Title: What is a Mandate? - Definition & Examples - Social Science Class [2021 Video] | Study.com
Headings: What is a Mandate? - Definition & Examples
What is a Mandate? - Definition & Examples
Lesson Transcript
Mandates: When Winning Might Not Be Enough
When Is a Mandate Really a Mandate?
Roosevelt's Mandate
Reagan's Mandate
Truman's Mandate
Obama's Mandate
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Content: In 1948, Harry Truman was running for re-election at a point in his presidency when he was deeply unpopular. The Republican nominee, Thomas Dewey (who had run previously against Franklin Roosevelt and done better than expected), was the clear frontrunner and thought to be a sure thing for victory. When Truman surprised many by eking out a win on election night, it ranked as one of the great presidential upsets in modern history, even though Truman was the incumbent. That fact, then, tended to negate the idea that Truman had earned a mandate from the nation. Though he had won, he had done so in a terribly narrow fashion, even with the advantages of incumbency behind him. Obama's Mandate
In 2012, Barack Obama ran for re-election in a deeply divided nation. His signature accomplishment, the Affordable Care Act, was the first successful attempt to provide health care on a national level, but was heartily despised by Republicans and not, at that point, especially popular with the rest of the electorate. Obama's campaign put the health care law at the center of the national debate and when the President won reelection in a fairly handy manner over the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, it was taken by many as a national endorsement of the Affordable Care Act and its status in American society. When a Mandate is Unclear (Which Is Always)
This may all sound awfully vague and uncertain. To be sure, there are times when it's clear that a candidate or a party does not have a mandate, especially when either attempts to implement policies on which they had not campaigned.