Fiche de révision : Le système politique américain

📖 1. Élection présidentielle et grands électeurs

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Primary / caucus : intended to nominate the best candidate for the election and unite voters behind a single candidate

★ À maîtriser

📌 In the primary process, only voters from a given party usually vote, whereas everyone can vote in the general election.

• Donald Trump won the 2016 General Election.

• In the 2016 election figures given in the course, Donald Trump received 46% and 302 Great Electoral College votes, while Hillary Clinton received 48% and 232 Great Electoral College votes.

Compléments

• The number of Great Electors represents a state's political representation through its Representatives and its two Senators.

💡 Astuce mémo

Primaires → candidat unique → vote général → grands électeurs

📖 2. Partis républicain et démocrate

★ À maîtriser

📌 The Republican Party is generally associated with individual rights, justice, lower taxes, a stronger military, traditional values and less government regulation, whereas the Democratic Party is generally associated with community, social responsibility, progressive taxation, social protection and more regulation.

• Democrats generally support LGBTQ+ rights, abortion rights, immigration, a path to citizenship, universal or government-involved healthcare and progressive taxation.

• Republicans generally oppose LGBTQ+ rights and abortion, support capital punishment, private healthcare and stronger protection at US borders, and favor a flat tax.

Compléments

• The Democratic Party is associated with decreased military spending, while the Republican Party is associated with increased military spending.

• The Democratic Party was described as controlling the Senate by 51–50, the House of Representatives and the White House under Joe Biden, while the Republican Party was described as having a 6–3 majority in the Supreme Court.

💡 Astuce mémo

Républicains : ordre, armée, tradition ; démocrates : droits, régulation, protection sociale

📖 3. Sondages et profils électoraux

★ À maîtriser

• Polling may examine:
  • age
  • gender
  • race
  • level of education
  • state residency

Compléments

• The third parties named in the course are:

  • the Libertarian Party with 410,000 members
  • the Green Party with 210,000 members
  • the Constitution Party with 110,000 members

• The Democratic Party is given 45 million members and the Republican Party 35 million members in the course.

• The Silent Generation and Baby Boomers tend to vote Republican, whereas Generation X and Millennials tend to vote Democratic.

• Women tend to vote for the Democratic Party, whereas men tend to vote for the Republican Party.

• People with a high-school degree or less tend to vote Republican, whereas people who went to college tend to vote Democratic.

📖 4. Stratégie républicaine de campagne

★ À maîtriser

• The Republican strategy in political advertising is to criticize the Democratic Party, use attack politics, imply insults against Democratic nominees, bend the truth and present Trump's trial as a Democratic attack.

• The course says that the Republican strategy bends the truth by not mentioning Trump's call to assault the Capitol and by presenting his trial as a Democratic attack.

Compléments

• The examples of implied attacks are that Joe Biden is too old or will die soon and that Kamala Harris is useless, incompetent on immigration and a witch.

💡 Astuce mémo

Attaque politique → insinuations et récit orienté

📖 5. Stratégie démocrate et convention nationale

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• National Convention : the event where the final vote and the announcement of the nominee take place

★ À maîtriser

• As Joe Biden was becoming old and unpopular, the Democrats replaced him with Kamala Harris as a last-minute nominee at the DNC, alongside Tim Walz.

• Tim Walz was chosen as a running mate who fit many Republican demographics and framed the Democrats' pro-abortion message as a pro-liberty message.

Compléments

• The Democrats chose Chicago to create a historical parallel with the 1968 protests and highlight that they were more united than in 1968.

💡 Astuce mémo

Remplacement de Biden → Harris-Walz → convention → message pro-liberté

📖 6. Séparation des pouvoirs américains

🔑 Notions clés & Définitions

• Impeach : to launch a process to remove a President

📝 Points essentiels

• The executive branch is headed by the President, the legislative branch is represented by Congress, and the judicial branch is represented by the Supreme Court.

• Congress can check the President by introducing a law, but the President can veto that law.

• Congress can override a presidential veto if two thirds, or 66%, of both the Senate and the House of Representatives vote for the override.

• The Supreme Court can rule that the President's decisions are unconstitutional and can check or block presidential power.

💡 Astuce mémo

Trois branches se surveillent autour du président : Congrès, Cour suprême, exécutif

📊 Tableaux de synthèse

Républicains et démocrates

Branches du gouvernement