Poli 1090 Final Exam PDF

Voting and elections Primary elections: -​ Usually take place in spring or summer -​ Voters choose which candidates will represent the republican or democratic party in each political race in their district for the general elections -​ There must be a candidate who gets over half of...

Voting and elections Primary elections: -​ Usually take place in spring or summer -​ Voters choose which candidates will represent the republican or democratic party in each political race in their district for the general elections -​ There must be a candidate who gets over half of the vote to advance to the general election Runoff elections -​ When no candidate gets over half the vote in the primary election, the top two vote getters in each race face off in a runoff a few weeks later -​ The runoff winner will be on the ballot for her party in the general election General Elections: -​ Take place on the first tuesday after the first monday in Nov -​ Democrat and republican candidates face off along with any independent or minor-party candidates -​ Winner does not have to have more than half the votes, just more votes than any other candidate Special types of election processes: -​ Caucuses: political party member gather to debate and decide which candidate should represent their party in the general election rather than have a primary election (Iowa caucus starts every presidential campaign) -​ Ranked choice voting: voters rank their candidates from best to worst, when candidates with the least votes get dropped, their voter’s second choice candidate gets their vote until one candidate gets over half the votes -​ Jungle primary: all candidates for an office regardless of party, are in the same primary elections and the top two vote getters go on the general election ballot Election duties in AL -​ Who is in charge of elections in Alabama -​ The secretary of state is the chief election officer -​ Sec of state office provides advice and resources to local election officials and investigates irregularities and rule breaking -​ Who actually runs elections in Alabama -​ Local governments -​ Probate judge: places candidates on ballot, maintains equipment and hires poll workers -​ Circuit clerk: mails out and receives back absentee ballots (usually) -​ Voter registrars: registers voters and keeps up the voter list -​ Sheriff: transports election supplies and stores ballots -​ County commission:draws district lines and approves polling locations Why are elections run locally? Colonial times:  -​ Can’t vote for a national government because British Parliament and the king were in control -​ All elections are for local offices and maybe a state legislature representative with limited power -​ No national or statewide elections, ao all elections run locally -​ Tradition of local governments running election continued when US became a nation -​ Election system developed from the bottom up- local to state to federal involvement Elections clause in US constitution -​ The times, places, and manner of holding elections for federal offices is determined by the state legislatures, but congress has the power to pass laws to alter those regulations Elections around time of the American Revolution -​ Much variation regarding announcements, timing, and location of polls, local discretion used by sheriff and other officials without many official rules -​ Different voting practices -​ Show of hands -​ Tossing a corn kernel or bean into your candidate’s basket or hat -​ Some jurisdiction used written ballots (usually not secret ballot) how ballots looked varied greatly from county to county Early political activity -​ No political parties until around 1800 -​ Early elections purely local so the candidates were generally already known among the voters -​ After the revolution people started voting on district, state, and national offices, so the need to campaign developed and parties formed so people could vote for the party that shared their views w/o necessarily knowing the candidate Early US suffrage requirements -​ No formal registration process -​ Usually, men were required to own property to vote -​ Owning property showed you had interest in the community doing well (vote probably couldn’t be bought) -​ 21 was usually accepting as voting age, though rarely was it official law -​ US citizenship often not an issue as long as you appeared to be white -​ Women and people of color could not vote -​ Many places required a person to be Christian to vote (some places even barred Catholics from voting) -​ Likely violated civil liberties but was practiced anyway 1800s election innovations -​ Voter registration spread all over the country throughout the 1800s -​ Land ownership requirements dropped but had to show you were a resident for a certain amount of time to register -​ Registration cut down on fraud (double voting, outsiders showing up to vote on election day) -​ One or several days established as election days for the entire state  -​ Sometimes different localities would hold elections different times of the year -​ Australian (secret) ballot adopted by states in late 1800s to cut down on voters being bought or intimidates -​ But also lowered the voting rate, because it was hard to vote if you were illiterate -​ Absentee ballot: developed for military in civil war and later extended to the public who had difficulty reaching a polling place Elections funding -​ There are limits placed on how much any one person, business or group can donate to one candidate’s campaign -​ Political action committees (PACs) -​ Can raise money for the purpose of donating to political candidates they want to support -​ PACs can donate a little more to candidates than individuals, also can donate to other PACs to hide contributions to certain candidates -​ Super PACs can spend as much money as they want as long as they don’t donate it to a candidate or coordinate their message with a candidate -​ Campaign spending for federal elections in 2020: $14.4 billion -​ $5.7 billion just on the presidential race, $8.7 billion on congressional races Modern election innovations -​ Vote centers: several voting precincts combine to make on big polling place for a lot of voters -​ No excuse absentee ballots: voters can request and receive ballots by mail without having to give an excuse as to why they can’t vote in person -​ Vote by mail: everyone receives ballots by mail, little to no in-person voting US Politics and Campaigns US political party history -​ Political parties were not considered when the constitution was written -​ In his farewell letter as president, George Washington warned that political parties’ true intentions were to take power from the people and give it to party leaders -​ Washington’s cabinet was filled with people across the political spectrum -​ But the beginning of the two party american political system was already well underway with early divisions of federalists and anti-federalist -​ Federalists: -​ Began only as supporters of a new constitution to move away from the articles of confederacy  -​Developed into 1st party -​ Favored a strong national government, industrialization, and restoring good relations with Great Britain -​ Alexander Hamilton was the main party organizer, John Adams was the only federalist president -​ Democratic-republican party -​ Began as anti-federalists who either did not support a new constitution or insisted a bill of rights be added -​ Favored power for state governments, agriculture, and supporting France in foreign policy -​ Thomas Jefferson was the main party organizer, next 4 presidents after Adams were democratic-republican -​ Federalists faded out in the 1810s, Democratic-republican party split into two in the 1820s -​ Democratic party -​ Becomes the modern day democratic party -​ Begun by Andrew Jackson after losing the 1824 presidential election (Jackson won the presidency in 1828) -​ Favored a weak federal government with no government regulation of the economy (opposite of modern democratic party) -​ Whig Party -​ Eventually formed to oppose the democratic party -​ Begun by Henry Clay and others in the mid-1830s -​ Favored weak president and strong congress, expanding US borders, high tariffs -​ Party split in 1850s over slavery -​ Republican Party (aka the Grand Old Party or GOP) -​ No true founder, but Abraham Lincoln was the 1st major figure in the party -​ Anti-slavery, supports business and manufacturing and high tariffs -​ No support in former slave states after Reconstruction, so mainly existed only in the North- opposite now with lots of support in the South Current political party breakdown based on election results President- dem, will change to GOP House of reps- 214 r, 203 d, 18 races too close to call (will likely lean r) Senate- 53 r, 45 d, 2 independent (senate flipped to r) State governors- 27 r, 23 d State legislatures- 27 r 17 d, 5 split with d in control of one chamber and r in control of another, nebraska legislatures run as non partisan) Two-party system -​ US rare in that in only has two political parties  -​ Most countries have multiple political parties and have to form coalitions with other parties to pass any legislation -​ Hard for minor parties to be successful in the US for 2 main reasons -​ Dems and GOP automatically get their candidates on election ballots -​ If a minor party starts to become popular then dems or GOP will adopt their beliefs -​ Most minor parties form around -​ A single issue- green party built to protect the environment -​ A charismatic person: bull moose party- Teddy Roosevelt -​ Non-mainstream beliefs: libertarian party (little to no government), communist/socialist party (huge government) Political socialization (learning process) -​ Belief: a thing or idea that a person holds to be true (w/ or w/o evidence) -​ Takes a lot to change a belief -​ Different from public opinion which can change a lot or change quickly -​ Value: a deeply held ideal or trait a person has usually informed by a belief or combination of beliefs -​ Often an emotional attachment -​ Ideology: persistent, patterned way of examining issues -​ Most people aren’t ideological -​ Institution: a defined set of rules generally accepted by a group -​ Partisanship: feeling of closeness (large or small) with a political party -​ Cognitive dissonance: how your brain deals with conflicting info -​ If one thing is true, then the other can’t be true Politics: -​ Heresthetics: manipulating how an issue is viewed and the choices available to address it; 3 main methods: -​ Reformulation of the question -​ Generation of false issues -​ Creating new alternatives to critique current alternatives -​ Home style: your representative knows how to communicate with you and make you feel important, so you give her more trust to represent you -​ Paradox- people think congress is corrupt but love their representative- do you know if your representative is really voting in your best interest Campaigning -​ Retail politics: candidates meet voters face-to-face -​ Knock on doors, attend public events to be seen (festivals, sporting events, etc) -​ How voters are targeted -​ Voter lists: candidates can buy lists of people and their addresses who are registered to vote in their districts (send them campaign mailers) -​ Different ads for different areas in the district  -​ Social media: candidates can target people who live in certain areas and/or who list certain types of information on their profile -​ What kind of candidate are you? -​ Moderate or partisan -​ Do you try to appeal to people who have moderate views (not really conservative or liberal) or do you appeal to the party base who feel strongly about issues -​ Traditionally, candidates have tried to pick up votes by appearing moderate. Over the last decade candidates have tended to try to appeal to their party base -​ What motivates people to vote: -​ Fear: something will change and it will not benefit you -​ Anger: something is not right and somebody has to fix it -​ Candidate connection: you feel like ca candidate will really do a lot of good -​ Civic duty: it is your duty to vote as a free person Political Media Media: a means of transmission, medium (singular) media (plural) Mass media: the means to communicate information with a large audience Types of mass media: -​ Traditional media: network television, newspapers, magazines, radio stations, books, movies, music -​ New media: social media, websites, cable News: the reporting of recent events and info that may be of interest to many people Objectivity: impartiality and fairness, and the reporting of facts without opinion and including different sides of an issue -​ Different standards when reporting the facts of a story and when providing an opinion or editorial Media powers: -​ Gatekeepers: the people in media orgs who get to decide what info and events are newsworthy -​ Usually, editors in written news and producers in video news -​ Agenda setting: the power of the media to tell the public what subjects and issues to think about -​ Not total power, though: public and political leaders have some power to force issues on the agenda -​ Spin: to interpret information to support one’s point of view or at least to put the best face on events -​ Unemployment rate is down: spin it as nearly everyone who is looking for a job has a job, or spin it as people have given up looking for a job How politicians and government use media  -​ Name ID -​ Way more likely to vote for a name you have heard than one you haven’t -​ Methods: advertising, always being available for media, being proactive -​ Leaking information -​ Trial balloon: purposefully leak details about a new plan to see how the public will react, can drop plan if public doesn’t react well -​ Establishing a good rapport with one or more media members can help politicians’ need to share their side of the story -​ Creating a scandal for a political opponent -​ Playing the victim -​ Complaining about how unfair the media are can generate support/ sympathy Public consumption of media -​ Focus on media trends toward national issues rather than state and local issues -​ Often leads to public knowing more about national issues than what state and local government is doing -​ National reporters will parachute in when local events have potential to generate interest in large scale issues -​ Police treatment of black people: ferguson, MO 2014, minneapolis MN 2020 -​ Mass shootings and gun control: parkland, FL 2018, Las Vegas NV 2017 -​ Most major media (but not all) tend to focus on emotional issues surrounding a story -​ Lack of time or print space to explain nuances of issues, also lack of viewer/ reader attention span Abuse of media -​ Misinformation: false, misleading or inaccurate information (could be gossip, selective use of facts, etc) -​ Disinformation: misinformation that is deliberately deceptive -​ Doxxing: releasing the home address of a government official in order to intimidate Public opinion: the people’s collective preferences on matters related to government and politics -​ Can shift quickly and sometimes drastically -​ Done by polling: pollsters ask your opinion on issues and people -​ People can conduct a poll in person, on the phone, or over the internet -​ Polling isn’t an exact science: generally of 3 to 5% margin or error for how the polling data matches the entire public’s opinion -​ Does polling matter? -​ Trump’s approval rating nearly matched his percentage of the vote in 2020 (47%) -​ But, there are tons of factors that weigh into poll accuracy (like how questions are asked, sample size, etc) -​ Interest groups and politicians often use polls to justify their actions and policy preferences -​ Polls can be skewed, particularly if the pollster is being paid by a person/group who wants a favorable outcome  -​ If you use a reputable polling company, you can usually get a very good idea what the public’s opinion is on any issue Unhelpful media fixations -​ Horse race coverage of campaigns: who is winning? Who is losing? Who has momentum? -​ Reinforcing tropes (Stereotypes) about high-profile politicians -​ George W Bush- dumb; Hillary Clinton- shrill, cold -​ Gaffes: candidates or officials making obvious mistakes -​ Out-of-touch: how much does a gallon of milk cost? -​ Misspeaking or misremembering events -​ Palace intrigue -​ Who is mad at whom in the white house? -​ What is everyone like when not in public view? Direct media-political interactions -​ Debates: candidates for office debate policy issues with each other, usually with a media member serving as moderator and asking questions -​ Town halls: everyday citizens ask candidates for office questions usually with a media member as moderator -​ Sit-down interview: one or a few journalists hold an extended interview with candidates or government officials, usually trying to get detailed, in depth answers -​ Press conference: a group of journalists ask questions to a candidate or government official, usually with several journalists only getting one chance to ask a question Policymaking What is a policy? Policy: a relatively stable, purposive course of action followed by a person or group of people in dealing with a problem or matter of concern -​ Policy characteristics -​ Stable- so, it is usually difficult to change -​ Purposive- not a random decision, you intend to do it -​ Course of action- something must be done, not just theoretical -​ Followed by people- policy is only legitimate if people agree to do it -​ Dealing with a problem or concern- a response to something happening or that could happen Who is involved in government policy? -​ Government actors (official policymakers) -​ Legislators (and staff) -​ Executive (president, governor, mayor, etc) -​ Administrative agencies (veterans affairs, state department of education, parks and recreation) -​ judiciary/ courts (are current policies legal? Does the court have to step in to protect people?) -​ Non government participants  -​ Interest groups (NRA, Chamber of Commerce) -​ Also lobbyists who usually work for interest groups -​ Political parties -​ Media -​ Regular citizens -​ Think tanks -​ Civic groups Policy process -​ How does the government even decide and implement policies? -​ Two different points of view -​ Three streams model (more of a theory of how policies come into existence) -​ Stream 1: a problem or an improvement to the current way of doing things has to be recognized -​ Stream 2: there has to be a solution to the problem that is available (often there is more than one solution, so there has to be consensus on the best solution) -​ Stream 3: the public and/or policy makers themselves have to be convinced there is a need to enact a policy or deal with the problem (can be a single event or a series of events to convince them to support a policy change) -​ When the three streams come together, a window of time opens for the policy supporters to push the policy through- called the Policy Window -​ There will be those who try to stop the policy change who try to hold off the policy change until interest is lost -​ The stages framework (more of a description of the basic policy process) -​ The process a government policy goes through to be enacted -​ Problem identification and definition -​ ID of alternatives (formulating a policy) -​ Policy adoption (make a policy legitimate) -​ Implementation (actually carrying out the policy and troubleshooting) -​ Evaluation (did everything work like we thought? What can we adjust?) -​ Incorporating the evaluations (do we terminate the policy or alter the policy to improve it or leave as is?) -​ Measuring policy effects and efficiency -​ Inputs: what the policy provides to accomplish its goals such as funding, manpower, equipment, buildings, land, etc -​ Outputs: the actions taken under the policy (implementation) -​ Outcomes: measuring the impact on the policy goals accomplished through the policy implementation (did the policy achieve its goal?)outcomes measure a policy’s effectiveness  -​ You can also try to place a monetary value on all the positive and negative effects of the policy to measure its efficiency: this is known as cost-benefit analysis Common problems in policy -​ Free riders -​ Government often provides indivisible goods and services (Can’t allow some people to use them and prevent others from using them) -​ So citizens who don’t pay for resources provided by a government are still able to benefit from them (ex. National defense, public parks) -​ NIMBY -​ Stands for “not in my back yard” -​ Citizens agree government has to provide certain things, they just don’t want any possible negative consequences on themselves Interest groups in policy -​ Interest groups: organizations that, on behalf of an interest or ideal, try to influence politics and public policies -​ Majoritarianism: everyone’s opinion counts and change comes through the votes of the people -​ Pluralism: interest groups mobilize and are actually the ones who create change in government policy by lobbying government officials and creating policy ideas -​ Some scholars of pluralism say this set up favors wealthy and well-connected people, others say there are interest groups for nearly every possible policy issue, so it is inclusive of all views -​ Issue networks: all people and organizations that are involved in a policy issue -​ Issue network for the environment: government agencies (federal, state, and local) nonprofit/citizen organizations, think tanks, environmental academics, media, sportsmen and women, tree huggers, trail hikers/bikers, fossil fuel producers, companies with high carbon emissions -​ Power of these participants is often fluctuating -​ Advocacy coalition framework: when groups with seemingly different missions work together on an issue on which they agree -​ Ex. buffalo field campaign (advocates to prevent hurting of buffalo) working with elk hunting groups to allow buffaloes to roam safely outside of Yellowstone Policy narratives -​ In order to get people’s attention and support, policymakers will create stories to explain to people why they need the policy -​ Narratives are meant to simply an issue and provide an opportunity for people to make an emotional connection to an issue -​ Creating a policy narrative -​ Heroes, villains, and victims, create a symbol full of meaning  -​ Plot: heroes going on a journey, standing up to villains, helping victims -​ Moral of the story: policy change will save or did save the day Bureaucracy Leaders/ decision makers​ power and decisions flow down Managers​ Information flows up Producers of goods or services Bureaucracy is defined by a few characteristics according to Max Weber -​ Vertical Hierarchy -​ Decision makers at top -​ Could be individual, could be a board or a council -​ Top level makes decisions, power to take action flows from top level to managers -​ Managers decide how action should be carried out in their own departments and troubleshoot unexpected problems -​ Producers (workers) actually take action to carry out policy -​ Producers send information back up hierarchy about what is and is not working -​ Decision makers can decide to change policy or come up with a new policy -​ Specialization -​ In organizations, tasks are given to people who have special skills to best complete the task -​ Larger organizations have people who focus on a very specific area -​ Problem: might not understand goals of the entire organization (in a silo) -​ Smaller organizations usually have less specialization, so staff takes on more responsibilities in which they don’t have special skills -​ Problem: might be steep learning curve so mistakes will be made -​ Impersonal Rules -​ Rules for the organization have to be used that apply fairly to everyone -​ Personal relationships should not enter into the equation when making decisions (neutrality) -​ Chester Barnard’s Zone of Indifference: each worker’s attitude usually has a middle ground area where they obey orders without question -​ When workers believe some decisions are biased, they begin to question leadership and either leave or challenge authority -​ Bureaucrats appointed not elected -​ Organizations should fire the most qualified people who want to do what is best for the organization -​ Elected officials often support what is in their best interests to get reelected rather than what is best for long term interests of org -​ Merit system in government -​ James Garfield assassinated by Charles Guiteau (1881)  -​ Federal government jobs fueled by patronage (aka spoils system) -​ Patronage: an elected official rewarding political supporters with government jobs -​ Garfield’s death gave the Pendleton Act the momentum to pass -​ Created the Merit System that awards most federal jobs based on tests or technical training and allows most employees to keep their jobs no matter which party is in power -​ State and local governments would go on to establish merit systems as well -​ The leaders of many federal agencies are still political appointees Bureaucrats are all the people who work in a bureaucracy Politics- Administration Dichotomy -​ Woodrow Wilson: political science professor before becoming president, came up with P-A Dichotomy -​ Dichotomy means separation into two things -​ Wilson believed politicians decide what a policy should be while bureaucrats administer that policy -​ Politicians should not interfere with bureaucrats' jobs and vice versa -​ Bureaucrats should carry out any policy to the best of their ability whether they agree with it or not -​ Bureaucrats focus should be on efficiency and effectiveness -​ Efficiency: policy carried out using as few resources and as little time as possible -​ Effectiveness: making sure the policy is accomplishing its goals Power of bureaucracy -​ Frank Goodnow: bureaucracy is like a 4th branch of government. It does the actual work of carrying out the will of the other branches -​ Bureaucrats are experts in their fields. They can advise and influence the decisions made by other branches -​ Influencing elected officials breaks P-A Dichotomy (maybe good, maybe bad) -​ Some powers include -​ Asymmetry of information -​ Experts always have more information than nonexperts, so it is tough for a nonexpert to argue with an expert -​ Bureaucrats have personal experience and easy access to research and other experts in their field that elected officials don’t -​ Iron Triangle -​ Congressional committees, interest groups, and government agencies (bureaucrats) work together to maintain power -​ Street Level Bureaucrat -​ Even bureaucrats at or near the bottom of the pyramid have some power  -​ S-L Bureaucrat is one that most often interacts with the public and often has broad discretion in how rules are applied -​ Discretion: power of free decision or latitude of choice within certain legal bounds -​ Examples: police officers (slightly over the speed limit), farm disaster relief adjuster -​ Often is difficult for management levels in hierarchy to monitor S-L bureaucrats because there is so much subjectivity in their decisions -​ Bureaucratic agencies can act as surrogates for the 3 branches of government -​ Rulemaking is similar to legislative power -​ When an agency creates guidelines in order to interpret or implement legislation passed by the legislative branch -​ Agency usually makes a preliminary decision, holds public hearings or invites written feedback, then issues a final rule -​ Implementation is executive branch power -​ Implementation is taking a policy or rule and applying it in real world situations (abstract to tangible) -​ Adjudication is judicial branch power -​ Adjudication is an agency deciding disputes about rules and how they are applied, similar to a court. Challenging a rule within an agency itself. -​ Often, this process is required before a real court of law will hear a case Federal Bureaucracy Agencies -​ Cabinet Departments -​ Large admin units, headed by a cabinet secretary, budget decided by Congress (defense, transportation, etc) -​ Independent Executive Agencies -​ Smaller than a cabinet department and with a specific focus, still report to president (NASA, EPA) -​ Government corporations -​ Agencies run much like a business, can charge fees, provide services where it is difficult for private companies to make profit (US Postal Service, Amtrak) -​ Regulatory Commissions -​ Created rules and settles disputes in a specific policy area where the government has authority (the Federal Reserve, FCC) greater independence than executive agencies How Bureaucracies Operate -​ Bureaucracies prepare to avoid disruption whenever possible -​ Bureaucrats usually follow a set of standard operating procedures (SOP) -​ A written step-by-step process used to perform a routine operation -​ Often, they are slow to change, changes come incrementally -​ Try a change on a limited bases, if it has good results, then maybe slowly add more resources if goof results continue (limits risk)  -​ Simply avoiding disruption can cause other problems: -​ Goal for bureaucrats becomes rule following, not fulfilling organization purpose -​ Can’t adjust to new situations -​ How Bureaucrats operate as individuals -​ At lower levels of the hierarchy, workers will work harder when they know they are being watched, individuals will adjust their output to conform to their group’s concept of a good day’s work -​ At higher levels, leaders/managers use bounded rationality to make decisions. This means they don’t have time or resources to think through making the best possible decision, so they will pick the first idea that is good enough -​ Tall hierarchies: organizations that want to have very specific roles for people in their organization- they stay in their lane and get their job done quickly -​ Advantages: clear roles for worker, can get things done quickly -​ Disadvantage: limits creativity and information sharing -​ Flat hierarchies: -​ Advantages: collaboration and creativity, everyone feels valuable -​ Disadvantages: slow, have to build consensus to act, unclear roles on projects