Question

1. According to the information presented here and in class, what are the primary concerns about the increasing role of money in political campaigns?
   Answer:

2. Is the high rate of nonvoting in the U.S. cause for concern or an expression of underlying citizen satisfaction?
   Answer:

3. Why do voters re-elect incumbents at such high rates in the United States? Please be as comprehensive as possible.
   Answer:

Answer 1

what are the primary concerns about the increasing role of money in political campaigns?

The primary concerns are:

People get more attracted to the campaign rather than the manifesto, which is bad for the democracy as the party which is spending more on campaigning remains in the limelight.

Also, the donors of these parties get more say in the decision making as the party remains obliged to them for the funds.

Is the high rate of nonvoting in the U.S. cause for concern or an expression of underlying citizen satisfaction?

Yes, people not coming out to vote is a big concern for democracy. Democracy is all about party with majority remaining in power. It might result in a non deserving party coming into power because people did not come out to support the right party.

Why do voters re-elect incumbents at such high rates in the United States?

The reason is that people who are already sitting in power have more money to spend on campaigning. Also, since they are sitting in the office, they have more discretion as they can manipulate certain officials or get some permissions easily. Another factor is that, since they are in power they remain in the limelight. Most often the ruling party roles out tax cuts or some other programmes which makes the people want to re-elect them.