What are some of the factors that affect a candidate’s chances of winning a congressional race?

What will be an ideal response?


Students should first note that congressional elections are heavily influenced by the rules, especially in the House, where redistricting may alter competition dramatically every decade. Second, incumbents have enormous advantages over challengers (especially in the House) because of the representative functions they play (e.g., policy and casework) and the institutional advantages they enjoy (e.g., franking). The challengers who do succeed are usually high-quality challengers who have political experience (typically having held office before) and who are strategic politicians, meaning they consider the proper time to run against an incumbent: in open-seat races, after redistricting that is unfavorable to the incumbent’s party, when national trends and the president’s public standing are in their favor, or when coattail or midterm loss effects may be to their benefit. It is key for a challenger to raise money as well.

Political Science

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Courts established by Congress for specialized purposes are known as __________ courts

a. appellate b. constitutional c. legislative d. public

Political Science

Which of the following is an example of selective attention?

A) Nora decided to only watch the first presidential debate because any additional debates would be the same. B) Raja decided not to vote this year because he didn't like any of the candidates. C) Lydia refuses to listen to any news about Democratic candidates because she only votes for Republicans. D) Brianna noticed that the radio reported on the president's trip to South Africa, but the cable news channel did not. E) ?Sun-Jun knows it's important to listen to both candidates before making his voting choice.

Political Science

Provide two potential missing factors in the relationship between democracy and development.

What will be an ideal response?

Political Science

Contemporary feminist perspectives took hold in the 1950s following the end of World War II

Indicate whether this statement is true or false.

Political Science