INTEREST GROUPS
What Are Interest Groups?
• An interest group is an organization of likeminded people who influence government.
What groups are Democrat or Republican
Democratic Party
Republican Party
Women
Men
Minorities
Whites and Cubans
Midwest and North
South and West
Poorer
Richer
Labor
Business Owners
Catholic
Protestants
Lawyers & Teachers
Doctors
Lower Education
Higher Education
Kinds of Interest Groups
• Business Groups
– American Petroleum Institute & Chamber of
Commerce
• Labor Groups
– Major League Baseball Players Association
• MLB Players Webpage
– United Auto Workers & AFL-CIO
• Agricultural Groups
– American Farm Bureau & National Cotton
Council
• Cotton Council Webpage
Kinds of Interest Groups
• Professional Groups
– American Medical Association
& American Bar Association
• Religious Groups
– Christian Coalition & National
Catholic Welfare Council
• Single Issue (Cause)
Groups
– NRA
• NRA Web page
What Do Interest Groups Do?
• Lobby: process of influencing government.
• Who are lobbyists?
• Lobby three branches of government on
behalf of members.
• Organize and mobilize members to
influence government: grassroots lobbying
• Organize members to contribute to political
action committees.
• Organize members to work for party.
Political Action Committees
• Rise of Political Action Committees
– 1974 Federal Election Campaign Act
• Allowed for PACs
– Over 5,000 PACs today
• COPE: Committee on Political Education of AFLCIO
• American Bankers Association
– Bank Pac
• Beer Distributers
– Six PAC
Who gets most of the PAC campaign
money?
The End