campaign-issue

From the Scholars Strategy Network, written by Alexander Hertel-Fernandez and Theda Skocpol of Harvard University. Edited for Journalist’s Resource.

Political officeholders have long been seen as having a wide range of advantages over challengers: Name recognition is no problem, as they’re always in the public eye. Even if voters don’t agree with every position a long-time incumbent might take, they like the prestige and power that can come with seniority. And most importantly, officeholders make policy, so donors know to whom they should be signing the checks.

The notion of a government “by the people, for the people” is one of the bedrock concepts of American democracy, but the reality is that policy outcomes are often influenced by a wide range of factors, not merely the candidates whom voters select to represent them on Election Day.

From the Scholars Strategy Network, written by Daniel Kreiss, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

While the political debate over immigration reform continues to evolve, underlying patterns of migration to the United States have been shifting in recent years.