Review of Interest Articulation  

	U.S.A.	Ruritania
public opinion	unimodal distribution (see below)	multimodal (see below)
interest groups	very important	minimal
political parties	2	10
party type	both are caucus	all 3 types are present--can you id them?
Election characteristics: frequency	regular 1st Tues after 1st Mon in November (today)	episodic when called-- this weekend
election district size	1 ( unit rule)	9 (multimember)
election method	first-past-the-post ( plurality)	single transferrable vote

 Public Opinion
What is the distribution of preferences like in Ruritania and the U.S.? First Ruritania:

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8%

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7%

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6%

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5%

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4%

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3%

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2%

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1%

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Stand

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Next the U.S.?

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8%

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7%

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6%

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5%

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4%

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3%

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2%

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1%

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Stand

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Questions to Consider What is the effect of the differences in systems on voters? parties? party strategy? electoral outcome?
1. First, let's apply the Ruritanian system to the U.S. distribution of preferences!

a)  what would be the effect if there were more parties?

2. Next, apply the U.S. system to the Ruritanian distribution of preference!

what would be the strategy if there were only two parties in Ruritania?

What are the impacts on party strategy?

Voter interest in elections?

Let's look at today's elections in the U.S. and then Ruritania's weekend elections. What observations can you make about such things as:

1) impact of system on voter turnout? voter interest? voter knowledge?

US Turnout	Estimated RUR Turnout
????	89%

2) what is the party/candidate strategy in both systems of election?

US Strategy	RUR Strategy
Candidate-centered	party-centered

3) how can you "interpret the elections in each system?

History Argued for Republican Gains:

Republicans had some important advantages going into the Tuesday's elections: more money to spend on last-minute advertising, slightly fewer endangered seats to defend and a historical pattern in their favor.

How Have Tuesday's Results Been Interpreted?

Take your pick: 1) a referendum on Congress? Clinton? negative advertising? the economy? the Christian coalition?

4) how will election results be translated into policy action?

US	RUR
They won't! Interest groups will dominate!	The bargaining in coalition government formation will result in a series of policies.

Do your conclusions to these questions support an elitist, pluralist, or democratic description of interest articulation in America?