Political Parties
Political parties are organized groups of people who hold
similar views about how the govt. should operate.
Political parties attempt to influence the govt. by electing
candidates who share their beliefs.
Political parties also play an important role in the voting
process by
recruiting candidates,
promoting voter registration,
and informing the public about important policy issues.
The Federalists & the
Anti-Federalists could be
identified as the first two
“political parties.”
Over time, more political
parties develop, change
names, and even die out.
You’ll learn more about these
next year in U.S. History, but
a few political parties from
the past have been the
Federalists
Democratic-Republicans
Whigs
Green
Libertarian
Independent
The United States
The United States is mostly
a two-party system.
Democrats & Republicans
are the two primary political
parties that have the best
opportunity to have their
candidate elected.
Some countries have a one-party system.
Example:
Pic of china
China  The Communist Party
(this is the only political party allowed to exist in China)
In these countries, the govt. & the political party
are basically the same thing.
Elections are rarely held.
This is not a democracy! These are more like
dictatorships or authoritarian govts.where one
person or small group has all the power.
Some countries have a multi-party system.
(having 3+ parties)
Canada has 3.
Germany has 5.
Israel has more than 20!
When there are so many parties,
one party rarely wins enough support to control the govt., so
several parties must work together.
This could lead to an unstable govt. b/c there are
too many people trying to make decisions.
So, are you a
Republican or a Democrat??
What does that mean?
It usually depends on how you feel about certain issues.
The Donkey
Presidential candidate
Andrew Jackson was the first
Democrat ever to be
associated with the donkey
symbol.
His opponents during the
election of 1828 tried to label
him as a "jackass" for his
“stubborn” populist beliefs
and slogan, "Let the people
rule."
Jackson was entertained by
the notion, thought it was
funny, and ended up using it to
his advantage on his campaign
posters.
The Symbols
But cartoonist Thomas Nast is
credited with making the
donkey the recognized symbol
of the Democratic Party.
It first appeared in a cartoon in
Harper's Weekly magazine in
1870, and was supposed to
represent an anti-Civil War
faction.
But the public was immediately
taken by it & by 1880 it had
already become the unofficial
symbol of the party.
The Elephant
Political cartoonist Thomas
Nast was also responsible for
the Republican Party elephant.
The Symbols
In a cartoon that appeared in
Harper's Weekly in 1874, Nast
drew a donkey clothed in lion's
skin that scared away all the
animals at the zoo.
One of those animals was the
elephant. It was labeled "The
Republican Vote."
That's all it took for the
elephant to become
associated with the Republican
Party.
The Republican Party is also
known as the “Grand Old
Party” (nicknamed the GOP).
Democrats
tend to believe that the federal govt. should
be more directly involved in regulating the economy,
provide jobs,
education,
and housing for the poor.
Republicans
tend to believe that they can help the
economy grow [by helping businesses].
Then, poor people will have a better chance of
finding jobs on their own.
also tend to favor less govt. regulation of
the economy to promote the growth of
production.
Third Parties
Third parties compete against the two main American political
parties.
They usually organize around social & economic interests that
aren’t given a voice by the 2 other parties.
However, many voters feel that only the candidates nominated
by Democrats or Republics have a real chance to win.
As a result, the public does not tend to vote for third party
candidates.
Name of
Party
Populist Party
(1890s)
Prohibitionist
Party (1872)
Socialist Party
Communist Party
Concerns
wanted an 8
hour working
day
wanted to ban
alcohol
believed free enterprise should
be replaced by a govt. or
workers that own
resources/factories
People
involved
Farmers &
laborers
Anyone who
shared these
ideas
Anyone who shared these
ideas
One way to identify the
differences b/t two parties is to
read the parties’ issues.
This is called the parties’
platform.
The platform is a series of
statements that express
the party’s beliefs on
certain issues.
Each individual part of
the platform is called a
plank.
Like a boat’s platform is
made of smaller planks.
Democratic Party Platform
2004
(some issues)
plank
plank
plank
Abortion
Support a woman’s “right to choose” to have an abortion
Civil Rights
Strengthen some parts of Patriot Act and change other parts
Support affirmative action to redress discrimination
Keep marriage at the state level; do not put a federal ban on gay marriage
Corporations
Give tax credits for small businesses
Enforce transparency in corporate accounting
Crime
Crack down on gangs and drugs
Tax Reform
Cut taxes for middle class families, not the wealthy families
Welfare & Poverty
Raise Earned Income Tax Credit
Raise minimum wage to $7.00
Republican Party Platform
2004
(some issues)
plank
Abortion
Support the “right to life”; that no life should end in abortion
Promote adoption & abstinence, not abortion clinic referrals
plank
Civil Rights
Affirmative Access, without preferences or set-aside quotas
States should not recognize gay marriage from other states
Add a Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage
Support the advancement of women in the military
plank
Immigration
Only allow legal immigrants through tightly controlled borders
Crime
Support the death penalty
Gun Control
2nd Amendment should be loosened
Minimum wage
Do not raise the minimum wage because it hurts businesses
And then, there is Political Ideology. How strong are
your ideals?
RADICAL ----- LIBERAL ----- MODERATE ----- CONSERVATIVE ----- REACTIONARY
(FAR LEFT)
(MIDDLE)
(FAR RIGHT)
Radical
Liberal
_____________
Conservative
want rapid change
in society
sometimes use
extreme methods,
like _____________
or revolution, to bring
about change.
supports political
and social reform &
the expansion of
federal social
services (like welfare)
act on behalf of the
poor, minorities,
____________, and
the environment
believe in equality
as their core value.
shares viewpoints
of both liberals and
conservatives
believe in tolerance
of other’s views &
don’t hold extreme
views of their own.
supports
minimizing the power
& control of the govt.
and are opposed to
govt. regulations on
businesses
value social
positions like school
prayer, traditional
family arrangements,
& oppose school
bussing.
believe in liberty as
their core value.
Reactionary
embrace ideas
that focus on the
past
often willing
to use extreme
methods to
reach their goals,
like complete
use of govt.
power.
So, how does a
candidate get elected??
The
POLITICAL CAMPAIGN
Getting Elected!!
A group effort that involves mass participation in the
election of a candidate, or in voting for a particular
issue such as a proposition or law
TYPES OF ELECTIONS
Primary Elections:
an election to determine candidates for office
there may be many candidates in the same party
trying to win the same position
this type of election narrows down the # of
candidates!
In a closed primary: only registered
members of a party can vote
(example: if it’s a Republican running
for the position, only Republicans can
vote)

In an open primary: all registered
voters can vote
So, we’ll do an example.
Let’s use the Student Body Elections here at
Reynolds!
We want to elect a 10th grade class president. There can
only be one winner, but at least 20 people want the position.
That’s way too many! Let’s narrow it down to three
candidates…
A student from our class
A student from Mrs. House’s class
And a student from Mr. Wiley’s class
This is what a primary election
would look like.
(I used our class roll & took the first five students in class.)
1- 2 block
3 - 4 block 5 – 6 block
Osward
Temiah
Kyaira
Darius
Keely
Brandon A.
Karen
Blake
Brandon F.
David
Justin Bieber
Taylor Swift
Beyonce’
Drake
Reggie Bush
Now, this is A LOT of students and we need to narrow it down to just ONE
candidate from our class!!
1. If this were a closed primary, you’d only be able to vote on the candidate from
your class period.
2. So, let’s pretend like everybody from the bottom row were the candidates that
won. (That’s Keely, David, and Reggie)
Unfortunately, that’s still too many
candidates.
(Remember, we only need one person to represent Ms. Meadows’
class.)
The next step in the primary election is to narrow down those 5
candidates to ONE!
So, ALL OF YOU would vote on one person…
– Keely
– David
– Reggie
Whoever won this election would be the winner of the primary
election!
This person would then run against the person from Mr. Wiley’s
class and the person from Mrs. House’s class. (Their class would
have had their own primary elections as well.)
The BIG election between all three candidates would be called the
GENERAL ELECTION…you’ll learn that next!
TYPES OF ELECTIONS
General Elections:
This is the BIG ELECTION!
A state or nation chooses officeholders
Citizens also vote on certain issues on the
ballot
NC candidates are elected through
“plurality vote” meaning the candidate w/ the
most votes, WINS!!! (Even if that means it’s less
than 50%)
th
10
The RJR
grade race for
class president…
In the GENERAL ELECTION
Candidate A: Reggie (won from our class)
Candidate B: Jimmy (won from Wiley’s class)
Candidate C: Samantha (won from House’s class)
AGAIN, THIS IS THE BIG
ELECTION!!!!
AND THE WINNER IS…
Reggie Bush
Ok, back to reality!
This is what the primary looked like in the 2008 presidential
election.
Barack Obama
Hilary Clinton
John Kerry
For example, all three of these candidates were running against each
other for president in 2008 for the Democrats. But, there could only
be one that would be chosen to represent the entire party. They had
to compete against each other in the primary election before they
could run for office in the BIG ELECTION.
Mitt Romney
John McCain
Mike Huckabee
And these are three of the candidates running against each other the
primary election for the Republican party.
Obama won the Democratic primary election.
McCain won the Republican primary election.
Obama and McCain would then run against
each other in the BIG ELECTION called the
GENERAL ELECTION. You’ll learn about that
in just a moment.
Again, the purpose of the primary election is to NARROW down the number
of people to ONE candidate per political party. Otherwise, it would be hard
to get a winner who could win the majority of votes.
Of course,
the 2008 GENERAL ELECTION
looked like this…
Obama v. McCain
And the winner of the 2008
presidential race
was…
Primary & GENERAL elections are also held for our members of Congress as well!
Other Types of Elections
Runoff Election
If no candidate won majority of the votes (50% or
more), the 2 candidates that have the highest # of
votes will have another small election (just b/t
those 2 people) to determine a winner.
Recall Election
An election to remove a public official from office
This is set in motion by a petition signed by a
percentage of qualified voters
Other Types of Elections
ISSUE ELECTIONS:
1. Citizens can propose laws!! This is called an initiative.
1. Once the initiative has been completed, the citizen
gets enough citizens to sign a petition the proposed
law is now called a proposition. It will be placed on
the ballot for people to vote on it.
1. Now that the proposition is on the ballot, voters
decided if they want to approve or reject the proposed
law. This is called a referendum.
Other Types of Elections
Partisan elections
Candidates are running for an office for their
political party as a Democrat or Republican
– Ex: All federal elections
– In NC = all state, county, some school board elections,
and some city elections
Nonpartisan elections
no party affiliations on the ballot
– Ex: judicial, most city, and some school board elections
The
POLITICAL CAMPAIGN
Goal of the Campaign?
Familiarize voters w/ the candidate’s name & face!
Tell voters what his/her position on issues are
Convince voters to like and trust the candidate!
Running a Successful Campaign
Labor-Intensive Campaigns
Usually used in local elections
& congressional races, these
strategies include recruiting
volunteers to go door-to-door
to hand out pamphlets &
organize rallies.
The candidates will make
appearances at local events,
receptions, or community
meetings to speak directly
about their beliefs.
Running a Successful Campaign
Media-Driven Campaigns
Usually used in statewide
campaigns & the national
presidential elections.
Candidates use the media to
emphasize their issues & personal
characteristics they think voters
will like.
Radio & tv ads are typical
campaign strategies.
Televised candidate debates
are another way to inform
voters about their issues.
Another new media technique
is for candidates to post
information on their website
and use podcasts to reach
younger voters like you!
By the way, CAMPAIGNS can
be expensive!!
* commercials cost tens of thousands of dollars PER MINUTE
*traveling expenses!
*salaries for staff members
* printing costs
* costs for postage/stamps
* telephone costs
The cost to run a campaign to become a member of Congress =
$1.5 million or more
(Some candidates have spent up to $15 million.)
The cost to run a
campaign to become
President
=
$$$hundreds of millions $$$
Where does that money
come from???
May use as much of their own personal money
as they want, but
$$ mostly from businesses, individuals, other
organizations
Until 1970, people/groups could give as much
$$ as they wanted!
This gave wealthy people & groups a better
chance at winning elections, therefore, having
more political power
Regular people began wondering if candidates
gave special favors or made promises to those
who had contributed large sums of $$ to
their campaign
1971 Congress passed the
Federal Election Campaign Act
(FECA)
requires all candidates to disclose to
the public how much $ they’re being
given
put a limit on the amount of $$ an
individual/group could give; this $$ is
called “hard money”
CAMPAIGN FINANCES
Private Funding
Most campaign $ comes from here
money given by Political Action
Committees (PACs) which are
special-interest groups and lobbyists
who contribute $$ with the hopes
that the candidate will support their
needs
Public Funding
When filling out your federal tax
return, you can check a box on the
form that says you want $3.00 of
your tax refund to go into the
Presidential Election Campaign Fund
$$ also comes from individuals,
organizations, businesses
If major-party candidates have
raised $100,00 of their own $$,
they can get some of this $$ for the
primary election
soft money: unlimited amounts of $
(this $$ used for general purposes
for the party like voter registration
drives, mail, ads about issues, tv ads)
Third-party candidates can get this
$$ if their party received more than
5% of the popular vote in the
previous presidential election
Are you paying attention
during an election year?
Commercials
Guest
Appearances
TV Ads
Mail
Speeches
Celebrity
Endorsements
“Meet & Greet”
Websites
They also use
7 Propaganda Techniques
– Glittering Generalities
– Bandwagon
– Stacked Cards
– Name Calling
– “Just Plain Folks”
– Symbols
– Endorsements
Glittering Generalities
A glittering generality is a statement about
the candidate that sounds good but is
essentially meaningless.
“Vote for Candidate A!! He will
bring peace & prosperity to the
country!”
Bandwagon
“Surveys and polls show
that our candidate is
pulling ahead, and we
expect to win by a
landslide!”
Getting on the bandwagon means
convincing people that everyone
else agrees with the group’s
viewpoint or that everyone else is
going to vote for the candidate.
Therefore,
YOU SHOULD!!
Stacked Cards
Card stacking is a technique that present only one
side of the issue, often by distorting the facts.
Go to the link for the Living Room Candidate.
(These are commercials from presidential elections from the past.)
Year
Which party?
Name of Commercial
(scroll on over the icons for the name of the commercial to pop up)
1992
Republican
Arkansas 2 (attacking Bill Clinton)
1992
Democrat
Morning (attacking George Bush, Sr.)
Name Calling
An attempt to turn people against an opponent by using
an unpleasant label or description for the person.
Year
Which party?
Name of Commercial
(scroll on over the icons for the name of the commercial to pop up)
2008
Republican
Hypocrite (attacking Obama)
click the black arrow on the right of the commercials to scroll
to the 2nd set
“Just Plain Folks”
Political campaigns often use many photographs of
candidates wearing jeans instead of suits, eating pizza,
holding babies, or talking to factory workers. The idea is
to make people think the candidate is just like them, with
the same desires and concerns.
Year
Which party?
Name of Commercial
(scroll on over the icons for the name of the commercial to pop up)
2000
Republican
Muchas Gracias (supporting Bush)
Symbols
Political candidates and interest groups use and misuse
symbols when appealing to the public.
Endorsements
In the 2008 election, many celebrities
came out to endorse the candidates.
The idea behind
endorsements is that if
people admire the person
endorsing a candidate, they
will support the
candidate,too.
Other McCain supporters:
• George Bush
• Adam Sandler
• Chuck Norris
Other Obama supporters:
• Jennifer Anniston
• Will Smith
•Dr. Phil
• Kanye West
• George Clooney
In the beginning, McCain
used his connection with
President Bush to try to
win the public’s vote.
Watch the clip called
“Bush Endorses McCain”
to see the president
supporting him.
Towards the end, McCain was
trying to distance himself from
George Bush b/c his campaign
was being affected.
Click on the clip below from
“Saturday Night Live” as they
make a joke of it.
**************************************
Note: Tina Fey, an actress on SNL,
looks just like Vice-Presidential
candidate Sarah Palin! Sarah Palin
will appear as herself in the later
episode.
http://blog.zap2it.com/thedishrag/2008/10/george-bush-end.html
Here are more commercials
from the past.
Year
Which party?
Name of Commercial
(scroll on over the icons for the name of the commercial to pop up)
1952
Republican
Ike for President
(a catchy tune to help you remember who to vote for)
1960
1960
Democrat
Democrat
Mrs. JFK (appealing to Hispanic voters)
Harry Belafonte (appealing to Afr-Amer. voters)
1964
1964
Democrat
Democrat
Ice Cream (attacking Goldwater & appealing to parents)
KKK (attacking Goldwater & appealing to Afr-Amer. Voters)
1996
1996
Democrat
Republican
Surgeon (supporting Clinton)
Too Late (attacking Clinton & appealing to parents)
2000
Democrat
Ian (appealing to parents)
2008
2008
2008
Democrat
Democrat
Democrat
Country I Love (supporting Obama)
Better Off (attacking McCain)
Embrace (attacking McCain)
Year
Which party?
Name of Commercial
(scroll on over the icons for the name of the commercial to pop up)
2008
2008
2008
Republican
Democrat
Republican
Celeb (attacking Obama)
Proud of that Commercial (attacking McCain)
Freedom click black arrow, scroll to the 2nd set (supporting
McCain)
2008
2008
Republican
Democrat
The One (attacking Obama)
Yes We Can (supporting Obama)
Based on what we see, we form
our own opinions.
Public opinion polls help determine how popular
a candidate is or what is the public’s attitude
towards him or her.
•
Watch the clip called “Sarah Palin Can’t Name a Newspaper She Reads.”
•
After this interview w/ reporter Katie Couric, Sarah Palin’s popularity
dropped significantly. Katie ask Palin what kinds of newspaper does she
read in order to stay informed about world events. Palin can’t name any.
******************************************************************************************
•
Unfortunately, Sarah Palin will continue to be scrutinized for other things
like
•
her 18 year old daughter was going to be a pregnant teenager.
•
the Republican Party was spending thousands of dollars on her new clothes.
Sometimes, we form negative
opinions based on what the media
has shown us.
Comedians across the country always make fun of presidential
candidates, especially on the popular show “Saturday Night Live”.
For the first time, the 2008 candidates actually appeared on as
THEMSELVES!!
Watch the clip called “Sarah Palin Rap on Saturday Night Live.” This is a
funny skit that showed that how Palin was willing to allow herself to be
made fun of. This is the real Sarah Palin, not the actress Tina Fey.
The media acts as our “watch dog” to
make sure candidates are doing their job
& behaving appropriately.
Unfortunately, some politicians have also
ended up in the news for all kinds of
scandalous acts.
Now, it’s time to vote!!
In the old days, requirements to vote were:
1. being white
2. being an adult male (over 21)
3. owning property
Voting Eligibility
At least 18 years old
Meet residency requirements
(have lived
in NC for 30 days)
Must be registered to vote
Must be a U.S. citizen
**********************************
The only people who have lost their
right to vote are prison inmates.
Voter Registration
You must register to vote in advance
before the deadline!
by mail, at libraries
In 1995 – National Voter Registration Act
(also known as Motor Voter Act) people
can register to vote while getting their
driver’s license renewed!
When registering for 1st time, you must
show
1. proof of citizenship (to prove you are a U.S. citizen)
2. address (to prove you live in the state/region in which
you are voting)
3. age (to prove you are old enough to vote)
A driver’s license or birth certificate has all
of this info. on it.
Few weeks later…
Your voter registration card comes in the
mail
It tells you which precinct (voting district)
you’ve been assigned to
This is where you will go vote!
It might be at the library, a school, etc.
Steps in Voting
At the Polls
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
You may even look at a sample ballot (list of candidates)
before you cast your vote.
You’ll go to clerk’s table to print your name,address, &
signature on an application form.
A challenger looks up your registration info. to compare
signatures to make sure YOU are YOU!
Casting your vote
You give your application to an election
judge
in charge of overseeing the operation of the voting
booths
making sure everyone votes in secret
helping voters who are physically challenged,
elderly, or unable to read (yes, you can still vote if you can’t
read)
Types of Voting Machines
(turn to p.314-315 in textbook)
Optical Scan (like a bubble scantron)
Paper ballots
Mechanical lever machines
Punch cards
Electronic (computerized touchscreen)
machines
There are several ways to vote:
•Straight-Ticket voting:
•You vote for all candidates of the same political party no matter who they
are of & no matter what office they are running for.
• In other words, you vote for all Democrats! This is a fast way to vote.
•Split-Ticket voting:
•You vote a mixture of candidates because you might disagree w/ the
planks of some candidates. So, you “split” your vote by voting for some
Democrats & also voting for some Republicans.
•Absentee Voting:
•For citizens who will be “absent” on Election Day (will be out of town, are
too ill to make it to the polls, or who are military men/women out of the
country)
• This request must be made before Election Day & sent back through
mail in order to be counted w/ the other ballots on Election Day.
Counting the Votes
Polls close!
Election workers count votes @ the polling place.
Ballots & the returns (the results) are taken to the Election Board.
The Election Board counts the returns for the entire city/county.
The Election Board begins calling in its voting #s to the Capitol in
Washington, DC.
The Election Board also sends the returns to the state canvassing
authority who verifies the winner (may take a few days).
Exit polls
Role of the Media
Tv stations try to predict a winner by conducting exit polls:
asking people how they voted
Exit polls are estimations about who might win…they aren’t
always accurate.
Some politicians criticize exit polls b/c predictions are being
made even though all the polls haven’t closed, especially
those on the West Coast.
Early predictions may convince people that they don’t need
to go out and vote if it looks like their candidate might not
win.
One thing that we
HAVE
to work on…
Getting more people out to
VOTE!!
Reasons People Don’t Vote
Don’t think their vote will “count”
Think the Electoral College isn’t fair
Voter apathy (lack of interest, don’t care)
People are more likely to vote, if :
1.
they are more educated
2.
they are older (middle-aged or older)
3.
they have a higher income
However, the following elections have
gotten more young people involved!
2008: Obama v. McCain
2004: Bush v. Kerry
2000: Bush v. Gore