Political Campaigns

Election Campaigns

Political campaigns require tons of time, effort, and money… especially if you intend to win!  

Political Campaigns:

• organized effort by a group of people to get a candidate elected to political office

•  Candidates will use fundraising, volunteers, staff, appearances, speeches, and more as part of their campaign to persuade the public to vote for them.

Poll

Can political campaigns be done both national and local?

• Yes

• No

National Elections are split into phases:

• primary elections (primaries), where voters— usually members of certain political parties—vote in each state to select candidates for the larger general election

•  the general election itself, where all voters have an opportunity to vote.

Multiple Choice

Which of these elections occur in November?

• Primary election

• General Election

• Inaugeration Day

National Conventions

• Most presidential candidates need to be supported by a major political party to win

• two major party committees, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC), hold primaries and caucuses in each state starting in February all the way up to the summer of the election year

• national conventions where they announce who their official nominee will be.

Campaigns & Platforms

• Platforms:  It’s the issues they stand for (not on) and what they promise to do once elected.

• campaigns help voters get to know the candidates themselves

• a candidate’s stance, experience, and character are qualities to consider before casting your vote

Poll

Which of these qualities would be most important to you when choosing who to vote for as president?

• Experience in government

• Stances on issues

• Character and values

Campaign Costs

•  can cost millions of dollars

•  Our election process is stretched out over months, usually starting in the summer the year before an election and running until the Tuesday after the first Monday in November of the election year.

•  the effort required, many campaign organizations may start months or even years before that

Where does the money go?

•  appearances and ads are expensive

•  costs money to pay the essential staff members who help the candidate come up with plans and strategies to get elected

• staff include paid positions like managers (who create and direct the campaign’s plans) and consultants (who help with everything from media to fundraising)

• include tons of unpaid volunteers who participate in phone banks, calling voters to inform them about the candidate, and canvass in neighborhoods, knocking door-to-door to talk to voters in person, on their candidate’s behalf

•  expenses for the candidate, like travel and meals

Poll

In our 2020 election campaign, which candidate do you think spent the most so far?

• Donald Trump

• Joe Biden

Battleground States

• Voters don’t just want to see a candidate on a TV screen, they want to meet them and hear from them in person.

• candidates focus on states where neither political party dominates called battleground states

• Campaign efforts in states like these are essential as it’s uncertain whether the state will sway red (for Republican) or blue (for Democrat

• candidates work to persuade the majority of voters in as many states as possible—especially in those with a wide range of political ideas—in order to win. I

Open Ended

What do you think is the most important part of campaigning?