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POLITICAL PARTIES

POLITICAL PARTIES. Chapter 12 O’Connor and Sabato American Government: Continuity and Change. POLITICAL PARTIES. In this chapter we will cover … What is a Political Party? The Evolution of American Party Democracy The Roles of American Parties One-Partyism and Third-Partyism

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POLITICAL PARTIES

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  1. POLITICAL PARTIES Chapter 12 O’Connor and Sabato American Government: Continuity and Change

  2. POLITICAL PARTIES In this chapter we will cover… • What is a Political Party? • The Evolution of American Party Democracy • The Roles of American Parties • One-Partyism and Third-Partyism • The Basic Structure of American Political Parties • The Party in Government • The Party-In-The-Electorate

  3. What is a Political Party? A political party is a group of voters, activists, candidates, and office holders who identify with a party label and seek to elect individuals to public office.

  4. The Evolution of American Party Democracy • Hamilton and Jefferson, as heads of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist groups respectively, are often considered 'fathers' of the modern party system. • By 1800, this country had a party system with two major parties that has remained relatively stable ever since.

  5. Democrats and Republicans: The Golden Age to Today • From the presidential elections of 1860 to the present, the same two major parties have contested elections in the United States: Democrats and Republicans. • Reconstruction -- Republican dominance • 1876-1896 -- closely competitive • 1896-1929 -- Republican dominance • 1930s and 1940s -- Democratic dominance • 1950s and 1960s -- closely competitive • 1970-present -- neither party dominant

  6. The Golden Age (The Gilded Age) • Political Machine: A party organization that recruits voter loyalty with tangible incentives and is characterized by a high degree of control over member activity.

  7. What did political machines offer? • Party machines and government seemed to be the same thing to many city dwellers. • Provided jobs • Housing • Food • Entertainment • Community events • Immigrant support • Upward social mobility • 75% Voter Turnout!!!

  8. History Replace Political Machines • Government conducts elections and primaries • Primary:The means by which a political party nominates candidates for public office. • New Deal provides social welfare programs • 1900s Wave of Immigration slows down • Post WWII – Growth of Suburbia

  9. The Modern Era • Direct Primary: The selection of party candidates through the ballots of qualified voters rather than at party nominating conventions. • Civil Service Laws: These acts removed the staffing of the bureaucracy from political parties and created a professional bureaucracy.

  10. Post WWII • Candidate-Centered Politics: Politics that focuses directly on the candidates, their particular issues, and character, rather than on party affiliation. • Issue-Oriented Politics: Politics that focuses on specific issues rather than on party, candidate, or other loyalties. • Ticket-split: To vote for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election.

  11. How do Parties Change? • Party realignment: a shifting of party coalition groupings in the electorate that remains in place for several elections. • Critical election: An election that signals a party realignment through voter polarization around new issues. • Secular realignment: The gradual rearrangement of party coalitions based more on demographic shifts than on shocks to the political system.

  12. The Roles of American Parties • The two party system has been used to resolve political and social conflicts. • Mobilizing Support and Gathering Power • A Force for Stability • Unity, Linkage, Accountability • The Electioneering Function • Party as a Voting and Issue Cue • Policy Formulation and Promotion

  13. Mobilizing Support and Gathering Power • Coalition: A group made up of interests or organizations that join forces for the purpose of electing public officials. • Get Out the Vote: Voter registration drives. Mobilizing previously unmotivated voters to participate. May not be effective in mobilizing “undecided” Americans.

  14. A Force for Stability and Moderation • Continuity • Tame extreme elements • New Deal: Brought together African Americans and southern whites. • Increasing polarization diminished moderating effect of parties. • Government shut-down, GOP struggles with Tea Party.

  15. Unity, Linkage, and Accountability • Linkage between executive and legislative branches • Moderates separation of power • Links National and State governments • Links House to Senate • Accountability between candidates and voters

  16. The Electioneering Function • Candidate recruitment • Election positions become government positions • Sustain the competitive function of elections

  17. Party as a Voting and Issue Cue • Filter information – political ideology • Shortcut for voting decisions • Uninformed voters • Reinforce the “compass” element of political ideology

  18. Policy Formulation and Promotion • National party platform: A statement of the general and specific policy goals of a political party, usually promulgated at the national convention. • describes the key differences between the two major parties. • 2/3 of winning platform becomes (at least partly) government policy • ½ of losing platform is also adopted – bipartisanship (suggests limits on voter choice)

  19. Minor Parties: Third-Partyism • Minor parties are not a threat to the two major parties. • Only eight third parties have won any electoral votes in a presidential contest. • The third parties that have had some success are: • 1996 and 1992: Ross Perot’s Reform Party • 1968: George Wallace’s American Independent Party • 1924: Robert LaFollette’s Progressive Party • 1912: Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party • 1856: Millard Fillmore's American Party

  20. Obstacles to Third Party Success • Proportional Representation: A voting system that awards seats according to the percentage of the vote won by a particular political party. NOT USED IN AMERICA! • Winner-take-all-system: An electoral system in which the party that receives at least one more vote than any other party wins the election. (“single-member plurality”)

  21. Third Party Spoilers • Third Party candidates are often accused of syphoning votes from the person who “should have” won a particular position. This is called the “spoiler effect”. • Ralph Nader – took votes in FL from Al Gore in 2000 • Ross Perot – took votes from George Bush in 1992 and Bob Dole in 1996.

  22. The Basic Structure of American Political Parties

  23. Party Organization • DNC: Democratic National Committee • RNC: Republican National Committee • Both lead by a “Chairperson” • Chairperson is appointed by President or Presidential Candidate • In between elections & When out of power – the National Committees elect their own Chairpersons. • Chairperson • Strong fundraising role • Negotiator/Dispute Arbitrator

  24. National Conventions • National Convention: A party meeting held in the presidential election year for the purposes of nominating a presidential and vice presidential ticket and adopting a platform.

  25. Party Discipline • Most regulation of party activities is left to states, not national leadership. • 2008 – MI and FL (Dem) scheduled presidential primaries for January – before IA and NH. • DNC voted to deny both states half their voting power at the National Convention.

  26. Informal Groups • Both parties have: • Think Tank: Institutional collection of policy-oriented researchers and academics who are sources of policy ideas. • Governors Associations • College/Young divisions • National Federation of ___ Women

  27. MONEY!!! • Soft Money: The virtually unregulated money funneled through political parties for party building purposes, such as get out the vote efforts or issue ads. • Citizens United (2010): SCOTUS overruled most parts of BCRA (2002), restoring the ability of corporations, unions, and organizations to spend money for “electioneering purposes”.

  28. Eight “Magic Words” • Ads move from “issue ads” to “express advocacy” when they include: • Vote for • Elect • Support • cast your ballot for • Smith for Congress • Vote against • Defeat • Reject • Footnote in Buckley v. Valeo (1976)

  29. MONEY!!! • Hard money: Funds that can be used for direct electioneering but are limited and regulated by the Federal Elections Commissions • Money = Speech • Buckley v. Valeo • “the concept that government may restrict the speech of some [in] order to enhance the relative voice of others is wholly foreign to the First Amendment.” –Justice Brennan

  30. The Party in Government • The Congressional Party • The Presidential Party • The Parties and the Judiciary • The Parties and State Government

  31. The Party-In-The-Electorate • The party-in-the-electorate is the mass of potential voters who identify with specific party. • American voters often identify with a specific party, but rarely formally belong to it. • Party identification is often a voter's central political reference symbol. • Party identification generally come from one's parents. • However party id can be affected by a number of factors such as education, peers, charismatic personalities, cataclysmic events, and intense social issues.

  32. Declining Party Loyalty? • The number of independents in the U.S. rose from 19% in 1958 to 37% twenty years later. • Identification with the two major parties today is in the mid 80% range. • Pollsters often find that many self declared independents often 'lean' quite strongly to either the Democrat or Republican party. • “Leaners” do feel party affiliations, but choose not to self-identify with a party.

  33. Loyalty Trends - Democratic • Labor union members tend to vote Democratic • Democrats have a lead in garnering the women's votes • Over 80% of African Americans and Hispanics vote 3 to 1 Democratic • Young people are again more Democratic • Most blue collar workers and unemployed are Democrats • Catholics and Jews are mostly Democrats • The widowed are mostly Democrats • Liberals tend to be Democrats

  34. Loyalty Trends - Republican • Chambers of Commerce tend to vote Republican • The West tends to be more Republican • Men tend to split fairly evenly between the two parties • Cuban Americans are generally Republicans (anti-Castro) • Professionals, executives, and white collar workers tend to be Republican • High status Protestants tend to be Republican • Married couples tend to be Republican • Conservatives tend to be Republican

  35. Websites Major Parties • Democratic National Committee • www.democrats.org • Republican National Committee • www.rnc.org Third Parties • Third Party Central • www.3pc.net/index.html • Libertarian Party • www.lp.org • Reform Party. • www.reformparty.org

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