Electoral Process, Mass Media, Public Opinion, Interest Groups

1
Electoral Process, Mass Media, Public Opinion,
Interest Groups

• Chapters 7-9

2
Chapter 7

• Election Campaigns

3
How to Nominate a Candidate

• Self-announcement
• Caucus
• Convention
• Direct Primaries
• Petition

4
When are Elections held?

• 1st Tuesday after the first Monday

5
Administration of Elections

• Election laws are mostly made by states.
• Absentee voting
• Coattail effect
• Precinct
• Polling place
• ballot

6
Money Elections
7
Spending Funding

• Running for office lots of
• 30 seconds of primetime 150,000
• Two ways to draw
• Private contributors
• Public treasury
• (small contributors, wealthy, candidates,
  temporary organizations, parties, subsidy PACs)
• Subsidy grant of from federal or state
• PAC political action committees, political arms
  of special-interest groups, register w/ FEC

8
Regulating Campaign Funding

• 1907 fed govt began regulations
• Todays regulations
• FECA (Federal Election Campaign Act)
• FEC (Federal Election Commission)
• FECA Amendments 1974
• Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 2002

9
FEC1974

• Administers all federal laws dealing with
  campaign finance
• Independent agency of Executive Branch
• Laws that they enforce
• Timely disclosure of campaign finance data
• Place limits on campaign contributions
• Place limits of campaign expenditures
• Provide for federal subsidies

10
Disclosure Requirements

• 5,000 Contributions must be notified within 48
  hrs.
• No cash gifts of more than 100
• No foreign source contribution
• Sum of 1,000 or more within last 20 days must be
  reported

11
Limits on Contributions

• No more than 2,000 by person (primary general
  election)
• No more than 5,000 by person in a year to a PAC
• No more than 25,000 to a political party
• Persons total contribution to committees and
  candidates cannot exceed 95,000

12
PAC Contributions

• Raise campaign money and give friends
  contributions
• 4,000 PACs
• SARAHPAC
• National Education Associations PAC
• Members pay money, PAC distributes to candidates
• No more than 5,000 to one candidate (10,000 in
  general election)
• Up to 15,000 to political party

13
Limits on Expenses

• More limits came after the Supreme Court Case
  Buckley vs. Valeo (1976)
• Limit campaign expenditures by Reps/Senators
• Limit how much of candidate own money

14
Hard Money, Soft Money

• hard money
• political contributions which are made directly
  to a specific candidate
• may only come from an individual or a PAC, and
  must follow the strict limits set forth by the
  FEC

• soft money
• political contributions which are made indirectly
  to parties and committees
• funds can come from individuals and PACS
• or corporations
• The law says that this money can only be used for
  "party-building activities"
• 2000- 500 mil

15
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act 2002

• AKA McCain-Feingold Act
• Aimed at soft money
• Banned soft money contributions to political
  parties

16
Chapter 8

• Mass Media Public Opinion

17
What is Public Opinion?

• Attitudes held by people in regards to issues
• What affects public opinion?
• Family and Education
• Mass Media (TV, radio, internet)
• Peer groups (friends, coworkers)
• Opinion Leaders (ppl who hold public office)
• Historic Events

18
Measuring Public Opinion

• What are peoples opinions on particular issues?
• How do we measure them?
• Elections
• Interest groups (groups who share same goal and
  shape public policy)
• Media
• Polls

19
Polls

• How good are they?
• Fairly reliable
• Always margin for error
• Face to face, online, phone

20
Mass Media

• Means of communication
• Linkage between govt and people
• Forms of Mass Media
• TV
• Newspapers
• Radio
• Magazines

21
Media and Politics

• Media influences
• public agenda (societal problems that political
  leaders and ppl agree need attention)
• Electoral politics media lets candidates appeal
  to people
• Build an image

22
Chapter 9

• Interest Groups

23
What are interest groups?

• Private organization that tries to persuade
  public officials to respond to their attitudes
• Fortune Magazine "Power 25 Survey for 2001 The
  Top 25 Interest Groups

1.  National Rifle Association2.  American
Association of Retired People (AARP)
24
Role of Interest Groups

• 1st amendment gives the right to assemble
• AKA special interests, organized groups
• Influence public policy
• Are they good or bad?
• Good provides political participation,
• Bad push their own interest (not All Americans)

25
Types of Interest Groups

• Agricultural Groups
• Labor Groups
• Labor Unions
• Professional Groups
• Religious Groups

26
How they influence Public Opinion and Campaigns

• The use of propaganda posters, TV ads
• NRA gun safety signs
• Lobbying way groups pressure the government
• Persuade legislators about their point of view