religion and US Politics
A.
Religion plays a major role
in US politics and policy, unlike other democracies where religion is pushed to
the side
B.
More people in the US
consider themselves religious than people in other countries
1.
People in Europe would laugh
that our political debates include disagreement over saying “under G-d” in the
Pledge of Allegiance, and faith based programs (most religious people think it
is ok for government money to go to churches/synagogues that have charity
organizations). In Europe, people don’t
want their tax money going to religious organizations- there is a bitterness
towards religious institutions
2.
We are unique for out culture
war
a)
Other countries are all about
class warfare. In the US its all about
culture wars
b)
Cultural issues over values
are what distinguish us, not classes
2/3/12
C.
The Culture Wars
1.
Began in the 60s
a)
People began questioning
American values (civil rights, feminism)
b)
People were moving away from
religion and were not so conservative anymore.
More people were becoming progressive, questioning traditional values
and refusing to conform
2.
Orthodox viewpoint
a)
Morality is consistent over
time and does not change. There are
absolute truths that do not change
b)
Keep the same rules otherwise
society will fall apart
c)
Traditional morality is more
important that individual rights
d)
Religion holds society
together by providing absolute values to live by
3.
Progressive viewpoint
a)
Believe that change is ok
b)
Individual rights need to be
respected and are more important than traditional morals
4.
How real is the culture wars?
a)
Some feel the culture wars
are played up by the political parties to get people to vote
2/6/12
Factors that affect public
opinion
V.
Different regions of the
country
A.
The Northeast tends to be
more liberal- even Republicans in the NE tend to be moderate of liberal on
social issues
B.
Upper Midwest
(Industrial/rust belt) is a liberal area on economic issues (because of all the
factories and union members), but can be conservative on social issues (because
they are Catholic)
C.
South (bible belt) is heavily
Republican/conservative because the Protestants live there. The trend of the South becoming Republican
took hold in the 1960s when LBJ, a democrat from the south, signed the Civil
Rights Act
D.
Rocky mountain states tend to
be very conservative
E.
West Coast tends to be
liberal
VI.
Religion
A.
*The most important form of
political socialization is the family- we get our political views through
religion in our family
B.
The more religious you are in
a group, the more conservative you tend to be
C.
Jews tend to be liberal on
economic and social issues
1.
Social status- when Jews came
to this country they weren’t treated well, and were helped by the Democrats, so
they felt a sense of loyalty to the Democrats
2.
This doesn’t apply as much
today because most Jews aren’t poor
3.
Jews feels a responsibility
to the community as a whole, so they follow the Democratic party that provides
for people
4.
History of Jews and what they
went through makes them wary about the government having the power to tell
people how to live
D.
Catholics
1.
Liberal on economic issues
a)
Were persecuted when they
came to this country, so government help built loyalty to the Democrats
b)
Very into charity (they need
it to get into heaven) and believe the government has a role in that
2.
Conservative on social issues
3.
So who do they vote for?
a)
In the 70s and 80s the trend
was for Catholics to move to the Republican party because the Democratic party
was becoming too liberal (“Reagan Democrats”)
E.
Protestants
1.
Conservative on economic and
social issues
2.
Don’t have the same social
mission (to make the world a better place) as Jews and Catholics
a)
They were always the top
people in the country
b)
Faith alone is the way to get
to heaven, and no hierarchy of religious leaders. It’s all about individual effort with G-d
VII.
Gender
A.
Gender Gap- men are moving to
the Republican party
1.
Gun control, abortion, gay
rights, and social programs- the Democratic party has become very liberal on
these issues, which made many Democratic men become Republican
2.
Women like these programs,
because they are more sensitive to these issues
VIII.
Schooling and race (read on
your own)
Ideology
IX.
Political ideologies
A.
Libertarianism
1.
Believe in small government
in all areas- social and economic issues
2.
Liberal on social issues and
conservative on economic issues- no government intervention in both areas
3.
Government should only get
involved when there is a clear violation of rights
4.
Would give a lot more power
to the states
B.
Populists
1.
Opposite of Libertarians
2.
Want strong government
intervention both socially and economically (social conservative, economic
liberal)
3.
This term is also used to
describe people who are looking out for the average American
C.
Liberalism
1.
Liberal on social and
economic issues
2.
Want government intervention
in the economic arena
a)
Believe in high taxes because
the government needs money to fund programs for the poor people
b)
Intervention is needed to
create a just society
3.
No government intervention on
social issues
D.
Conservatism
1.
Conservative on social and
economic issues
2.
Government should intervene
in social issues but stay out of economic issues
2/8/12
X.
Why Americans Hate Politics-
Libertarianism
A.
Today’s Libertarianism is
what the conservative movement was before changes in the 1960s
1.
Goldwater was a conservative
who ran for president, but really his conservatism was like today’s Libertarianism. He was a father of modern Conservatism, but
then the party moved more right on social issues, and he was not comfortable
with that. He thought that social issues
and religion had no place in politics, and was therefore alienated from the
Republican party
B.
Why Libertarians broke away
from the Conservative movement in the 60s
1.
The Conservative movement was
trying to impose values on people and telling people how to live
2.
Foreign policy- the
conservatives were being too hawkish and provoking the USSR into a war. They did not approve of the Vietnam War- we
should not impose a certain type of government onto another country
C.
How did the movement become
well known and popular?
1.
Reagan attacked government
a)
Reagan promised to reduce the
size of government
b)
Reagan promised to cut the
national debt, but it didn’t work out and he ended up spending money on defense
and increased the national debt
D.
The government should only
have the power to do things that we cannot (like raise an army). Everything else should be done in the market
and private organizations
2/9/12
XI.
Lanahan- Public Opinion
A.
Politicians manipulate public
opinion
1.
They twist what the
constituents want to make them want what they want
B.
Politicians don’t follow
public opinion
1.
When Clinton was impeached,
the Republicans pushed it through even though polls showed that the people didn’t
want him impeached
C.
Crafted talk- manipulate language
to influence people to vote a certain way
XII.
