For this assignment, you should imagine that as a soon-to-be graduate in political science, you have just landed a job as a political researcher and strategist (how exciting!). Your first task on the job is to put together a strategic research memo for the 2022 midterm election cycle. In doing so, you can choose one of two options:
Option 1 – National strategic memo for one of the two major parties in the U.S.:
For this option, you should create a strategic research memo that makes
recommendations for a national electoral strategy for one of the major parties in the U.S. You may choose either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.
Option 2 – State/Local strategic memo for any candidate facing election in 2022:
For this option, you should create a strategic research memo that makes
recommendations for a state/local electoral strategy for any individual candidate facing an election in 2022. That could be someone running for U.S. Congress (House or Senate), or it could be someone running for local or state office (there will be both a mayor’s and governor’s race in 2022 here in LA and California respectively, for example).
Regardless of which option you choose, you should address the following questions:
1) What is the general mood among the public nationally or in the state/local region in which you are focused? In other words, does your party or candidate have a partisan advantage or disadvantage entering the election cycle?
2) What are the key issues voters care about, either nationally or in your chosen state/local region?
3) Which voter groups will you try to target? Are there groups that will be critical for your party or candidate’s success? How will you try to reach them and get them to turn out to vote?
4) What specific electoral strategy do you recommend for your party or candidate of choice? This can include stylistic, rhetorical, media and ideological strategic considerations.
To make a good first impression in your new job, and to get your party or candidate of choice to take your recommendations seriously, you will need to be concise, convincing, and you will need to cite relevant evidence to support your strategic recommendations. Therefore, you should write 200 to 300 words on each of the four questions you have been tasked to research (for a total of somewhere between 800 and 1,200 words in the main text), and you should cite at least one reputable source in addressing each of the four questions. You should use at least six total source citations (for a minimum of four total sources, meaning that you can use some sources more than once).
Since your new employer did not specify how your memo should be formatted, you may choose to format it any way you like; just be careful to design it in a way that will communicate your recommendations and your research as clearly as possible. Lastly, be sure to cite all of your sources in APA style and include a reference page at the end of your memo.
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