1. Chapter 17 Political Parties
Section 1 Why Do We Have Political Parties?

2. The Role of Parties in a Democracy
A political party tries to promote its ideas and policies by gaining control of government through the nomination and election of candidates.
Political parties link voters and officials by explaining what candidates stand for and holding them accountable.
Political parties help unify the parts of government fragmented by the separation of powers.
Political parties provide a voice for the opposition.
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3. Dissecting Political Parties
The Party Organization
Note to teachers: Party organization: The system of central committees at the national, state, and local levels. The party organization raises money for campaigns, organizes campaigns, recruits and nominates candidates, and registers voters. Also key for the organization is to motivate voters, inform potential voters about issues and candidates, and hold conventions and caucuses to choose candidates and write a platform (the formal statement of policies the party supports).
Work with students to identify the national, state, and local party organizations in their state and city or town.
This chart is Figure 17.1 on page 502 of the Student Text.
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4. Dissecting Political Parties
Party-in-Government / Party-in-the-Electorate
Party-in-government: All the elected national, state, and local candidates who help organize government and translate the electorates’ wishes into public policy
Party-in-the-electorate: The ordinary citizens who identify with a party and support its basic policies
Those citizens form the party base.
In the past 50 years, voter attachment to the two major parties has declined, and more people characterize themselves as independents.
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5. Which of the following roles is NOT one that political parties play?
Your Turn
Which of the following roles is NOT one that political parties play?
Link government officials and voters
Translate the wishes of the electorate into public policy
Provide a voice for political opposition
Run for political office
Note to teachers: The correct answer is d. Possible discussion question: Where and/or how have you seen political parties connecting with the public?
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6. The Responsible Party Model
The responsible party model describes the four conditions that allow citizens to control leaders:
1. Each party should offer a unique program consistent with its ideals.
2. Candidates should pledge to support their party’s platform if elected.
3. Voters should choose parties whose program most clearly reflects their own ideas.
4. Each party should ensure that its elected officials promote and vote for its program.
Note to teachers: Principle of the responsible party model: democracy is strengthened when voters are given clear alternatives and hold the parties responsible for keeping their promises.
Parties give a way of holding officials accountable for what they do as a group as well as individually.
This concept reflects an ideal party system, not necessarily reflective of reality.
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7. What Do the Parties Stand For?
Each party has its own ideology—its vision of how government should deal with issues and problems.
Traditionally, Democrats have followed a liberal ideology, Republicans a conservative one.
Party ideologies attract coalitions (groups of people who join to further common interests).
Candidates run on a party platform, the policy positions the party says its elected officials will put into effect.
Note to teachers:
• Party ideology: Liberals tend to encourage government action to solve economic and social problems but want government to stay out of their personal, religious, and moral lives except to protect basic rights. Conservatives tend to look to government to provide social and moral order but want government to leave the economy alone.
Possible discussion questions: Which parties are liberal? conservative? What are the ideologies of parties other than the Republican and Democratic parties?
• The party platform also broadly states what parties stand for. The platform must define the party and set it apart from other parties while maintaining consistency with its ideology.
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8. Forces Pulling the Parties in Different Directions
The Pull toward Moderation
Note to teachers: Most voters tend to be in the political middle. If a party wants to win, it needs to court the moderate voters.
Parties can reframe or recast issues to be more attractive to moderate voters. Discuss with students examples of how moderate voters can affect parties’ strategies. For example, in 2005, the Republican Party retitled the proposals to “privatize Social Security” to “creating personal accounts,” which they hoped would better connect with moderate voters.
This graph is Figure 17.4 on page 506 of the Student Text.
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9. Forces Pulling the Parties in Different Directions
The Pull toward Extremism
Note to teachers: Party activists are especially committed to the party’s values and policies. They devote a lot of time and money to the party’s cause. They rarely compromise on issues.
Party activists influence candidates because they are the chief campaign workers and fund-raisers; they also make up the bulk of the voters in primary elections. Candidates must appeal to party activists to win primaries and then the party nomination. (In the general election, they need the moderate voters to win.)
Most of campaign funding comes from individual donors (often party activists) and political action committees, neither of which tends to be moderate. This need for finances forces parties to stay solidly divided based on ideology to please their financiers.
Have student identify issues on which the parties disagree (e.g., abortion, gay rights, the war in Iraq).
This graph is Figure 17.4 on page 506 of the Student Text.
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10. Refer to the following poll and answer the questions.
Your Turn
Refer to the following poll and answer the questions.
In which state do Democrats have the most support?
In which state do Republicans have the most support?
Which state has the most independent voters?
How might the information from this poll affect party campaign strategy?
Note to teachers: The correct answers are as follows:
1. Massachusetts
2. Utah
3. New Hampshire
4. Both parties will want to spend their campaign efforts in states that offer them a good chance of gaining the majority vote and that they may not win without some effort. They should look at states with just a slight advantage to the other party and determine whether they might have a good chance of attracting enough independents as well as moderates from the opposing party to swing the vote in their favor. For example, Republicans might focus efforts on Florida, where Democrats have just a 1.4 percent advantage. They would likely spend little time and money in Utah, where they have a 36.1 percent advantage.
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