Chapter summary imageThe race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee quickly narrowed to two condenders: Illinois Senator Barack Obama and New York Senator Hillary Clinton.

Elections and Public Policy

Agenda Building

  • Election campaigns focus public attention on issues and shape the policy agenda. Challengers identify issues that incumbents have rejected in hopes of convincing voters to turn the incumbent officials out of office. Whichever candidate wins needs to respond to the most issues raised in order to prevent them from being used against them in future contests.

Policy Formulation and Adoption

  • Political scientists identify three ways in which elections influence policy. First, elections change the composition of the government. Elections do not make policy, but they select the people who do. Democrats and Republicans differ about the role of government. Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, research shows that candidates keep their campaign promises most of the time.
  • Second, policymakers calculate the electoral implications of policy positions and act accordingly. Public officials, concerned about their reelection and the future electoral prospects of their party, take policy actions with an eye on the next election.
  • Finally, unexpected election results shock the political system, giving the impression of a mandate (whether voters intended one or not). The perception of a mandate – popular support for a particularly policy – is critical to overcoming the institutional barriers to policy change.

Policy Implementation and Evaluation

  • Elections have an indirect influence on policy implementation. Public officials may interpret an election outcome as an indication that the voters want the government to implement a policy more or less aggressively.
  • Elections are also a means for citizens to evaluate the policy performance of government officials. The history of elections in America is one of the voters tossing officials out of office when they believe that government policies have failed and reelecting incumbents when times are good. For example, an analysis of the 2006 midterm election suggests that the War in Iraq may have cost the Republican Party control of the U.S. Senate.

Key Terms

Air War

campaign activities that involve the media, including television, radio, and the Internet

Apportionment

the allocation of legislative seats among the states

Balance The Ticket

an attempt to select a vice-presidential candidate who will appeal to different groups of voters than the presidential nominee

Base Voters

rock-solid Republicans or hardcore Democrats, firmly committed to voting for their party’s nominee

Battleground States

swing states in which the relative strength of the two major-party presidential candidates is close enough so that either candidate could conceivably carry the state

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA)

a campaign finance reform law designed to limit the political influence of “big money” campaign contributors

Blanket Primary

a primary election system that allows voters to select candidates without regard for party affiliation

Caucus Method of Delegate Selection

a procedure for choosing national party convention delegates that involves party voters participating in a series of precinct and district or county political meetings

Closed Primary

an election system that limits primary election participation to registered party members

Coattail Effect

a political phenomenon in which a strong candidate for one office gives a boost to fellow party members on the same ballot seeking other offices

District Election

a method for choosing public officials that divides a political subdivision, such as a state, into geographic areas called districts; each district elects one official

Election Campaign

an attempt to get information to voters that will persuade them to elect a candidate or not elect an opponent

Electoral College

the system established in the Constitution for indirect election of the president and vice president

Electoral Mandate

the expression of popular support for a particular policy demonstrated through the electoral process

Electors

individuals selected in each state to officially cast that state’s electoral votes

Exit Polls

surveys based on random samples of voters leaving the polling place

General Election

an election to fill state and national offices held in November of even-numbered years

Gerrymandering

the drawing of legislative district lines for political advantage

Ground War

campaign activities featuring direct contact between campaign workers and citizens, such as door-to-door canvassing and personal telephone contacts

Hard Money

funds that are raised subject to federal campaign contribution and expenditure limitations

Majority-Minority District

legislative districts whose population is more than 50 percent African American and Latino

One Person, One Vote

the judicial ruling that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires that legislative districts be apportioned on the basis of population

Open Primary

an election system that allows voters to pick the party primary of their choice without regard to their party affiliation

Party Platform

a statement of party principles and issue positions

Political Legitimacy

the popular acceptance of a government and its officials as rightful authorities in the exercise of power

Pork Barrel Spending

expenditures to fund local projects that are not critically important from a national perspective

Presidential Preference Primary

an election in which party voters cast ballots for the presidential candidate they favor and in so doing help determine the number of national convention delegates that candidate will receive

Primary Election

an election held to determine a party’s nominees for the general election ballot

Proportional Representation (Pr)

an election system that awards legislative seats to each party approximately equal to its popular voting strength

Prospective Voting

the concept that voters evaluate the incumbent officeholder and the incumbent’s party based on their expectations of future developments

Reapportionment

the reallocation of legislative seats

Redistricting

the process through which the boundaries of legislative districts are redrawn to reflect population movement

Retrospective Voting

the concept that voters choose candidates based on their perception of an incumbent candidate’s past performance in office or the performance of the incumbent party

Runoff

an election between the two candidates receiving the most votes when no candidate got a majority in an initial election

Soft Money

the name given to funds that are raised by political parties that are not subject to federal campaign finance regulations

Split Ticket Ballot

voters casting their ballots for the candidates of two or more political parties

Straight Ticket Ballot

voters selecting the entire slate of candidates of one party only

Superdelegates

Democratic Party officials and officeholders selected to attend the national party convention on the basis of the offices they hold

Swing Voters

citizens who could vote for either party in an election

Voting Rights Act (VRA)

a federal law designed to protect the voting rights of racial and ethnic minorities

Discussion Questions

1. What is gerrymandering? How much of an impact can it have on legislative outcomes?

2. Why are most House incumbents who seek reelection successful?

3. On what basis are vice-presidential candidates selected? Who selects them?

4. How does the electoral college work? What are the chief criticisms of the electoral college? What is the main defense of the electoral college?

5. What role do debates play in the presidential election process?

Interactive Activity

Visual Literacy: The Electoral College: Campaign Consequences and Mapping the Results

The Electoral College system has significant consequences in terms of shaping the way that candidates campaign in the United States and the areas of the country they focus their attention on. In this visual literacy activity, you will examine maps and graphs to determine some of those electoral consequences. Is the United States a divided or united country? Do elections tend to be very close, showing how closely divided the country is, or does one party or the other dominate most of the country, coast to coast?

View Visual Literacy Activity

“Talking About American Government” Podcasts

Author Neal Tannahill discusses the most important concepts in this chapter

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