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Political Parties
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is a political party? | A political party is a group of political activists who organize to win elections, operate the gov't. and determine public policy. Political parties differ from factions which are smaller groups that are trying to obtain certain benefits for themselves. |
| What are the 5 functions of political parties in the US? | 1. Recruiting candidates for public office 2. Organizing and running elections 3. Presenting alternative policies to the electorate 4. Accepting responsibility for operating the gov't. 5. Acting as organized opposition to the party in power |
| The creation of political parties was from 1789 to 1812. What was the name of these parties? | The Federalists and the Anti-federalists(better known as the democratic-republicans) |
| Where was attention focused in the years from 1816 to 1828? | The attention centered on the character of individual candidates rather than on party identification. |
| The majority of US voters chose what party to presidency and congress? | The Democratic-Republicans; the two-party competition did not really exist. |
| What was James Monroe's administration (1817-1825) known as and why? | It was known as the era of good feeling because there was no political opposition to the Democratic-Republicans. |
| What caused the split in the Democratic Republicans? | Intraparty rivalry. |
| What were the two new parties and who supported them? | In 1824 and 1828, factions favored Henry Clay and John Q. Adams split w/rest of party to oppose Andrew Jackson. Jackson's supporters= Democratic. Clay-Adams supporters= Whig party |
| How long did the Whig party last? | The Whig party lasted until the 1850s until they fell apart over the issue of slavery. |
| When was the Republican party formed and why? | It was formed in the 1850s to fill the void left after the fall of the Whig party. |
| Who was the 1st Republican president? | Abraham Lincoln in 1860. |
| What did the Republican party label itself? | The Grand Old Party or the GOP and became known as the anti-slavery party. Here is where the North and the South begin to identify themselves as Republican and Democrat |
| The GOP won all but 4 presidential elections until 1932. To whom did they lose to? | Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland(twice), and Woodrow Wilson. |
| What party split from the Republican party? | In 1912, the GOP split resulting on Teddy Roosevelt as the Progressive Party (The Bull Moose Party). |
| What did the split of the Republican party to the Progressive party cause? | The split gave the election to the Democrats and Woodrow Wilson. |
| When did the Progressive party collapse? | 1921 |
| From what year to what year do the Democrats hold control of the presidency? | From FDR's election in 1932 until 1952 with the election of Dwight Eisenhower. They regain control in 1960 and keep it until 1968. |
| From what year to what year do the Republicans hold control of the presidency? | In 1968, the Republicans regain control with the election of Richard Nixon and they only lose power once in 1976 when Jimmy Carter is elected. Reagan is elected in 1980 and the Rep. hold power until 1988. |
| From 1988 to present, who has been in control of the presidency? | There has been a back and forth struggle between the parties. However, the gov't has been truly divided due to the fact that each of the presidents during this time period have been from a different pol. party than the majority of the Congresses. |
| There are three faces of a party. What is the first one? | Party in the Electorate: Those members of the general public who identify with a a political party or who express a preference for one party over another. |
| There are three faces of a party. What is the second one? | Party Organization: The formal structure and leadership of a political party; including election committees, local, state and national executives, and paid professional staff. |
| There are three faces of a party. What is the third one? | Party in Gov't.: All of the elected and appointed officials who identify with a political party. |
| What is a National Convention? | The meeting held every 4 years by each major party to select presidential and vice presidential candidates, to write a platform, to choose a national committee and to conduct party business. |
| What is a Party Platform? | A document drawn up by the platform committee at each national convention, outlining the policies, positions, and the principles of the party. It is submitted to the entire convention for approval. |
| What is a national committee and who chooses them? | National committees are standing committees of a national political party established to direct and coordinate party activities during the 4 year period between national party conventions. Parties choose national committees. |
| What is a State Central Committee? | The principal organized structure of each political party within each state. This committee is responsible for carrying out policy decisions of the party's state convention. State parties are important in national politics because of the unit rule. |
| What is Unit Rule? | All of the state's electoral votes are cast for the presidential candidate receiving a plurality of the popular vote in the state. |
| What is the lowest layer of the party machinery? | The local organization, supported by district leaders, precinct or ward captains and party workers. |
| What is the focus of parties after elections? | The focus becomes controlling the government. |
| Where is partisanship most apparent and why is it declining? | Partisanship is most apparent in political appointments, but it is declining due to the increase in the trend toward ticket splitting. |
| What is ticket splittiing? | Voting for candidates of two or more parties for different offices. Ex.- a voter splitter ticket votes for a Republican presidential candidate and for a Democratic congressional candidate. |
| Since FDR's New Deal, to whom has the Democratic party appealed to? | Disadvantaged groups in society. |
| Who is most likely to identify with the Democratic party? | African American voters, members of union households, Jewish voters, and individuals who have less than a high school education. In recent years more women than men have tended to identify themselves as Democrats. |
| Republicans draw more support from who? | College graduates, upper income families, and professionals and business persons. |
| There have been 5 reasons why the Two-party system has endured. Name and describe the 1st reason. | The Historical Foundations of the Two-party sys: Time period from Civil War-1920s has been called one of sectional politics. However, today's time period can be described as one of class pol. w/pol. pref. being based on income lvl, social status or both. |
| There have been 5 reasons why the Two-party system has endured. Name and describe the 2nd reason. | Political Socialization and Party Id: Children are strongly influenced by their parent's political attitudes and pref. this generates a built in mechanism to perpetuate a 2 party system. |
| There have been 5 reasons why the Two-party system has endured. Name and describe the 3rd reason. | The Political Culture of the US: Not only does political culture support the 2-party system, but also the parties themselves are adept at making the necessary shifts in their platforms or electoral appeal to gain new members. |
| There have been 5 reasons why the Two-party system has endured. Name and describe the 4th reason. | Winner-Take All Electoral Sys: At virtually every lvl of gov't in the US, the outcome of elections is based on the plurality winner-take all principle. |
| What is plurality? | Plurality is the total votes cast for a candidate but not necessarily a majority. Most national, state and local electoral laws provide for winning elections by plurality vote. |
| What is Electoral College Voting? | The winner-take all system also operates in the electoral college. The electoral college is a group of persons called electors who are selected by the voters in each state. |
| What are Run-Off Elections? | Not all states use the plurality; winner-take all electoral system. Some hold run-off elections until a candidate obtains at least one vote over 50% of the voters. |
| There have been 5 reasons why the Two-party system has endured. Name and describe the 5th reason. | State and Fed Laws Favoring the 2 Parties: In some states, the est. major parties need to gather fewer sign. to place their cand. on the ballot than minor parties or ind. cand. do. |
| The rules and procedures for both houses of congress divide what? | Committee seats, staff members and other privileges on the basis of party membership. |
| What must a minor party legislator do in order to receive a committee assignment? | He/she must identify with a major party. |
| What is a third party and what is their importance? | A third party is a political party other than the two parties. They act as indicators of political trends and as safety valves for dissident groups. |
| What are the two functions ideology has on minor parties? | 1. The members of the minor party regard themselves as outsiders and look to one another for support. 2. Because the rewards of ideological commitment are party psychological, these minor parties do not think in terms of immediate success. |
| Name some notable parties in the modern era. | The Libertarian Party, the Green Party, and the Reform Party. |
| What is a splinter minor party? | A splinter party is a new party formed by a dissident faction within a major political party. Usually, splinter parties emerge when a particular personality was at odds with the major party. Most famous=Bull Moose progressive party led by Teddy Roosevelt. |
| From what year was the Free Soil party active and what was it goal? | It was active from 1848 to 1852, and was dedicated to preventing the spread of slavery. |
| From what year was the Prohibition party active and what was it goal? | Started in 1869, and tried to ban the sale of liquor. |
| What was the purpose of the Greenback and the Populist parties? | Both supported gov't. intervention in the economy. They were farm labor-parties. |
| What is the impact of minor parties? | Minor parties not only influence the outcome of an election; they also stimulate the re-organization of major parties and force a major party to reassess its ideology |
| What is party identification and why has it weakened? | Party identification is linking oneself to a political party. Ties to the two major parties has weakened in the last three decades and voters are less willing to vote a straight ticket. |
| What are the effects of American political parties being too decentralized? | Parties do not take positions on important issues that differ distinctly from the positions of the other party and then implement such programs |
| What is hyperpartisanship? | A situation in which members of the two major political parties are extremely party oriented in their choices. |
| What do some people believe about hyperpartisanship? | They believe that hyperpartisanship may lead to increased public discontent because most Americans wanst moderate solutions to national problems. |
| Why are political parties important today? | Political parties set the tune for our everyday life depending on the party in power. |
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