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