Electoral Process in the United States

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Electoral Process in the United States

In the United States, presidential elections are held every four years on the first Tuesday of November. Elections for senators and representatives are held at the same time. Senators and representatives are also elected in “off-year” elections, which take place midway through the four-year presidential term. In advance of the main “general” elections, political parties hold a series of primary elections. In these elections, candidates from the same party for the same office run against one another to determine which one will be the party’s nominee in the general election.

Candidates spend many months running their political campaigns in order to gain the support of the most voters. During this organized effort to persuade people to support them, candidates share their ideas about necessary policy changes and spread their message about why they deserve to be elected. Messages are spread through personal appearances, phone calls, websites, mailings, and television and radio advertisements. Research is conducted to determine who should be included in the candidate’s target audience and what issues are important to these people. Candidates ask supporters to join the campaign by helping to spread the message and making financial contributions.

Despite the fact that millions of citizens vote for their favored candidates in these elections, the President is not elected directly by the people. Rather, the citizens elect members of the Electoral College, which is the formal body that actually elects the President. The number of electors for each state is equal to the number of senators and representatives from that state in Congress. These electors cast votes for the presidential candidates. In order to win the presidency, a candidate must receive at least half of the electoral votes. Generally, the candidate who receives the majority of the citizens’ votes within a state receives all of the electoral votes for that state. Because of the way the Electoral College works, a candidate who receives a majority of citizens’ votes nationwide may still fail to gain a majority of electoral votes and thus lose the presidency.

Contemporary Public Policy

Public policy is whatever course of action a government adopts regarding a given issue. The actions taken may include passing laws, enforcing rules or regulations, and providing funding or other resources. Most of the public policies of the United States are implemented through the executive branch of the government. When deciding upon a public policy, it must be determined who will benefit from the policy and who will be responsible for the costs. Some major categories of public policy include criminal justice, culture and society, economic affairs, education, the environment, government operations, health, social welfare, and foreign affairs and national security.

Interest groups are groups of people who share a common interest or a common concern, and who come together to influence the government to adopt a certain policy or to make decisions that support their cause. The goal of these groups may benefit the members of the group, a part of society, or the public in general. Interest groups try to influence public policy by providing information and education on an issue, by advocating for the issue in public speeches or the media, or by organizing campaigns to influence lawmakers to support their cause. Because a democracy is government by the people, interest groups have an important influence on the shaping of public policy.