UNIT 2 By Lucia Vicens

1. UNIT 2By Lucia Vicens

2. Political Parties

3. What is a political party? a group that seeks to control government by winning elections and holding public office, joined together on the basis of common principles, who seek to control government and public policy

4. There are different kinds of parties too: major parties- the dominant political parties in the United States. minor party- this type of party is successful when its issues are taken by a major party

5. What makes a minor party? Any party that has less support than one of the major political parties in the United States. The members of a minor party are united by a particular group of viewpoints. It is a party that has broken away from a major party. A minor party expresses discontent over the state of the economy. Over time, the ideas first developed by minor parties are often taken by major parties. Infact, Minor parties have contributed MOST to United States politics by causing major parties to adopt their ideas.

6. Different kinds of minor parties:

7. Economic Protest Parties Parties that want to express their discontent with the major parties and current economy

8. Single issue parties single-issue parties- seek to cause a change on one public policy matter. Most single-issue parties have been short-lived.

9. Splinter party Parties that have broken off from one of the major parties

10. So we must have a multiple party system, right? Actually, not really. The only parties in the united states that really have a reasonable chance of winning in an election are the democratic party and the republican party. This developedmainly because conflicts about the Constitution created opposing viewpoints. Yet an increasing number of Americans today identify with neither political party. People consider a vote for a minor party candidate to be a waste of a vote, because they have little chance of winning. At times, the two parties work together- we call this a bipartisan.

11. Does everyone have a two party system like us? No. Dictatorships consist of a “one party” system, or more realistically a “no party” system. The era of one-party domination that began in 1968 was different from past eras of one-party domination because one party controlled Congress while the other controlled the presidency. A one-party system exists in nearly all dictatorships today.

12. Luckily, we have a pluralistic society, meaning the united states is made up of several distinct groups and cultures. At times,a union of many people of diverse interests join together to form a coalition. In fact, there are all diffirent kinds of groups people form to effect our politics.

13. Such as the... Political action committee- a special interest group that seeks to influence elections and affect public policy decisions.

14. Voting

15. Voters are asked to complete election ballots in all of the following ways : moving levers on a voting machine, marking a punch card, and returning a mail-in ballot. For providing optimum security, the best voting device is considered by many to be the voting booth.

16. The Electorate The electorate is made up of the people eligible to vote in any given election. In the United States, the electorate, or the potential voting population, is made up of nearly 200 million people.

17. There are many different ways to approach voting The process by which people formulate their political attitudes and opinions is called Political socialization. Party identification is when people are strongly loyal to a given party. As party identification has weakened, the number of independents has grown. Independent is the term regularly used to describe those people who have no specific major party affiliation. People who do not believe their actions can affect politics have no sense of political efficacy.

18. All of the following are significant reasons for nonvoting in United States elections today: long-term mental or physical illness or illness on an election day, rules and regulations that make registration and voting cumbersome, and apathy or distrust of politics.

19. A Nonvoting Voter is a person who votes in the presidential election but does not vote for a congressional candidate in the same election.

20. Now, not everyone can vote There is a preclearance, The Voting Rights Act declared that no new election laws could be enacted in any State without preclearance from the Department of Justice. At one point in time in US history, literacy was tested before people could vote as an attempt to keep african americans from voting- literacy is no longer a requirement.

21. How does the election start? Election starts with nomination, the choosing of a candidate who will seek election for a public office. The nominating stage is important in the electoral process mostly because nominations set real limits to the choices voters can make in general elections. Just as the methods for nominating candidates became gradually more democratic, so too did the methods for casting ballots. A non-partisan election is Elections in which candidates are not identified by party labels

22. Then there are different kinds of primaries... runoff primary- two top vote getters in a direct primary face one another, with the winner receiving the nomination. closed primary- a party nominating election in which only declared party members are allowed to vote. open primary- a party nominating election in which any qualified voter, regardless of party, can participate. People who tend to vote a straight ticket should be sure to vote in the primary election because the outcome of that election will dictate whom they will vote for in the general election.

23. What's the PAC and the FEC? PAC- They distribute money to those candidates who are sympathetic to their policy goals, They can give no more than $5,000 to any one federal candidate in an election, and They can give no more than $15,000 a year to a political party. FEC- It is an independent agency in the executive branch, It administers federal laws dealing with campaign finance, and It places limits on campaign expenditures and contributions. The Federal Election Commission enforces laws in each of the following areas: disclosing of campaign financial information, limiting campaign contributions to PACs, and providing public funding for parts of the election process.

24. Public Opinion

25. Public opinion- governmental or political attitudes held by a significant number of people The President hoped to sway public opinion by asking people to reconsider the issue based on new information that had been revealed. Public opinion includes only those views that relate to public affairs.

26. The societal problems that political leaders and citizens agree need government attention are known as the public agenda.

27. How do we find out what the public’s opinion is? With a public opinion poll. You take a poll by asking a sample of the universe a question- (in our case, the universe being the United States Population). A sample is a portion of a population that can represent the whole population. There are different kinds of samples such as:

28. Quota sample- a sample constructed to represent the major characteristics of the universe. • Random sample- a sample in which each member of the universe has an equal chance of being included

29. Straw Vote A straw vote- is a poll that tries to assess opinion simply by asking the same question to a large number of people

30. All of the following are examples of groups that promote causes: • American Civil Liberties Union. • National Rifle Association. • Sierra Club.

31. What is an interest group? “There’s strength in numbers.” • An interest group tries to persuade people to respond to its members' shared attitudes. • A positive aspect of interest groups is that they help stimulate interest in public affairs. • Although interest groups do not try to attract large numbers of voters, they DO try to attract favorable attention from lawmakers. • Various interest groups perform positive functions for their members, government officials, and the public at-large. • Interest groups usually conflict with each other.

32. What is a Labor Union? A labor union is an organization of workers who work in the same job or industry.

33. The End