Political Parties in America

American Political Parties bring people together to achieve control of the government develop policies favorable to their interests or to the groups that support them organize and run campaigns persuade voters to elect their candidates to office give cues to voters represent their constituents attempt to put philosophy into practice through legislation formulate policy through a national party platform

Political Parties are a “Linkage Institution” the channels through which peoples’ concerns become political issues on the government’s policy agenda Parties can be thought of in three parts: 1) Party in the electorate 2) Party as an organization 3) Party in government

1) Party in the Electorate  Party identification is a citizen’s self-proclaimed preference for one party or the other  Party identification shapes political worldview  May be shaped by demographic characteristics  South, middle-aged, and white-collar lean Republican  Evangelicals and married lean Republican  Women, minorities, and Jews lean Democratic  Unions, advanced degrees, and single lean more Democratic

Era of the Democrats Era of the Republicans Era of the Democrats Era of Divided Govt Today Divided Government Since 1968, neither Republicans nor Democrats have consistently held the presidency and the Congress is often controlled by the opposing party.

American Party History 

Party Identification

Growing Party Polarization & Ideological Partisanship Between the Two Major Parties

Intense Ideas Relate to more Substantive Political Participation

Ideology of Independents

The Role of Minor Parties A third party or minor party is any party other than the two major parties. Their common thread is that they believe that neither party is meeting certain needs. A third party runs a candidate to propose a remedy to the situation and/or to draw attention to their specific issue(s) or ideology. single-issue party focuses exclusively on one major economic, social, or moral issue ex: Free Soilers, Prohibition Party, Women’s Suffrage Party, Right to Life Party ideological party focuses on overall change in society rather than on one single issue ex: Communist Party, Socialist Party, Libertarian Party splinter party splits away from one of the two major parties because of some disagreement ex: Progressive (Bull Moose) Party, Dixiecrats, Green Party

Third-Party Presidential Candidates The following are all third-party candidates in the 20th century who received at least 5% of the vote in a presidential election. CandidateParty% of Vote E# Teddy Roosevelt (1912)Progressive Party Eugene Debs (1912)Socialist Party 6.5 Robert LaFollete (1924)Progressive Party Strom Thurmond (1948)States’ Rights (Dixiecrats) George Wallace (1968)American Independent John Anderson (1980)National Unity Campaign 6.6 H. Ross Perot (1992)Independent 18.7 H. Ross Perot (1996)Reform Party 8.5 Ralph Nader (1996)Green 1.0 Ralph Nader (2000)Green 3.0

No candidate received >= 1% in 2012 election

Major Third Parties ty_%28United_States%29

Graphic Source: libertarian-party-best-of- democrat-republican/ libertarian-party-best-of- democrat-republican/

2) Party Organization 

The Party Organization: From the Grass Roots to Washington The Local Parties –Party Machines: A type of political party organization that relies heavily on material inducements to win votes and to govern –Patronage: A job, promotion or contract given for political reasons rather than merit. Used by party machines. –Now urban party organizations are generally weak –County organizations have partially filled the void

The Party Organization: From the Grass Roots to Washington The 50 State Party Systems: –Closed primaries: voters must be registered with their party in advance and can only vote for that party –Open primaries: voters decide on election day which party to participate in, and then only that party –Blanket primaries: voters get a list of all candidates and can vote for one name for each office, regardless of party label –State party organizations are on an upswing in terms of headquarters and budgets

The Party Organization: From the Grass Roots to Washington The National Party Organizations: –National Convention: The meeting of party delegates every four years to choose a presidential ticket and the party’s platform –National Committee: One of the institutions that keeps the party operating between conventions –National Chairperson: Responsible for day-to-day activities of the party

3) Party in Government  Parties play a major role in organizing Congress  Parties shape perceptions of presidents  Presidents--to varying degrees--act as party leaders

20 th Century Party System  was Golden Age of parties (due to machines)  Parties weakened in the modern era  Change in civil service laws  Development of direct primary system  Growth of candidate-centered and issue- oriented politics  Increase in ticket-splitting and independent voters

Dealignment and Party Strength  Are we in a period of dealignment? Many say YES.  Voters are much less likely to identify with a party  Result of the growth in issue-oriented politics  Parties are important in electorate and in government  Parties continue to be competitive with one another

Political parties try to appeal to as many people as possible…

Party Coalitions Today

Party Identification by Group 

Party Platform abortion health care gun controlsocial security foreign policy tax cuts Party in Government Political Party Platform A party platform is made up of planks that explain where the party stands on issues of importance. gay marriageeducation

Platform Comparisons: Main Two Parties… Ideas on Abortion

On Energy

On Immigration

On Taxes

Since 2012, Dems won part of this argument over DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) in 2013 parts of it were declared illegal by Supreme Court …On Marriage

FYI: 2013, Supreme Court Ruling on DOMA The Supreme Court’s first rulings on same-sex marriage produced historic gains for gay rights Wednesday: full federal recognition of legally married gay couples and an opening for such unions to resume in the nation’s most- populous state. The divided court stopped short of a more sweeping ruling that the fundamental right to marry must be extended to gay couples no matter where they live. But in striking down a key part of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the court declared that gay couples married in states where it is legal must receive the same federal health, tax, Social Security and other benefits that heterosexual couples receive.

Update! 6/26/2015 Supreme Court in a case called Obergefell v. Hodges (& 3 related cases) justices ruled in a 5-4 decision that same-sex couples could marry across all 50 states. Prior to this it was legal (to varying degrees) in 37 places… though only made such by voting booths or state legislatures in only 11 states. The rest where forced to change laws by courts.