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Unit 5: Elections
Warm-Up
Grab a warm-up up front.
Complete the Guided reading section 9.1.
Who are our politicians?
Party SystemsEQ: What are the characteristics of each type of party system?
Single Party System
Communist countries withAuthoritarian governments(China, Vietnam, Cuba, North Korea)
Authoritarian = Powerful central gov’t, not much freedom for people
Pros?–Always an obvious winner! –It’s great for whoever is in control!
Cons?– No choice– Only one viewpoint – Low voter
turnout (why bother?) – People don’t get a say
Multi-Party SystemWhere: In most of the Western World.Pros?–Many viewpoints represented–High voter turnout (everyone can find a
candidate they like)Cons?– Winner might not have majority (more
than half) of votes – Can be unstable, conflict – Plurality = More votes than any other candidate, but not more than half overall.
Two Party System
–What we have in U.S.Democrats vs. Republicans–Pros?• Winner always has majority
• Majority = More than half of the votes• Voters get two choicesCons?• Only two choices!• Not all views represented • Low voter turnout (fewer options, fewer people
vote!)Partisanship = People don’t compromise - choose
sides
Third Parties
• Single-issue parties - political parties formed around one issue.
– Ex: The Green Party - founded on an environmental platform
• Ideological parties - parties formed around a set ideology (set of beliefs).
– Ex: Libertarians - believe in personal and economic freedom.
• What role do 3rd Parties play?– Take votes away from one or both major parties –
Contribute ideas – Third-party candidates do get elected to office.
ReviewSingle Party
How does this system represent the views of the people?
Who benefits from this system?
What role do political parties play?
Two Party
What role do political parties play in this system?
How are the views of the voters taken into account?
How does Partisanship influence who runs our Gov’t.
Can we fix it?
Multi Party
How do Multi Party systems represent to views of the voters?
Why is this a good system?
Why can our current voting system not handle this party system.
Review Activity
Work on your study guide for midterm review. You should complete 20 questions before the end of class.
Exit Ticket
Reflection
What voting system is most fair? Why? If you could design your own party system, what would it look like?
Answer in a paragraph or two.
Warm-Up
Grab and Ideology Survey
You have five minutes to complete this.
Political PartiesEQ: How does political ideology
affect party choice?
Our First Political Parties
Federalists – Wanted a strong central government – Don’t need Bill of Rights
• Anti-Federalists Afraid of strong central gov’t – Wanted
states’ rights – Bill of Rights = necessary!!
Political Spectrum
Political SpectrumModerate - Most voters!! Receptive to both
sets of ideology.Conservative - Less receptive to change,
believes that government is NOT the solution to our problems.
Reactionary - Strongly against change, want to return America to “the good old days”
Liberal - More receptive to change. Believe the governments job is to keep life “fair”.
Radical - Believe that our current way of governing should be removed and replaced. They believe the system is inherently unfair.
Political Parties
Political Party - A group of like minded individuals who work together to attain political office.
Plank - A single belief of a political partyEx. The Republicans believe that abortions should be illegal.
Platform - All of a party’s planks. The party’s vision for governance.
Political Parties
National Convention - The once every four year meeting at which a political party decides on their platform.-This is also where the political parties nominate their president and vice presidential candidate.
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T-Chart
Ultimately BOTH parties desire what is best for the United States.
Exit Ticket When two members
of the Democratic Party are running for the party’s nomination, which type of election are they participating in?
a. general election b. primary election c. recall election d. referendum
Which of the following best defines the goals and positions of a political party?
a. Platforms and planks b. Referendums and
initiatives c. Lobbyists and action
committees d. Liberals and
moderates
Reflection: Creat Your Own Political Party w/a Partner
You will need:1. Name of your party2. Ideology (politcal spectrum)3. Three planks (issues) that your party supports or doesn’t
support and why4. Slogan5. Symbol (picture) of your party
Warm Up
Describe your personal position on one of
the following topics and why yousupport or do not support the issue:The Death PenaltyAbortionWelfare (public assistance)Gun LawsEnvironmental IssuesEducation and Affirmative Action
The Political Process EQ: How do candidates seek
election?
¨Self Announcement – Personally nominate yourself
¨Caucus – meeting where people nominate candidates
¨Petition – Nomination by voters’ signatures.
Step 1: Announcing Candidacy
-Once the candidacy has been announced, a candidate must defeat other members of their own party.
-Primaries are a driving force behind partisanship.-Because only the most extreme voters bother to vote, the most extreme candidate ends up in the general election.-This is made worse by Gerrymandering, which insures partisan victories which put extremists into office.
Step 2: Primary Elections
•Special Interest Group - An organization who works to influence a specific issue.
▫Ex: National Rifle Association (NRA), Sierra Club (environmental group), NAACP, MADD
▫Political Action Committee (PACs) -
formed by Special Interest Groups to raise and donate money to political campaigns.
Step 3: Raise the Money
Lobbyists - People hired by special interest groups to persuade politicians to vote in a way that helps the special interest group.
Soft money - Contribution to a political party that doesn’t go to a specific candidate. Less restrictions on this kind of donation.
Exit Ticket What is the primary
purpose of a lobbyist? a. To influence public
officials to support a point of view
b. To discourage change within the legislature
c. To encourage citizens to vote in all elections
d. To conduct surveys to determine opinion polls in areas.
How does a PAC (political action committee) influence an election?
a. by nominating a candidate to office
b. by counting ballots c. by conducting exit
polls d. by providing funding
to a candidate’s campaign
Video Obama Hillary Clinton Trump JFK
What do you think about PACs and interest groups? Do they help people get their opinions heard? Or do they take the real power away from the people?
Answer in a few paragraphs.
Reflection
Warm-Up Pt 1
- Based on this poster, would you ban this chemical?
-Is this a convincing poster? How could it be more convincing?
Warm-Up Pt 2
-What message doesthis poster convey?
-Is it convincing?Why or why not?
The Election Process EQ:What role does proganda play in the
election process?
•Propaganda: messages designed to persuade people to do or believe a certain thing.
•Used in political campaigns to win votes.
Step 4: The Campaign
- Candidates work to earn the support of voters. Their efforts are focused on undecided voters.
Their main tool:
Propaganda: messages designed to persuade people to do or believe a certain thing.
}Used in political campaigns to win votes.
Endorsement: Getting the support of someone famous or important to attract more voters.
Bandwagon: Making it seem like a whole group supports the candidate.
Just Plain Folks: Making the candidate look just like regular people.
-Stacked Cards: Bringing up important issues without going into detail about any of them. (Telling one side of the story)
Symbols / Transfer: Putting symbols or images in an ad so viewers associate the candidate with patriotism, religion, etc.
Name-Calling / Mudslinging: Attacking the other candidate’s character or background in order to gain support.
Exit Ticket When campaigning, politicians
will oftentimes use mass media to help gain voter support. Which of the following most accurately describes mass media?
a. When politicians pay for mudslinging television advertisements
b. When a political action committee (PAC) donates money to a political campaign
c. When the Electoral College votes the opposite of the popular vote
d. Coverage of important events by the television and radio news programs.
Why has the U.S. government responded slowly to climate change issues, such as global warming?
a. The Supreme Court has ruled such actions to be outside the jurisdiction of the government.
b. There are no federal agencies with the authority to enforce climate-related regulations.
c. The problem of climate change is too complicated to be impacted by legislation.
d. There is substantial political opposition to climate change initiatives.
Propaganda Poster
}Make a poster that:}Picks an issue you care about.
}Include at least 3 types of propaganda.
}Include an illustration.
}Make it colorful and eye catching.
Warm-Up
1.What is a benefit AND a downside to the two-party system?
2.What are our two main political parties?
3.What happens during the primary election?
4.Holding elections is a “reserved power.” What does this mean?
5.What do you know about the Al Gore/George Bush election? Anything you’ve heard, opinions, thoughts? Who won and why?
So What Happened?
Bush received 50,456,002 votesGore received 50,999,897 votes.
•Bush was behind in the popular vote and the electoral vote. Gore had 266 electoral votes, Bush had 246.
•The race came down to Florida, worth 25 electoral votes.
•If Bush got at least 51% of the vote in Florida, he would get ALL of its 25 votes.
•Bush won in Florida! He got the 25 electoral votes.
•But Al Gore still had more votes TOTAL across the whole country.
The Political ProcessEQ:What are the advantages and disadvantages of the Electoral College?
Step 5: The Election
•The president is NOT elected by the popular vote.
•He is elected by “electors.”
•Each state has a certain number of electors
–(# of Senators + # of Representatives)
•Each state has an election to see which presidential candidate wins that state’s electoral votes.
•270 electoral votes needed to win.
•Problems with this?
–Not every vote matters equally
–Some states always “go Democrat” or “go Republican” – the result is always the same, so each vote matters less.
–Some states go either way…so they matter more. These are called “swing states.”
http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/gerrymandering
Electoral College Simulation
•Half the room is the Republican Candidate, half the room is the Democratic candidate
•TRIVIA CHALLENGE
•Each party will have a scorekeeper.
-Teacher is the third party candidate and gets any state the parties cannot win.
Exit Ticket How is the number of
electors in the Electoral College for each state determined?
a. by the order in which they declared statehood
b. based on the number of members in Congress
c. according to voter turnout
d. by the number of representatives in each state’s legislature
Which of the following statements best describes the Electoral College?
a. The method of selecting state senators prior to the 17th amendment
b. This primary race helps narrow the field of candidates
c. It is a body of electors that casts a state’s electoral votes after the popular vote is taken.
d. It is a way that citizens can propose new constitutional amendments
Reflection
1. Do you think the Electoral College is a good system? If so, why? If not, why not?
2. How does the Electoral college strengthen or weaken the power of the people to choose their officials?
3. How would you elect the President?
