Although most states hold primaries, caucuses are another way political parties nominate candidates for election. Caucuses are a series of meetings held across a state. At these meetings, party members discuss the candidates, and then openly vote for state delegates who represent the candidate they support. Those state delegates, in turn, choose delegates to attend the national convention, where they are expected to support the candidate whom they had pledged to support. one reason why caucuses are an appropriate means of selecting a candidate are that caucuses could reinvigorate interest in the nominating process.
Public participation in the presidential nomination process in the USA has only the norm since the 1970’s, after the recommendations from the commission for the Democratic Party. These led to the use of primaries in almost every state, and caucuses in a few states. There are many arguments to say that this does not advance democracy, however there are also numerous that say that public participation does in fact advance democracy. In this essay I will be assessing whether public participation hinders or advances the presidential nomination process with the most convincing argument being that public participation hinders democracy. One arguments showing that public participation advances democracy is that it allows a wider range of candidates to run for presidency that are not part of the Washington establishment.
The number of moderate in the senate, outweigh that of the tea party caucus, 3-1. This data shows that moderate conservatism still has influence within congress, and can not be said that it it doesn't exist. How a strong conservative GOP member represent a state with numerous district, both with liberal and conservatives, a middle ground must be
A reason for a person deciding not to vote may be due to the fact that they haven’t gone that far though education. Statistically, high school drop outs are a lot less likely to vote than those with a post graduate qualification. This may be because when you go through the different stages of education you build a foundation of politics and are more likely to care about what goes on. It can be said that people that do get their post graduate qualifications go into jobs that are more affected by who is in power at that current time. In the Obama vs. McCain election of 2012, Obama’s victory was strengthened by the fact that there was a much higher turnout of the young voters and voters that are parts of minority groups.
Another advantage of the FPTP system is that it manages to marginalise extremist and revolutionary parties such as UKHIP and BNP as they are unlikely to win overall constituencies. This was demonstrated well in the 2010 election as BNP and UKHIP did not even come close to winning any seats in the House of Commons. One of the general advantages the FPTP system has been known for is its ability to produce single party governments that aren’t a minority vote or a coalition. This is due to its ability to
However, there is also reason to suggest that this is not the case, and that pluralism determined the outcome of the 2008 election. A significant percentage of America’s population voted in the 2004 election, with even more predicted to vote in the 2008 election which was the case. People were and still are politically aware and therefore made up their own mind. This may have been due to e.g. voting for change and rationally by voting Democratic instead of Republican, or because they believed in Obama.
They also are ineffective at representing their constitution because out of 650 MPs, only 147 of them are female, and even fewer are ethnic minorities which means they are not effectively representing the population. Secondly, MPs are effective because they scrutinise and hold the government to account with questions. They can scrutinise the opposition, or if they are rebels for example, Nadine Dorries, they can scrutinise their own party. Recently, MPs have become even more under the Speaker John Berkow who has allowed increasing amounts of urgent questions, 25 in his first year. There is also the 10 minute question time, and ballot box at the end of Question Time.
Danny Mijal February 6, 2012 Political Science 544 Assignment #1 The recent New Hampshire poll, which gauges the behavior of likely Republican Primary voters creates a sample which for the most part appears to be a somewhat reliable frame for voters in the state. However the sample, 554 ’likely’ republic voters, does leave some room for biases and errors. First off the poll does well in following its sample from the initial interview to the subsequent interview immediately following a major caucus. By initially interviewing respondents in December the poll was able to narrow the sample to only those who would be interested in once again in January. This is furthered by the idea that the likely voters who follow the caucuses
How did Obama beat Clinton to the democratic nomination? When the little known US Senator for Illinois announced his intentions to run in the democratic presidential primary in 2007, few believed that he could defeat the party backed establishment candidate, Hilary Clinton. Clinton’s campaign was described as “the largest and most powerful presidential campaign in History” and although Obama himself was quietly confident, his early investors were sceptical as Clinton gained an early twenty point lead. So how was he able to turn things around? Obama had three key factors on his side.
Francisco Ibarra Govt II December 1, 2009 Americans and Elections As we know, presidential elections tend to have a certain amount of attraction even if you don’t really care for politics. The media always tries to put their own spin on it so it makes it look more enticing for people to see it and in turn they get ratings. The 2000 election was one of the closest elections seen, where George W. Bush beat Al Gore by a margin of less than one percent in the electoral votes. Many people believe that it was a mistake, Al Gore should have won. Four years down the road, its time to elect another president or re-elect the current one if he was a good choice before.