This document provides an overview of political parties in the United States. It defines key terms like political party, faction, and independent. It describes the main activities of political parties like recruiting candidates, organizing elections, and presenting policy platforms. It then discusses the history of parties in the US starting from the Federalists and Anti-Federalists to the modern Democratic and Republican parties. It also examines the roles and faces of political parties at different levels and how the winner-take-all electoral system influences the party system.

1. Political Parties
Chapter 8

2. Democratic Participation Basics
 Over time, as the value of leisure time increases (or as
leisure time gets scarce), participation decreases
 Across society, as leisure time increases (and the value of
leisure declines), participation increases
 E.g., the elderly and/or retired
 Across society, as wealth increases, participation increases
 E.g., the poor participate less

3. What is a Political Party?
 Political Party – a group of political activists who organize to
win elections, operate the government, and determine public
policy
 Similar to interest groups, but interests groups do not want to
operate the government
 Faction – a group or bloc in a legislature or political party that
is trying to obtain power or benefits
 Factions generally precede the formation of political parties in
American history
 Might represent certain ideological or regional viewpoints
 Independents – a voter or candidate who does not identify
with an established political party

4. Political Party Activities
 Recruiting candidates for public office
 Organizing and running elections
 Presenting alternative policies for the electorate
 Accepting responsibility for operating the government
 Acting as the organized opposition to the party in power

5. What are Parties?
Labels, Banners, and IDs
 Recall role of informational shortcuts in making decisions
 Labels: Parties serve as simple indicators of ideology,
alliances, and preferences
 Indicate likely voting behavior once in office
 Banners: Parties serve this role even though they do so
noisily and sometimes with considerable error
 IDs: Parties serve in this sense, despite the fact that that
party identification has been on the decline over the past
century

6. Parties as Organizations
 Connect voters to government
 Democratic politicians answer to Democratic voters
 Republican politicians answer to Republican voters
 Discipline elected officials to keep campaign promises and to
keep in line with the will of voters
 Cohere officials to one another
 E.g., party discipline in Congress
 Cohere citizens to one another
 E.g., Tammany district leader in New York
 Party Machine: a party organization with a high degree of
control over member activity and recruits its members with
tangible incentives

7. Parties as Coalitions
 Parties are coalitions because no group can dominate in
politics without support from other groups to form a viable
campaign organization
 Forms of support
 Core – regular party supporters; will always support the party, but
may not turn out
 Variable – “Middle of the roaders”; may/may not turn out and
may/may not support
 Party alignment
 Parties are rarely reduced to single issues
 Party leaders must pay attention to “core” and “variable” support
to effectively campaign

8. A History of Political Parties in the
U.S.
 Democratic Party
 One of the two major American political parties evolving out of
the Republican Party of Thomas Jefferson
 Favored personal liberty and opportunity for the “common man”
in the 19th century
 Republican Party
 One of the two major American political parties
 Emerged in the 1850s as an antislavery party
 Consisted of former Northern Whigs and antislavery (Northern)
Democrats

9. A History of Political Parties in the
U.S.
 Whig Party
 A major party in the United States during the first half of the 19th
century; established in 1836
 Was very anti-Andrew Jackson and represented regional
interests primarily

10. A History of Political Parties in the
U.S.
 Third Party
 A political party other than the two major political parties
(Democratic and Republican)
 Splinter Party
 A new party formed by a dissident faction within a major political
party
 Typically, they emerge when a particular personality is at odds
with the major party

11. A History of Political Parties in the
U.S.
 Creation of Parties (1789-1816)
 Federalists and Anti-Federalists (Democratic Republicans)
 Presidential Electoral College electors chosen by state legislatures
 Era of Good Feelings [one party rule] (1816-1828)
 Federalists disappear; Dem. Republicans remain
 Factions develop with the election of J.Q. Adams (1824)
 National Two Party Rule “Jacksonian Period” (1828-1845)
 Dem. Republicans and Whigs
 Spoils system – when a political party gives government jobs to its
constituents as an reward and incentive for party loyalty
 Andrew Jackson’s administration in particular
 Presidential Electoral College electors chosen by the people
 Nominating system - Caucus

12. A History of Political Parties in the
U.S.
 Antebellum “Splinter” Period (1840-1856)
 Whigs and Democrats are the primary “two parties
 Rise of splinter parties: Liberty Party (1840), Free Soil (1845), Know-
Nothing (1845), American Party (1852), and Northern/Southern
Dems. (1856)
 Slavery, states’ rights, anti-immigration, and xenophobia contribute to
these groups
 Civil War Period (1856-1865)
 Whigs, Northern Dems., “Know-Nothings,” and Free Soilers create
the Republican Party in 1854; becomes a stable party in 1856
 Southern Dems. become Confederates with the CSA in 1861
 Technically, Republicans and Northern Dems. are the primary U.S.
parties during the war

13. A History of Political Parties in the
U.S.
 Reconstruction Era (1865-1876)
 Republicans and Northern/Southern Dems. are the primary parties
 Southern Democrats slowly regaining power in the South
 Reps. split between Conservative/Radical factions due to Reconstruction
 A “Liberal Reps.” faction (1872) emerges calling for an end to Reconstruction
 Gilded Age (1876 – 1896)
 Sectionalist politics and tariff reform are key
 North vs. South alignment prominent; North = Republican; South = (Southern Dems.)
 Reps. = party of business and prosperity; Southern “Yellow Dog” Dems. = institutionalized
party in the South
 Third parties: Greenback and Populist form over economic issues
 Progressive Period (1896-1932)
 Gilded Age third parties assimilate into the Democratic party
 Democrats, Republicans, and Progressives (middle ground for both parties)
 Direct Democracy (direct election of senators via 17th Amendment)
 Referenda, recall, and reform
 Prog. Era third parties: Socialist and Prohibition

15. A History of Political Parties in the
U.S.
 New Deal Period (1932-1968)
 Democrats become the dominant party (North and South coalition)
 Party benefits emanated from the federal government, not the party
(F.D.R. was very much in control)
 Third parties: Union (Depression Era) and States’ Rights Dems.
“Dixiecrats” (aligned against Truman in 1948)
 Modern Period (1968-present)
 Democrats and Republicans are the two primary parties
 Libertarian movement begins in the 1970s
 Other third parties: American Independent (1968), Reform (1992),
and Green (1996)

16. Faces of a Political Party (Overall)
1. Party-in-the-electorate
 All the individuals who claim an attachment to a political party
 Those that also express a preference for one party over another
2. Party Organization
 The formal structure and leadership of a political party
 Includes: election committees; local, state, and national executives;
and paid professional staff
3. Party-in-Government
 All of the elected and appointed officials who identify with a
political party

17. Faces of a Political Party (National
Level)
 National Convention
 The meeting held every four years by each major party to select
presidential and vice presidential candidates
 Write a platform
 Choose a national committee
 Conduct party business
 Party Platform
 A document drawn up at each national convention
 Outlines policies, positions, and principles of the party
 National Committee
 Standing committee of a national political party
 Established to direct and coordinate party activities between party
conventions

18. Winner-Take-All Electoral System
 Plurality
 A number of votes cast for a candidate that is greater than the
number of votes for any other candidate, but not necessarily a
majority (more than 50%)
 At almost every level of government in the U.S., the outcome of
elections is based on the plurality
 Electoral College
 A group of persons, called electors, who are selected by the voters in
each state
 This group officially elects the president and vice president of the
United States
 In all but two states (Maine and Nebraska), if a presidential
candidate wins a plurality in the state, then all of the state’s electoral
votes go to the candidate

19. Mechanisms of Political Change
 Realignment
 A process in which a substantial group of voters switches party
allegiance, producing long-term change in the political landscape
 Ex. Texas’ shift from Dems. to Reps. (1950s)
 Dealignment
 A decline in party loyalties that reduces long-term party
commitment
 Absence of strong partisan attachments make it easy for parties
to decline and/or split
 Ex. Increasing independent voters today

20. Mechanisms of Political Change
 Straight-Ticket Voting
 Voting exclusively for the candidates of one party
 Split-Ticket Voting
 Voting for candidates of two or more parties for different offices
 Ex. Voting for a Republican presidential candidate and a Democratic
congressional candidate
 Swing Voters
 Voters who frequently swing their support from one party to
another

21. Why Two Parties?
 History
 Two-party division began with the Feds./Anti-Feds.
 Big fed. gov’t vs. states’ rights
 Economic and Geographical Divisions
 Sectionalism between the North and South apparent from the
founding of the U.S.
 The two parties have gravitated toward either side
 Lack of ethnic, racial, or religious parties
 However, splinter parties sometimes represent these topics

22. Why Two Parties?
 Institutionalism
 Plurality rule vs. proportional representation
 Single member districts
 Sincere vs. strategic voting
 Sincere voting – voting for a candidate for their position on the issues
 Strategic voting typically used to eliminate third parties
 “We can’t win without YOUR support”; “You see our point. Come to our side of
the aisle.”
 (1896) – Populists urged to support William Jennings Bryan, a Dem. candidate
for president
 (1912) – Dems. urged Progressives to vote for Woodrow Wilson
 (2000) – Gore pushed Green party supporters to vote for him
 (2004) – Kerry pushed Green party supporters to vote for him

23. Decline of Parties
 More multifaceted society
 Fewer 2-sided issues to divide everyone equally into one group
or another
 Declining willingness to be associated with a party
 Not everyone wants to be seen as “part of the group”
 Individualism is key
 Decline of political machines
 Urban and rural political networks (helped lead to the founding of
parties like the Greenbacks, Populists, and Progressives)

24. Decline of Parties
 Technology and Politics
 Professionalization of Politics
 Anyone can go to school to be a politician now
 Some argue that this has led to an “overexposure” of politics
 News Media
 Social Media
 Dominance of individualistic campaigns
 Party primaries consistently using strategies to show “how I am
different” from the rest of my party (Individualism again)