I’m working on a political science discussion question and need guidance to help me learn.

Elections represent voters’ most important and consequential opportunity to participate in politics. Through elections, voters don’t just decide which representatives hold office, but also register approval or disapproval with their elected officials’ policies and actions. This approval applies to not only individual politicians, but also collectively to parties.

This week’s textbook chapter gives a broad overview of what happens during a campaign generally, and Jacobson (2019) provides a summary of the major factors that influenced the a recent (2018) election. Jacobson (1989) is technical, but makes an important point: voters’ individual choices leads to collective rewards and punishments for whole parties. Rosenstone and Hanson argue that campaigns lead to increases in political participation, but those increases don’t reach everyone in the electorate. Masket discusses how modern political polarization influences election campaigns.

Questions to consider:

• What are the major national and local forces at play in elections, and how to they interact with one another?
• What role do parties play in elections?
• How do elections influence political participation?
• Who and what are the major forces that determine the outcomes of elections?
  

  Readings

  Logic of American Politics, Chapter, 11Gary Jacobson, 2019. “Extreme Referendum: Donald Trump and the 2018 Mid Elections.” Political Science Quarterly. 134: 9-38Gary Jacobson, 1989. “Strategic Politicians and the Dynamics of U.S. House Elections, 1946-1986” American Political Science Review. 773-193.Steven J. Rosenstone and John Mark Hansen. 1993 Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America. Chapter 2Masket, Seth. 2009. No Middle Ground. Introduction & pg. 43-53 https://edge.sagepub.com/kernell8e/student-resourc…