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"While great strides have been made since the Founding years, the United States continues to suffer from a high degree of political inequality. Simply put, some citizens have a louder voice in their democracy than others. Both the malapportioned Senate and Electoral College overrepresent Americans in small states, while gerrymandered districts poorly convert votes into power in the House of Representatives. Over four million Americans living in Washington, D.C. and the territories lack representation in Congress, while citizens everywhere face unnecessary burdens to cast ballots. Finally, biased media and questionable political funding render it difficult to hold elected officials accountable. This book explores these formidable problems and identifies the path to securing a fairer, more representative political system. Sourcing solutions directly from the Constitution, chapters outline the tools that could limit malapportionment, expand voting rights, control the influence of big donors and more. Achieving these reforms, however, requires an engaged citizenry that relentlessly demands change from those in power"--

Early voting has become an important feature of presidential elections. While research has generally focused on whether programs increase turnout, few have considered whether early voting alters the information environment in campaigns. Those who vote early may do so before important information becomes available in the final weeks of a campaign. I speculate that early voting should benefit early front‐runners in presidential nomination contests, as voters may cast early votes for these candidates before fully considering their less‐known opponents. Examining exit‐poll data from the 2008 Democratic primaries between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, I find that Clinton indeed benefited from early voting in several early primary states.

In both 2008 and 2012, about one third of the American electorate cast their votes early. While early voting programs are established by states, counties have considerable discretion with regard to implementing them. While some counties offer only a single early voting site, others offer dozens. Previous research suggests that site density may affect the degree to which programs increase turnout. I use county-level data from the 2008 and 2012 elections to measure whether a county's racial and ethnic composition predicts high (or low) levels of site density. Applying county-level data from the Election Assistance Commission and American Community Survey, I find that the percentage of a county identifying as Black has a significantly negative association with early voting site density. This relationship persists when numerous demographic covariates are included in ordinary least squares models. These site disparities suggest that early voting may not be achieving its full potential in heavily African American communities.

"A lively, straightforward approach to the basics of American politics, The Basics of American Politics offers a concise and accessible introduction to the nuts and bolts of the American system of government. Throughout this brief, student-friendly text, authors Gary Wasserman and Elliott Fullmer employ a dynamic game metaphor to engage students in the basics of American government and the contact sport of politics. For introductory students of American government, this brief and affordable text is especially ideal for advanced placement courses, community colleges, and international programs in American Studies"--

Cover -- Half Title -- Endorsement -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1 What Is Politics? -- Politics and Power -- Political Elites -- Authority: Legitimate Power -- The Need for Government -- What Is Government? -- Making and Supporting Decisions -- The Study of Politics -- Political Science and Elon Musk's Tesla -- Why Give a Damn About Politics? -- The Sunrise Movement -- What Is This Book About? -- Suggested Readings -- Chapter 2 The Constitution: Rules of the Game -- Background to the Constitution -- The Articles of Confederation (1781-1789) -- The Constitutional Convention -- The Framers -- Motives Behind the Constitution -- Federalists Versus Anti-Federalists -- Ratification and the Bill of Rights -- Four Major Constitutional Principles -- Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances -- Federalism -- Limited Government -- Judicial Review -- How Is the Constitution Changed? -- Amendments -- Judicial Interpretation -- Legislation -- Custom -- Why Has the Constitution Survived? -- Wrap-Up -- Notes -- Suggested Readings -- Chapter 3 The Executive Branch: The Presidency and Bureaucracy -- The President and the Constitution -- The Electoral College -- Vice President -- History of the Presidency -- Modern Presidents -- Donald Trump, an Uneasy Executive -- The Insider as President: Joe Biden -- A President's Power Hats -- Chief of State -- Chief Executive -- Chief Diplomat -- Commander in Chief -- Chief Legislator -- Party Leader -- The Public Presidency -- The Federal Bureaucracy -- Executive Office of the President -- The Cabinet Departments -- The Independent Agencies -- The Regulatory Commissions -- Problems of Bureaucracy -- Rise of the Civil Service -- Bureaucrats as Policymakers -- The President and the Bureaucracy -- Wrap-Up -- Note -- Suggested Readings -- Chapter 4 The Legislative Branch: Congress.

Hoping to insulate their contests from national politics, thirty-six states hold their gubernatorial elections in national midterm election years. Many scholars have assessed whether presidential evaluations nevertheless have an effect on these races, though findings have varied. We offer a new approach to examining this question, relying on underutilized state-level presidential approval data preceding 143 gubernatorial races across six national midterm election cycles. Accounting for the effects of state ideology, gubernatorial approval, campaign spending, state economic performance, and incumbency, we report that presidential approval has a positive and significant effect on the performance of the presidential party in gubernatorial races. The substantive effects are modest, though still potentially meaningful. In the primary specification, an additional six points of presidential approval is associated with about one additional point of gubernatorial vote share.

AbstractSince the Civil War, the president's party has lost seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in all but three midterm election cycles. Many attribute this pattern to "balancing" by moderate voters who prefer a Democratic Congress when Republicans control the White House, and vice versa. Although a number of scholars have tested the balancing hypothesis, the debate remains unsettled. We argue that the U.S. states provide an excellent way to analyze the issue further. Similar to the national government, states feature an executive and (in most cases) a bicameral legislature whose members come up for election in both gubernatorial and state midterm years. If voters balance, one should observe such behavior in state elections when an executive's partisanship is known and a legislative choice is necessary. We examine state legislative elections from 1978 to 2009 and find evidence consistent with the balancing hypothesis.