特别广播英语第 174 课：The Campaign for Election 竞选活动-1

Although presidential elections occur every 4 years, many people feel that they do not have a true understanding of how presidential campaigns operate. 虽然总统竞争每四年举行一次，但是许多人感到对竞选大战的运作没有真正的理解。

The winner in the November general election is almost certain to be either the Republican or the Democratic nominee. 11月份大选的获胜者几乎肯定是共和党或民主党的提名者。

A minor-party or independent candidate, such as George Wallace in 1968, John Anderson in 1980, or Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996, can draw votes away from the major-party nominees but stands almost no chance of defeating them. 小党派或独立候选人，如1968年的乔治·华莱士，1980年的约翰·安德森或1992年和1996年的罗丝·佩罗，可能从大党的提名人那里拉走了一些选票，但几乎没有人可能战胜他们。

A major-party nominee has the critical advantage of support from the party faithful. 大党提名人具有得到党的忠实信徒支持这一关键的优势。

Earlier in the twentieth century, this support was so firm and steady that the victory of the stronger party's candidate was almost a certainty. 20世纪早期，这种支持是如此坚定、可靠，以至于较大党派候选人的胜利几乎是肯定的。

Warren G. Harding accepted the 1920 Republican nomination at his Ohio home, stayed there throughout most of the campaign, and won a full victory simply because most of the voters of his time were Republicans. 华伦·G·哈定在俄亥俄州的家乡接受了1920年共和党的提名，并且在竞选大战大部分时间里都呆在俄亥俄。他大获全胜只是因为当时投票的大部分是共和党党员。

Party loyalty has declined in recent decades, but more than two-thirds of the nation's voters still identify themselves as Democrats or Republicans, and most of them support their party's presidential candidate. 在近几十年内，党员对党派的忠诚削弱了，但2/3强的国家的投票人依然认为他们自己是共和党人或民主党人，他们大多支持自己党派的总统候选人。

Even Democrat George McGovern, who had the lowest level of party support among recent nominees, was backed in 1972 by nearly 60 percent of his party's voters. 即使是近年来拥有最低水平党派支持的民主人乔治·麦戈尔，在1972年仍得到了近60％本党派投票人的支持。