What is a political party?

A “team of men and women

seeking to control the governing
apparatus by gaining office in a
duly constituted election.”
• Jews and Catholics
• Liberals
• African-Americans
• Union members
• Middle and lower social class
• Young and female
• Pro-choice
• No death penalty
• Strong Christian/Protestants
• Conservative
• Rural
• White
• Business management
• Upper classes
• Older and male
• Pro-life
• Death Penalty (you betcha)
Apparently they are.
• Largest component of an
American political party.
• What do you have to do to be
a member of a political party?
• These are the people who keep the
party running between elections
and make its rules. From the
party’s national chairperson to its
local precinct captain, the party
organization pursues electoral
victory.
• Consists of elected officials who
call themselves members of the
party. Although they may share a
common party label, they do not
always agree on policy.
– Linkage Institution: The channels through
which people’s concerns become political
issues on the government’s policy
agenda.
– Parties Pick Candidates
– Parties Run Campaigns
– Parties Give Cues to Voters
– Parties Articulate Policies
– Parties Coordinate Policymaking
Down’s rational-choice model of political parties
• Party images help shape people’s
party identification—the self-
proclaimed preference for one of the
parties.
• Party identification remains strongly linked to
the voter’s choice, but ticket-splitting (voting
with one party for one office an another for
other offices) is near an all-time high.
• Divided government has frequently been the
result (often with Republican control of the
White House and Democratic control of
Congress.
– Party Machines: A type of political
party organization that relies
heavily on material inducements to
win votes and to govern.
– Patronage: A job, promotion or
contract given for political reasons
rather than merit. Used by party
machines.
–voters must be registered
with their party in advance
and can only vote for that
party
–Open primaries: voters
decide on election day which
party to participate in, and
then only that party
– voters get a list of all candidates
and can vote for one name for
each office, regardless of party
label
– National Convention: The meeting of
party delegates every four years to
choose a presidential candidate and
write the party’s platform.
– National Committee: One of the
institutions that keeps the party
operating between conventions.
– National Chairperson: Responsible for
the day-to-day activities of the party.
• An election that results in a party
realignment caused by the movement of
voters from one party to another.
– Example: The election 1980 was a critical
election because traditional Democrats voted
for Ronald Reagan. They became known as
Reagan Democrats.
• General Andrew Jackson founded the modern
American political party when he forged a
new coalition in 1828.
• Jackson was originally a Democratic-
Republican, but soon after his election his
party became known simply as the
Democratic party (which continues to this
day).
 The second party era took place after the 1860
election when Abraham Lincoln was elected as a
Republican.
• President Hoover’s handling of the Great
Depression was disastrous for the
Republicans. He took the position that
“economic depression cannot be cured
by legislative action.”
• Franklin D. Roosevelt promised a New Deal
and easily defeated Hoover in 1932.
 Rarely win elections
 Third parties bring
new groups and
ideas into politics
 Two-party system
discourages
extreme views
The candidate who gets the
most votes (or a majority,
more than any other
candidate) wins all of a
state’s electoral votes.
 How does the
winner-take-all
feature affect
how candidates
run their
campaigns?
• Third-party candidates may get a lot of
popular votes but no electoral votes unless
they carry a state.
• The difficulty of winning the electoral
votes hampers the ability to raise funds
and gain other campaign resources.
• History/tradition
• Would require a constitutional
amendment
• No clear consensus on an alternative
• Collectively benefits small/large states
• Racial minorities (and interest groups) in
some states like the electoral college
because it protects their votes.
• Favors two-party system