• A group of people who seek to control
government by winning elections

1. nominating function
• parties select candidates for office
• give assurances

2. informerstimulator function
• run TV, radio, newspaper ads about candidates
• special interests also do this

3.
“seal of
approval” function – both parties seek the best candidates

4. watchdog function –
• Monitors party candidates and representatives
• special interests also do this

1.historical basis
– the two original parties were
• Federalists
• Anti-
Federalists

2. force of tradition – it’s so because it’s so

3. most election laws discourage minor/third parties

4. American ideological consensus – general agreement among groups

• several major and many lesser parties; present in most European democracies
• each based on a particular
interest (class, religion, etc.)

• present most often in dictatorships
(like North
Korea)

• no, but parties still aggressively seek contributions

Each party has broad-based support including some of most of the major groups in the U.S.:
• Protestants
• Catholics
• Jews
• African-Americans
• Hispanics
• professionals
• farmers
• union members
• young
• old
• middle-aged

Democrats have historically attracted…
• African-
Americans
• Catholics
• Jewish
• union members
• lower income

Republicans have historically attracted…
• white males
• Protestants
• business community members
• upper income

• primary election – held for the purpose of nominating a party’s candidate; held the spring
before the general election in
November
• general election – held for the purpose of electing federal, state, and local office holders; usually held in
November

Linkage institutions – link voters to government
1. political parties
2. special interest
groups (Sierra Club,
AARP, NAACP, LULAC)
3. elections
4. news media – plays a major role in informing the public (TV, internet, newspapers, magazines, radio)

• private organizations that try to persuade public officials to respond to shared attitudes and
narrow interests of its members

• goal: to influence the making and content of public policy – sometimes criticized for influencing public policy out of proportion to their numbers

PACS - political action
committees
• political arm of special interest groups – they
collect and
distribute funds to candidates

• s. i. g.’s methods can sometimes be heavy-handed, including
bribery or threats

• s. i. g. are concerned with a narrow range of interests rather than the entire
range of public affairs

• play a major role in informing the public; they are a profitmaking entity
• before TV, political parties did the get- out-the-vote promotion

• play the “spoiler” in elections
• draw attention to critical issues
• initiate new ideas,
processes & policies
(their ideas are often adopted by major parties)

1.ideological
parties – based on a set of beliefs such as the Libertarian party

2. single-issue
parties such as the Right-to
Life party – they address one/few concerns & then disappear

3. economic protest
parties- usually emerge from economic discontent such as Greenback
Party, Populist
Party

• splinter parties break away from major parties such as
Bull Moose party in 1912,
States’ Rights party and Am.
Independent party

Trends in U.S. political parties parties have been in decline since
1960s… why?
1. sharp drop in number of people willing to label themselves
Republican or
Democrat
2. split-ticket voting
3. heavy use of TV – candidates are no longer dependent on party structure
4. decline of influence of parties on policymakers and policymaking