| Preface To The Second Edition: Why You Need To Know About Campaigns, Elections, And The Threat To Democracy |
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xvii | |
| Acknowledgments |
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xxv | |
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1 Voting and Participation |
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1 | (23) |
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How does the United States conduct elections? |
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1 | (2) |
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What's the historical background on the right to vote In America? |
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3 | (2) |
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Why was the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Important? What's the Importance of the 2013 Shelby County and the 2021 Brnovich decisions? |
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5 | (3) |
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Who votes more, men or women? Why is there a gap between the voting participation of women and men? What about Gen Xers and Millennials? |
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8 | (2) |
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What are the rates of voting for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans? And what was the racial makeup of those who voted in recent elections? |
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10 | (1) |
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Before 2020, had there been efforts to diminish voting participation? |
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10 | (2) |
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Do convicted felons ever get back the right to vote? |
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12 | (1) |
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Why do so few voters participate in elections, especially in state and local contests? |
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13 | (1) |
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Compared to other democracies, how does the United States rank in terms of voting participation? |
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14 | (1) |
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What would happen if every American adult were required to vote, as in some other countries? |
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15 | (1) |
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After the 2000 presidential election exposed problems in local voting systems, Congress passed legislation to make sweeping reforms in the dministration of voting procedures. Has that made any difference? |
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16 | (1) |
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How vulnerable are state and local voting procedures to hacking and cyber threats? |
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17 | (1) |
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How accurate are voting records? |
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18 | (1) |
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Can a person be kicked off the voting rolls for failing to vote in previous elections? |
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19 | (1) |
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Before the 2020 election, how did mail-in ballots, absentee-ballot voting systems, and early voting work out? |
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20 | (1) |
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In recent years, there have been charges of widespread voter fraud. Are those charges believable? |
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21 | (3) |
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2 Carving Out Legislative Districts |
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24 | (11) |
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How do some states gain and some states lose congressional seats following reapportionment? |
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24 | (2) |
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Why has redisricting been such a problem? |
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26 | (2) |
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What are the requirements for creating legislative districts? |
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28 | (1) |
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Who makes the decision about redisricting legislative districts? |
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28 | (1) |
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What is partisan "gerrymandering"? How far can it go before it is unconstitutional? |
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29 | (3) |
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Has there been any attempt to take redisricting and gerrymandering out of the hands of partisan legislators? |
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32 | (1) |
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Why do all states get two senators no matter how big--or small--they are? |
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33 | (2) |
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3 Political Parties and Elections |
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35 | (18) |
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When did the two major political parties play an important role in elections and campaigns? |
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35 | (1) |
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The South was once very Democratic but now is largely Republican. What happened? |
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36 | (2) |
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What's the difference between Republicans and Democrats? |
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38 | (2) |
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Shouldn't the Republican Party really be called the "Trump Party"? |
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40 | (1) |
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Why are we so polarized today? |
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41 | (2) |
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How much disagreement is there within the political parties? |
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43 | (1) |
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Who has more followers, Democrats, Republicans, or independents? |
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44 | (1) |
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How did we get the labels "red states" and "blue states"? |
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45 | (1) |
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What are the Democrats' "Blue Wall" and the Republicans' "Red Wall"? |
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45 | (3) |
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What are the states moving from one party to another? |
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48 | (1) |
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Wasn't the Tea Party a separate political party? |
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48 | (1) |
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Do other political parties get involved in presidential elections? |
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49 | (1) |
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Have the political parties surrendered their role in campaigning to wealthy donors and super PACs? |
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50 | (1) |
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What's happened to the Democratic Party and the Republican Party? |
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51 | (2) |
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4 Statewide, Local, and Congressional Elections |
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53 | (12) |
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How many state and local elections are there? |
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53 | (1) |
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What are the rules and regulations controlling campaign financing at the state and local levels? |
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54 | (1) |
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How do local candidates get out the message and let voters know about themselves? |
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55 | (1) |
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Are more women running for political office than in previous years? |
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55 | (2) |
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Does it cost a lot for local candidates to run for office? |
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57 | (3) |
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Do states have public financing laws and, if so, what offices do they apply to? |
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60 | (1) |
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How can an average citizen help a candidate or a cause at the local level? |
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61 | (1) |
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Electing judges has become more and more like electing regular political candidates. Is there any danger to this? |
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61 | (2) |
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Congressional incumbents hardly ever lose when they are up for re-election. Why is that so? |
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63 | (2) |
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65 | (26) |
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Can anyone run for president, or is that just an old American myth? |
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65 | (1) |
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Why do presidential elections last so long? |
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66 | (1) |
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Why do we have so many primaries and caucuses? |
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67 | (1) |
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What's the difference between a caucus and a primary? |
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68 | (2) |
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70 | (1) |
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How do you become a party delegate? What's a "superdelegate"? |
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71 | (1) |
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What is the Electoral College and how does it work? |
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72 | (3) |
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Why did the Founding Fathers decide that we needed the Electoral College to determine presidential elections? |
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75 | (1) |
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Who are the electors, and how do you get to be one? |
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76 | (1) |
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What if "faithless" electors refuse to vote for the winner of the popular ballot? |
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77 | (1) |
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What if the president-elect dies before the Electoral College meets? |
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78 | (1) |
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What happens if no candidate receives 270 votes when the Electoral College tallies the votes? |
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79 | (2) |
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What's the "winner-take-all" system? |
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81 | (1) |
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What is a "battleground" state? |
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82 | (1) |
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What states have had the most consistent record In voting on the winning side of presidential elections? |
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82 | (1) |
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How close have recent presidential contests been? |
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83 | (1) |
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What about third-party candidates, with no chance of winning, acting as spoilers? |
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83 | (2) |
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How much money is spent in presidential elections? Do the candidates (and their allies) who spend the most money always win? |
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85 | (1) |
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What kinds of reforms have been suggested for our lengthy primary and caucus season? |
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86 | (2) |
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Why don't we just have a nationwide election where whoever gets the most votes wins, and not worry about the Electoral College vote? |
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88 | (1) |
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What is the idea of a national popular-vote compact? |
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89 | (2) |
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6 The 2020 Presidential Election |
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91 | (13) |
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How did Joe Biden win the crowded Democratic primaries? |
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91 | (1) |
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How many people voted, and how many, thanks to Covid-19, voted early or used mail-in ballots? |
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92 | (1) |
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How close was the election? Didn't Biden win by over 7 million votes? |
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93 | (1) |
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Weren't many states heavily for Trump and others heavily for Biden? |
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94 | (2) |
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But what about the razor-thin results in some of the states? |
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96 | (1) |
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How about the battleground states? How did Trump and Biden fare? |
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96 | (1) |
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Were third-party candidates a factor in 2020? Ever heard of Jo Jorgenson? |
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97 | (1) |
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How was Biden able to win Georgia, which almost always goes Republican? |
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98 | (1) |
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What about the recounts and audits in Georgia, Arizona, and other places? |
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99 | (1) |
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How did voter turnout in 2020 compare to recent presidential elections? |
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100 | (1) |
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If every eligible adult had voted, how many more people would that be? |
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101 | (1) |
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How secure was the presidential election from Russian interference and cyberattacks? |
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101 | (3) |
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7 The Big Lie and Its Aftermath |
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104 | (19) |
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104 | (1) |
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Did the "stop the steal" movement occur before Trump came along? |
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105 | (2) |
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What groups were pushing the "Stop the Steal" and Big Lie efforts? |
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107 | (1) |
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Why did so many Republicans believe the Big Lie? |
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108 | (1) |
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Why did so many Republican members of Congress go along with the Big Lie? |
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109 | (2) |
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To what lengths did Trump go to challenge and refute the election results? |
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111 | (2) |
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Did Vice President Mike Pence have the authority to overturn the election? |
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113 | (1) |
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How did state election officials react? |
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114 | (1) |
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How successful were Trump and his supporters in the courts? |
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115 | (2) |
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Didn't Trump's lawyers and allies get into trouble with the courts and the legal profession? |
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117 | (1) |
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What about the defamation suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems? |
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118 | (1) |
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In the end, has there been any proof of "massive voter fraud" and a "stolen election" as repeatedly charged by Trump and his supporters? |
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119 | (1) |
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Have we ever seen a president or major candidate promote this kind of falsehood? |
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120 | (1) |
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In really tight past presidential elections, how did the losing candidate react? |
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121 | (2) |
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8 Money, Mega-Donors, and Wide-Open Spending |
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123 | (28) |
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What federal rules and regulations controlled campaign financing before 1971? |
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123 | (1) |
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What did the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 do? |
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124 | (1) |
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Can individual candidates spend as much as they want on their own campaigns? |
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125 | (1) |
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What's the difference between "hard" money and "soft" money? |
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126 | (1) |
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What are political action committees (PACs)? |
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127 | (2) |
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What did the McCain-FeingoldAct do to fix campaign-finance problems? |
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129 | (2) |
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What do organizations do to get around campaign funding restrictions? |
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131 | (1) |
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How did the Supreme Court undo campaign-finance reform in Citizens United and subsequent cases? |
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132 | (3) |
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What are 501(c) groups, and how do they impact campaign spending? |
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135 | (2) |
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How do super PACs differ from ordinary PACs? |
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137 | (1) |
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What is "dark money" and how important has it been in recent elections? |
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138 | (1) |
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Who are the top Individual mega-donors, how much have they spent, and where do they stand politically? |
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139 | (2) |
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What about regular people? Do they give money to political candidates? |
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141 | (2) |
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How well has the FEC performed its job of enforcing campaign-finance rules? |
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143 | (1) |
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Didn't the IRS get in trouble for trying to oversee these organizations? |
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144 | (1) |
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Where does all that campaign money go? |
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144 | (1) |
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What are the most expensive campaigns at the federal (but not presidential) level? |
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145 | (2) |
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Do candidates who amass the most money always win? |
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147 | (1) |
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What about self-funded candidates? |
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147 | (2) |
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Where are we now with federal campaign laws? |
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149 | (2) |
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9 Inner Workings of Modern Campaigns |
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151 | (12) |
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Why can't candidates just run on their own, without the need for consultants and handlers? |
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151 | (1) |
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What are the key elements of any successful political campaign? |
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152 | (2) |
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What do you mean by political consultants, and what kinds of services do they provide? |
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154 | (1) |
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What do media consultants provide? |
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154 | (1) |
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What do pollsters do for a campaign? |
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155 | (1) |
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How much information do political campaigns have on the average voter? |
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156 | (1) |
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Who have been some of the most important political consultants over the years, and where are they now? |
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157 | (1) |
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In 2016, it was Hillary Clinton's race to lose. How did her consultants and strategists get it wrong, and did Trump show that consultants aren't all that necessary or smart in getting a candidate elected? |
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158 | (3) |
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What about Trump versus Biden in 2020? How did the campaign strategies fare? |
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161 | (2) |
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10 Direct Democracy--Ballot Campaigns |
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163 | (15) |
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When and why did ballot campaigns become a part of American politics? |
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163 | (1) |
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What's the difference between initiatives, referendums, and recalls? |
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164 | (3) |
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What states have direct democracy through ballot campaigns? What about at the local level? |
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167 | (2) |
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How do political consultants get Involved In ballot Issues? |
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169 | (2) |
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What was California's Proposition 13? |
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171 | (1) |
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How many people are affected by ballot initiatives? |
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172 | (1) |
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How much money is spent on ballot campaigns, and who spends the money? |
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172 | (1) |
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How successful are ballot Issues? What is "choice fatigue"? |
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173 | (1) |
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What are the downsides of ballot initiatives and direct democracy? |
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174 | (1) |
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Is there a federal recall mechanism? Can voters recall a member of Congress, a cabinet member, or the president? |
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174 | (2) |
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What about a national referendum? Is it allowed in the Constitution? What might the ramifications of a nationwide ballot initiative be? |
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176 | (2) |
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11 How Campaigns Have Changed |
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178 | (11) |
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Federal candidates now say, "I'm [ name] and I approve this message." When did that become a part of campaigning, and why? |
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179 | (1) |
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How has the digital revolution changed campaigning? |
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179 | (2) |
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Is regular television dead, or is there still room for national and local television news coverage In our digital age? |
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181 | (2) |
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There Is more polling done today than ever before. Is it worthwhile, and is it more accurate than past polling? |
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183 | (2) |
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Has early voting changed the way campaigns are run? Has early voting been good for voters and for democracy? |
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185 | (1) |
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How have outside voices expanded their impact on campaigns? |
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186 | (1) |
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In sum, how have campaigns been transformed since the twentieth century in the first two decades of the twenty-first century? |
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187 | (2) |
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189 | (24) |
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What's happened to our faith in democracy? |
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190 | (1) |
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What is the global impact of the January 6 insurrection? |
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190 | (1) |
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What has happened to trust in government and institutions? |
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191 | (1) |
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Has any other president refused to participate In the Inauguration of his successor? |
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192 | (1) |
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Is voter suppression real? |
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193 | (3) |
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Who was paying for these efforts to restrict voting? |
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196 | (1) |
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Why can't we Just have one federal set of laws to protect voting rights? |
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197 | (2) |
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Why are Republican lawmakers so Intent on making voting more difficult? |
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199 | (1) |
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Which Is worse: international interference in our elections or domestic attempts to undermine them? |
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200 | (2) |
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Why don't more citizens participate in voting? Is registration the barrier? |
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202 | (1) |
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What about voter apathy, especially among young voters? |
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203 | (1) |
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Why not hold general elections on the weekend or make Election Day a national holiday? |
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204 | (1) |
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How confident should we be about our decentallzed election system? |
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204 | (1) |
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How can we combat "fake news" and social media lies? |
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205 | (2) |
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Do plutocrats control our elections? |
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207 | (1) |
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Many consider the current campaign-financing system to be a mess. Is there any way to reform it? |
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208 | (1) |
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How can citizens find out which groups gave money to political candidates? For example, who received money from tobacco companies, pro-choice organizations, unions, or the National Rifle Association? |
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209 | (4) |
| Notes |
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213 | (26) |
| Further Reading |
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239 | (2) |
| Index |
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241 | |
