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Chapter8PoliticalParties1.ppt
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Chapter 8

Political Parties, Candidates and Campaigns

Chapter Learning Outcomes-
By the time you finish reading this chapter, you will understand the following better

Trace the evolution of political parties and evaluate their role in the American political system.

Identify and examine individual and collective actions (such as through voting, political parties, interest groups and social movements) and evaluate issues of public concern. Examine different modes of civic engagement.

Analyze and critique how one's own attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs (political ideologies and political socialization) are shaped by political policies, one's own cultural, ethnic, and racial heritage, socio-economic status, by gender, by age, by sexual orientation. Students will learn from many different people, methods, and viewpoints by being actively involved in a learning community that includes people similar and different than one's self.

Political Party

  • An ongoing coalition of interest joined together in an effort to get its candidates elected for public office under a common label
  • US elections are party centered
  • US elections are candidate centered too

Party Competition

  • Parties are linkage institutions; they seek to connect citizens to government
  • Party competition often narrows voters options to two

Hamilton v. Madison=Parties

  • Watch Feldman, N. (2017) Hamilton vs. Madison and the birth of partisanship. Ted Talks. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/noah_feldman_hamilton_vs_madison_and_the_birth_of_american_partisanship

History of Political Parties

  • Early leaders like Madison were wary of the idea of parties though grew grudging admiration
  • Enable like-minded people to exercise collective power
  • US parties originated because of a rivalry between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton

Jefferson v. Hamilton

  • Jefferson opposed Hamilton’s attempts to strengthen the federal government through national commerce
  • To advance his views, Hamilton formed the Federalist Party
  • Jefferson responded by creating the Democratic-Republican Party (reflected strength among small farmers and states’ rights advocates)

Federalists & Democrat-Republicans

  • After 1800s, no Federalist ever again controlled White House
  • In 1820 ,Monroe ran unopposed for President and it seemed parties might not be needed
  • At the end of Monroe’s 2nd term policy differences split the Democrat-Republicans

Democrats

  • Dominant faction, led by Andrew Jackson, embraced Jefferson’s commitment to the common people and adopted the label “Democrats”
  • Thus the party of Jefferson is the forerunner of today’s Democratic Party

Jackson/Grassroots Parties

  • Jackson wanted to create a party of folks who weren’t part of the big state elites
  • Worked at state level
  • Expanded voting rights to non land owners=400% increase in voter turnout in 1830
  • A new opposition party, the Whigs, emerged

Whigs

  • United more by opposition to Jackson than to actual policies or ideologies
  • Short-lived
  • 1850s slavery divided and the result was that the Whigs fell apart

Birth of Republicans

  • Emerged from North as competition to Democrats in 1850s
  • Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln won Presidency with only 40% vote
  • Slavery issue split between regions
  • Southern states seceded
  • Civil War

Republicans v. Democrats

  • After Civil War, settled into a pattern of competition
  • Have lasted b/c have changed during times of crisis
  • Have periodically reorganized with

New bases of support

New policies

New philosophies

Realignment Occurs

  • A party realignment is when the balance of power between a country's political parties changes greatly.
  • Realignment happens when/with

The emergence of unusually powerful & divisive issues

An election in which the voters shift their partisan support

An enduring change in the parties’ policies & coalitions

Realignment

  • Are rare
  • Deep & lasting changes
  • 4 alignments since the 1850s
  • Can be the result of major historical events.
  • Can also be the result of changes in demographics

Realignments

  • Have happened 4 times
  • See PBS (2015) Party Systems History. PBS Crash Course. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkltAl_cO5Y

Today

  • US has weak 2 party system where 3rd parties exist but difficult for them to win
  • Most democracies have a multiparty system
  • Democrats: www.democrats.org
  • Republican: www.gop.com

Single Member Plurality Election

  • Most common and best-known electoral system currently in use in America.
  • Used to elect the U.S. House Representatives, as well as many state and local legislatures.


Single Member Plurality Election

  • An area is divided into a number of geographically defined voting districts, each represented by a single elected official.
  • Voters can only vote for their district’s representative, with the highest vote-getter winning election, even if he or she has received less than half of the vote.

Problems with SMPE

  • Where the boundaries of districts are drawn can have a huge effect on who is likely to win election which can lead to gerrymandering
  • Prone to the spoiler dynamic. Where more than 2 viable candidates run and split the vote within a district

Electoral & Party Systems

  • Party coalition: the groups and interests that support a party
  • Party identification: a political term to describe a voter's underlying allegiance to a political party
  • Voters can vote straight party or “split ticket”

Median Voter Theorem

  • A majority rule voting system will select the outcome most preferred by the median voter
  • Assumes that voters can place all election alternatives along a one-dimensional political spectrum
  • Assumes that voters' preferences choose the alternative closest to their own view.
  • Assumes that voters always vote, regardless of how far the alternatives are from their own views.
  • Implies that voters have an incentive to vote for their true preference

Party and Voting

  • Prospective Voting: occurs when the voter chooses a candidate on the basis of what the candidate promises to do during an election

Party and Voting

  • Retrospective Voting: Based on a judgment about past performance(s); support the incumbent party because of performance or doesn’t

Party System Organization

  • Nomination: refers to the selection of the individual who will run as the party’s candidate in the general election
  • Links public to elected leaders

Structure of the Party

  • Decentralized, fragmented organizations
  • Candidate driven
  • US has tradition of two party system

Structure of the Party

  • Assist candidates with technology, workers, and funds
  • Can influence candidates but cannot compel party loyalty

Party Structure

  • Local parties: vary greatly in structure and activities; tend to concentrate on elections that coincide with local boundaries (ex: mayor)

Party Structure

  • State parties: each party is headed by a central committee made up of members of local party organizations and local and state officeholders; engage in fundraising, voter registration, etc.; play larger role in state elections than national

Structure of Parties

National Party Organization:

  • National Republican Committee and National Democratic Party
  • Structured similarly to states
  • National headquarters in Washington, DC
  • Set national party agenda and policy
  • Run by chairperson chosen by the national committee

Parties & Money

  • Federal Election Commission (www.fec.gov) regulates
  • Hard money: goes directly to candidate; can be spent as candidate chooses ($2000 maximum per contributor for individual donors and $5000 max for interest groups)

Parties & Money

  • Soft money: goes to party building; can not be given directly to a candidate
  • Individual donations and PACs

Campaign Funds

  • Some public funding
  • Political Action Committees
  • Critical to winning office
  • Hire fundraisers

Voter Communication

Voter Communication

  • Personal appearances
  • Donald Trump Rally: http://youtube.com/watch?v=l9s-XCULhcM
  • Barack Obama train tour: http://youtube.com/watch?v=l9s-XCULhcM

Voter Communication

  • Changes with new technology
  • 24 hour news
  • Youtube.com
  • Websites
  • Blogs
  • Twitter