1. Chapter 8 Parties, Interest Groups, and Public Policy

2.  Recruit candidates and support campaigns  Help organize elections and inform voters  Organize the government  Unite diverse interests and make collective action possible  Parties serve as a loyal opposition to the political party in power

3.  Federalists: Strong national government ◦ Evolved into the Whig party and eventually the Republican party  Democratic-Republicans: favored weaker national government and strong state governments ◦ Became known as Democrats

4.  United States has become deeply divided among political lines

5.  People frustrated with the status quo have formed 3 rd parties to express opinion s in constructive ways  4 main types of third parties ◦ Single-issue ◦ Economic protest parties ◦ Ideological parties ◦ Splinter parties

6.  Groups that seek to influence government  Good or bad?

7.  Political funding organizations  Run by corporations, unions, or other interest groups  By law, these groups are allowed to funnel money into political campaigns ◦ Most money comes from the people making up these groups

8.  Lobbying: an attempt to influence the policy process by persuading public officials to favor or oppose action on a specific issue  Flow of information allows for informed debate on policy making