1. Political Parties 4/12/2012

2. Clearly Communicated Learning Objectives in Written Form Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: – discuss and critically analyze political events in the United States government – students will be able to identify and explain the role of informal institutions and their effect on policy.

3. Office Hours and Readings Chapter 6 Office Hours – Today 11-2 – Monday 10-2

4. The Parties in the Constitution Not mentioned at all Believed they would create trouble and strife a threat to good government and public order.

5. Despite this, Parties thrived The Ratification Battle The First Amendment Federalism Slavery

6. WHAT PARTIES DO

7. Political Recruitment Nominating People for Office

8. Recruiting Candidates who can win

9. Interest Aggregation Getting elected officials to work together Grab issues that are popular and try to push them together.

10. Interest Articulation Make Policies when in power Propose alternatives when out of power

11. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AMERICAN PARTY SYSTEM

12. Public Parties are Public Organizations Smith vs Allwright (1944)

13. Pluralistic No single group is large enough to win nationwide Parties involve many groups The Democrats rely on more groups

14. Fragmented No single central authority Disbursed power because of federalism Votes and money are fragmented

15. Non-ideological Very moderate compared to other nations Parties are election- based, not policy based Extreme policies are harmful

16. Hypocritical

17. THE REALMS OF THE POLITICAL PARTY

18. The Party in the Electorate What is it? Where do we Get it? How Important is it?

20. Partisan Voting in Recent Elections 20082010

21. The Partisan Balance in 2012 Roughly equal across (D,R,I) This makes turnout important Low Turnout will favor Republicans

22. Partisanship and TV

23. Partisanship and Sports

24. Activists vs. Rank and File Rank and File Sometimes vote Hold less extreme positions, or opposing positions Are not Reliable Activists Tend to Vote at all levels Hold More Extreme Positions Participate other than voting

25. The Party in Government

26. Party Line Voting rules the day Strong parties mean no need for compromise The Parties are more extreme than ever

27. THE PARTIES ARE VERY SIMILAR!

28. Neither Party Can Rely on a single group Both Parties are Heterogeneous Both Parties Must court independents Both parties move around the spectrum to gain votes.

29. Even the South is Less Distinct It is still the most distinct Out-Migration of African Americans More industrialized Influx of Hispanic Voters

30. Why Not issue Based? Issues are boring We adopt issues based on partisanship, not the other way around The Parties do not take clear positions on many issues.

31. Why the Parties are similar Views on the Economic System Views on Foreign policy Sources of campaign finance

32. The Goal of Both American Parties

33. THE PARTIES ARE DIFFERENT

34. Race Race is more important than class African Americans form a political self- conscious group. And Identify with the Democratic Party

36. Unlike other nations, social class doesn’t dominate The Parties do not try to exploit social class We are all middle class

37. Social Class and Partisanship Republicans Do better with poor whites in the South Do better with Upper Middle Class voters Historically have done better with Middle Class voters Democrats Do better with poor and working class Do better with the very wealthiest Do better with Union Members

38. Women and Voting Women vote more than men The Gender Gap – Women vote more for Democratic Candidates – Ranges from 5-10 Points – Issue ownership

39. Married vs. Single Women Married women vote more Republican Self-Identified Feminists are very Democratic

41. Religion Americans tend to be more religious than other Western nations. We belong to churches and go more than other nations

42. Jewish Voters The Exception to the Rule Share many Republican characteristics, but are Democratic More liberal than other groups, except on Israel policy Meet all 3 criteria in 2 states

43. The Religion Gap

44. The biggest differences lie in the beliefs of activists on both sides

45. WHAT ABOUT THIRD PARTIES?

46. What is it Any party other than the major 2 Can be a third, fourth etc.

47. How Do Third Parties Emerge New Parties come from – The Gap between the parties – On the fringe – From within the party Around an Emerging Issue

48. What Third Parties Want to Do Win electionsThreaten Existing Parties

49. Why They Lose The System is Geared against them It is easy to steal their issues They run political nobodies