Unit IV Lesson 4

The Formal and Informal Qualifications for U.S. President

Essential Question:

• What are the institutions and

policy-making processes of

the national government?

• What are the links between

the branches of the national

government, political parties,

interest groups, public

opinion, the media, and state

and local governments?

Qualifications

Formal “Constitutional” Qualifications an Individual Must

Meet In Order to Run for U.S. President:

1) Must be at least 35 years old

1981 1980Mr. Sea

2) Must be a Natural-Born Citizen

“No Person

Except a

Natural Born

Citizen…” “Naturalized” “Natural Born Citizen”

August 5, 1961

There is still one more formalrequirement to be President…

35

Years

Old

Natural

Born

Citizen

3) Must have lived in the U.S. for at least

14 years

“14 Years a Resident Within

These United States”

“Natural Born

Citizen”

Jefferson

That’s it! There aren’t may formal requirements to be

President! It seems like almost ANYONE can do it!

35 14

Mr. Sea

Informal (NOT found in the Constitution)

qualifications that typically help an

individual get elected:

Informal

Qualifications:

*Money- In 2012 the Obama campaign spent 1.2 BILLION DOLLARS to re-elect the President. A

candidate will need a vast fortune before declaring his candidacy and also the ability to raise large sums of

money during a campaign

$141,000

$400,000

“Donors”

“Donors”

“Campaign Funds”

*Political Experience- Every President in the last 100 years (with ONE exception) was either a Senator, Governor, or Vice-President prior to

entering the White House

44 43

42

41

President

Dwight D

Eisenhower

34

General

Eisenhower

What other INFORMALcharacteristics do most

presidential candidates usually have?

Good

Speaker

Political Party

Tall/Good

Looking

Family

Christian

Hair!

There Could Be

42

2008

“Cabinet”

The formal Constitutional qualifications for

president include all of the following

EXCEPT:

A.Residence in the U.S. for at least 14 years

B.Be a member of a political party

C.Be a natural-born citizen

D.Be at least 35 years old

In the last 50 years candidates for president

have been LEAST likely to come from which

of the following sources?

A.The Vice-Presidency

B.State Governorships

C.Presidential Cabinets

D.Congress