The incumbent, in politics, is the current holder of a political office. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions A politician (from Greek " Polis " is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making through the influence of Politics or a person This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W. Bush was the incumbent, because he was the president in the current term while the election sought to determine the president for the following term. The United States presidential election of 2004 was held on Tuesday November 2, 2004, to elect the President of the United States. George Walker Bush ( born July 6 1946 is the forty-third and current President of the United States.

Etymology

The word "incumbent" is derived from the Latin verb incumbere, literally meaning "to lean or lie upon," with the present participle stem incumbent-, "leaning or lying upon. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. "^[1]

In politics

In general, incumbents have structural advantages over challengers during elections. An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office The timing of elections may be determined by the incumbent instead of a set schedule. For most political offices, the incumbent often has greater name recognition due to their previous work in the office. Name recognition is a concept used in Politics to describe number of people who are aware of a Politician. Incumbents also have easier access to campaign finance, as well as government resources (such as the franking privilege) that can be indirectly used to boost a campaign. Campaign finance refers to the means by which money is raised for election campaigns. Franking (or "Franks") are any and all devices or markings such as Postage stamps (including printed and/or embossed on Postal stationery An election (especially for a legislature) in which no incumbent is running is often called an open seat; because of the lack of incumbency advantage, these are often amongst the most hotly-contested races in any election. A legislature is a type of representative Deliberative assembly with the power to create amend and change Laws The law created by a legislature is called Legislation

In the United States, incumbents traditionally win their party's nomination to run for office. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Unseating an incumbent president, senator or other figure during a primary election is very difficult. A primary election ( nominating primary) also referred to simply as a primary, is an election in which voters in a Jurisdiction select candidates In particular, barring major scandal or controversy, about 95% of congressional incumbents win re-election to their seats. The United States Congress is the bicameral Legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses However, shifts in congressional districts due to reapportionment or other longer-term factors may make it more or less likely for an incumbent to win re-election over time. Apportionment is the process of allocating political power among a set of principles (or defined constituencies For example, a Democratic incumbent in historically conservative Texas would have less chance of winning than a Democratic incumbent in liberal New York City, because Texas has shifted away from the Democratic party in terms of voting (see also Congressional stagnation in the United States). The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. Conservatism is a term used to describe political philosophies that favour Tradition, where tradition refers to various religious cultural or nationally defined Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. The City of New York Congressional stagnation is an American political theory that attempts to explain the high rate of incumbency re-election to the United States House of Representatives

However, there exist scenarios in which the incumbency factor itself leads to the downfall of the incumbent. Popularly known as the anti-incumbency factor, situations of this kind occur when the incumbent has proven himself not worthy of office during his tenure and the challenger demonstrates this fact to the voters. An anti-incumbent vote is one exercised against elected officials currently in power An anti-incumbency factor can also be responsible for bringing down incumbents who have been in office for many successive terms in spite of performance indicators, simply because the voters are convinced by the challenger of a need for change.

When newcomers vie to fill an open office, voters tend to compare and contrast the candidates' qualifications, issues positions and personal characteristics in a relatively straightforward way. Elections featuring an incumbent, on the other hand, are as Guy Molyneux puts it, "fundamentally a referendum on the incumbent. "^[2] Voters will first grapple with the record of the incumbent. Only if they decide to "fire" the incumbent do they begin to evaluate whether the challenger is an acceptable alternative.

Voters typically know incumbents well and have strong opinions about their performance. Challengers are less familiar and invariably fall short on straightforward comparisons of experience and (in the presidential arena) command of foreign policy. Some voters find themselves conflicted -- dissatisfied with the incumbent yet also wary of the challenger -- and may carry that uncertainty through the final days of the campaign and sometimes right into the voting booth. Among the perpetually conflicted, the attitudes about the incumbent are usually more predictive of these conflicted voters' final decision than their lingering doubts about the challenger. Thus, in the campaign's last hours, we generally tend to see "undecided" voters "break" for the challenger. See Incumbent Races: Closer Than They Appear http://www.pollingreport.com/incumbent.htm by Nick Panagakis, 1989. (There are some major exceptions, such as in the 2004 Canadian federal election where many undecided voters went to the incumbent due to an alleged fear factor of the unknown. The Canadian federal election 2004 (more formally the 38th General Election) was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of )

In business

In business the term Incumbent is used for the largest company in a certain industry, for instance the traditional phone company in telecommunications. In a sales process, such as public tender, incumbent may also refer to the vendor that has the largest existing commercial relationship with the issuer of the tender.

In large corporations it is the incumbent who is the holder of an office, or one that occupies a particular position.

In media or telecommunications

In media or telecommunications, the term incumbent is used to describe existing companies often first established as regulated monopolies. These include television or radio stations who have benefited from government granted broadcast licenses and telecommunications companies who first existed at regulated utilities with exclusive rights to serve an area. Incumbents in this context typically have extensive market power for ten years.

See also

• Lists of office-holders
• List of current heads of state and government
• Outgoing president

References