POLS 206 Lecture 13 Outline of Previous Lecture o 8 6 Third Parties o 8 7 American Politics and the Scope of Government Democracy and Responsible Part of Government Ch 9 Campaigns and Voting Behavior o 9 1 Competing for Delegates Outline of Current Lecture o 9 2 Organizing a Campaign o 9 3 Money and Campaigning o 9 4 Impact of Campaigns o 9 5 Deciding Whether to Vote Who Votes Lecture o Evaluating the primary and caucus system Disproportionate attention goes to early caucuses and primaries Frontloading Prominent politicians find it difficult to take time out from their duties to run Money plays too big a role in the caucuses and primaries Money doesn t necessarily win elections but it helps a lot Participation in primaries and caucuses is low and unrepresentative System gives too much power to the media 9 2 Organizing a Campaign Get a campaign manager Get a fund raiser Sometimes it is the candidate Get a campaign counsel lawyer Hire media and campaign consultants PR firm Helps you make good ads tells you what to say and not to say makes your image good Assemble a campaign staff Involves a lot of volunteers they are the backbone of a campaign o Plan the logistics Get a research staff and policy advisers keep candidate informed on issues Want specialists in all fields important to the campaign Hire a pollster someone who runs their own polls Hire a good press secretary spins things in your favor Establish a web site Where much of the campaign funds come from 9 3 Money and Campaigning Regulations on campaign contributions Federal Election Campaign Act 1974 Who contributed How money spent Limits on individual and interest group contributions Individuals cap at 2000 PACs cap at 5000 Federal Election Commission FEC Public financing Money from government caps total campaign spending Loopholes No limits on spending own money Soft money Money given to party not individual candidate Can be used for generic party building activities Regulations on independent political expenditures 527 Groups New route for soft money Independent expenditures Endorsements forbidden Citizens United v FEC 2010 Supreme Court ruled that corporations and groups are in fact individuals and have freedom of speech 501c groups Super PACs Unlimited funding but cannot be affiliated with a candidate or campaign Does Money Buy Victory Is there a link between money and votes Some say no Spend more only when weak Usually when an incumbent is in trouble More you spend correlates with weakness so more money spent means you are less likely to win Money does not assure or guarantee victory Doctrine of sufficiency o o No need to outspend opponent to win Only need to spend enough this is subjective so there is a problem with this 9 4 Impact of Campaigns How important are campaigns Reinforcement Activation Bring new voters into political arena Conversion Campaigns mainly reinforce and activate Why are conversions so rare Selective perception Listening to the things you already agree with Party identification Single most predictor of how you vote Incumbent advantage Wedge issues 9 5 Deciding Whether to Vote Does one vote matter Voting is costly Tuesday is a workday Is it rational to vote Policy differences Political efficacy Civic duty Who Votes Education Main factor Increased sense of political efficacy Ease of clearing bureaucratic hurdles Age Older more likely vote Younger citizens less settled Race and Ethnicity Black and Hispanic turnout lower Gender marital status government employment