1 / 9

Political Parties

Political Parties. U2, C8. Political Party. Political party: organization that sponsors candidates for political office under the organization’s name Differ from interest groups because nominate candidates Party Functions Nominating candidates Structuring the voting choice

neil
Download Presentation

Political Parties

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Political Parties U2, C8

  2. Political Party Political party: organization that sponsors candidates for political office under the organization’s name Differ from interest groups because nominate candidates Party Functions • Nominating candidates • Structuring the voting choice • Proposing alternative government programs • Coordinating the actions of government officials

  3. History of us party politics • First: Federalists and Democratic Republicans • Election of 1800 • 12th Amendment • “Era of Good Feelings” • Second: Democrats and Whigs • National conventions and party platforms • “King Andrew” • Current: Democrats and Republicans • Critical election • Electoral Realignment • Rough balance (1860-1894) • Republican Majority (1896-1930) • Democratic Majority (1932-1964) • Rough balance (1968-Present) • Electoral dealignment Party Systems Eras of Party Dominance Since the Civil War

  4. Minor Parties in America Bolter parties: formed by factions that have split off from one of the major parties Farmer-labor parties: farmers and urban workers; believed working class not getting fair share of society’s wealth Parties of ideological protest: reject prevailing doctrines and propose radically different principles, favoring more government activism Single-issue parties: promote one principle Existence: promote some voters’ discontent with choices offered by major parties; better record as policy advocates than as candidates

  5. Why a Two-Party System? • Electoral System • Majority representation: system by which one office, contested by two or more candidates, is won by the single candidate who collects the most votes • Proportional representation: legislative seats are awarded to a party in proportion to the vote that party wins in an election • Political socialization • Two parties have the power to make laws that make it hard for minor parties to get on the ballot

  6. American Politics Today • Democrats usually feel that the federal government has a responsibility to help the poor through government intervention. • Democrats are generally seen as liberal. • Republicans hold the view that leaving the economy alone will allow for growth, giving people greater ability to help themselves. They believe in less regulation. • Republicans are viewed as being conservative.

  7. The Political Spectrum

  8. Party Identification • Voter’s sense of psychological attachment to a party • Figure 8.4 (Distribution of party identification 1952-2008) • Number of Republicans and Democrats combined has far exceeded independents each year • Number of Democrats has consistently exceeded that of Republicans • Number of Democrats has shrunk over time, to benefit of both Republicans and Independents, three groups almost equal in size • Figure 8.5 (Party identification by social groups)

  9. National Party Organization • Mirror federal system: separate national and state organizations (local) – more functions performed at state (local) level • Four main organizational components: • National convention • National committee • Congressional party conference • Congressional campaign committees • Presidential primaries – campaigns run by individual candidates • Organizational and procedural differences • State and local party machines • Decentralized (but growing stronger)

More Related