Campaigns, Elections, and the

MediaUnit 4 Review

Alyssa Butler and Taylor Conger

Voting Behavior

Who votes?

the educated white collar

wealthy older

majority races women

religiously active union membership

married located in geographic politically active area

strong party ID

Voting Restrictions

U.S. suffrage is not universal, you cannot vote if you are:-Under 18-A felon-A mental patient

Amendments & Laws:

15th Amendment: Abolished race restrictions17th Amendment: Citizens can choose senators in direct primary.19th Amendment: Abolished gender restrictions23rd Amendment: Allowed residents of D.C. to vote.26th Amendment: Allowed 18 year olds to voteCivil Rights Act of 1965 and Voting Rights Act of 1965: got rid of poll taxes

McGovern-Fraser Commission: a commission formed at the 1968 Democratic convention in response to demands for reform by minorities and other groups who sought better representationFederal Election Campaign Act: A law passed in 1974 for reforming campaign finances. The act created the Federal Election Commission, providing public financing for presidential primaries and general elections, limited presidential campaign spending, required disclosure, and attempted to limit contributionsMotor Voter Act- Passed in 1993, this act went into effect for the 1996 election. It requires states to permit people to register to vote at the same time they apply for drivers’ licenses

Voter Rights

Recall: Kick someone out of office.Referendum: Gaining people’s approval on state legislation.Initiative: People initiate measure and put it on the ballot.

Road to the White House

Exploration Announcement Presidential Primaries NominatingCampaign Financing: The Federal Election Reform Act of 1974 placed legal limits on campaign funding.Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002: designed to end the use of soft money.Soft Money Contributions: No limits on funds contributed.McCutcheon vs. FEC: meant to limit in hard money funding to $123,200.

Types of Primaries

Closed primary- Elections to select party nominees in which people who have registered in advance with the party can vote for that party’s candidates, thus encouraging greater party loyaltyFrontloading- recent pattern of states holding primaries early in order to maximize theirmedia attention and political influence. Three‐fourths of the presidential primaries are nowheld between February and mid‐March. Critics argue that candidates devote too much timeto Iowa and New Hampshire. Although both states are relatively small, they play a crucialrole in generating media attention.Presidential primary- elections in which voters in a state vote for a candidate ( or delegates pledged to him or her). Most delegates to the national party conventions are chosen this waynational primary- a proposal by the critics of the caucuses and presidential primaries systems who would replace these electoral methods with a nationwide primary held early in the election yearregional primaries- a proposal by critics of the caucuses and presidential primaries to replace these electoral methods with a series of primaries held in each geographic region

Types of Elections and Voting

Elections:Plurality election- the candidate with the largest number of votes wins, even if it is not a 50% majorityGeneral election- a re elections in which the voters choose from among all the candidatesnominated by political parties or running as independents. Special elections are heldwhenever an issue must be decided by voters before a primary or general election is held,for example, to fill a vacancy in the Senate.Special Election- Elections called by state governments to fill the vacancies that occur when a member of the House of Representatives dies or resigns before the biennial election.Election Day:The Tuesday following the first Monday in November, generally November 8th.

Voting:policy voting- voting that occurs when electoral choices are made on the basis of the voters’ policy preferences and on the basis of where the candidates stand on policy issues. For the voter, policy voting is hard workretrospective voting- a theory of voting in which voters essentially ask this simple question: “What have you done for me lately?”

Role of the Media

-Informs the public-Influences public opinion-Gives the citizens a link to the government-Decides what is the main subject of national importance.

Media Ownership & Government Regulation:-Technical Regulation: regulations in radio, television, telephone, telegraph, cable, and satellite.

Media Vocabmedia events- events purposely staged for the media that nonetheless look spontaneous. In keeping with politics as theater, media events can be stage by individuals, groups, and government officials, especially presidentspress conferences- meetings of public officials with reportersinvestigative journalism- the use of detective-like reporting to unearth scandals, scams, and schemes, putting reporters in adversarial relationships with political leadersnarrowcasting- as opposed to the traditional “broadcasting” the appeal to a narrow, particular audience by channels such as ESPN, MTV, AND C-SPAN, which focus on a narrow, particular interesttrial balloons- an intentional news leak for the purpose of assessing the political reactionsound bites- short video clips of approximately 15 seconds, which are typically all that is shown from a politician’s speech or activities on the nightly television showsmass media- Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and other means of popular communication

Other Vocabcampaign strategy- the master game plan candidates lay out to guide their electoral campaigncaucus (state party)- A meeting of all state party leaders for selecting delegates to the national party convention. They are usually organized as a pyramidsuperdelegates- national party leaders who automatically get a delegate slot at the Democratic national party convention selective perception- the phenomenon that people often pay the most attention to things they already agree with and interpret them according to their own predispositionslegitimacy- a characterization of elections by political scientists meaning that they are almost universally accepted as a fair and free method of selecting political leaders. When legitimacy is high, as in the US, even the losers accept the results peacefully

Vocab Continuedinitiative petition- a process permitted in some states whereby voters may put proposed changes in the state constitution to a vote if sufficient signatures are obtained on petitions calling for such a referendumcivic duty- the belief that in order to support democratic government, a citizen should always votemandate theory of elections- the idea that the winning candidate has a mandate from the people to carry out his or her platforms and politics. Politicians like the theory better than political scientists d0single-member district- an electoral district or constituency having a single representative in a legislative body horse-race journalism- a type of political journalism that focuses on polling data, public perception instead of candidate policy527 Group- a tax-exempt organization created for the purpose of influencing the election or appointment of public officials