Chapter 12: Political Parties – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
Political Party
answer
An organized effort by office holders, candidates, activists, and voters to pursue their common interests by gaining and exercising power through the electoral process. The goal is to win office to exercise power, not just compete for it
question
Governmental Party
answer
The office holders who organize themselves and pursue policy objectives under a party label.
question
Organizational Party
answer
The workers and activists who make up the party's formal organization structure.
question
Party in the Electorate
answer
The voters who consider themselves allied or associated with the party
question
Democratic Republicans
answer
Preferred states to have more power and generally centered around Jefferson.
question
Federalists
answer
Supported a strong central government, generally surround John Adams and Alexander Hamilton
question
Democrats
answer
Succeeded the older Jeffersonian Democratic Republicans. They held the first national presidential nomination convention. Their party was mainly formed around Andrew Jackson's popularity, so the Democratic party attracted a lot of new voters.
question
Republicans
answer
Formed in 1854 by anti-slavery activist, it set its sights on the abolition of slavery.
question
Political Machines
answer
A party organization that recruits voter loyalty with tangible incentives and is characterized by a high degree of control over member activity. Used incentives such as jobs and favors to win loyalty.
question
Boss Tweed
answer
He ran Tammany Hall (Democratic party machine) he has been criticized for taking money from government taxes, but praised for helping the unemployed and for fighting for workers rights.
question
The New Deal
answer
This marks when citizens began to see social services as right of citizenship.
question
Ticket-Split
answer
To vote for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election.
question
Direct Primary
answer
the selections of party candidates through the ballots of qualified voters rather than at party nominating conventions. Removed the power of nomination from party leaders and workers and gave it to the much broader and more independent electorate.
question
Civil Service Laws
answer
require appointment on the basis of merit and competitive examinations. These laws removed the power of many parties to reward their followers.
question
Critical Elections
answer
An election that signals a party realignment through voter polarization around new issues. May polarize voters around new issues, this can be dependent on events or issues of the time such as WWII or the Great Depression.
question
Secular Realignment
answer
The demographic realignment of the parties instead of shifts because of shocks to the political system. It is characterized as very slow, demographic shifts. This is far, far more likely to happen on a regional level, not a national level.
question
Coalition
answer
A group made up of interests or organizations that join forces for the purpose of electing public officials. Parties generate a community of interest eliminates the necessity of forming a new coalition.
question
Intended Fragmentation
answer
within each branch, and the party helps narrow the differences between the House and the Senate or between the president and the department heads in the executive bureaucracy. Party affiliation also makes communication and cooperativity between state, national, and local government easier
question
Party-Linkage Function
answer
Does not end with the relationship between national, state, and local governments or among the branches of government. Party-linkage also provides a link between the voter and the candidate, as well as between the voter and the office holder. The party connection is also a mean of increasing accountability in elections because candidates on the campaign trail are sometimes required to account for their actions at party-sponsored forums, nominating primaries, and conventions
question
National Party Platform
answer
A statement of the general and specific philosophy and policy goals of a political party, usually broadcast at the national convention.
question
What happens to the promises and pledges?
answer
About 2/3rds of the promises of the winning party have been mostly or completely implemented and about ½ or more of the pledges of the losing party also tend to find their way into public policy. This trend reflects effort of both parties to support broad policy positions that enjoy widespread support in the general public.
question
Proportional Representation
answer
Awarding legislative seats according to the percentage of votes a political party receives. The United States does not use proportional representation.
question
Winner-take-all-system
answer
A system in which the party that receives at least one more vote than any other part wins the election. Placing second, even by one vote, doesn't count. The only thing that matters is placing first, which also means the United States only has two, extreme, parties.
question
When third parties to best...
answer
Generally when trust in the two major political parties is on the decline. They make the electoral process incorporate new ideas or alienated groups or to nominate attractive candidates as their standard-bearers.
question
Ideology and third parties
answer
They find their roots in sectionalism, economic protest, in specific issues, in ideology (Socialist, Communist, Libertarian, etc.) and in appealing charismatic personalities. Most third parties draw their strength from a combination of these sources
question
National committees
answer
Make arrangements for the national conventions and to coordinate the subsequent presidential campaigns
question
Congressional commtttees
answer
The National Democratic Congressional Committee is loosely allied with the DNC and same with the National Republican Congressional Committee.
question
Senate campaign committees
answer
created after the ratification of the 17th Amendment.
question
Seventeenth Amendment
answer
popular election of U.S. senators. 17th amendment caused both parties organized separate Senate campaign committees. Three-part arrangement of national party committee, house party committee, and Senate party committee.
question
National Convention
answer
A party meeting held in the presidential election year for the purposes of nominating a presidential and vice presidential ticket and adopting platform.
question
Precinct Committee Members
answer
The "foot soldiers" of any party, their efforts are supplemented by party committees above them in the wards, cities, counties, towns, villages, and congressional districts.
question
Precinct
answer
A district or town, the smallest voting unit. It usually takes in a few adjacent neighborhoods and is the fundamental building block of the party
question
state central (or executive) committee
answer
The state governing body supervising the collection of local party organizations. Its members come from all major geographic units
question
Think Tanks
answer
Institutional collection of policy-oriented researchers and academic who are sources of policy ideas. Each party has several of these and they influence party positions and platforms
question
Soft Money
answer
The virtually unregulated money funneled through political parties for party-building purposes, such as get of the vote efforts or issue ads. It was banned after 2002.
question
Hard Money
answer
Funds that can be used for direct electioneering but that are limited and regulated by the Federal Election Commission.
question
Senate Majority Leader
answer
The senate majority leader can decide whether a member's bill is given priority in the legislative agenda or will be dismissed with barely a hearing.
question
Contradictory roles of a president
answer
He is expected to bring the country together as ceremonial chief of state and also to forge a ruling consensus as head of government. The president must also be an effective commander of a sometimes divided party.
question
Governors
answer
Governors in many states have greater influence over their parties' organizations and legislators than the president. Many governors have more patronage positions at their command than does a president. They some governors can play a role in selecting the legislature's committee chairs and floor leaders, and some state executives even attend and help direct the party legislative caucuses.
question
Party Identification
answer
A citizen's personal affinity for a political party, usually expressed by a tendency to vote for the candidates of that party.
question
parents
answer
single greatest influence in establishing a person's first party identification
question
Gender
answer
Democrats usually win more of the women vote. Women are less likely than men to favor American military action and are generally more supportive of education and social welfare spending. However, most researchers now explain the difference by citing the Democratic party's inability to attract men instead of the Republican party's inability to attract women.
question
Geographic Region
answer
Relatively closely contested between the parties. The South used to be solidly democratic, then is was a competitive two-party region following the civil war, now, since the 1994 election, southerners have generally voted Republican
question
Age
answer
Generally, the very youngest and the very oldest voters identify with the Democratic Party, while middle aged voters disproportionately support the Republican Party (they are at the height of their careers and therefore are not in favor of high income taxes)
question
Hispanics
answer
More than three to one, Hispanics prefer the Democratic Party. Puerto Ricans vote very similarly to African Americans, while Mexican Americans favor Democrats by smaller margins. The Cuban American population tends to support the Republican party. However, because Hispanics are the fasting growing ethnic group in the U.S., Republicans have been fighting for the Hispanic vote.
question
Separation of Blacks and Whites
answer
African Americans are the most dramatically split population subgroup in party terms. African Americans account almost entirely for the slight lead in party affiliation that Democrats normally enjoy over Republicans since the GOP has recently been able to attract a narrow majority of whites to its standard. The two races differ greatly on many policy issues, with blacks overwhelmingly on the liberal side and whites closer to the conservative pole, although religious beliefs lead many African Americans to adopt more conservative views about issues such as gay rights and abortion.
question
Social and Economic Factors
answer
The GOP remains predominant among executives, professionals, and white-collar workers, whereas the Democrats lead substantially among trial lawyers, educators, and blue-collar workers. Labor union members are also generally Democratic. Democratic support tends to drop as one earns more money, and those with a college education tend to be Republican while those with advanced degrees tend to be Democratic.
question
Religion
answer
White Protestants favor Republicans, whereas Catholics, and Jewish voters tend to favor the Democratic Party. However, decreased polarization of these groups has been increasing.
question
Marital Status
answer
People who are married tend to favor the Republican Party, the widowed towards the Dem. Party (mainly because there are more widows than widowers so the gender gap plays a role here), the divorced and the separated appear to be more liberal.
question
Dealignment
answer
A general decline in party identification and loyalty in the electorate. It has been feared that the weakening of party attachments is undermining political participation.
