Political Parties in America

American Political Parties

• bring people together to achieve control of the government

• develop policies favorable to their interests or to the groups that support them

• organize and run campaigns

• persuade voters to elect their candidates to office

• give cues to voters

• represent their constituents

• attempt to put philosophy into practice through legislation

• formulate policy through a national party platform

Political Parties are a“Linkage Institution”

the channels through which peoples’ concerns become political issues on the government’s policy agenda

Parties can be thought of in three parts:1) Party in the electorate2) Party as an organization3) Party in government

1) Party in the Electorate

Party identification is a citizen’s self-proclaimed preference

for one party or the other

Party identification shapes political worldview

May be shaped by demographic characteristics

South, middle-aged, and white-collar lean Republican

Evangelicals and married lean Republican

Women, minorities, and Jews lean Democratic

Unions, advanced degrees, and single lean more

Democratic

Era of the Democrats Era of the Republicans Era of the Democrats Era of Divided Govt 1800 - 1860 1860 - 1932 1932 - 1968 1968 - Today

Divided GovernmentSince 1968, neither Republicans nor Democrats have consistently held the presidency and the Congress is often controlled by the opposing party.

American Party History

Party Identification

Growing Party Polarization & Ideological Partisanship Between the Two Major

Parties

Intense Ideas Relate to more Substantive Political Participation

Ideology of Independents

The Role of Minor PartiesA third party or minor party is any party other than the two major parties. Their common thread is that they believe that neither party is meeting certain needs. A third party runs a candidate to propose a remedy to the situation and/or to draw attention to their specific issue(s) or ideology.

single-issue partyfocuses exclusively on one major economic, social, or moral issue ex: Free Soilers, Prohibition Party, Women’s Suffrage Party, Right to Life Party

ideological partyfocuses on overall change in society rather than on one single issue ex: Communist Party, Socialist Party, Libertarian Party

splinter partysplits away from one of the two major parties because of some disagreement ex: Progressive (Bull Moose) Party, Dixiecrats, Green Party

Third-Party Presidential CandidatesThe following are all third-party candidates in the 20th century who received at least 5% of the vote in a presidential election.

Candidate Party % of Vote E#Teddy Roosevelt (1912) Progressive Party 27.4

88Eugene Debs (1912) Socialist Party 6.5Robert LaFollete (1924) Progressive Party 16.6 13Strom Thurmond (1948) States’ Rights (Dixiecrats) 2.4 39George Wallace (1968) American Independent 13.5 46John Anderson (1980) National Unity Campaign 6.6 H. Ross Perot (1992) Independent 18.7H. Ross Perot (1996) Reform Party 8.5Ralph Nader (1996) Green 1.0Ralph Nader (2000) Green 3.0

No candidate received >= 1% in 2012 election

Major Third Parties

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_party_%28United_States%29

• Graphic Source: http://teamrussell4norwich.com/libertarian-party-best-of-democrat-republican/

2) Party Organization

The Party Organization: From the Grass Roots to Washington

The Local Parties

– 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.

– Now urban party organizations are generally weak

– County organizations have partially filled the void

The Party Organization: From the Grass Roots to Washington

The 50 State Party Systems:

– Closed primaries: 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

– Blanket primaries: voters get a list of all candidates and can vote for one name for each office, regardless of party label

– State party organizations are on an upswing in terms of headquarters and budgets

The Party Organization: From the Grass Roots to Washington

The National Party Organizations:

– National Convention: The meeting of party delegates every four years to choose a presidential ticket and the party’s platform

– National Committee: One of the institutions that keeps the party operating between conventions

– National Chairperson: Responsible for day-to-day activities of the party

3) Party in Government

Parties play a major role in organizing Congress

Parties shape perceptions of presidents

Presidents--to varying degrees--act as party

leaders

20th Century Party System

1876-1912 was Golden Age of parties

(due to machines)

Parties weakened in the modern era

Change in civil service laws

Development of direct primary

system

Growth of candidate-centered and

issue-oriented politics

Increase in ticket-splitting and

independent voters

Dealignment and Party Strength Are we in a period of dealignment? Many say

YES.

Voters are much less likely to identify with a party

Result of the growth in issue-oriented politics

Parties are important in electorate and in

government

Parties continue to be competitive with one

another

Political parties try to appeal to as many people as possible…

Party Coalitions Today

Party Identification by Group

PartyPlatform

abortion

health care

gun controlsocial security

foreign policy

tax cuts

Party in GovernmentPolitical Party Platform

A party platform is made up of planks that explain where the party stands on issues of importance.

gay marriageeducation

Platform Comparison

s: Main Two Parties…

Ideas on Abortion

On Energy

On Immigratio

n

On Taxes

Since 2012, Dems won part of this argument over DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) in 2013 parts of it were declared illegal by Supreme Court

…On Marriag

e

FYI: 2013, Supreme Court Ruling on DOMA

The Supreme Court’s first rulings on same-sex marriage produced historic gains for gay rights Wednesday: full federal recognition of legally married gay couples and an opening for such unions to resume in the nation’s most-populous state.

The divided court stopped short of a more sweeping ruling that the fundamental right to marry must be extended to gay couples no matter where they live.

But in striking down a key part of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the court declared that gay couples married in states where it is legal must receive the same federal health, tax, Social Security and other benefits that heterosexual couples receive.

Update! 6/26/2015• Supreme Court in a case called

Obergefell v. Hodges (& 3 related cases) justices ruled in a 5-4 decision that same-sex couples could marry across all 50 states.

• Prior to this it was legal (to varying degrees) in 37 places… though only made such by voting booths or state legislatures in only 11 states. The rest where forced to change laws by courts.