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Political Parties in the US
- The electorate is divided by ideology, demographics, and "Rep-Ind-Dem"
- Polarized more, especially in the past four years
The gov reflects this
- "Divided Government": different parties control House, Senate, Pres.
- possibly governors' differences
- Streamlining of government isn't voted for.
What is a political party, in general?
- A group of activists who organize to win elections, operate the
government, and determine public policy
- Controlling the government requires a broad band of beliefs
- Can't be narrowly focused like a special interest group
All political parties:
1) Recruit Candidates
2) Organizing and running elections
- Funding
3) Presenting alternative policies
Only major parties (Dem and Rep, in US):
4) Operate Government
5) Organize Opposition
- Sometimes minor parties get governance in states
Are parties still doing this effectively?
- Morris Fiorina sees a "decline in all duties and accountability." Why?
- Party Organization used to shape almost all political behavior
- Now, the Dem establishment (ex.) doesn't control their nominee
- Public spending limits mean campaigns don't need to rely on
parties
- Party in the Electorate
- Candidates essentially run independent campaigns
- They break from party platforms to serve local districts
- Or focus differently, like fiscal conservatism vs family
values.
- Party in Government
- Increased party fragmentation
- Personal and local influence
- Recently, politicians vote on party lines, but not too long
ago, bipartisanship was a real option
- The rise of Single Issue Groups
- Parties are more beholden to Interests
All parties can be broken down into three components:
1) Electorate
- Core groups (base)
- Essentially a guaranteed vote, so turnout is the main focus in
these demographics
- Campaigning to the other party's core groups is mostly
unnecessary
- Independents
- Ex: women voters
- Campaigning on women's issues can sway 4--9 pts in this group.
- "Why elections are won or lost"
- Loose affiliates (usually candidate-specific)
- Difficult to campaign to or motivate these groups
- Strategizing on these groups is hard
- Ex: anti-Trump voters, Barack Obama voters.
2) Party Organization
- Not organized hierarchically: national gov differs significantly
from local gov and voters and the party orgs
- It's more confederate: people organize loosely and give power to
the party limitedly
- National tends to be voters' focus (healthcare, nat. defense), but
local, like potholes, schools have diff. policies than nat. Dems.
- Party Presence is not a constant or constant polices
- The party has the "umbrella" and its constituent parts are
trying to fit into policy as they can, but not everything gets
through.
- Ex: high-income + low-education in Republican party
3) Party in government; crosses over with organization
- Majority does not ensure power, especially not absolute power.
- Supermajorities with united gov (pres, house, senate) is the only
thing that gives one party the power.
- Ticket splitting: vote for Biden but David Perdue.
- Because of weaker parties
Two Major Parties
- Unlike most countries, broad bases with poor assurances for the
parties
- The Democratic Party
- Minorities
- Labor
- Women
- The Republican Party
- High Income
- College graduates (changing?)
- Business
- Religion? (depends)
- Religiosity, evangelicals like Reps
Why has the system endured?
- US Exceptionalism and Institutions
- For only 28 years did the US not have a two-party system
1. Duality (US exceptionalism)
- Pro-choice or pro-life
- Pro-gun or pro-gun control
2. Political socialization
- "Two is all you need"
- Issues are presented as two choices rather than nuanced
problems
3. Political culture
- Three distinct political cultures
- The cultures lean in one direction or another.
- Can be handled by two parties
4. State and Federal Laws
- Written by the two parties
- Handle more than 2 parties poorly
5. Winner-take-all electoral system
- Duverger's law: how many winners? One -> two parties
- District design, and even local elections have one winner per
district
Role of minor parties in the US?
- Most countries' minor parties caucus with other parties.
- They do *ocassionally* have an impact
- 1992 Perot - 19% of popular vote but 0 electoral votes. Cost HW
Bush the election. 1996 8.5%
- Clinton was elected, setting the stage for Obama
- Don't need a large % to make a difference. See 2016
- Historically important 3rd parties
- Communist (Dem)
- Green (Dem)
- Bull-Moose Progressives (Rep)
- Reform Party (mix of both)
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