The President

Qualifications

• Natural Born Citizen

• At least 35 years old

• Live in the United States for 14 years.

The Executive Branch

Electoral College

2012

Electors for

Obama

(Bob, Steve, Mick)

Romney

(Ann, Bill, Chad)

Popular vote

November election

Electoral vote

Mid December

Electors cast their vote

Ann, Bill and Chad

Obama

Romney

How does the electoral college work?

• There are a total of 538 total electoral votes.• Each state gets the same # of votes as they

have members of Congress• A majority of electoral votes are needed to be

elected President. (270)• If no majority of electoral votes are obtained the

House of Representatives chooses the President

• The electoral college votes in mid December

• Monday following the second Wednesday in December, the electors of each state meet in their respective state capitals to officially cast their votes for president and vice president.

• These votes are then sealed and sent to the president of the Senate, who on January 6th opens and reads the votes in the presence of both houses of Congress.

• The winner is sworn into office at noon on January 20th.

Why don’t we elect our president through popular vote?

• A safeguard against– Uneducated voters– The system of popular vote doesn’t work

What are the problems with the Electoral College

1. You can get the most popular vote and still lose the

election

Lets suppose we have two candidates

Candidate A and Candidate B

A B A B

California 15 mil 14 mil 55 0

Popular Vote Electoral Vote

A B A B

California 15 mil 14 mil 55 0

Texas 2 mil 8 mil 0 38

Popular Vote Electoral Vote

A B A B

California 15 mil 14 mil 55 0

Texas 2 mil 8 mil 0 38

Georgia 3 mil 4 mil 0 16

Popular Vote Electoral Vote

A B A B

California 15 mil 14 mil 55 0

Texas 2 mil 8 mil 0 38

Georgia 3 mil 4 mil 0 16Minnesota 3 mil 1 mil 10 0

Popular Vote Electoral Vote

A B A B

California 15 mil 14 mil 55 0

Texas 2 mil 8 mil 0 38

Georgia 3 mil 4 mil 0 16

Minnesota 3 mil 1 mil 10 0

Total 23 mil 27 mil 65 54

Popular Vote Electoral Vote

1. You can get the most popular vote and still lose the

election

2000 Presidential Popular Vote

Al Gore – (Democrat)Popular Vote: 50,992,335

Percentage - 48.38%

George Bush – (Republican)Popular Vote: 50,455,156

Percentage: 47.87%

Ralph Nader – (Green)Popular Vote: 2,882,897

Percentage: 2.74%

Patrick Buchanan – (Reform)Popular Vote: 448,892

Percentage: 0.42%

The three other times

• 1876• Hayes won over

Tilden even though Tilden received 254,432 more popular votes

• 1888• B. Harrison won over

Cleveland even though Cleveland 90,596 more popular votes

1824

John Quincy Adams received 38,000 fewer votes than Andrew Jackson but the HR chose Adams

2. Winner takes all.

• 48 states use this method.

• Two states (Nebraska and Maine) do not.

3. House decides if no majority is reached

• Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied and the HR chose Jefferson to be the third President

• In 1824 John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and William Crawford all ran and a majority wasn’t reached– The HR chose Adams

even though Jackson probably received the most popular votes.

This has been used twice in American HistoryThis has been used twice in American History

SOUTH DAKOTA

McCain R 203,054 53%

Obama D 170,924 45%

Nader REF 3,322 1%

2008 Election

4. Vote only counts in your state

5. Electors can vote opposite of the voters

wishes• 24 states do not require electors to cast

their votes the same as the people voted

• Only happened 11 times since 1796

6. Small states have a disproportionate amount of votes than they should.

• California• 55 electoral votes• Population: 38,000,000• Ratio 55:38,000,000• Ratio: 1 electoral vote

for every 690,909 people

• South Dakota• 3 electoral votes• Population: 750,000• Ratio: 3:750,000• Ratio: 1 electoral vote

for every 250,000 people

To be fair, California should have 152

electoral votes to our 3

7. Not a direct election

8. Outdated

2012

• Because the Electoral College is in the Constitution it would take a Constitutional Amendment in order to change the Electoral College.

Amending the Constitution

• Two ways to propose.

1. Pass Congress with 2/3rds vote

2. Call for Constitutional convention by 2/3rds of states

• Two ways to ratify

1. Pass 3/4ths of state legislatures

2. 3/4ths states in National Convention

2012

Why do we still use the Electoral College?

• Small states like it.

• In order to win a candidate needs support in different areas of the country.

• No clear alternative

• History (We have always had it and it usually works just fine)

Alternatives?

• Popular vote

• Congressional districts

• Keep but make proportional

• others

• WORKSHEET (The Constitution and the President)

White House Staff

• The President’s close assistants.

• Have offices in the White House

• The President can hire and fire them and they do not have to be confirmed by the Senate.

• In 2000 Bush had a staff of 400 and a budget of $35 million.

Executive Office of the President

• Agencies in the Executive Office report directly to the president and perform staff services for him but are not located in the White House itself.

• The top positions of these are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

Executive Offices• White House • The Cabinet • Council of Economic Advisers • Council on Environmental Quality • Domestic Policy Council • National Economic Council • National Security Council (NSC) • Office of Administration • Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives • Office of Global Communications • Office of Management and Budget (OMB) • Office of National AIDS Policy • Office of National Drug Control Policy • Office of Science and Technology Policy • Office of the United States Trade Representative • President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board • USA Freedom Corps Volunteer Network • White House Military Office

Executive Offices

• Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

• Council of Economic Advisers (CEA)

• Office of Personal Management (OPM)

• Office of the US Trade Representative

The Cabinet• Cabinet officers are the head of 15 major

executive departments.

• Are appointed by President and confirmed by the Senate

• No longer advice the President much.

Presidents Cabinet

• Cabinet

Power to Persuade• Obama approval rating (polling report)

• Obama Job Approval (Pollster.com)

• Bush approval rating

• Bush Job Approval (Pollster.com)

• Congress approval rating

• USA Today Presidential comparison

• Wall Street Journal

• Another approval site

                                                                   

How does approval rating affect the President

• Congress are less likely to support policy that an unpopular President favors and vice versa.

• Almost all Presidents lose popularity between their election and the time they leave office.

• Because popularity is the highest right after the inauguration, that is known as the “Honeymoon” period.

What affects Presidential popularity?

• Economy (helps or hurts depending on economy)

• Foreign crisis (usually makes it go up)

• Scandal (down)

• Reelection (usually goes up for a short time)

• A prolonged war (decreases)

Veto Power

• The Presidents power to veto can also be wielded to get what he wants into legislation

• Over the history of the United States on 4% of vetoes have been overridden.

• Presidential Vetoes

Midterm elections

• Since 1934, in every off year election but one, the President’s party has lost seats in one or both houses of Congress

Coattail Effect?

• Presidential coattails have had a declining effect over the years and are minimal today.

• Congressional members have their own strong relationship with constituents.

• Weak party loyalty also is a factor

Divided Government

• When one or both chambers of Congress are controlled by a different political party than the President.