Does democracy always mean a 51% majority?

[Just Jesse]

Hi folks,

 

What examples are there in federal law and or the constitution where a majority is not 51%?  Are there important regular votes that require a 2/3rds or 3/4ths majority to pass?

 

Thank you,

 

 

Jesse

[33andathirdRPM]

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[TakeMyCoffeeBlack]

That said, there's no such thing as a majority that isn't simply more than 50%. There are 2/3 requirements and plurality votes (most votes). For that, I'd recommend you read the Constitution.

Edited February 3, 2013 by TakeMyCoffeeBlack

[catchermiscount]

There's no way this is what you're asking about, but what the hell.  You might also consider quota rules (an option wins if it gets to a certain number, 50% or otherwise) a bit more generally.  There are some good notes on the subject (in the context of social choice theory much more generally) here.

Edited February 3, 2013 by currentpsstudent

[q&a]

This really isn't the forum to ask for homework help, but this should help you out -> http://bit.ly/YN8YCA

 

This is a forum for questions about political science. It just happens to be mostly about applications.

[trudeau]

Ever notice how loathe political scientists/political scientist-wannabes are to talk about politics?

[brent09]

Technically, as noted above, majority is 50% + 1. Writing in a paper that democracy is about "51%" is gonna get you dinged since there is often a large gap between 50% + 1 vote (i.e., 50.00000001%) and 51.00[...]%.