1. Political Parties
Chapter 7

2. Party Functions Political Party
A group that seeks to elect candidates to public office by supplying them with a label (party identification), by which they are known to the electorate
Organize the Competition
Unify the Electorate
Help Organize Government
Translate Preferences into Policy
Provide Loyal Opposition

3. The Nomination of Candidates
Closed Primary System
Only registered members of the party are allowed to vote in the primary
Party Convention
A meeting of party delegates to vote on matters of policy and to select party candidates for public office
Open Primary System
Voters are allowed to participate in the primary election without declaring membership in a party

4. Who Are the Party Delegates?
Insert Table 9.1 (formerly 7.1 in 9e)

5. Multiparty (Parliamentary)
Party Systems
Two party
Winner-takes-all system
“Wasted vote” syndrome discourages minor parties
Government tends toward stability
Policy change is incremental
Common when electoral system is based on single-member districts
Multiparty (Parliamentary)
Coalition government is necessary
Minor parties have an incentive to persevere
Proportional representation
Governments tend toward instability

6. Impact of Minor Parties
Minor parties can develop ideas that the major parties adopt

7. Minor Parties: Persistence and Frustration
Libertarian Party
Green Party
Reform Party

8. Twentieth-Century Third-Party Presidential Votes

9. History of American Political Parties

10. Party Realignment
Critical or realigning periods: periods when a sharp, lasting shift occurs in the popular coalition supporting one or both parties
Two kinds of realignments:
A major party is defeated so badly that it disappears and a new party emerges
Two existing parties continue but voters shift their loyalty from one to another

11. Realignments
1824: Jackson lost runoff election to Quincy Adams but his subsequent victory (1828) solidified Democratic party’s significance
Whigs succeeded Federalists as opposition party
1860: slavery issue fixed new loyalties in the popular mind
1896: economic issues shifted loyalties to East/West, city/farm split
1932: economic depression triggered new coalition for Democrats

12. Divided Government
Since 1953, divided government, with one party controlling Congress and the other the White House, has been in effect twice as long as one-party control of both the legislative and executive branches

13. The 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 Elections: Into the New Century
50-50 partisan tie in the Senate, slim Republican majority in House and contested presidential vote count
2002
President’s party gained seats in the House and Senate
2004
Bush reelected and his party picked up seats in Senate and House
2006
Democrats win majority in both House and Senate

14. Parties as Institutions
National party leadership – decisions tend to flow from the national level to the state and local levels

15. Parties in the Electorate
Party Activists
Party Regulars
Candidate Activists
Issue Activists
Party Registration
The act of declaring party affiliation; required by some states when registering to vote

16. Party Identification

17. Partisan Realignment and Dealignment
Party Identification in the Electorate

18. Decline in Party Identification, 1952-2002
Insert Figure 9.1 (formerly 7.1 in 9e)
National Election Studies, The NES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior, , table 20.1, and data for 2002 updated by Marc Siegal.

19. Financing the Parties

20. Party Finances

21. Are the Parties Dying? Critique of the American party system
Parties do not take meaningful and contrasting positions on most issues
Party membership is essentially meaningless
Parties are so concerned with accommodating the middle of the ideological spectrum that they are incapable of serving as an avenue for social progress

22. Winning wins over principle
Are the Parties Dying?
Winning wins over principle

23. Is there a difference in what the two major political parties stand for?

24. The Public Rates the Two Parties
Insert Table 9.4 (formerly 7.4 in 9e)

25. Party Decline Evidence that parties are declining, not realigning
Proportion of people identifying with a party declined between 1960 and 1980
Proportion of those voting a split ticket increased

26. Trends in Split-Ticket Voting For President and Congress, 1920-2000
Insert 9.2 (formerly 7.2 in 9e)