Chapter 5: Political Parties Vocabulary – Flashcards

A group of persons who seek to control government through the winning of elections and the holding of public office.

In American politics, the Republican and the Democratic parties.

Government action based on firm allegiance to a political party.

In American politics, the party in power is the party that controls the executive branch of government—i.e., the presidency at the national level, or the governorship at the State level.

One of the political parties not widely supported.

A political system dominated by two major parties.

Electoral district from which one person is chosen by the voters for each elected office.

In an election, the number of votes that the leading candidate obtains over the next highest candidate.

Supported by two parties.

A society which consists of several distinct cultures and groups.

General agreement among various groups on fundamental matters; broad agreement on public questions.

A system in which several major and many lesser parties exist, seriously compete for, and actually win, public offices.

A temporary alliance of several groups who come together to form a working majority and so to control a government.

A political system in which only one party exists.

The current officeholder.

A conflicting group.

All of the people entitled to vote in a given election.

A narrow-minded concern for, or devotion to, the interests of one section of a country.

Parties based on a particular set of beliefs, a comprehensive view of social, economic, and political matters.

Parties that concentrate on only one public policy matter.

Parties rooted in poor economic times, lacking a clear ideological base, dissatisfied with current conditions and demanding better times.

Parties that have split away from one of the major parties.

A unit into which cities are often divided for the election of city council members.

The smallest unit of election administration; a voting district.

Voting for candidates of different parties for different offices at the same election.