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AP U.S. Government Videos 90 videos

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AP U.S. Government 1.4 Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Mass Media 254 Views


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AP U.S. Government 1.4 Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Mass Media. Why do single-member districts favor major parties?

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00:00

Thank you We sneak And here's your shmoop choose your

00:06

brought to you by single member districts precincts for the

00:09

lovelorn and brokenhearted Well right single member districts favour major

00:14

parties because what i don't hear the eventual answers getting

00:19

likely candidate running campaign Really all right Well single member

00:26

districts which include all districts in the u s on

00:29

ly elect a single representative sounds easy enough right Well

00:32

now let's see how that one track electoral mind plays

00:35

a role in our two party system Do single member

00:39

district favour major parties Because be candidates are required to

00:42

win more than fifty percent of the vote to take

00:44

office Well actually candidates for the house of representatives win

00:48

the race if they received the plurality of the vote

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A fancy way of saying whoever gets the most votes

00:53

wins that's a little less demanding than a simple fifty

00:56

percent majority so the odds aren't in v's favor not

00:59

b do single member districts favour major parties Because see

01:03

running campaigns is mohr expensive In single member districts campaigns

01:08

are pretty expensive regardless of how many members are elected

01:12

So it looks like money isn't the issue here for

01:14

once do single member districts favour major parties because d

01:18

single member districts are usually located in major population centers

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are left who said earlier Every single u s congressional

01:26

district is a single member district so they're located in

01:29

population centers big and small so it's not a date

01:33

our major parties favor because eat single member districts allow

01:36

instant runoff voting will instant runoff voting which enables voters

01:41

to rain candidates in order of preference rather than on

01:44

ly picking just one actually favors small parties since a

01:48

second tier group receiving second choice fix can sometimes find

01:51

its way up to the top Though it's not used

01:53

in the u s national elections instant runoff voting is

01:56

used by some american cities as well as for the

01:59

best picture oscar grace All right that means single member

02:02

districts favour major parties because a a major party candidate

02:06

is mohr likely toe win a plurality of the vote

02:10

because single member districts only elect one representative Major parties

02:14

with their deep financial pockets and broad voter support and

02:17

a brand name have a greater chance of capturing the

02:19

plurality of the vote If district were able to send

02:22

say the top three Vote getters to the legislature Then

02:26

smaller parties would have a better chance of getting seats

02:28

A good idea for political diversity Sure but we'll just 00:02:31.68 --> [endTime] have tio table this one for now

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