Political Parties

What is a Political Party?

• Definition-– A group of people who seek to control

the government through winning elections.

What do PARTIES do?

1) Nominate – or name, candidates for public office

What do PARTIES do?

2) Inform- the people and stimulate their interests and participation in public affairs

What do PARTIES do?

3) Approve- its candidates to ensure the good performance of its people by seeing that they are qualified and of good character.

What do PARTIES do?

4) Govern- conduct the business of government

What do PARTIES do?

5) Act as Watchdogs- over the conduct of the government, particularly criticizing the party in power.

The Two-Party System• Definition- a system where only

two parties have a reasonable chance of

winning public office (democrats and

republicans).

• Why?- Historical basis: Parties grew out of

the first political factions in this country; Federalists and Anti-Federalists.

Tradition: most Americans accept the idea of a two-party system because there has always been one.

Existence of the Electoral System: Our method of electing the President, the electoral system, and the rules therein supports this. http://www.duke.edu/web/poli/classes/proprep/withouttext.htm

American Ideological Consensus: Americans in general have a shared ideals, principles and patterns of belief.

The Two-Party System• Other Systems-

1)Multi-Party: several major

and many lesser parties exist Positives- may better represent needs

and concerns of the people (some say Democrats and Republicans are not so different… remember Americans tend to share an ideological consensus!)

Negatives- tends to lead to instability, difficult to win the support of a majority

(a problem in a democracy)

2)One-Party: really means “No Party.”

The Minor Parties

• Definition: There are numerous, less politically reliable, parties in the U.S., other than Democrats and Republicans. These are called Minor or Third Parties.

• Types:1)Ideological- those based on a

particular set of beliefs (ex.-Libertarian party emphasizes individualism).

2)Single-Issue- those concentratingon a single public policy matter (ex.-the Right to Life Party opposes abortion).

3)Economic Protest- those rooted in periods of economic discontent.

4)Splinter- those that have split away from one of the major parties.

DEMOCRAT REPUBLICAN

Income/Occupation

Lower income / Lower Status Occupations & union workers

Wealthy / Higher Status Occupations & members of the business community

EducationLess education More Education

Gender/age Women / 18-30 year olds

Men / 55 years+

ReligionJews and Catholicshttp://www.catholicdigest.com/article/the-elusive-catholic-voter

Protestants

EthnicityBlack White

GeographyNortheast Midwest &

increasingly the South

Party Membership Patterns(These are tendencies… there are many who do not “follow these rules”!!!)

Other information about PARTIES…• Strong adherence to a party, their beliefs, and/or

candidates is called partisanship. • When the two major parties work together on an

issue, we call this cooperation bipartisanship. • Despite their differences the two major parties

share an ideological consensus, that is they share a general agreement on fundamental issues.

• Each of the parties writes out it’s formal stance on major issues. This is called the party’s platform.

• People who chose no party affiliation are called independents.