12/1 us politics

… checks and balances

—> balance of the differnt powers/ branches —> no one gets too powerful

• executive (president)

• legislative (congress)

• judicative (supreme court)

• President

• Vice President (= president of the senate, tie-breaking vote, when 50:50)

• Cabinet

• 4 years

• congress

• two branches: House of Representatives and Senate

• part of the congress

• 2 years

• 435 seats

• represents population (—> districts)

• passes the laws

• in charge of the money

• Part of the congress

• 6 years

• 100 seats

• every two years: 35 of 100 seats re-elected

• represents the states

• 2 senators from each state (50 states)

• approbes/ rejects laws

• confirm appointed

• Supreme Court

• a justice service for life

• 9 seats

• after the death of a judge, the new judge gets elected by the president

• gridlock

  • chambers can block each other/ the president’s agenda

  • if the chambers have a different colour than the president, the president might become a “lame duck”

bill

• US: district

• UK: constituency (Wahlkreisbewohner = constituent)

ballot

primary (pl. primaries)

or

cancus

mail-in ballot

• 1828

• blue

• donkey

• Joe Biden

• Barack Obama

• JFK

• Franklin D. Roosevelt

• Jimmy Carter

• Bill Clinton

• Jaime Harrison (party leader)

• Nancy Pelosi (former speaker)

• Chuck Schumer (senate majority leader)

• Joe Biden (president)

• Kamala Harris (vice president)

• women’s right to vote

• civil rights act

• social insurance program

• NATO

• unemployment benefits

• Marshall Plan

• health reform (Affordable Care Act/ Obama Care)

• abortion rights

• tighten gun control

• improve health care system

• climate change

• support Ukraine

• female

• African-American, Hispanic

• 18- 29 years

• income: 50.000$ - 100.000$

• political philosophy: liberal

• most important issues: civil rights

• Northeast, Pacific Coast, big cities

• 1845

• red

• elephant

• Donald Trump

• Abraham Lincoln

• George W. Bush

• Ronald Reagon

• Theodore Roosevelt

• Eisenhower

• Mitch McConnell (senate minority leader)

• Kevin McCarthy (speaker)

• Donald Trump (former president)

• Ron de Santis

• economy

• reshaping the courts

• medical research

• NASA

• High Way System

• started building Mexican Wall

• fight against terrorism

• loose gun control

• restrict immigration

• economy: inflation/ cost of living

• fight violent crime

• male

• white

• religious

• unhappy with current government

• elderly

• South, country side

• not good educated

• not very wealthy

• elections (every 4 years)

• in the middel of a president’s 4-year term

• re-election of the House of Representatives and one third of the Senate

• states where the both parties have similar leveles of support among the voters

• Pennsylvania

• Wisconsin

• Michigan

• Florida

• Ohio

• Nevada

• North Carolina

• Virginia

• a state with predominantly votes for the Republican party

• Alaska

• Idaho

• North Dakota

• South Dakota

• Wyoming

• Texas

• a state with predominantly votes for the Democratic Party

• California

• Hawaii

• Washington

• New York

• Minnesota

• New Jersey

• Massachusetts

• Connecticut

• Maryland

1. XY: “I want to become president”

2. forming exploratory committee to “test the waters” (chances?)

3. fundraising (continued the whole time)

4. official declaration of the candidacy

5. launching campaigns in the key states

6. campaigning heavily in early primary and caucus states

7. trying to win enough delegates to win the party nomination

8. picking a running mate (—> candidate for vice president)

9. after winning majority of delegates —> becomes official party nominee at a party convention

10. further promoting party’s message/ agenda and party’s platform

11. campaigning heavily in swing states (=battleground states) and media appearences

12. trying to motivate your voters to go to the polls/ to register

13. election day (firts tuesday after first monday in november)

14. has to win a majority of electors in the “electoral college” —> indirect system

15. president-elect assembles cabinet and crafts, a more thorough political agenda, forms a team to run the White House

16. inauguration day in January

electors

party’s platform

party convention