POLI 2051 Lecture : Lecture Ch11
Document Summary
Democrats control the senate, and republicans control the house. Assign all committee chairs read section in text. In each of these roles, representatives can act as delegates or trustees. Congressional elections in general: two important regularities: incumbents rarely lose. They have a host of official resources. They have high levels of name recognition. They have an easier time raising money. Other advantages: redistricting, campaign, experience, etc: president"s party gains seats in a presidential election and loses seats in a midterm election. The average loss in a president"s first midterm is 16 seats. Surge and decline theory independent voters vote in presidential elections but not so much in congressional elections. Size of the gain or loss depends on three things: 1) how many seats the president"s party holds. Midterm elections have not followed this trend in some recent midterms. More recently, things have reverted back to normal.
