INTEREST GROUPS

What Are Interest Groups?

• An interest group is an organization of like-minded people who influence government.

What groups are Democrat or Republican

Democratic Party Republican Party

Women Men

Minorities Whites and Cubans

Midwest and North South and West

Poorer Richer

Labor Business Owners

Catholic Protestants

Lawyers & Teachers Doctors

Lower Education Higher Education

• Business Groups– American Petroleum Institute &

Chamber of Commerce

• Labor Groups– Major League Baseball Players Association

• MLB Players Webpage

– United Auto Workers & AFL-CIO

• Agricultural Groups– American Farm Bureau & National Cotton

Council

• Cotton Council Webpage

Kinds of Interest Groups

Kinds of Interest Groups

• Professional Groups– American Medical Association

& American Bar Association

• Religious Groups– Christian Coalition & National

Catholic Welfare Council

• Single Issue (Cause) Groups– NRA

• NRA Web page

What Do Interest Groups Do?

• Lobby: process of influencing government.

• Who are lobbyists?

• Lobby three branches of government on behalf of members.

• Organize and mobilize members to influence government: grassroots lobbying

• Organize members to contribute to political action committees.

• Organize members to work for party.

• Rise of Political Action Committees– 1974 Federal Election Campaign Act

• Allowed for PACs

– Over 5,000 PACs today• COPE: Committee on Political Education of AFL-

CIO

• American Bankers Association– Bank Pac

• Beer Distributers– Six PAC

Political Action Committees

Who gets most of the PAC campaign money?

The End