POLS 102 1st EditionLecture 15Outline of Last Lecture1. Continuation from last lecture of Dynamic Representation2. Interest Groups3. Types of Interest Groups4. Formation of Groups5. Why there are two parties in the USOutline of Current Lecture1. Continuation from last lecture of: Why there are two parties in the USa. Duvergers Lawb. Biased Legal System2. Presidential Electionsa. How the economy effects presidential electionsCurrent LectureWHY THERE ARE TWO PARTIES IN THE US1. Duvergers Law (532-533) – when you have single member districts (SMD) – only one representative per district – and plurality (winner takes all) elections you get a two party government system. a. As opposed to multimember districts and proportional representation (PR) – a political party gets the percent of seats that they win in the vote.b. Political Parties channel priorities of the publici. That’s why polarization happens. Polarization is when political parties strong disagree with each other. This happens when there’s a lot of liberal on one party and a lot of conservatives on the other party.These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.ii. They benefit their constituents, which is why political parties are important. And there are two parties so that all constituents have a chance to get on the agenda and be recognizedc. Examine a hypothetical state with 10 seats that use SMDi. District 1 = Dem 50% of the vote; Rep 40% of the vote; Green party 10% of the vote. ii. 10% of the voters in the district desire representation from the green party but they get nothing. iii. In a PR system in this same scenario, the green party would get 1 seat for 10% of the vote if there were 10 districtsiv. LOOK AT THE CHARTS ON ECAMPUSd. The rules we have guarantee a two party systeme. Put yourself in the mind of a voter that prefers the Green Party in a SMD-plurality election systemi. The voter wants to vote for the green candidates first; democratic party second; republican party thirdii. The voter worries that if she/he votes for the Green party candidate, itwill more likely that the republican party will win1. “A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush” – because a vote for the Green party takes a vote away from the Democratic partyiii. So the voter decides to vote for the Democratic partyiv. This situation is the same for all 3rd parties. It protects Democrats from the Green party and Republicans from Libertarians1. It undermines every 3rd party from gaining traction. 3rd parties get less support and they are never considered as a serious threat.2. This biases the US towards the 2 partiesv. It’s because of the rules/institutions that the SMD and plurality winner take all election systemf. Now imagine the thoughts of the same voter in a PR system with one district (multi member) with 10 seatsi. They know that the green party will get the % of seats in the legislature that it gets in the districtii. The voter has an incentive to vote for the 3rd partyiii. The rules/institutions of the electoral system make the Green party a serious contender for seats, biasing the system towards a multi-party system2. Biased Legal Systema. Democrats and Republicans make rules governing the electoral systemsi. The constitution grants states the ability to administer elections and states are run by Democrats and Republicans1. Democrats and Republicans wouldn’t change to PR because it would give 3rd parties a chance to steal their seats and that is not in the 2 parties best interestsii. Consider matching funds for presidential elections1. The federal government equally matches your fundraising efforts, but only if you get 5% of the vote in the previous election. And usually the only people to win more than 5% of the vote are the Democrats and Republicans.iii. The two parties sometimes adopt issues that 3rd parties focus on1. Example: Nixon (a Republican) adopted states rights from the American Independent Party2. Example: in the 1890’s William Brian Jennings wanted silver to be counted in the gold standard because that would increase the amount of money in circulation which would cause inflation. He wanted this to help Western farmers that owed money to Eastern banks and if there was inflation they would be able to pay their debts more easily. The Democrats adopted this idea of “Free Silver” from Jennings and wanted him to run as the presidential candidate for the Democrats.iv. It’s difficult to reform1. If you want more than two parties you have to change the rules.2. Focusing on reforms should start with changing the rulesa. Democrats and Republicans won’t cooperate with changing the rules thoughb. The initiative process would be the best place to startPRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS1. The health of the economy has a big effect on who winsa. Theory: voters punish or reward incumbents based on the economy (research supports this theory).i. If the economy is healthy – the incumbent president will most likely be re-electedii. If the economy is weak – the incumbent president will most likely not be re-electedb. This can be a good or a bad thing – because some aspects are out of the presidents controlc. The economy isn’t destiny of the election thoughi. Example: surprising elections of 1924, 1956, 1992d. But it’s not a surprise that presidents try to influence the economye. Partisanship during elections is also important.f. Political scientists argue that elections don’t matter that much – but the economy does. Assuming both campaigns are run pretty