Presidential Second Terms Are Not Cursed, But the Timing of Reelection Has Become So

Abstract

Presidential second terms have been found wanting at least since Ulysses Grant held office. They also feature midterm elections that repudiate a president reelected just two years earlier. Past ideas for mitigating such weaknesses have focused on revisiting the Twenty-second Amendment's two-term limit or reviving the perennial proposal for a single six-year term. Instead, consideration should be given to retaining the two-term structure but changing each term's length. Terms of six followed by three years would better reflect their respective value and likely lead to improved governance (electoral synchronicity would be maintained by changing House terms to three years). Prospective benefits include structuring the presidency to match how the public's relationship to the office has evolved; reducing a reelected president's lame-duck status from half of his or her presidency to one-third; making pursuit of reelection other than automatic; strengthening second terms by eliminating their midterm elections; and reducing the proportion of campaigning relative to governing.