POLITICAL PARTIES- PART 1 – OUTLINE NOTES
1.
2.
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4.
List the 2 moving parts of American Government:
How or what connects the two moving parts?
What is the main function of political parties?
How come the US has a weaker party system than our European friends?
5.
List the two differences between a political party and an interest group:
6.
List the 4 things political parties DO:
7.
What are the 3 SUB-UNITS of a political party?
8.
How come the Founding Fathers did not mention or write about political parties in the Constitution?
9.
How is the 2 party system perpetuated and supported by the “winner take all” American style
elections?
10. What is the plurality system or a plurality vote?
11. Political machine politics rely on “patronage”. List 4 things that political bosses offered city
dwellers (mainly immigrants from 1870-1930) for their vote:
12. What did these political machine politics produce?
13. Define “Straight ticket voting”:
14. What is “Straight ticket voting” a sign of?
15. What is “Split ticket voting” a sign of?
16. How come the Election of 1896 was such an important election year?
17. During the Great Depression and WW2, Franklin Roosevelt was elected President 4 times!! What
major groups made up the “New Deal” coalition?
POLITICAL PARTIES- PART 2 – OUTLINE NOTES
18. Divided government is mainly because of ________________________________
19. So, many political scientists say the result is “party DEALIGNMENT”. What does that mean and list 3
reasons why this DEALIGNMENT is happening:
20.
Worldwide, how many nations have a “two party system? ____________
21. Since 1900 to 2012, how many times have the Republicans won the White House _________ and
how many times have the Democrats won the White House? ___________
22. How does political culture influence party identification?
23. Since the 1920’s, list 3 major Democratic Party ideas:
24. Since the 1920’s, list 3 major Republican Party ideas:
25. Since 1980 to 2012, women have voted overwhelmingly in favor of the___________________ party.
26. Even though the Republicans and Democrats differ in their ideology, they do have some things in
common which helps explain why they have been able to dominate national politics for so long. List
3 reasons why:
27. How come it is so difficult to start and maintain a THIRD PARTY in the USA?
28. Third Parties are not entirely useless or without hope. The Republican Party started out as a third
party and won the Presidency in 1860 (Abe Lincoln). In the chart below, list the issue and the Party
that brought that IMPORTANT issue to American politics:
ISSUE
PARTY
29. List other examples of 3rd Parties in American History and what they have contributed:
PARTY
CONTRIBUTION
30. How come it is so hard for 3rd Parties to get on the ballot in all 50 states?