USA 2016 Presidential

Election

Political Parties &

Electoral System
in USA

Political Parties
The Constitution says nothing about political
parties, but over time the US has in fact
develop two-party system
The two leading parties are the Democrats
and Republicans
There are other parties such as Green ,
Libertarian, Constitution, Communist,
several Socialist, but they do not have much
power

Political Parties
To distinguish between the parties is often
difficult
The traditional terms of "right", "left",
"conservative", and "liberal" do not quite fit
the American system
Some believe that in reality it is one party
with some differences here and there

Political Parties
While some voters will vote a "straight
ticket" in an election, many do not.
It is quite common, in fact, to find
Democrats in Congress voting for a
Republican President's legislation, quite a
few Republicans voting against it, and so
on

Two Dominant Political Parties

Republican & Democrats

Two Dominant Political Parties

Republican & Democrats

Tea Party (inside Republican Party)

Tea Party (inside Republican Party)

Two Dominant Political Parties

Republican & Democrats

Two Parties, No Choice

Elections
American citizens who are at least 18
years of age have the right to vote
The must register as voters
Voter registration and voting among
minorities has increased during recent
years as a result of the Civil Rights
movement
There is some concern, however, about
the number of citizens who could vote in
national elections but do not

Elections

Voter turn out in US presidential Election

2000
50.3%
2004
55.7%
2008
57.1%
2012
54.9%
2016
55%
in comparison with earlier
1888
79.3%
1892
74.7%
1896
79.3%
1900
73.2%

Elections
There are 50 different registration laws in the
US- one for each state.
Americans are much more interested in local
politics than in those at the federal level

Elections
The national Presidential elections really
consist of two separate campaigns
One is for the nomination of candidates at
national party conventions
The Other is to win the actual election
The nomination race is a competition
between members of the same party
Then among two candidates from 2
parties, Democrats and Republicans

Elections

Elections

Elections

There Is a Moderate Republican in This

Race, But Shes Running as a Democrat

Which one is the Democrat?

Spectrum of Election 2016

Who Is The Real Democrat?

Spectrum of Election 2016

Presidential Results 2016

Trump 290 electoral votes (270 to win)

Popular vote: 47.2% votes
60,612,280
Clinton 232 electoral votes
Popular Vote: 47.8% votes
61,391,139
Popular vote: Clinton 778,859 votes more
than Trump,

2016 Presidential
Election

Role of Special
Interests

Special Interest Groups

Americans, always concerned that their
politicians represent their interests,
often form "pressure" groups, political
lobbies, public action committees (PACs),
or special interest groups (SIGs)
Such groups seek to influence politicians
on almost any imaginable subject

Special Interest Groups

Tobacco companies, Oil companies,
military industrial complex, prison industry
complex, and many more create lobbying
groups
In Washington DC there is a street called
K Street, or Lobbyists Street.
Most of powerful SIG have offices in very
expensive buildings there.
Herblock Gallery cartoon page 47

Special Interest Groups

Special Interest Groups

Special Interest Groups

Special Interest Groups

Special Interest Groups

Special Interest Groups

Special Interest Groups

Special Interest Groups

Special Interest Groups

2016 Presidential
Election
Amount raised by candidates:
$1,310 million
Amount raised by super PACs
supporting their campaigns:
$594 million

2016 Presidential
Election
Clinton
Clinton
Clinton
Clinton
Clinton
Clinton
Clinton
Clinton
Clinton

Priorities USA Acti

on
Hillary for America

SuperPAC

$175,968,142

Campaign

$497,808,791

Correct the Recor

d
No to HRC 2016

Carey

$9,422,574

SuperPAC

$0

America's Teacher
s
45Committee

SuperPAC

$1,828

501c4

N/A

SuperPAC

$0

SuperPAC

$11,640

Carey

$3,615,384

Republicans for
Hillary
Faith Voters for Hil
lary
Ready PAC

2016 Presidential
Election

Trump

Donald J Trump fo Campaign

r President

$247,541,449

Trump

Committee to Rest SuperPAC

ore America's Gre
atness
Patriots for Trump SuperPAC

$585,318

Make America Nu
mber 1

$19,586,131

Trump
Trump

SuperPAC

$131,623

2016 Presidential
Election
Trump

Make America Gre SuperPAC

at Again

$1,742,684

Trump

Rebuilding Ameri
ca Now
Trump Victory

SuperPAC

$20,335,192

PAC

$156,513

Trump
Trump

Bring Back Americ SuperPAC

an Opportunity

$179

Trump

Our Principles PA
C

SuperPAC

$19,007,853

Trump

Great America PA
C

Carey

$16,295,788

2016 Presidential
Election
Trump
Trump

Real People for A SuperPAC

merica
American National
SuperPAC
Super PAC

$47,128
$12,966

Trump

America's Trump
Card SuperPAC

SuperPAC

$0

Trump

Committee for
American
Sovereignty

SuperPAC

$443,834

Trump

TrumPAC

SuperPAC

$0

Trump

Make America
Awesome

SuperPAC

$39,499

Special Interest Groups

Source of Big Money & Power &

Electoral College

Super PAC Donors

Lobbyist Donors
Bundlers
Super Delegates
Electoral College

Super PACs
Super PACs are a relatively new type of
committee that arose following the July
2010 federal court decision
in a case known as SpeechNow.org v.
Federal Election Commission.

Super PACs
Technically known as independent
expenditure-only committees,
super PACs may raise unlimited sums of
money from corporations, unions,
associations and individuals,
then spend unlimited sums to overtly
advocate for or against political
candidates.

Super PACs
As of November 14, 2016,
2,398 groups organized as super PACs
have reported total receipts of
$1,574,809,229
and total independent expenditures of
$1,117,746,826 in the 2016 cycle.

Lobbyist Donors
Representatives of specific companies
that donate money for candidates.
Donors and lobbyists already shaping
Trumps drain the swamp administration
Its not just corporate lobbyists who are
playing early, visible roles in the new
power structure.

Lobbyist Donors
Some of Trumps biggest political donors
are shaping the incoming administration,
including Rebekah Mercer, a daughter of
billionaire Robert Mercer,
who is figuring prominently in behind-thescenes discussions, according to people
familiar with the transition.

Bundler
A person or corporation to collect money from
Individuals or corporations and donate to
candidate(s).
Sweet and Low By Rich Cohen (Book)
Role of a company to act as a bundler to
support a candidate for the industry
Collected $1000 checks from all employees
and gave to their special interest candidate.
They paid back all employees with $1000
bonus.

Bundler Clinton

Bundler Trump
Donald Trumps campaign has set a
historic standard for lack of transparency.
In addition to refusing to release his tax
returns, or any evidence of his charitable
giving,
he has also declined to make public the
names of any bundlerssupporters

who
collect bundles of checks to give to the
campaign.

White House For Sale

whitehouseforsale.org
it is a Public Citizen organization
This Web site allows you to follow the
money trail of campaign bundlers or
people who funnel money to campaigns
as they collect thousands, and sometimes
even millions, of dollars from other people
for presidential candidates.

White House For Sale

Number of bundlers for 2008 presidential
candidates: 2,533
Number of lobbyist bundlers for 2008
presidential candidates: 174
Amount raised by 2008 presidential
candidates: $593,605,889

Superdelegates
796 (2008 number) elected officials and
Democratic Party leaders
They are free to cast their votes at the
convention as they see fit.
Include all Democratic governors and
members of the party.
Their judgment may not match the will of a
majority of voters.

Superdelegates
The superdelegates are made up of
members of Congress, governors, and
former presidents.
And unlike delegates, they are not
required to indicate preference for a
certain candidate and can vote how they
please.

Superdelegates
Created in 1982 to restore some of the
power over the nomination process to
party insiders tempering the zeal of party
activists.
About 15 to 20 percent of the delegates at
Democratic conventions are
superdelegates.
Reference: Nagourney, A & Hulse, C. New York Times No. 54,216, Sunday, February 10, 2008

Presidential Results 2016

Trump 290 electoral votes (270 to win)

Popular vote: 47.2% votes
60,612,280
Clinton 232 electoral votes
Popular Vote: 47.8% votes
61,391,139

Presidential Results 2016

61,391,139 60,612,280 = 778,859
With turnout rate of about 55% which
represent about 1,416.107 people
Clinton had about 1.5 million votes more
than Trump,

Presidential Results 2016

so why Trump chosen? Electoral College
Structure of Electoral College allowed that
popular vote of over 1.5 millions people be
ignored.
Handed the Presidency to Donald Trump

The Electoral College

The system of electing the President and Vice
President is indirect
When voters choose candidates on election
day, they are actually voting for presidential
"electors"
The number of electors in each state is equal
to the number of senators and
representatives from that state in Congress
States with large populations have more
representatives from that states with fewer
people, they have more power in election

The Electoral College

The Electoral college is based on a
"winner-take-all" system
The winner of the majority of votes in each
state gets all of that state's electoral votes

The Electoral College

Because of the Electoral College system,
occasionally the candidate with the
majority of the popular vote losses the
presidential election
Year 2000 was an example that Al Gore
had more popular votes than George
Bush, but Bush won the election because
of the Electoral College system

The Electoral College

Electoral College
Voters in each state choose among slates
of electors pledged to one candidate or
another.
These electors- collectively called the
electoral College- in turn their votes to pick
the president.

Electoral College
Number of electoral votes in each state is
equal to total number of the house and
senate for that state.
For example Texas with 32 electoral votes
in 2000 election gave Bush 32 votes, even
the results was Bush 66% and Gore 33%.
It make sense that Bush gets 21 votes
and gore gets 11 votes.

Electoral College
The architects of the US political system
established the Electoral College process
because:
They did not trust the average voter to
understand the issues
Or to know the political leaders of the new
nation well enough to make informed
choices

Electoral College
State legislators chose Electors,
exemplary citizens
Electors choose the president of the US

Electoral College
Objections to Electoral College in favor of a
direct popular election:
The possibility of electing a minority president
The risk of so-called faithless Electors
The possibility role of the Electoral College in
depressing voter turnout
Its failure to accurately reflect the national
popular will

Electoral College
Those who argue that we cant question
the wisdom of the Founding Fathers.
Nonsense, we tend to forget the Founding
Fathers werent wise at all
when it came to voting rights:

Electoral College
They denied the vote to women
They denied the vote to black
They didnt trust the people to elect U.S.
senators
They didnt trust the people to elect
president

Reference: Stride, Jackie (n.d.). U S Election System. Retrieved from

http://www.jacketrike.com/election/ on November 28, 2007.

Electoral College
Presidential Election 2000 Popular Vote

Electoral College Decision 2000

Structure of Electoral College allowed that
popular vote of over half million people
50,996,582 - 50,456,062 = 540,520
With turnout rate of about 60% which
represent about one million people
(900,866) be ignored
Handed the Presidency to George Bush

Electoral College Decision 2016

Structure of Electoral College allowed that
popular vote of over 700 thousands
people
61,391,139 60,612,280 = 778,859
With turnout rate of about 55% which
represent about 1.5 million of people be
ignored
Handed the Presidency to Donald Trump

The Electoral College

Voters Turn On
Voter turnout this year dipped to nearly its
lowest point in two decades.
While election officials are still tabulating
ballots,
the 126 million votes already counted
means about 55% of voting age citizens
cast ballots this year.

Two Parties, No Choice

In the US we are limited to two major
parties, who are financed by and serve the
same corporate interests.
Candidates running for higher offices still
rake in millions of dollars from big
business and lecture at fundraising
dinners that cost thousands of dollars per
plate.

Two Parties, No Choice

US governments motto should be
updated to read, of the rich, by the rich,
and for the rich.
US Senate: it is one of the most exclusive
millionaires club in the nation.
No working class voices in public office.
Wealthy are overrepresented.

Trump & Race

Working-class whites give Trump the
White House
A little more than half of voting-age
Americans took part in the general
election
That's down from the most recent
elections

Political Attitudes
Americans seem almost instinctively to dislike
government and politicians
Neighborhoods, communities, and states
have a strong pride in their ability to deal with
their problems themselves, and this feeling is
especially strong in the West
Americans are seldom impressed by
government officials
In their films and fiction as well as in television
series, American often portray corrupt
politicians and incompetent officials

Political Attitudes
Is everybody equal in the US - the land that
stated - in its Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal?"
No, of course not, some have advantages of
birth, wealth, or talent.
Some have been to better schools
Some have skins or accents or beliefs that
their neighbors don't specially like

Political Attitudes
Yet the ideal is ever present in a land
where so many different races, language
groups, cultural and religious belief,
hopes, dreams, traditional hates and
dislikes have come together
One American, a Nobel Prize winner in
literature, gave this opinion:

Political Attitudes
"We are able to believe that our
government is weak, stupid, overbearing,
dishonest, and inefficient, and at the same
time we are deeply convinced that it is the
best government in the world, and we
would like to impose it upon everyone else"
Of course many Americans would disagree
in part or with all

Political Attitudes
There is a bumper sticker in the USA, that
some people put it on their car to expose
aggressive nature of US government

Homework Cause/Effect Essay

USA Presidential Election

See model on page 96-97
Write a cause/effect essay about
The Role of Money and Political Elites
In USA Presidential Election
Choose Block Organization model A
Introductory Paragraph: Minimum two
sentences not including thesis sentence.

Homework Cause/Effect Essay

Thesis Statement: One sentence (last
sentence of introductory paragraph)
Each of the following should have
minimum of 2 sentences
1st cause paragraph
2nd cause paragraph
3rd cause paragraph

Homework Cause/Effect Essay

Each of the following should have
minimum of 2 sentences
Transition paragraph
1st effect paragraph
2nd effect paragraph
Conclusion paragraph

Homework Cause/Effect Essay

The essay must includes:

Detail in-text citations
Detail footnotes
Full citations at the bottom of each page

Homework Cause/Effect Essay

A package of original essay, complete
detail peer editing sheet, and rewrite
The complete package should be
submitted on week 13.
20% of midterm grade