Election FAQs and Interesting Facts

What do Americans look for in a Presidential candidate?

Ask a hundred different people that question and you will receive a hundred different answers.  In addition to a candidate’s promised policies, a voter may look to that candidate’s ideals.  Many voters want a “likeable” candidate – someone they can relate to.  Others may look for military experience as a way of demonstrating valor or command experience.  Running for President makes a candidate’s life very public, and voters will be very critical of a candidate’s profile.

Key Issues in this election:

• Iraq Senator Barack Obama proposes a timetable for a full withdrawal of American troops from Iraq within sixteen months of his inauguration.  Senator John McCain opposes such a timetable, insisting that American forces should remain until certain goals are reached.
• Healthcare Both candidates agree that the price of coverage is the main problem confronting healthcare, but disagree on how to reform the system. Senator McCain favors expanding options through such measures as tax credits for individuals to choose their providers and enabling them to seek coverage from out-of-state providers.  Senator Obama proposes a government-sponsored healthcare plan and favors providing subsidies to assist individuals with paying healthcare premiums.
• Climate Change Both candidates support a cap-and-trade system of regulation of carbon emissions.  This would involve setting a legal limit on industrial carbon emissions and allowing firms to ‘buy’ portions of that limit.  Both also agree on raising fuel efficiency standards on automobiles.

What is a superdelegate?

A superdelegate is a delegate to a party convention who votes their own preference for Presidential and Vice Presidential nominee, as opposed to pledged delegates who must vote according to their state’s primary elections.  In the 2008 Democratic primary, neither Senator Barack Obama nor Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton won enough of the primary popular vote to win the nomination on pledged delegates, and Senator Obama became the presumptive nominee on the basis of securing superdelegates’ votes.  Superdelegates consist usually of party officials, often elected to Congress, selected by the parties.

What is a Third Party candidate and why do they run?

Third Party candidates are the nominees of smaller parties, usually with views outside the mainstream.  They often run to bring issues to the election that may otherwise not receive public attention, and to “keep the candidates honest.”  Some third parties include:

• Green Party: a party based in the international green movement, espousing an environmental and social democratic platform;
• Libertarian Party: a Classical Liberal party based on restricting government intervention in society, the economy, and to a certain extent, international affairs;
• Constitution Party: a Conservative party promoting the exercise of traditional values by government, favoring the integration of Christian values into public policy and restriction of both legal and illegal immigration;

What is “splitting the vote”?

A third party candidate may attract the votes of certain voters in a major political party, thus depriving that party’s candidate of votes that would otherwise be hers.  In 1992, an Independent candidate named Ross Perot ran on a fiscally conservative platform that attracted potential Republican voters upset with President George H.W. Bush’s policy of ‘new taxes.’  In 2000, Ralph Nader of the Green Party secured nearly 3 million votes, many of them Democratic, on an environmental platform.  In this year’s election, Libertarian Bob Barr may split the vote by garnering support from Classical Liberal Republicans.

What is the Electoral College?

The Constitution’s authors reasoned that victory based on popular vote alone would encourage candidates to campaign only in heavily-populated areas, excluding the interests of smaller communities and states.  The Electoral College was thus established to ensure candidates’ interest in such regions.  Some feel that the system grants disproportionate weight to the votes of small states’ citizens, and the Electoral College is therefore a subject of debate amongst Americans. 

Some criticize Electoral College as a means of taking power one more step away from the will of the people, as electors are theoretically able to vote for the candidate of their choice rather than following the votes of the majority of constituents.  Some even claim the Founding Fathers are elitist.  Others argue that this method of selecting an executive is not much different that of the widely-accepted Westminster system used in countries like the UK, Ireland, Canada, and numerous others.

Has a president ever won an election without a popular majority?

Yes.  John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and President Bush in 2000 were elected based on majorities in the Electoral College while having fewer popular votes than their competitors.  A number of Presidents, including Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy, Harry Truman, and Woodrow Wilson were elected with popular pluralities, but not majorities.  A plurality exists when a candidate receives the largest percentage of votes of all contenders, but fewer than 50%.  (See “Splitting the Vote”)

Has a president ever been unelected?

Yes.  Millard Fillmore, the thirteenth President, was elected Vice President, and assumed the Presidency after the death of President Zachary Taylor.  He failed to win reelection, and thus was never elected to that particular post.  President Gerald Ford, the thirty-eighth President, was selected to replace Vice President Spiro Agnew, and, following President Nixon’s resignation, assumed to the Presidency, having never won a national election. 

How were Vice Presidents elected in the past?  How are they elected now?

Originally, the Vice President-elect was whoever won the second-most electoral votes in the Presidential General Election.  In 1804, however, the 12th amendment to the Constitution was ratified.  It stipulated that Electors in the College would cast two separate votes, one for President, the other for Vice President.  This amendment occurred after the Presidential election of 1800, in which Thomas Jefferson, a bitter political rival of winner John Adams, was elected to the Vice Presidency.

Why are Senators elected to such long terms?

Each Senatorial term lasts for six years, with a third of Senate seats open for election every two years to ensure that at the end of every presidency, two thirds of the upper chamber elected during his term remains in office, thus protecting against national mood swings. 

Why are Iowa and New Hampshire highly-valued states in primary elections?

The Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary require competitive candidates to meet voters personally, often in small groups or individually.  The voters of these states therefore are responsible for meeting the candidates and finding out ‘what kind of people’ they are, a duty they take very seriously.  A win in Iowa or New Hampshire can give a previously unheralded candidate significant momentum, and the party’s nominee is almost always a winner of one or both events.

How does the nature of caucuses and elections affect primary outcomes?

A caucus favors a different kind of candidate than an election and follows a different format.  Caucuses favor candidates who are able to create a broad appeal, as supporters of ‘unviable’ candidates are likely to turn to such a candidate as a second choice.  In an election, a candidate who in a caucus may have been bypassed by second-choice voters is more likely to win.

What’s the difference between a primary and a caucus?

A primary follows the same format as a general election, except primaries only decide the winners of the party’s elections.  Voters go polling places and cast their ballots just as in general elections.

A caucus format requires more time and attention on the part of voters.  Attendees gather in designated places, usually school auditoriums, and discuss the candidates’ merits for a time, before casting their votes.  These gatherings are organized into precincts which report the results to the state party.  Each party in each state has a different way of organizing caucuses, but this is the basic format.

What’s the difference between an open and closed primary?

Most states used closed primaries.  In this format, voters may only participate in their party’s primary, meaning that voters not registered with any party are excluded for this round of the election.

In an open primary, used mostly in the Northern Plains states and the Southeast, voters may participate in the primary of any party.  While this helps candidates who have bipartisan appeal, it also creates the opportunity for some to manipulate elections by voting for a candidate of the opposing party who they feel has little chance of winning.

California uses a modified closed primary.  This means that the parties are given the option of allowing unaffiliated voters to request their ballots.  In 2004 and 2006, both the Democratic and Republican parties opted to open their primaries, though the Republic party declined in 2008.

What is an Independent?

An Independent, or an unaffiliated voter, is a registered voter who has not expressed an official preference for any party.  Voters may be unaffiliated for many reasons.  They may be moderates who would prefer not to choose any party, they may hold radical views that differ from the platforms of all parties, or they may be disappointed in the political process and withhold their affiliation in protest.

Winning the votes of unaffiliated voters is very important to Presidential candidates. A total of 42.6% of voters are registered Democratic, while roughly one third of registered voters are Republicans. To secure a majority, a candidate must have significant appeal among Independents.

Politicians can also be Independent.  Independent politicians often agree too much with both parties or too little with either to be members.  Some independent politicians include:

• Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont
• Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City
• President George Washington