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Congress: The Electoral Connection

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Title: Congress: The Electoral Connection


1
Congress The Electoral Connection
  • 324 Class 2

2
Parties as Teams
  • Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Hungry People on the Beach!!
3
Parties as Teams
  • Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Hungry People on the Beach!!
4
Parties as Teams
  • Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Hungry People on the Beach!!
5
Parties as Teams
  • Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Hungry People on the Beach!! Each Cart Gets ½ of
the Beach
6
Parties as Teams
  • Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Hungry People on the Beach!! Green Moves to the R
ight
7
Parties as Teams
  • Example, hot dog carts on the beach

New Midpoint
Hungry People on the Beach!! Green Gets More Cust
omers by moving right
8
Parties as Teams
  • Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Old Midpoint
Hungry People on the Beach!! White Moves to the L
eft
They Each get ½ again
9
Parties as Teams
  • Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Old Midpoint
Hungry People on the Beach!! Both move to the cen
ter
(or median)
10
Parties as Teams
  • Example, hot dog carts on the beach

Old Midpoint
Hungry People on the Beach!! Each end up at the m
edian and share ½ of the beach
11
Parties as Teams
  • Dont Believe it, why are gas stations across
    from each other?
  • Applies elsewhere as well
  • TV News
  • Time and Newsweek
  • What about political parties?

12
Parties as Teams Anthony Downs
  • Assume Two parties
  • Liberal (Democrats)
  • Conservative (Republicans)
  • Voters Pick the Team closest to them
  • The further away the team is, the more the voter
    does not like that team
  • Direction does not matter
  • This is called a single peaked preference

13
Median Voter
Liberal

Conservative
Voter 1
Median
14
Median Voter
Liberal

Conservative
Voter 1
Median
15
Median Voter
Is voter 1s Ideal point. She wants the
candidate to be at but will vote for the
closest party anyway
Liberal

Conservative
Voter 1
Median
16
Median Voter
  • Instead of One voter, there are lots of them

Liberal
Conservative
Lots of Voters
Median
17
Median Voter
  • Converge to the median
  • 50/50 tie
  • Coin flip

Voters
Liberal
Conservative
18
Median Voter
  • What can a third party do?

Voters
Liberal
Conservative
19
Median Voter
  • What can a third party do?
  • Blue and Green Split votes, Red wins
  • 2000 Election, opposite in 1992

Voters
Liberal
Conservative
20
Median Voter
  • What about primary elections?
  • Voters from the candidates party choose who gets
    to run in the general election
  • Voters are generally more extreme

Liberal
Conservative
Primary Median
Primary Median
General Election Median
21
Median Voter
  • What about primary elections?
  • Voters from the candidates party choose who gets
    to run in the general election
  • Voters are generally more extreme

Liberal
Conservative
Primary Median
Primary Median
General Election Median
22
Mayhew
  • First Premise
  • Think like an economist, not like a sociologist
  • Sociologist norms, folkways
  • Squishy
  • Economics purposive behavior
  • Rational Choice chose behavior to maximize
    goals

23
Mayhew
  • What are members goals according to Mayhew?
  • Reelection, Reelection and Reelection
  • What kinds of activity does the goal imply?
    (First section)
  • How do they design the Congress to achieve these
    goals (Second section)

24
Why reelection?
  • Fits reality well
  • Spotlight on individuals
  • This is how democracy is supposed to work
    (Madison)

25
Electoral Incentives?
  • Easy Question - Is the Congress a place where
    members wish to stay?
  • 1971 20 percent served 10 terms
  • Hard Question Is reelection the only goal?
  • Power within the institution, good public policy,
    ambition, maintaining the majority
  • Mayhew says reelection is the proximate goal

26
Alternative View
  • Parties are the prime movers in electoral
    politics
  • Downss Economic Theory of Democracy
  • Individuals join a team or party
  • Parties bid for favor from the public by offering
    policy
  • Voters cast votes based on the expected party
    differential

27
Which is correct?
  • Are members of Congress part of a team or are
    they individuals?
  • Do they choose, or are they forced, to act in
    similar ways?
  • Can a team have mavericks and be successful?

28
Evidence for Individuals
  • Nomination system
  • Direct Primary
  • Heterogeneous states
  • Resources
  • Mobilize own resources, and labor
  • Lack of a cabinet

29
Answer
  • No theoretical treatment of the United States
    Congress that posits parties as analytic units
    will go very far.

30
How to secure reelection
  • What influences elections?
  • Economy, presidential popularity, war
  • Can individual members influence these things?
  • Solution ignore them

31
How to secure reelection
  • All members are vulnerable at some point in their
    careers
  • ½ of variance in outcome is local
  • Incumbents can influence their results
  • Members are unbeatable because they are good at
    what they do.

32
How to secure reelection
  • Need to keep resource balance in their favor
  • How do they do this?
  • Advertising
  • Credit Claiming
  • Position Taking

33
Advertising
  • Any effort to disseminate ones name among
    constituents in such a fashion as to create a
    favorable image but in messages that having
    little or no issue content
  • Brand name
  • Experience, knowledge, responsiveness, concern,
    sincerity, independence etc.
  • Home-style, speeches, congratulations, baby
    books, etc.

34
Credit Claiming
  • Acting so as to generate a belief in a relevant
    political actor that one is personally
    responsible for causing the government, or some
    unit thereof, to do something that the actor
    considers desirable
  • Individual accomplishment (not party)

35
Credit Claiming
  • Particularized benefit
  • Given out to a specific group, individual or
    geographic unit
  • Given out in an ad hoc fashion
  • Get the district their piece of the pie
  • Shiny construction projects
  • Casework

36
Position Taking
  • Public enunciation of a judgmental statement on
    anything likely to be of interest to political
    actors
  • Ex, War, health care, steroids, etc.
  • Speaker not a doer
  • Speeches, articles, tv, books, petitions
  • Winning ideas hunger, communism

37
Roll Call vs. Speech
  • Speech can be vague
  • Roll call recorded vote on the floor of the
    chamber
  • Cant be vague
  • Watched by interest groups
  • Dont make votes that will hurt you
  • Dont have to win, just be on the right side

38
When to act
  • Senators position taking/access to media
  • Machine Cities credit claiming
  • Upper class position taking
  • Ambitious advertising, position taking

39
Summary
  • Parties acting as teams vs. individual actors
  • Mayhew individuals are important
  • Advertising
  • Credit Claiming
  • Position Taking
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