Federal Govt Chapter 9

Voters thus have an incentive not to vote for small or third party candidates for fear of

"wasting" their vote, as only one party (usually one of the two largest parties) can win the election.

The gender gap has varied between ________ percent since 1992.

6 and 11

Between 2008 and 2013, the percentage of individuals registering as indepedents has soared in the western states particularly,

Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.

By using so-called faith-based groups as federal contractors,

Bush sought to ensure that these groups would have a continuing stake in Republican success.

The first party system emerged in the 1790s and pitted the ____________ against the ___________________.

Federalists; Jeffersonian Republicans

In 1840 the Whigs won their first presidential election under the leadership of

General William Henry Harrison, a military hero known as "Old Tippecanoe."

_______ are among the Democratic Party's most loyal constituent groups and have been since the New Deal.

Jews; nearly 90 percent

________________ has one of the most liberal populations in the country.

Massachusetts

Franklin D. Roosevelt rebuilt and revitalized the Democratic party around a nucleus of unionized workers, upper-middle-class intellectuals and professionals, southern farmers, Jews, Catholics, and African Americans—the so-called

New Deal coalition that made the Democrats the nation's majority party for the next 36 years.

The Federalists spoke mainly for

New England merchants and supported a program of protective tariffs to encourage manufacturing, assumption of the states' Revolutionary War debts, the creation of a national bank, and resumption of commercial ties with Britain.

The 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), sometimes known as the McCain-Feingold bill,

Outlawed the ability to use soft money

Which party was founded as a political expression of the antislavery movement?

Republican

Although some 527 committees are actually independent, many are directed by former

Republican and Democratic party officials and run shadow campaigns on behalf of the parties.

With the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865, some congressional Republicans sought to convert the South into a

Republican bastion through a program of Reconstruction that enfranchised newly freed slaves.

Campaigning during the worst financial crisis since the 1930s and burdened with a president whose approval ratings had sunk to historic lows,

Republicans fared poorly in the 2008 elections.

Why do third parties often live short lives?

The major parties absorb their programs.

Gender gap

a distinctive pattern of voting behavior reflecting the differences in views between women and men

The 2004 election results also revealed that how religious a person is, as measured by frequency of attendance at religious services, has

a larger impact on voting than his or her specific religion.

One of the most familiar complaints about American politics is that the two major parties try to be

all things to all people, and are therefore indistinguishable from each other.

In contrast with earlier eras, Democrats and Republicans now vote

along party lines on almost all legislation.

From the collapse of the Federalists until the 1830s, America had only one political party, the Jeffersonian Republicans, who gradually came to be known

as the Democrats.

ad hominem attacks

attacking the ethics of a person

Congress depends more on the party system than is generally recognized, as the parties form the

basic organization for running Congress; electing speaker, and the committee system

To be an equal democracy where rich and poor, educated and noneducated, young and old, and white and minority are represented, there must be

competitive and responsible political parties that provide real choices to the electorate so that the public can participate in the government's decision-making process.

"Red America"

concentrated in the Mountain West, the Southwest, and the South

The decline in partisan attachment in the electorate is referred to as

dealignment.

Furthermore, the parties' presidential candidates make little use of the platforms in their campaigns; usually they prefer to

develop and promote their own themes.

The Jeffersonians, led by southern agricultural interests, opposed these policies and instead favored

free trade, the promotion of agricultural over commercial interests, and friendship with France.

The general election period begins _______________ after the nominations.

immediately

With civil service reform, party leaders no longer control

many government jobs.

Elections in the United States are

more expensive than any country in the world

At the national level, the party's most important institution is the

national convention.

The 2013 113th Congress was

one of the least productive in history, with less than 60 bills voted into law.

Most lawmakers are elected from safe districts, where a majority of voters identify with their party, which means they have little chance of losing in the next election. The average winning margin of victory in the House is

over 40 percentage points.

Traditional party machines depended heavily on

patronage, their power to control government jobs.

The growth of the mass media, particularly television, also seemed to reduce the role of parties in elections, as television tends to focus on the

personality of individual candidates rather than the "institution" of the party.

Political scientist Sean Theriault argues that political parties in Congress are more

polarized today than they have been at any time during the past 100 years.

Some of the major reform movements in American history, such as the ______________, were motivated by the excessive powers and abuses of these party machines and their bosses.

progressive movement

Third parties have influenced national politics mainly by

promoting specific issues and ideas.

Some states allow a _________________________, where individuals may check one box to cast a ballot for all the Republican or Democratic party candidates up and down the ballot, from local to national offices.

straight ticket voting option

If the party that wins the presidency in one out of three elections is not favored by a majority of voters, that calls into question

the legitimacy of our election system.

Each party is assigned a quota of members for each committee, depending on

the percentage of total seats held by the party.

Patronage

the resources available to higher officials, usually opportunities to make partisan appointments to offices and to confer grants, licenses, or special favors to supporters

In 2008 the shift toward the Democratic Party affected all age groups, but it was particularly strong among

young voters

The famous old machines of New York, Chicago, and Boston relied on

"precinct captains" and a fairly tight group of party members around them.

To circumvent BCRA, however, each party has established a set of

"shadow parties;" These are 527 committees, groups organized to promote and publicize political issues.

Other political scientists argue that party polarization has occurred as congressional districts and states become more homogeneous

(the red state, blue state phenomenon), not because of how congressional districts are drawn, but because individuals segregate themselves by choosing to live in liberal or conservative geographic areas; self-sorting

During the 1980s, under the leadership of President Ronald Reagan, Republicans added two additional important groups to their coalition:

1. religious conservatives who were offended by Democratic support for abortion and gay rights and by alleged Democratic disdain for traditional cultural and religious values. 2. working-class whites who were drawn to Reagan's tough approach to foreign policy and his positions against affirmative action.

In a proportional system, parties can earn seats in government with ______ percent of the popular vote.

15-20

In fact one study found that over ___ percent of House races are uncontested (meaning there is only one candidate from one party on the ballot) because challenging incumbents in Congress and winning is so difficult.

20

Under federal election law, only parties that receive more than ___ percent of the national presidential vote are entitled to federal funds. The Reform Party qualified by winning 8.2 percent in 1996.

5

That means incumbents, on average, win ___ percent of the popular vote compared with challengers' ___ percent.

70; 30

Today, over ___ percent of the votes in Congress are passed with unanimous party-line voting.

90

____________ were also once a strongly pro-Democratic group but have been shifting toward the Republican Party since the 1970s, when the party focused on abortion and other social issues deemed to be particularly important.

Catholics

Thus, Americans between the ages of 50 and 64 came of political age during the

Cold War, Vietnam, and civil rights eras.

Spoiler effect

Concern about wasting one's vote on third parties

While the majority of Americans hold moderate views, Republican representatives in Congress tend to be strong conservatives while Democrats tend to be strong liberals; some argue that this phenomenon is in part the result of how

Congressional representatives are elected.

___________ voters to actually show up to cast a ballot on Election Day is one of the _______________ that the parties face.

Convincing; hardest tasks

It took Richard Nixon's "southern strategy" to give the GOP the votes it needed to end

Democratic dominance of national politics

The post-Civil War South was solidly

Democratic in its political affiliation, and with a firm southern base, the national Democratic Party was able to confront the Republicans on a more or less equal basis.

In 1896 the Populist Party effectively merged with the

Democrats

More than 90 percent of African Americans describe themselves as

Democrats and support Democratic candidates in national, state, and local elections.

Two major changes have contributed to today's extreme party polarization:

First, the parties' constituencies (the mass public) are more politically and ideologically divided than they used to be. Second, lawmakers have given more power to their party leaders, who demand that party members vote with the party more frequently.

_____________ citizens with ______________ of voter turnout have little representation by the parties, except when their preferences converge (or overlap) with the preferences of more affluent citizens.

Lower-income; lower levels

The Obama campaign was able to use this party machinery as a springboard for its own mobilizing organization,

Obama for America; After Obama took office, the organization was renamed Organizing for America (OFA) and became an independent project of the Democratic National Committee.

Which two (possibly contradictory) statements best reflect the current state of parties in the electorate?

Party identification has gotten stronger among active voters. There are more independent voters now than ever before.

Which of the following statements about political party platforms is correct?

Party platforms represent compromises by the various groups in the party. Party platforms represent the image the party wants to cultivate for itself.

During the 1890s, profound and rapid social and economic changes led to the emergence of a variety of protest parties, including the

Populist Party, which won the support of hundreds of thousands of voters in the South and West; appealed mainly to small farmers but also attracted western mining interests and urban workers

The most important examples of third parties in the past 100 years

Progressives and Populists

_______ and ________ seem to have the greatest influence on Americans' party affiliations.

Race; income

Since the 1980s, important differences emerged between the positions of Democratic and Republican party leaders:

Republican Party supports maintaining high levels of military spending, cuts in social programs, tax relief for upper-income voters, tax incentives for businesses, and the "social agenda" backed by members of conservative religious denominations. Democratic leadership, on the other hand, supports expanded social welfare spending, national health care, cuts in military spending, increased regulation of business, and a variety of consumer and environmental programs.

The importance of parties in Congress became especially evident in the months after the

Republicans won control of Congress in 1994

In the United States only a handful of local districts use RCV, including

San Francisco and Oakland, California; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Minneapolis, Minnesota

Republicans often wound up supporting popular New Deal programs such as

Social Security in what was sometimes derided as "me too" Republicanism.

America's first national parties: the Jeffersonians or Antifederalists, whose primary base was in the __________, and the Federalists, whose strength was greatest in the ___________ states.

South; New England

________ parties and __________________ make it more likely that elected officials will represent the views and wishes of the American people.

Strong; vigorous party competition

Historically, parties form in one of two ways:

The first, which could be called "internal mobilization," occurs when political conflicts prompt officials and competing factions within government to mobilize popular support; i.e. Antifederalists and federalists The second way that parties form is called "external mobilization," which takes place when a group of politicians outside government organizes popular support to win governmental power; i.e. the Republican Party during the 1850s--opposed slavery in NE and West

Under the law, 527 committees can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, as long as which of the following provisions are met?

The goal of the spending is to increase voter turnout. The 527's activities are not coordinated with the formal party organization.

"Hard cider" campaign

Whig's strategy of using food and especially drink to win votes.

An example of an election reform that may reduce party polarization and increase opportunities for third parties is ranked choice voting (RCV). Ranked choice voting is

a ballot form used in countries around the world that rather than casting a single vote for one's most preferred choice, a voter ranks candidates from the most preferred to least preferred (usually the top three) on the ballot; If a candidate wins a majority of first-place votes (50 percent plus one), the candidate is declared the winner and second- or third-place votes are not counted. But if the top candidate does not receive a majority of the votes cast, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and those voters' ballots are redistributed to their second-choice candidates

Dealignment

a movement away from the major political parties; a decline in partisan attachment

National convention

a national institution that nominates the party's presidential and vice-presidential candidates, establishes party rules, and writes and ratifies the party's platform

What happens during an electoral realignment?

a new party supplants the ruling party

caucus (political)

a normally closed meeting of a political or legislative group to select candidates, plan strategy, or make decisions regarding legislative matters

Platform

a party document, written at a national convention, that contains party philosophy, principles, and positions on issues

The speakership of the House is essentially

a party office

In the United States, proportional representation systems are uncommon, especially

above the local level, and are absent at the national level.

Although the Republican Party was the only American third party to make itself permanent (by replacing the Whigs), other third parties have enjoyed an influence far beyond their electoral size. This is because large parts of their programs were

adopted by one or both of the major parties, which sought to appeal to the voters mobilized by the new party, and so expand their own electoral strength

Party identification

an individual voter's psychological ties to one party or another

Policy entrepreneur

an individual who identifies a problem as a political issue and brings a policy proposal into the political agenda

In 2000, George W. Bush labeled himself a "compassionate conservative" to signal to the Republican base that he was a conservative while seeking to reassure moderate and independent voters that he was not

an opponent of federal social programs.

An ideal candidate will have

an unblemished record and the capacity to raise enough money to mount a serious campaign, especially if a candidate must challenge an incumbent.

Since the late nineteenth century, most advancements have been

automatic—based on the length of continual service on the committee; this seniority system has existed only because of the support of the two parties

The Whigs also invested heavily in campaign rallies and entertainment to win the hearts, if not exactly the minds, of the voters by

carefully avoiding issues, due to disagreement within the faction, and having a "hard cider" campaign.

Usually committee members are elected at local party meetings, called

caucuses, or as part of the regular primary election.

Each of the two major parties has a ______________ in each state.

central committee

The actual work of each national committee is overseen by its

chairperson.

The New Deal coalition was severely strained during the 1960s by conflicts over

civil rights and the Vietnam War; The struggle over civil rights initially divided northern Democrats who supported the civil rights cause from white southern Democrats who defended the system of racial segregation.

The Democrats were the party of the _____________________________ policies that solidified African American support for the party.

civil rights movement, desegregation, and affirmative action

Research suggests that RCV leads to more

civility in political campaigns and cooperation among candidates who seek to be a voter's second choice if they cannot be a first choice.

"Blue America"

clustered on the coasts and the upper Midwest and across the northern states.

In order to equally represent and mobilize the broadest range of voters, which two of the following characteristics do parties need to have?

competitive responsible

Republicans generally did not do as well at the state and local levels until the 1990s, when

conservative religious groups made a concerted effort to expand their influence within the Republican Party; led to conflict between these members of the "religious right" and more traditional fiscal Republicans, whose major concerns were economic matters such as taxes and federal regulation of business.

Schattschneider believed that when political parties compete with one another to win elections, they have incentives to

continually expand policy debates to include nonvoting members of the electorate in order to gain a majority of voters and win the election.

Political parties must act "responsibly" by

continually informing the public of current political issues that are in their best interest, and once in power, political parties must enact policies that represent their members' interests, rather than responding to the demands of interest groups.

The platform should be understood as a ___________ in which the various party groups attending the convention state their terms for supporting the ticket.

contract

Republicans won control of the House of Representatives in 2010, and although Obama was re-elected to the presidency in 2012,

control of Congress remained divided through 2014, when Republicans won majorities in both houses.

This Reconstruction program collapsed in the 1870s as a result of

disagreement within the Republican Party in Congress and violent resistance by southern whites.

Parties want only one candidate on the ballot so that members of the same party

do not take votes from one another, allowing the other party's candidate to win

Platforms are often dismissed as

documents filled with platitudes that voters seldom read

The convention, held every four years, is attended by delegates from

each of the states; as a group, they nominate the party's presidential and vice-presidential candidates, draft the party's campaign platform for the presidential race, and approve changes in the rules and regulations governing party procedures.

What is important to remember is America's _____________ create our two-party system.

election rules

Both the Democrats and the Whigs built party organizations throughout the nation, and both sought to enlarge their bases of support by

expanding the right to vote; increased the number of eligible voters through the elimination of property restrictions and other barriers to voting—at least voting by white males.

There is nothing about a particular numerical age that leads to a particular party loyalty. Rather, individuals from the same age cohort are likely to have

experienced a similar set of events during the period when their party loyalties were formed.

Many socialists felt that President Roosevelt's New Deal had adopted most of their party's program, including old-age pensions, unemployment compensation, an agricultural marketing program, and laws guaranteeing workers the right to organize into unions; this kind of influence

explains the short lives of third parties; Their causes are usually eliminated when the major parties absorb their programs and draw their supporters into the mainstream.

State ballot access laws are another major impediment for third parties. Third parties often

fail to meet criteria to get on the ballot, such as registration fees or petition requirements in which a certain number of voters must sign a petition in order for the third party or independent candidate to gain ballot access.

Men and the Republican Party tend to prioritize

fiscal and economic issues and national security

Micro-targeting means

focusing on individuals in small, homogenous groups (e.g., suburban housewives), rather than using geographic data for a precinct or county, to measure the effectiveness of campaign messages.

The voters who elect members of Congress are more partisan because of

gerrymandered legislative districts and geographic sorting

Political parties have been the chief points of contact between ________________, on the one side, and __________________________, on the other.

government; individual citizens and interest groups

Uncompetitive elections in Congress and safe seats are associated with

growing party polarization; Congress members are increasingly strong liberals or strong conservatives.

This overall trend, sometimes termed dealignment, was seen as a product of

growing social diversity and educational attainment, which made voters less reliant on parties to guide their political decision making

With congressional and party approval ratings at an all-time low, the number of individuals identifying as independents is

growing.

This reflects the fact that women and the Democratic Party tend to prioritize

health, education, and social services

Partisanship

identification with or support of a particular party or cause

The party machines also helped _______________ process paperwork for citizenship and even distributed free turkeys on Thanksgiving, all in exchange for support for the party on Election Day.

immigrants

The 1965 Voting Rights Act had greatly

increased black voter participation in the South and helped the Democratic Party retain some House and Senate seats in southern states.

A party seeks to control the government by electing its members to office, but

interest groups do not control the operation of government and its personnel, but rather try to influence government policies.

Party platforms should be seen more as

internal party documents than as public pledges.

Since they were formed, the two major parties have undergone significant shifts in their policy positions and their membership. These changes have been prompted both by ________________ (economic change, the civil rights movement, etc.) and by _______________ developments in the United States.

issues and events; demographic and social

It is one of the essential characteristics of party politics in America that a party's programs and policies often ________, rather than _________, public opinion.

lead; follow

Democratic presidents have put much less energy into building the party apparatus, focusing instead on their

legislative agenda and their own re-election.

Yet there has been a trade-off in using the party machinery to support the president's ________________ and building it to support the party in ______________ elections.

legislative agenda; congressional

The Republican Party used proportional representation voting for the first time in the 2012 presidential nomination, which had the effect of

lengthening the nomination process and making it more difficult for Romney to emerge as the eventual party nominee

Most Republicans prefer policy approaches that require

less government regulation of the market and less public spending.

Through which mechanism did party leaders in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries maintain their control?

machine politics

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many cities, counties, and occasionally even a few states had such well-organized parties that they were called

machines, whose leaders were called "bosses."

By 2006, the public's disapproval of the Bush administration and the war in Iraq led to

major losses for Republicans in both houses of Congress.

As Congress became more ideologically extreme, members gave more power to their party leaders, who changed the rules in Congress so that the

majority could control the legislative process more easily, making party polarization worse.

All the members of the House take part in the election of the Speaker. But the actual selection is made by the

majority party—the party that holds a majority of seats in the House.

Political parties organize the mass public, who, as individuals,

might lack the resources and knowledge to compete with wealthy elites and interest groups for a voice in politics; organize the political world and simplify complex policy debates.

Compared with interest groups, which generally pursue narrow policy objectives, political parties are capable of

mobilizing much more of the electorate to win control of government.

Some argue that the problem in America today is that political elites in Congress and the parties are too polarized along liberal and conservative lines, whereas the majority of Americans hold

moderate opinions and values, and thus Congress and the parties do a poor job representing the citizens.

In 2008, Democrats reached beyond their base by appealing to

moderate voters and independents in states that had once been Republican strongholds, and they won control of Congress as well as the presidency for the first time since 1995.

Soft money

money contributed directly to political parties and other organizations for political activities that is not regulated by federal campaign spending laws; in 2002 federal law prohibited unregulated donations to national party committees

Congressional redistricting has eliminated most competitive seats and thus removed

most moderates and centrists from both parties.

In historical terms, realignments occur when

new issues, combined with economic or political crises, mobilize new voters and persuade large numbers of them to reexamine their traditional partisan loyalties and permanently shift their support from one party to another.

In the 1990s, under the leadership of Bill Clinton, who called himself a "new Democrat," the Democratic Party sought to develop

new social programs designed to solidify the party's base among working-class and poor voters, and new, somewhat more conservative economic programs aimed at attracting the votes of middle- and upper-middle-class voters.

527 committees

nonprofit independent groups that receive and disburse funds to influence the nomination, election, or defeat of candidates. Named after Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, which defines and grants tax-exempt status to nonprofit advocacy groups

The secession of the South had stripped the Democratic Party of many of its leaders and supporters, but the Democrats remained politically competitive throughout the war and nearly won the 1864 presidential election because

of war weariness on the part of the northern public.

Religious conservatives, particularly white born-again Christians, overwhelmingly supported President Bush in 2004, accounting for _________ of his votes.

one-third

Approximately ____________ of Americans are Republicans, _____________ are Democrats, and ______________ are independent of either party.

one-third; one-third; one-third

Nixon appealed to disaffected white southerners and this movement of constituents to the Republican Party was in part because of

opposition to desegregation of the South and to the civil rights movement supported by Democratic leaders, including President Kennedy.

The Whigs were a diverse group united more by

opposition to the Democrats than by agreement on programs.

Republican strength in the South is also related to the weakness of

organized labor in these regions, and to the dependence of the two regions on military programs supported by the Republicans.

The Democratic Party at the national level seeks to unite

organized labor, the poor and working class, members of racial minorities, and liberal upper-middle-class professionals; urban areas are dominated by Democrats.

Political scientist Daniel Galvin argues that since the Eisenhower presidency, Republicans have

paid much more attention to party building than have Democrats; Given their party's minority status in the electorate for much of the past 50 years, Republican presidents have sought to enhance the party's capabilities to mobilize voters and win elections.

Third parties

parties that organize to compete against the two major American political parties

Party activists

partisans who contribute time, energy, and effort to support their party and its candidates

Without knowledge of local races or judges, most voters fall back on their

partisanship, voting for Republican candidates or Democratic candidates for these positions.

Which of the following statements best characterizes people's attachments to political parties?

party attachments tend to be stable emotional and rational ties

One reason why parties are so important is that individual voters tend to develop

party identification with one of the political parties.

Strong presidents with broad popular support can depend on

party ties to get their legislation enacted in Congress.

Polarization in Congress is measured by

party unity in roll-call votes.

Republican opposition stemmed from both

policy and political concerns; Republicans were also aware that a major policy win would likely strengthen Democrats.

Parties and partisanship organize the ______________ and simplify ___________________ for citizens and elected officials alike.

political world; complex policy debates

Unlike many other countries in the world that use a ________________________ system, in which seats are ___________ to political parties based on their share (percentage) of the total vote cast in the election, the United States uses ____________________ districts combined with a ________________ system.

proportional representation; allocated geographic single-member; winner-take-all

In the Federalist Papers, both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison condemned "factions" that

pursued narrow self-interest over the broader well-being of the nation as a whole.

Much of what these national committees do is

raise campaign funds for party candidates, but also head off factional disputes within the party, and endeavor to enhance the party's media image

With thousands of jobs to dispense, party bosses were able to

recruit armies of political workers, who in turn mobilized millions of voters; Voting for the party could mean the guarantee of a government job, such as a police officer, firefighter, or garbage collector.

Parties today are important in the electoral process in

recruiting and nominating candidates for office.

One of the most important but least noticed party activities is the _______________ for local, state, and national office

recruitment of candidates

Political parties help the government to

respond to the needs and desires of its citizens.

Among voters whose initial perceptions of politics were shaped during Vietnam, Cold War, etc

responded favorably to the role played by the Democrats, who were antiwar and pro-civil rights, than to the actions of the Republicans.

Every 10 years, congressional district geographic boundaries are redrawn so that each district has

roughly the same population; These districts are increasingly drawn to be "safe" for one political party or another so that the district has a clear majority of either Republicans or Democrats (gerrymandering).

In the United States, citizens take for granted that leaders will

run for office, that there will be competition among candidates, that they will have the opportunity to learn about candidates and issues from campaigns, and that once in office, political leaders will work together to make policy and govern.

Young people have distinct policy preferences that overlap with the Democratic Party, including strong support for

same-sex relationships, legalization of marijuana, environmental protection, and more economic equality.

The Netherlands, meanwhile, uses a proportional representation system (in which

seats are apportioned based on the share of votes a party receives) that has led to 3 major parties, with 11 parties total in the legislature.

During the late 1840s and early 1850s, conflicts over slavery produced

sharp divisions within both the Whig and the Democratic parties, despite the efforts of party leaders to develop compromises.

The transfer of national _______________ money to state and local organizations has _______________ the American parties, leading to ____________ differences between the state and national parties.

soft; integrated; fewer

Supporters of the current system, on the other hand, contend that America's two-party system creates

stability in governing and prevents the need for a coalition government, where multiple small parties work together to form a majority to govern.

In the current era of party polarization, the Republican and Democatic Parties in Congress often face a _____________ over economic matters, such as the federal budget and whether to raise the debt ceiling.

stalemate

Machines

strong party organizations in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American cities; these machines were led by "bosses" who controlled party nominations and patronage

The Republican Party widened its appeal in the second half of the twentieth century. In 1964, for example, the Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater argued in favor of

substantially reduced levels of taxation and spending, less government regulation of the economy, and the elimination of many federal social programs.

Under the leadership of Ronald Reagan, the Republicans devised a series of "social issues," including

support for school prayer, opposition to abortion, and opposition to affirmative action, designed to cultivate the support of white southerners.

At party organization meetings, political parties try to be "large tents"

that represent the interests of diverse segments of the population—elderly retirees, young college students, unemployed steel mill workers, millionaire hedge fund managers.

In fact, Bartels argues that political parties are not only more responsive to the rich, but

that the rich benefit more from governmental policies compared with the less affluent; most likely because of campaign contributions to elected officials that strongly influence their voting decisions

By analyzing members of the House based on their voting records and assigning each member a "score" on a liberal-conservative scale, political scientists have found

that today's Republicans and Democrats are further apart in their scores (and hence their ideologies) than at any point in recent history.

In 1932, Americans elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt and a solidly Democratic Congress. Roosevelt developed a program for economic recovery that he dubbed

the "New Deal."

The Federalists sought, unsuccessfully, to use the force of law against the Jeffersonians by enacting

the Alien and Sedition acts to outlaw criticism of the government.

The best-known examples of these committees are at the national level:

the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee.

After Obama's election, Republican members of Congress also showed remarkable party discipline in their united party-line opposition to the president's major initiatives, ranging from economic stimulus to major health care reform, which led Democrats to decry

the GOP as "the party of No."

The Great Depression, which produced unprecedented economic hardship, stemmed from a variety of causes, but from the perspective of millions of Americans,

the Republican Party did not do enough to promote economic recovery.

In the ensuing campaign, northern and midwestern businesses made an all-out effort to defeat what they saw as a radical threat from the Populist-Democratic alliance, and

the Republicans had won a resounding victory; The GOP ("Grand Old Party"), for the next 36 years were the nations majority party with weak opposition from the Southern Democrats.

Protestants are more likely to identify with

the Republicans than the Democrats; Evangelical Protestants, in particular, have been drawn to the Republicans' conservative stands on social issues, such as marriage and abortion

During the 1830s, groups opposing Jackson united to form a new political force,

the Whig Party—thus giving rise to the second American party system; in some measure, the Whigs were the successors of the Federalists.

Southern Republicanism has come about because conservative white southerners identify the Democratic Party with

the civil rights movement, racial liberalism, and with liberal positions on abortion, environmental protection, rights for same-sex couples, and other social issues; the "Solid South" was a Democratic bastion

The national committee chair of the party not in control of the White House is selected by

the committee itself and usually takes a broader view of the party's needs, raising money and performing other activities on behalf of the party members in Congress and in the state legislatures.

Divided government

the condition in American government wherein the presidency is controlled by one party while the opposing party controls one or both houses of Congress

Which of the following is not determined at a party's national convention?

the congressional committees party representatives will be assigned to

party polarization

the division between the two major parties on most policy issues, with members of each party unified around their party's positions with little crossover

Party organizations

the formal structure of a political party, including its leadership, election committees, active members, and paid staff

One of the most recent changes to the two political parties is

the growth of the Latino population and voting in presidential elections, with Latinos strongly favoring the Democratic Party in 2012.

Analyzing Senate roll-call votes, it has been found that the Democrats are more responsive to

the middle class than Republicans are, but neither party represents the policy preferences of the poor, measured by the bottom third of the income distribution.

This history of the party system has focused on parties at

the national level

In this process, local organizations became linked financially to

the national parties and American political parties became somewhat more integrated and nationalized than ever before; At the same time, the state and local party organizations came to control large financial resources and play important roles in elections despite the collapse of the old patronage machines.

Which group is responsible for changes to the national political party's rules on voting practices, such as the 1972 change in rules that called for the use of proportional representation voting system in the Democratic Convention?

the national party itself

By 1856 the Whig Party had all but disintegrated under the strain, and many Whig politicians and voters, along with antislavery Democrats, joined

the new Republican Party, which pledged to ban slavery from the western territories; nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency.

The term party system, however, refers to more than just the number of parties competing for power. It also includes

the organization of the parties, the balance of power between and within party coalitions, the parties' social and institutional bases, and the issues and policies around which party competition is organized

A major innovation in voter mobilization in the 2008 and 2012 elections was

the parties' use of enormous databases of potential voters.

Minority party

the party that holds a minority of legislative seats in either the House or the Senate

Electoral realignments

the point in history when a new party supplants the ruling party, becoming in turn the dominant political force; in the United States, this has tended to occur roughly every 30 years

When a party controls the White House, that party's national committee chair is appointed by

the president.

Over the following years, the Federalists gradually weakened. The party disappeared altogether after

the pro-British sympathies of some Federalist leaders during the War of 1812 led to charges of treason against the party.

Forms of proportional representation, multiple-member districts, or instant run-off voting would increase

the probability of third-party representation in American politics.

Nomination

the process by which political parties select their candidates for election to public office

For a first-term president, the committee devotes the bulk of its energy to

the re-election campaign.

Throughout this period, however, there was intense factional conflict within the Democratic Party, particularly between

the supporters and opponents of General Andrew Jackson, America's great military hero of the War of 1812.

Under the law, 527 committees can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money as long as

their activities are not coordinated with those of the formal party organizations and if the aim is to inform the public and increase voter turnout.

Candidate recruitment is problematic in an era when political candidates must assume that

their personal lives will be intensely scrutinized in the press and even subjected to mudslinging campaigns by their opponents.

The Affordable Care Act bill passed the House with 84 percent support from Democrats and won all 60 Democratic votes in the Senate, but

there was nearly unanimous opposition to the legislation among Republican party members.

All political parties have this dual character:

they are instruments through which citizens and government attempt to influence each other.

Parties, E. E. Schattschneider believed, are able to mobilize more people than interest groups because

they can expand the "scope of conflict" or the policy debate to include most or all of the electorate through elections; political parties must expand political conflict to the public arena and focus on a range of policy issues from the economy to foreign policy in order to win elections.

In the early years of the Republic, parties were seen as

threats to the social order, and were referred to as factions.

No matter what the cause, lawmakers elected from solidly safe districts have less incentive

to compromise

Granting permission to ___________ to another committee is also a party decision, as is ________________ the committee ladder toward the chair.

transfer; advancement up

Using these vast computerized databases, data mining, social media, and other new techniques such as micro-targeting, modern political campaigns can predict who you will vote for (sometimes even before you do)—and they are extremely effective at

turning out the voters who are most likely to vote for their candidates.

In the 1980s the Democratic Party maintained its support among a majority of

unionized workers and upper-middle-class intellectuals and professionals. Democrats also appealed strongly to racial minorities.

While independents often lean toward one of the two parties and vote for the Republicans or Democrats in national elections, independents have

unique views and are more supportive of third parties and election reform efforts that create opportunities for groups outside of government to have a voice in government.

The patterns of class voting that emerged from the New Deal of the 1930s were simple:

upper-income Americans were considerably more likely to affiliate with the Republicans, whereas lower-income Americans were far more likely to identify with the Democrats; This divide is reflected in the differences between the two parties on economic issues

Voters generally form attachments to the party that reflects their

views and interests

In the United States party organizations exist at

virtually every level of government

Today, parties engage in party-building by organizing

voter registration drives

After the decline of party machines, state and local party organizers have become active in which of the following ways?

voter registration drives recruiting candidates spending money on "party building" activities

In proportional representation systems like the Netherlands,

voters select parties to represent them nationally rather than candidates to represent their region, and parties receive roughly the same percentage of seats in parliament as they received in the election.

After the 1960s, many analysts began to express concern that American parties had become too

weak to play their vital role in converting popular political participation into effective government; decline in partisan attachment within the electorate, the growth in the numbers of voters identifying as independents, and a rise in so-called split-ticket voting.

Geographic sorting

where voters increasingly segregate themselves into conservative and liberal communities, cities, and neighborhoods.

When class is measured by education, however,

white workers without a college degree have voted heavily for Republicans in recent elections

Beginning in the 1970s, many ________________ voters, concerned with moral issues and racial liberalism, started voting Republican, and have remained in the Republican Party.

white working-class

In recent years, however, presidential candidates have been chosen by

winning enough delegate support in state primary elections and caucuses to win the official nomination on the first ballot; The actual convention has become symbolic.

Which of the following best describes the role political parties play in the relationship between citizens and government?

Through parties, citizens have some control over government policies, while government seeks to organize important groups in society through parties.

Two-party system

a political system in which only two parties have a realistic opportunity to compete effectively for control

Polls showed that, while older voters preferred Democrats by 11-12 percent, those born ___________ favored Democrats by 24 percent.

after 1977

In 2010 the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee

again changed the terms for campaigning; the amount of money spent in the 2012 presidential campaign broke new records because the Court decision allowed unlimited corporate and union contributions to political campaigns.

It was only after their 2004 election defeat that Democrats

began to pour their energies into building a stronger party.

Within the party that controls the White House, the national committee and the congressional campaign committees are often rivals, since

both groups are seeking donations from the same people but for different candidates: the national committee seeks funds for the presidential race, while the congressional campaign committees approach the same contributors for support for the congressional contests.

The Republicans, by contrast, appeal to

business, upper-middle- and upper-class groups in the private sector, white working-class voters, military families, and religious and social conservatives; Rural and suburban areas provide more votes for the Republicans

The periodic episodes in American history in which an "old" dominant political party is replaced by a "new" dominant political party are called

electoral realignments.

Today, the parties use their national conventions more to provide _________________ than _________________.

entertaining television; substantive policy

Under the auspices of the New Deal, the size and reach of America's national government

increased substantially.

_________________ is the most important factor in predicting whom Americans vote for.

individual partisanship

Party rules can determine the

influence of competing factions within the party and can also increase or decrease the party's chances for electoral success.

Only ____ Republican in the House voted for the health care reform bill.

one

Although it took the name Tea Party and sponsored a national convention, the Tea Party movement is not a formal party. It is an

organized challenge to incumbents by the most conservative wing of the Republican Party.

Political parties

organized groups that attempt to influence the government by electing their members to important government offices

Political parties can be distinguished from interest groups on the basis of their

orientation

The number of people identifying as Democrats has

outnumbered Republican identifiers for a long time, but the gap is narrower today than it used to be

In Congress, parties are key in setting the terms of _____________; they exercise significant influence over the votes of members of Congress on many important issues.

policy conflict

Parties do not always support policies just because their constituents favor these police. Instead, party leaders can play the role of

policy entrepreneurs, seeking ideas and programs that will expand their party's base of support while eroding that of the opposition.

By identifying problems and proposing policies that will expand their party's base of support, party leaders can act as

policy entrepreneurs.

Traditionally, _________ were the leaders in voter registration activity. More recently, __________ have taken a more active role.

political parties; civic groups

The character of a nation's party system can have profound consequences for

the types of issues and policies that reach the nation's political agenda, and for critically important issues such as the distribution of wealth and economic inequality.

The party nomination process varies from state to state and office to office, and Democrats and Republicans have different rules as well, but often the process involves a

primary election among multiple candidates from the same party. Party members then vote in this primary election to select just one candidate.

A political party is different from an interest group in that a political party

seeks to control the entire government by electing its members to office and thereby controlling the government's personnel.

How is the Speaker of the House chosen?

selected by the house majority party

Which of the following features of the House of Representatives is determined by a vote of the whole membership rather than by decisions within each party?

selection of the Speaker of the House.

Over the course of American history, changes in political forces and alignments have produced

six distinctive party systems.

Others argue that the rules governing our election system need to be updated—what is called "election reform"

so that there are more than two major political parties and representation of the citizens can be improved.

During every election cycle prior to the enactment of the campaign finance reforms of 2002, the DNC and RNC each raised tens of millions of dollars of so-called

soft money, which could be used to support party candidates throughout the nation.

The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act outlawed

soft money.

RCV is a form of instant run-office voting in that it guarantees

that the winner of an election has support from a majority of those voting in the election, rather than a plurality.

Support for the new Whig Party was stronger in

the Northeast than in the South and West and stronger among merchants than among small farmers.

With the end of Reconstruction, the former Confederate states regained full membership in the Union and full control of their internal affairs. Throughout the South, African Americans

were deprived of political rights, including the right to vote, despite post-Civil War constitutional guarantees to the contrary.

Precinct captains

were usually members of long standing in neighborhood party clubhouses, which were important social centers and places for distributing favors to constituents.

Each party has a "committee on committees" to make decisions of

what individuals will become members of each committees in both houses of Congress

Historically, when do realignments occur?

when large numbers of voters permanently shift their support from one party to another

The solution to an unequal democracy where the affluent and educated are more likely to vote and have more voice in government decisions is to have _____________ and ________________ political parties.

"competitive" ; "responsible"

The U.S. system is also called _______________ because the candidate with the most votes wins the election, even if she did not win a majority of the popular vote.

"first past the post"

However, most independents ________ toward one of the major parties, and political scientists often consider independents who ________ as identifying with that party.

"lean" ; "lean"

In addition, under current federal law, state and local party organizations can spend unlimited amounts of money on

"party-building" activities such as voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives (though in some states such practices are limited by state law); As a result, for many years the national party organizations, which had enormous fund-raising abilities but were restricted by law in how much they could spend on candidates, transferred millions of dollars to the state and local organizations.

In 2014, Gallup reported that just ___________ Americans approve of the way Congress is doing its job.

1 in 10

In 1998, Minnesota elected a third-party governor,

the former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura.