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Why would congress feel pressure just to do what the president wants? Presidents claim all kinds of mandates when they are elected, congress often goes it's own

Why would congress feel pressure just to do what the president wants? Presidents claim all kinds of mandates when they are elected, congress often goes it's own way.

dllthomas 8y ago
Congress would feel pressured to do what their constituents want. If we imagine Lessig winning, so clearly focused on a single issue, we also must imagine an awful lot of voters clearly willing to vote based on that issue. Desire to claim those votes rather than driving then to their opponents would be the pressure in question. There's still no guarantee, to be sure, but it's clearly more likely post-Lessig-win than on the face of it.
- Latteland 8y ago
  Most republicans would not feel pressure to support the supposed mandate behind a democratic president. Today, they'd actively go against it in most cases. It goes the other way too. That's why few democrats support the president or republican agendas. I just don't see it that way at all. Think about Obama's work on national health care. A ton of democrats were worried about supporting it.
  - dllthomas 8y ago
    Again, there's a difference between a normal candidate claiming a mandate, when in reality many voted for other reasons, and a genuinely single issue candidate like Lessig.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > Congress would feel pressured to do what their constituents want. Yes, but Presidents aren't elected by majority vote of voters in a majority of Congressional Districts. That's especially true of Democratic candidates, who tend to be hyperconcentrated in urban districts (in part, gerrymandering, but in part that's just the geographic distribution of Democratic support and why even without state-size biases and gerrymandering, Democrats are structurally disadvantaged by single-member, FPTP representation in Congress.)
  - dllthomas 8y ago
    Certainly, although some of that applies to the presidential election too. To be clear, I didn't mean to imply any kind of sure thing. Just that looking at the likelihood of Congress to pass the bill in the current setting should be expected to underestimate its performance in the wake of the election under discussion.

Why would congress feel pressure just to do what the president wants? Presidents claim all kinds of mandates when they are elected, congress often goes it's own way.

dllthomas 8y ago

Congress would feel pressured to do what their constituents want. If we imagine Lessig winning, so clearly focused on a single issue, we also must imagine an awful lot of voters clearly willing to vote based on that issue. Desire to claim those votes rather than driving then to their opponents would be the pressure in question. There's still no guarantee, to be sure, but it's clearly more likely post-Lessig-win than on the face of it.

Latteland 8y ago
Most republicans would not feel pressure to support the supposed mandate behind a democratic president. Today, they'd actively go against it in most cases. It goes the other way too. That's why few democrats support the president or republican agendas. I just don't see it that way at all. Think about Obama's work on national health care. A ton of democrats were worried about supporting it.
- dllthomas 8y ago
  Again, there's a difference between a normal candidate claiming a mandate, when in reality many voted for other reasons, and a genuinely single issue candidate like Lessig.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> Congress would feel pressured to do what their constituents want. Yes, but Presidents aren't elected by majority vote of voters in a majority of Congressional Districts. That's especially true of Democratic candidates, who tend to be hyperconcentrated in urban districts (in part, gerrymandering, but in part that's just the geographic distribution of Democratic support and why even without state-size biases and gerrymandering, Democrats are structurally disadvantaged by single-member, FPTP representation in Congress.)
- dllthomas 8y ago
  Certainly, although some of that applies to the presidential election too. To be clear, I didn't mean to imply any kind of sure thing. Just that looking at the likelihood of Congress to pass the bill in the current setting should be expected to underestimate its performance in the wake of the election under discussion.