Presidential Elections

This year Americans elect on a new president on November 6th. It's an important
event that happens once every four years. Currently, the president is always elected
from one of the two main parties in the United States: the Republicans and the
Democrats. There are other presidential candidates. However, it is unlikely that any of
these "third party" candidates will win. It certainly hasn't happened in the last one
hundred years. In order to become the presidential nominee of a party, the candidate
must win the primary election. Primary elections are held throughout each state in the
United States in the first half of any election year. Then, the delegates attend their
party convention in order to nominate their chosen candidate. Usually, as in this
election, it's clear who will be the nominee. However, in the past parties have been
divided and choosing a nominee has been a difficult process. Once the nominees have
been selected, they campaign throughout the country. A number of debates are
usually held in order to better understand the candidates' points of view. These points
of view often reflect their party's platform. A party platform is best described as the
general beliefs and policies a party holds. Candidates cross the country by plane, bus,
train or by car giving speeches. These speeches are often called 'stump speeches'. In
the 19th century candidates would stand on tree stumps to deliver their speeches.
These stump speeches repeat the candidates basic views and aspirations for the
country. They are repeated many hundreds of times by each candidate. Many people
believe that campaigns in the United States have become too negative. Each night
you can see many attack ads on the television. These short ads contain sound bites
which often distort the truth, or something the other candidate has said or done.
Another recent problem has been voter turnout. There is often less than 60% turnout
for national elections. Some people don't register to vote, and some registered voters
don't show up at the voting booths. This angers many citizens who feel that voting is
the most important responsibility of any citizen. Others point out that not voting is
expressing an opinion that the system is broken. The United States maintains an
extremely old, and some say inefficient, voting system. This system is called the
Electoral College. Each state is assigned electoral votes based on the number of
senators and representatives that state has in Congress. Each state has two Senators.
The number of representatives is determined by the state population but is never less
than 1. The electoral votes are decided by the popular vote in each state. One
candidate wins all of the electoral votes in a state. In other words, Oregon has 8
electoral votes. If 1 million people vote for the Republican candidate and one million
and ten people vote for the Democratic candidate ALL 8 electoral votes go to the
democratic candidate. Many people feel that this system should be abandoned.

Read the article carefully and take the interactive version of the Presidential
Elections Quiz .

1.

How often does the United States hold presidential elections?

every two years

every four years

every six years

2.

What is the 'third party'?

The Republicans

The Democrats

Neither of the two main parities

3.

How many times has a third party won in the last 100 years?

Once

Twice

Never

4.

What must a person do to become a presidential nominee?

Win the general election

Win a primary election

Decide to run for president

5.

When are primaries held?

During the second half of the election year

During the previous year to the election

During the first half of the election year

6.

Where is the nominee chosen?

In Washington D.C.

At the party convention

On the campaign

7.

What is the main purpose of the debates?

Raising money for the election

Helping to understand the candidates' points of view

To attract advertising

8.

What is the party platform?

The belief of a specific presidential nominee

The general beliefs and policies of the party

The place where the party is held

9.what is a stump speech?

A special speech for a particular group

The standard speech given by a nominee many times

A speech about the forest

10.What do many people believe about the campaigns?

They are too positive.

They are too negative.

They are perfect.

11.What is an attack ad?

An advertisement which presents a nominee's point of view on an issue

An advertisement which contains a sound bite which distorts the truth

A type of party platform

12.

What has recent voter turnout been?

a. More than 60%

b. Less than 60%
c. Less than 30%

13.

Which statement is false?

a. Many people feel that voting is a responsibility of citizens.

b. Many people feel that not voting is expressing an opinion.
c. Voting is required by law.

14.

Which statement is true?

a. American voters elect their president directly.

b. American voters elect their president indirectly.
c. American voters have no say in the choice of a president.

15.

Which statement is true?

a. In a state with 12 electoral votes, the majority of the popular vote takes all 12 electoral votes.
b. In a state with 12 electoral votes, the minority of the popular vote takes all 12 electoral votes.
c. In a state with 12 electoral votes, the electoral votes are split evenly based on the popular vote.

Key Vocabulary
Find the English equivalents in the text :
Taux de participation :

Un isoloir :

voter turnout the number of eligible voters who turned out

voting booth

Une accroche / phrase choc / slogan /clip sonore :

Un discours de campagne :

Dformer la ralit :

sound bite

stump speech to be on the stump = faire campagne

to distort the truth

What or Who do the following words refer to ?

a- third party it refers to an independent party which is not one of the 2 main

political parties. (2-party system)

b- presidential nominee it refers to the candidate who has been
officially nominated by the party delegates at the party convention. /
winner of the Primary election.
c- delegate it refers to the party member who has been chosen by the
party to represent them at the party convention. Delegates are members
of a political party who choose, the partys official candidate at their
convention.
Give your own definitions for the following words:

a- an attack ad : is a negative TV or web commercial with a sound

bite produced by a political party during an election , which
focuses on criticizing a political opponent by attacking him
rather than promoting policies in a positive way.
b-

a party platform: is a statement of principles and objectives used

during a campaign to win support from voters. The platform reflects the
partys beliefs and opinions and tell voters what the parties stand for .

c- a primary election : it is a state election which is held before

the general election in order to select /choose the party
delegates and the presidential nominee.

Answer the questions :

a- Why are party conventions held? Explain in your own words what the aim of a
convention is
Party conventions are held in order to officially nominate the winner of the primary

Every four years, the

parties hold a national convention (in order) to nominate a presidential and vice
presidential candidate.
election, in other words the party presidential candidate.

b- How do both candidates spread the message and connect with voters?
by campaigning throughout the country / by travelling across the
country / by giving stump speeches / they connect with voters through TV
ads , TV debates during which they may discuss important issues and
explain how they stand on the issues etc

c- Whats the main difference between the popular vote and the electoral vote :

The popular vote refers to the vote of people while the electoral vote refers to
the Electoral College = a group of electors .The candidate who gets the most votes
nationwide is said to have won the popular vote. The citizens of the United States
do not elect their president directly. When Americans cast their vote for a
presidential candidate, they are actually voting for an elector a delegate pledged
to vote for that same candidate. There are 538 such electors chosen in every
presidential election and each state has a certain number of electors based on the
state population.

d- According to you, why do many people feel that the system of the Electoral College
should be abandoned ? You may quote some 2016 results to support your views.

Many people believe that the voting system of the Electoral College should be
abandoned because it is extremely old and inefficient. They think it is wrong for the
winning party in a state to get all the electoral votes and the losing party none. In
other words, the votes that really matter are the electoral college votes. They are
counted by state. Thus candidates often pay a great deal of attention to some states
and no attention to other states.
The president is actually elected by the institution called the Electoral College and not
by the people. It is based on the winner takes all principle. The candidate who wins
in the state takes all the electoral votes. Thus a person may lose the nationwide
popular vote and can still be elected president. This happened in the 2016
presidential race.
Even though Hillary Clinton won the popular votes with 48%, she only got 232
electoral votes , contrary to Donald Trump who won the election with a majority of
electoral votes (306) with 46% of the popular vote. Clinton has registered 64,654,483
total votes, compared to 62,418,820 for Trump.

e-Apart from the Electoral College system, that is the other issue being raised by the
article? How can you account for it?

Apart from the Electoral College system , the other issue which is raised in the
article is the issue of voter turnout. Actually the US has a low voter turnout. This
can be explained by the fact that many American people dont even consider
registering to vote while some registered voters dont even vote on Election day.
Many citizens point out that it is not worth voting as the system is broken and
inefficient . Thus, they dont feel represented even if they do vote. According to
them , voting would be useless. However, other people, who feel concerned about
voting believe that every single citizen has to be responsible. Even though the
system is not fair, all American citizens should make their voices heard and go to
the voting booth to cast their votes on D-Day!