Why Is The Election Season So Long?
       |           

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 29, 2024, 04:27:27 AM
News: Election Simulator 2.0 Released. Senate/Gubernatorial maps, proportional electoral votes, and more - Read more

  Talk Elections
  Presidential Elections - Analysis and Discussion
  Presidential Election Process (Moderator: muon2)
  Why Is The Election Season So Long?
« previous next »
Pages: [1]
Author Topic: Why Is The Election Season So Long?  (Read 3750 times)
wbrocks67
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 21,758


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« on: April 30, 2020, 12:35:47 PM »

Biden and Trump are our nominees. Biden unofficially, but unofficially official. And yet, we have *SIX MONTHS* until the general election. Why does the Unite States as a country insist on such a long period between picking the nominees and the election? There is no reason why the election shouldn't be maybe 2, or 3 months max afterwards. I understand usually the nominee is picked a bit later on, but even from the convention in July to the election in November is 4 months. The cycle is just too long.
Logged
OSR stands with Israel
Computer89
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 44,357


Political Matrix
E: 3.42, S: 2.61

P P P

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2020, 02:14:03 PM »

the US is a massive nation both population-wise and geographically so you really cant compare to other nations. Anyway even in Canada I believe the General Election takes nearly 2 months in a nation almost 10 times less populated than ours so our general election season really isn't that long.



As for the whole process , well that is cause we choose our nominees and have the general election in the same cycle while in Canada and Europe thats a separate process that are years apart.
Logged
cris01us
Rookie
**
Posts: 152


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2020, 03:06:44 PM »

It would be nice if at least there were no ads, fund raising, or political activity of any kind allow 367 days in advance of the general election.  At least give us three years of peace.  Over my life I have watched the campaign season for the presidency grow, until now it stretches from one election day to almost the other (4 years apart).  It has become the new "reality tv".  I miss the mid 90s when hardly anyone cared about politics, hahahaha.
Logged
Mr. Morden
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 44,073
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2020, 06:18:46 PM »

Comparing the "length of the campaign" in the US system to the equivalent in a parliamentary system isn't really an apples to apples comparison, since in a parliamentary system, you have a leader of the opposition who is also known months, if not years, in advance.  How long before last year's Canadian election, for example, did we know that it would be Trudeau vs. Scheer?
Logged
MarkD
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 5,132
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2020, 07:08:06 AM »
« Edited: May 02, 2020, 07:15:58 AM by MarkD »

The date of the November general election is always "fixed," but the start of the primary campaign season is not.

Over the last four or five decades, the "start" of the primary campaign season has been moved to earlier in the year owing to the desire of the states to compete with one another to move it earlier. Iowa always wants to have the first caucus and New Hampsire wants to have the first primary. But many states have been moving their own primary date to earlier in the year than it had been "last time" because they want their state to be "relevant" to the picking of the nominee.

I've been saying for years that, in order to have a rational campaign season, we need to adopt a constitutional amendment that prohibits any state from holding a presidential caucus or primary earlier than April 1. Then allow only the smallest states - with just three or four electional college votes - to hold caucuses or primaries in April. Then have the medium-sized states hold them during May. Make the largest states wait until June to hold a caucus or primary.
Logged
Grassroots
Grassr00ts
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 6,741
United States


Political Matrix
E: 1.94, S: 2.09

P P P
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #5 on: May 21, 2020, 07:36:31 PM »

A thing unique about our country is how important, and massive, our individual party primaries are. In many other countries, where there are multiple parties that are each representative of a single ideology, the nominees are chosen by a collection of party superiors, or in many cases, they are already the nominee by default for being the leader of the party. Our countries two party system results in the two parties being very big tents and catching all either left of center or right of center. This means that unlike in other countries, our primaries for each party are the true ideological battles. For example, in other countries, there is a progressive demsoc party and a more generic liberal party, each serving their own particular groups. In America, both of these groups fit within the democratic party, so the battle of these ideologies is represented in the primary, such as Sanders vs Clinton, or Sanders vs Biden. You have to take that into account when looking at the scope of our elections in comparison to other nations.
Logged
OSR stands with Israel
Computer89
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 44,357


Political Matrix
E: 3.42, S: 2.61

P P P

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #6 on: May 21, 2020, 07:48:32 PM »

It would be nice if at least there were no ads, fund raising, or political activity of any kind allow 367 days in advance of the general election.  At least give us three years of peace.  Over my life I have watched the campaign season for the presidency grow, until now it stretches from one election day to almost the other (4 years apart).  It has become the new "reality tv".  I miss the mid 90s when hardly anyone cared about politics, hahahaha.

Wasnt the OJ Simpson case bigger than anything going around in politics in the mid 90s
Logged
Amanda Huggenkiss
amanda dermichknutscht
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 658


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #7 on: May 23, 2020, 07:46:01 AM »

A thing unique about our country is how important, and massive, our individual party primaries are. In many other countries, where there are multiple parties that are each representative of a single ideology, the nominees are chosen by a collection of party superiors, or in many cases, they are already the nominee by default for being the leader of the party. Our countries two party system results in the two parties being very big tents and catching all either left of center or right of center. This means that unlike in other countries, our primaries for each party are the true ideological battles. For example, in other countries, there is a progressive demsoc party and a more generic liberal party, each serving their own particular groups. In America, both of these groups fit within the democratic party, so the battle of these ideologies is represented in the primary, such as Sanders vs Clinton, or Sanders vs Biden. You have to take that into account when looking at the scope of our elections in comparison to other nations.

It still does not need to be as comically long as it is today. It would still work if the primary calendar was more condensed and the national conventions in late August.

I think announcing your campaign early is the only way for lesser known candidates to get into the conversation. I think that puts the whole field under pressure to announce their candidacy as early as possible and the media and the parties go along with it.

As Grassr00ts stated, the top candidacies are not that contested in other countries, or at least they don't make such a fuzz about it.
Logged
AtorBoltox
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 2,984


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2020, 10:33:19 PM »

the US is a massive nation both population-wise and geographically so you really cant compare to other nations. Anyway even in Canada I believe the General Election takes nearly 2 months in a nation almost 10 times less populated than ours so our general election season really isn't that long.



As for the whole process , well that is cause we choose our nominees and have the general election in the same cycle while in Canada and Europe thats a separate process that are years apart.
India has a population of 1 billion people, and while it has a lengthy election process compared to most countries it is nowhere near the year and a half long us elections.
Logged
OSR stands with Israel
Computer89
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 44,357


Political Matrix
E: 3.42, S: 2.61

P P P

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #9 on: May 23, 2020, 11:07:14 PM »

the US is a massive nation both population-wise and geographically so you really cant compare to other nations. Anyway even in Canada I believe the General Election takes nearly 2 months in a nation almost 10 times less populated than ours so our general election season really isn't that long.



As for the whole process , well that is cause we choose our nominees and have the general election in the same cycle while in Canada and Europe thats a separate process that are years apart.
India has a population of 1 billion people, and while it has a lengthy election process compared to most countries it is nowhere near the year and a half long us elections.


Yah again the leaders of the respective parties know at least a year before the election starts while here the choice to select the nominees of both parties and the general election is done in the same campaign
Logged
Fuzzy Stands With His Friend, Chairman Sanchez
Fuzzy Bear
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 25,504
United States


WWW Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #10 on: May 25, 2020, 11:44:57 AM »

It is an anachronism, and is unnecessary.

I also question the whole Primary system.  It's just a way for more corporate money to buy candidates.  Let the Presidential nominees be chosen by the elected officials of the party.  Let state party organizations choose the delegates.  What we have now has jacked up the costs of the campaign exponentially, and that favors ONLY monied interests.
Logged
The world will shine with light in our nightmare
Just Passion Through
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 45,175
Norway


Political Matrix
E: -6.32, S: -7.48

P P P

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #11 on: May 25, 2020, 12:10:48 PM »

It is an anachronism, and is unnecessary.

I also question the whole Primary system.  It's just a way for more corporate money to buy candidates.  Let the Presidential nominees be chosen by the elected officials of the party.  Let state party organizations choose the delegates.  What we have now has jacked up the costs of the campaign exponentially, and that favors ONLY monied interests.

How does throwing the primary elections to smoke-filled rooms not favor moneyed interests?  The politicians that are backed by those same moneyed interests would nominate their preferred candidate every time.  Boat-rockers like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump would never have a chance in that setup, and I'm surprised you would prefer that over the voters picking their nominee directly.
Logged
Fuzzy Stands With His Friend, Chairman Sanchez
Fuzzy Bear
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 25,504
United States


WWW Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #12 on: May 25, 2020, 12:15:49 PM »

It is an anachronism, and is unnecessary.

I also question the whole Primary system.  It's just a way for more corporate money to buy candidates.  Let the Presidential nominees be chosen by the elected officials of the party.  Let state party organizations choose the delegates.  What we have now has jacked up the costs of the campaign exponentially, and that favors ONLY monied interests.

How does throwing the primary elections to smoke-filled rooms not favor moneyed interests?  The politicians that are backed by those same moneyed interests would nominate their preferred candidate every time.  Boat-rockers like Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump would never have a chance in that setup, and I'm surprised you would prefer that over the voters picking their nominee directly.

It reduces the cost of elections by a drastic amount.

What we have now is a Donorpalooza.  The other way can't be worse.
Logged
Former President tack50
tack50
Atlas Politician
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 11,891
Spain


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #13 on: May 25, 2020, 01:11:29 PM »

Comparing the "length of the campaign" in the US system to the equivalent in a parliamentary system isn't really an apples to apples comparison, since in a parliamentary system, you have a leader of the opposition who is also known months, if not years, in advance.  How long before last year's Canadian election, for example, did we know that it would be Trudeau vs. Scheer?


Yeah, my quick research shows this seems to be the case, at least if you start counting at the conventions.

Brazil has a similarly long campaign if you start counting at the conventions (3 months: July-October; plus a couple extra weeks between rounds if a 2nd round is needed).

An even more comparable example would be France where the PS and LR held their primaries in January and December respectively; while the first round of the election was in late April and the 2nd round in early May. Which leaves a campaign time of 3-4 months again.

For the US; the 2016 DNC and RNC were held in July, and the election in early November; which leaves a campaign time of 3 months (August, September and October; and I imagine August is not all that active in terms of campaigning because summer).

In 2012 and 2008 the conventions were held much later, all the way in late August and early September; which leaves a much shorter campaign period of merely 2 months, which is most certainly reasonable.

Honestly I think the main reason for the even longer campaigns in the US would be the lack of a national primary day and the fact that primary season is unreasonably long, as if you start counting from the conventions the length becomes a lot more comparable.

Hypothetically the US could hold a national primary day on early June (when the last states vote irl); and the primary campaign would probably start in full after New Years'; though I guess candidates would declare a lot earlier than that; probably in fall 2019?
Logged
Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers
olawakandi
Atlas Institution
*****
Posts: 87,805
Jamaica
Political Matrix
E: -6.84, S: -0.17


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #14 on: August 04, 2020, 09:12:08 AM »

Due to donations, rallies and campaigning, in this new era, post Covid 19, Citizens United should be overturned and public financing of elections should follow, like Hillary wanted
Logged
Samof94
YaBB God
*****
Posts: 4,312
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #15 on: September 21, 2020, 05:05:18 PM »

As for midterm elections cycles, where there is no President, this also occurs to a lesser extent.The main difference is that the “intense media attention” starts much later and doesn’t really dominate the news as much nationally until July or August.
Logged
Stuart98
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 1,783
United States


Political Matrix
E: -5.35, S: -5.83

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #16 on: September 24, 2020, 12:47:13 AM »

Any system that requires multiple non-simultaneous elections for the same office is going to have long campaign seasons. In this way it's actually the primaries and their existence that is to blame. They'd be wholly unnecessary if we used a better voting system that didn't fail the independence of irrelevant alternatives criterion like Score Voting.
Logged
Motorcity
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 1,473


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #17 on: December 27, 2020, 07:18:08 PM »

Any system that requires multiple non-simultaneous elections for the same office is going to have long campaign seasons. In this way it's actually the primaries and their existence that is to blame. They'd be wholly unnecessary if we used a better voting system that didn't fail the independence of irrelevant alternatives criterion like Score Voting.
Because of the primaries. I say let all 57 contests occur on the same day with only party members. Use raw vote count.

Logged
Motorcity
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 1,473


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #18 on: April 05, 2021, 02:08:20 PM »

It would be nice if at least there were no ads, fund raising, or political activity of any kind allow 367 days in advance of the general election.  At least give us three years of peace.  Over my life I have watched the campaign season for the presidency grow, until now it stretches from one election day to almost the other (4 years apart).  It has become the new "reality tv".  I miss the mid 90s when hardly anyone cared about politics, hahahaha.
People not caring about politics led to the destruction of labor unions, the welfare safety net, deregulation of banks, income inequality, higher cost of living, free trade agreements, rise of the gig economy, the drug war, private prisons, invading Iraq etc.

If you think hard about it, nearly every bad thing about the United States can be traced to the general population becoming less civic minded
Logged
Pages: [1]  
« previous next »
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Terms of Service - DMCA Agent and Policy - Privacy Policy and Cookies

Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Page created in 0.047 seconds with 11 queries.