pols 110 chapter 8
what three basic elements are involved in a party realignment?
1). The emergence of unusually powerful and divisive issues 2). An election contest or contests in which the voters shift their partisan support 3). An enduring change in the parties policies and coalitions
who created todays democratic party?
Andrew Jackson
What does GOP stand for?
Grand Old Party
who was the only president that moved away from the median and still attracted support from moderates?
Ronald Reagan
Who influenced Jackson's democratic party?
Thomas Jefferson; the Democratiic-Republican part became the deomcrats
what kind of party did Jackson seek?
a grassroots party
what is a grassroots party?
a political party organized at the level of the voters and dependent on their support for its strength
what kind of party system does the US have?
a two party system
what are some advantages of candidate centered campaigns?
allow new comers access to politics. lend flexability to electoral politics, encourage national office holders to be responsive to local interest
what is a party realignment?
an election or set of elections in which the electorate responds strongly to an extraordinarily powerful issue that has disrupted the established political order.
how do the parties win consistently in the us?
by attracting majority support
what is hard money?
campaign funds given directly to candidates to spend as they choose
why are parties in no danger of extinction?
candidates and activists need an organization through which to work
what are top-two primaries?
candidates are listed on the same ballot without regard to party; the top two finishers become the general election candidates.
what is a straight ticket?
casting a ballot that only votes for one party
what have party coalitions been forged around?
conflict over the federal governments role in solving social and economic problems.
what were the 1970s marked by?
dealignment
how are us party organizations?
decentralized and fragmented
what to linkage institutions include?
elections, political parties, interest groups, and the media
what were the most important parties of the 20th century?
factional parties
which voter is key to the future of both parties?
hispanics
what tips the balance in close races?
how voters feel about the party in control currently
what did the progressive party try to do?
influence how elections and primaries were done
what do political parties give voters a chance to do?
influence the direction of government
What impact to realignments have on society?
lasting impact on public policy, popular support for the parties, and the composistions of the party coalitions
what percentage of voters cast a split ticket?
less than 20%
how levels are parties organized at?
local, state, and national
what gives popular majorities a choice over how they will be governed?
party competition
who are primaries usually limited to?
party memebers
what are some disadvantages to candidate centered campaings?
provide abundant opportuniites for powerful interest groups to shower money on the candidates and they weaken accountability by making it easier for office holders to deny personal responsibility for government's action
What was Hamilton's party called
the Federalist party
what are some examples of single issue parties?
the Free Soil party and the Greenback party
what do primaries hinder?
the building of strong party organizations
what do party organizations concentrate on?
the contesting of elections
what are single member districts?
the form of representation in which only the candidate who gets the most votes in a district wins office
what resulted in America having a two party system?
the nation's choosing its officials through plurality voting in single-member districts
what is the overriding goal of a major American party?
to gain power by getting its candidates elected to office
what amount of independents say they lean more toward one of the parties
two in three
what is a split ticket?
voting for one parties presidential candidate and the other party's congressional candidate
who does the republican coalition consist of?
white middle-class and white fundamentalist christians
who does the gender gap characterize only?
white people
what was Jackson's political goal?
wrest political power from the established elites
how much on a week on average does a senator need to raise during their term to meet the $5 million minimum?
$20.000
what is an example of a tightly alined party coalition?
African americans to the democrats
why are Hispanics key to the future of both parties?
Hispanics tend to be liberal on economic issues and conservative on social issues, leaving both parties room to appeal for their support
What was Jefferson's party called?
The Democratic-Republican Party
at the state level who heads the party organization?
a central committee
what is a primary election?
a form of election in which voters choose a party's nominees for public office.
what is a proportional representation system?
a form of representation in which seats in the legislature are allocated proportionally according to each political party's share of the popular vote.
what is an ideological party?
a minor party characterized by its ideological commitment to a broad and noncentrist philosophical position
what are factional parties?
a minor party created when a faction within one of the major parties breaks away to form its own party
what is a reform party?
a minor party that bases its appeal on the claim that the major parties are having corrupting influence on government and policy
what are single issue parties?
a minority party formed around a single issue of overriding interest to its followers.
what is dealignment?
a movement of voters away from partisan commitments
what is party competition?
a process in which conflict over society's goals is transformed by political parties into electoral competition in which the winner gains the power to govern
What is a two party system?
a system in which only two political parties have a real chance of acquiring control of the government
what is a multiparty system?
a system in which three or more political parties have the capacity to gain control of government separately or in coalition
what is packaging?
a term of modern campaigning that refers to the process of recasting a candidate's record into an appealing image
what are air wars?
a term that refers to the fact that modern campaigns are often a battle of opposing televised advertising campaigns
what is the money chase?
a term used to describe the fact that us ccampiagns are very expensive and candidates must spend a great amount of time raising funds in order to compete successfully
what are open primaries?
allow independents and sometimes voters of the other party to vote in the party's primary
what is a plurality system?
an electoral system in which the candidate who gets the most votes in an election district is elected to office from that district
what is a linkage institution?
an institution that serves to connect citizens with government.
what is a political party?
an ongoing coalition of interests joined together to try to get their candidates for public office elected under common lable
what must candidates do to win an electoral majority?
appeal to a diverse set of interests
when does party realignment lose its strength?
as the issues that gave rise to it decline in importance
What was the federalist party in support of?
federalism and the constitution
why are parties decentralized and fragmented?
federalism made it difficult for the parties to act as instruments of national power
what do state party organizations do?
fundraise and voter registration
what is the internet mainly used for in campaigns?
fundraising and mobilizing supporters
what are candidate centered campaigns based on?
money, media, and utilizing the skills of professional consultants
what amount of voters cast a split ticket in the 70s?
more than 1/4th
what kind of party system do most of the other democracies have?
multiparty systems
what do political parties offer?
offers a choice between policies and leaders
what is a closed primary?
participation is limited to voters registered or declared at the polls as members of the party whose primary is being held
what electoral system enables smaller parties to compete for power?
proportional representation system
what kind of electoral system do most European democracies have?
proportional representation system
how are party coalitions usually?
relatively broad
how are campaigns both party centered and candidate centered?
republican and democratic parties compete across the country election after election but individual candidates devise their own strategies and have to run their own campaigns and hire their own staff.
what do national party organizations do?
run training programs for candidates and their staff, raise money, seek media coverage, conduct research , raise and spend money
what kind of relationships do political committees have with candidates?
service relationship
who does the democratic coalition draw most of its support from?
society's underdogs (blacks, union members, the poor, city dwellers, Hispanics, Jews, and other minorities)
what is a candidates first priority in a close election?
swing votes
what has the GOP been the party of historically?
tax cuts and business incentives and traditional values
when were minority parties at their peak?
the 19th century
what was the most successful factional party?
the Bull Moose party
what was the one moment in history that political parties failed to peacefully settle political differences in the us?
the Civil War
What were the four realignments that have happened since the 1850s?
the Civil war, the 1896 election after a bank collapse that cause an economic panic, the Great Depression, and the Vietnam war
What was the Democratic-Republican party in support of?
the Declaration of Independence and states' rights
which party is the GOP?
the Republican party
What party emerged to fight Jackson's democratic party?
the Whig party
what was an indicator of dealignment in the 70s?
the amount of split ticket voters
which party have Hispanics sided with in recent elections?
the democrats
what is a nomination?
the designation of a particular individual to run as a political party's candidate in the general election
why have voters recently faced a clear choice during elections?
the gap in policy positions of democrats and republicans have widened
what is a party coalition?
the groups and interests that support a political party
where does the balance of power in American elections rest?
the moderate voters
what is a party organization?
the party organizational units at national, state, and local levels
What have been the two strongest ideological parties?
the populists party and the Green party
what are political consultants
the professionals who advise candidates on various campaigns such as media, fundraising, and polling
what was the strongest reform party?
the progressive party
What eventually came out of the Whig party?
the republican party
where did America's first political party originate from?
the rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson
what is a service relationship?
the situation in which party organizations assist candidates for office, but have no power to require them to support the party's main policy positions
what tendency shows the power of partisanship?
the tendency for voters to cast a straight ticket
what is the gender gap?
the tendency of white women and men to differ in their political attitudes and voting preferences
what is the median voter theorem?
the theory that parties in two-party systems can maximize their vote by locating themselves at the position of the median voter (the voter whose preferences are exactly in the middle)
how do parties strengthen the candidate's role in an election?
the weakness of their ability to control nominations and election to office
why have the two parties (democrats and republicans) been so durable?
their ability to adapt during period of crisis
how have party organizations duties and powers changed over time?
their power has diminished. They no longer pick the nomination due to primaries and campaign funding no longer goes through them first. the candidate now has more power and chooses their staff and deals with campaign funds on their own.
how are elections in europe
there are no primary elections
How common are realignments?
they are very rare
How are debates used in elections?
they give voters a chance to compare candidates, can help boost a candidate in the polls but don't often swing voters.
how do minority parties influence government?
they make the major parties pay attention to specific issues and cause changes to be made by bringing attention to such issues
how did America's early leaders feel about political parties?
they mistrusted them
what amount of white fundamentalist Christians have voted republican in recent years?
three fourths
what has political competition in the us centered on?
two parties
what is prospective voting?
voting based off what the candidates promise to do
what is retrospective voting?
voting based on a candidates past performance
