Chapter Nine
Political Parties
Objectives
• Define the term political party and contrast the structures of the
European and American parties, paying particular attention to
the federal structure of the United States system and the concept
of party identification.
QuickTime™
andStates
a party system
• Trace the development
of the United
TIFF
through its
four(Uncompressed)
periods. Explaindecompressor
why parties have been in
decline sinceare
theneeded
New Deal.
to see this picture.
• Describe the structure of a major party. Distinguish major from
minor parties.
• Indicate whether there are major differences between the
parties. Describe some of the issue differences between
delegates at Democratic and Republican conventions, and
compare these differences with those of the party rank and file.
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Political Parties
• A party is a group that seeks to elect
candidates to public office by supplying
QuickTime™
a
them with a label
(partyand
identification),
by
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
which they
are known
topicture.
the electorate
are needed
to see this
• United States parties have become weaker
as labels, sets of leaders, and
organizations
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Parties in the US and Europe
• European parties are disciplined gatekeepers, to
which voters are very loyal, though this has been
declining recently
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TIFF (Uncompressed)
decompressor
• The federal
system decentralizes
power in U.S.
are needed to see this picture.
• Parties are closely regulated by state and federal
laws, which weaken them
• Candidates are now chosen through primaries,
not by party leaders
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The Rise and Decline of Parties
• The founders disliked parties, viewing them
as factions
QuickTime™ era
and apolitical
• During the Jacksonian
TIFF (Uncompressed)
participation
became adecompressor
mass phenomenon
are needed to see this picture.
• From the Civil War until the 1930s most
states were dominated by one party
• Progressives pushed measures to curtail
parties’ power and influence
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The Results of Reform
• The worst forms of political corruption were
reduced
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• All political
parties were
weakened; parties
TIFF (Uncompressed)
decompressor
became less
abletoto
officeholders
are needed
seehold
this picture.
accountable or to coordinate across the
branches of government
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Figure 9.1: Decline in Party Identification,
1952-2002
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are needed to see this picture.
National Election Studies, The NES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior, 1952-2000, table 20.1, and data for
2002 updated by Marc Siegal.
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Party Realignment
• Critical or realigning periods: periods
when a sharp, lasting shift occurs in the
QuickTime™
and a one or both
popular coalition
supporting
partiesTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are
needed
to
see
this
picture.
• Two kinds of realignments
– A major party is defeated so badly that it
disappears and a new party emerges
– Two existing parties continue but voters shift
their loyalty from one to another
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Realignments
• 1860: slavery issue fixed new loyalties in the
popular mind
• 1896: economicQuickTime™
issues shifted
and aloyalties to
East/West,
split decompressor
TIFF city/farm
(Uncompressed)
are needed
to see this picture.
• 1932: economic
depression
triggered new
coalition for Democrats
• 1980: Could not have been a traditional
realignment, because Congress was left in the
hands of the Democrats
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Figure 7.3:
Cleavages
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and
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
Continuity are
in needed to see this picture.
the Two-Party
System
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Map 7.1: The Election of 1828
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Map 7.2: The Election of 1860
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Map 7.3: The Election of 1896
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Figure 7.3:
Cleavages
and
QuickTime™ and a
TIFFin(Uncompressed) decompressor
Continuity
are
needed
to
see
this
picture.
the Two-Party
System
(cont’d)
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Map 7.4: The Election of 1932
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TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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The Election of 1976
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are needed to see this picture.
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The Election of 1992
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are needed to see this picture.
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Party Decline
• Evidence that parties are declining, not
realigning
QuickTime™ and a
• Proportion
of people identifying
TIFF (Uncompressed)
decompressorwith a party
declined are
between
needed to1960
see thisand
picture.1980
• Proportion of those voting a split ticket
increased
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Table 7.2:
The Rise of Republican Politics in the
South, 1956-2002
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are needed to see this picture.
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Figure 9.2: Trends in Split-Ticket Voting
For President and Congress, 1920-2000
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(THEME A: PARTY STRUCTURE TODAY)
Party Structure
• Parties are similar on paper
• RNC effectively created a national firm of political
QuickTime™ and a
consultants
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• Democrats moved to factionalized structure and
are needed to see this picture.
redistributed power
• By the 1990s, DNC had learned from the RNC:
adopted the same techniques, with some
success
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Nominating a President
• Primary: an election in which voters select
the candidate who will run on each party’s
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ticket
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• Caucus:are
a meeting
party
followers at
needed to seeofthis
picture.
which delegates are picked
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Table 9.1:
Who Are the QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
Party
are needed to see this picture.
Delegates?
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Table 9.5: How Party Delegates and Party
Voters Differ in Liberal Ideology
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Table 7.6: Political Opinions of Delegates
and Voters
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Table 7.3: Party Voting in Presidential
Elections
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are needed to see this picture.
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National Conventions
• National committee sets time and place; issues a
“call” setting the number of delegates for each
state and the rules
for theirand
selection
QuickTime™
a
TIFFDemocrats’
(Uncompressed)
decompressor
• In 1970s,
rules
were changed to
are needed
see this and
picture.
weaken local
party to
leaders
increase the
proportions of women and minorities
• In 1988, the number of superdelegates was
increased
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THEME A: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
• Consider the five types of local political party organizations that
the text lists. What advantages and disadvantages does each
type have? Rank the five types according to whether they can:
 Introduce needed political
reformsand a
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(Uncompressed)
decompressor
 Successfully
enough power
to govern effectively
arecross
needed
to see
this picture.
 Induce a broad
section
of society
to participate
 Avoid corruption
 Give the voters a reasonable choice of policy-makers and
policies
 Allow the voters to hold politicians responsible for the success
or failure of their policies
 Rejuvenate the political process by allowing “outsiders” in
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THEME A DISCUSSION QUESTION
(cont.)
• Are some types of parties more likely to be stronger and more
electorally successful than others? Under what circumstances should
each type of party, with its virtues and disadvantages, be established?
abolished?
• The national political parties
have little
QuickTime™
andcontrol
a over the behavior of
their members or of the candidates representing them. For example,
TIFF former
(Uncompressed)
decompressor
David Duke—a
grand wizard
of the Ku Klux Klan—entered
neededastoa Republican
see this picture.
the Louisiana are
legislature
despite radio broadcasts by
President Reagan calling for his defeat. How is the political system
hurt by the loose organization of political parties?
• Voter loyalty to a particular party is diminishing, with many voters
unable to distinguish between the two major parties. Would a
strengthened party structure prevent defections? Would this be a
positive development? Or would the power of the states be restricted?
Would candidates be less responsive to local interests?
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THEME A DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
(cont.)
• Suppose you wanted more powerful parties. Which
alternative in each pair would achieve this goal? How?
QuickTime™
 Public financing of
campaignsand
oraprivate contributions
TIFF (Uncompressed)
decompressor
 More primaries
or more caucuses
are needed to see this picture.
 More openness to outside political forces or more
control by established political figures
 More power in Washington or more power in state and
local governments
 More people in politics because of ideology or
“principle” or more in it for jobs and money
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THEME B: UNITED STATES PARTIES AS BROAD COALITIONS
Kinds of Parties
• Political machine: a party organization
that recruits members via tangible
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incentives
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• Ideological
party:
principle
are needed
to see
this picture.is more
important than winning election
• Solidary groups: members are motivated
by solidarity incentives
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Kinds of Parties
• Sponsored parties: created or sustained
by another organization
QuickTime™ and a
• Personal
an appealing
TIFF following:
(Uncompressed)requires
decompressor
personality,
an extensive
network, name
are needed
to see this picture.
recognition, and money
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Reasons for the Two Party System
• Electoral system—winner-take-all and
plurality system limit the number of parties
QuickTime™ and a
• Opinions
voters—two
broad coalitions
TIFFof
(Uncompressed)
decompressor
work, although
there
be times of bitter
are needed
to seemay
this picture.
dissent
• State laws have made it very difficult for
third parties to get on the ballot
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Table 9.4:
QuickTime™ and a
The Public
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
Rates the are needed to see this picture.
Two Parties
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Minor Parties
• Ideological parties: comprehensive, radical
view; most enduring
• One-issue parties:
address
QuickTime™
andone
a concern, avoid
others TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
needed toparties:
see this picture.
• Economicareprotest
regional, protest
economic conditions
• Factional parties: from split in a major party,
usually over the party’s presidential nominee
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Impact of Minor Parties
• Conventional wisdom holds that minor
parties develop ideas that the major parties
QuickTime™ and a
adopt
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
• Factionalareparties
had
probably the
needed tohave
see this
picture.
greatest influence on public policy
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•
THEME
B
DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS
Democratic politics always requires a majority coalition to win. In the United
States the coalition is formed before an election, in the makeup of political
parties. In European multiparty systems the coalition is formed after the
election, when a political leader bargains for the support of other parties to
form a voting coalition of a majority of seats in parliament. What difference
might it make whether the coalition is together before or after the election?
Which system allows the most meaningful elections? Which allows citizens
to express their attitudes best in the polling booth? Which most effectively
QuickTime™
and afor what they do?
allows citizens to hold politicians
accountable
•
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
Why do some voters
believe that
it is illogical
to vote for a party other than
are
needed
to
see
this
picture.
one of the two major ones? What would a voter who found the Democrats
insufficiently liberal have gained by voting for a presidential candidate such
as Democrat Eugene McCarthy, who ran as an independent in 1976? Would
this reasoning apply to the presidential elections of 1992, 1996, and 2000?
• In 1996, Jesse Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota, having run on the
Reform Party ticket. Ventura was a former pro-wrestler, actor, and radio talk
show host; he served as mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota’s sixth largest
city, from 1991 to 1995. Does Ventura’s election suggest that the Reform
Party may be in a position to challenge the Democratic and Republican
parties in the future? Why or why not? For further information about the
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Reform
Party,
see: http://www.reformparty.org/