US Political Parties

Question 1

E+A 3 key values of the Democratic Party

Answer 1

1. Democrat desire to help the less well-off in the USA, New Deal of FDR to Obamacare
   This partly reflects some of the party’s core support base, e.g. African-Americans and blue-collar workers, although geography, race and religion make this a little more complex. There is also a range of views within the party, from the Democratic Socialists of America to the more fiscally conservative Blue Dogs.
2. pro-choice. strong opposition to tighter abortion laws and their generally progressive stance on women’s rights
   This stance has become more prominent of late, with few pro-life Democrats now in office, e.g. Dan Lipinski being primaried.
   Democrats tend to support other rights and justice-based politics, such as those for LGBTQ+ groups and black Americans, thus
   reflecting their more liberal social outlook.
3. gun control, as it supports policies such as
   the greater use of background checks
   such reforms have proved tricky to implement even in the wake of mass shootings, such as Sandy Hook, when Obama failed to get
   such measures through.
   growing public support for reform and increased spending by gun control groups, such as Giffords and Everytown, who largely endorse and back Democrat candidates

Question 2

E+A 3 ways thirds parties and independents can be significant in US politics

Answer 2

1. third parties’ role in influencing and affecting election outcomes.
   Nader and Florida in 2000
   Relatively rare due to low level of support for third parties and also the difficulty of predicting where their votes would have gone instead if they had not stood.
   Overall, their impact is primarily a negative ‘bee sting’ one.
2. third parties influence the policies of the two main parties if their ideas begin to gain traction with voters.
   ‘co-optation’ could be Perot in 1992 and a balanced budget, but also more recently the environmental agenda of the Green Party that picked by some more progressive Democrats, e.g. Green New Deal
   co-optation also serves to limit the growth and success of third parties.
   traditionally many of the policies/personalities of third parties have been portrayed as extreme, e.g. the 1968 slogan ‘If you liked Hitler, you’ll love Wallace.’
3. repository for a protest vote in elections when neither candidate is seen as that attractive or appealing, e.g. Perot in 1992, or Johnson and Stein in 2016
   the majoritarian election system discourages this, as protest votes can easily become ‘garbage votes’. It can even lead to a candidate one most opposes winning, arguably the worst outcome for the voter. For that reason, many voters ‘hold their noses’ at the polling station.

Question 3

E+A 3 reasons why US parties could be said to be weekly organised

Answer 3

1. the lack of a single leader, power in parties is dispersed, as there are party leaders in both chambers of Congress, often a presidential incumbent or candidate, and key governors and other influential figures
   There is no process for electing a party leader in the USA, only candidates for office.
   This can make uniting a party quite challenging, not least when the party is in power. Mitch McConnell’s quote about
   ‘herding cats’ works well here.
2. federal nature of US parties (100 parties) and that they only assemble at the time of the national nominating convention every four years
   this reflects the diversity and size of the USA as well as its political culture.
   both parties are, however, becoming more uniform and homogenous — no more
   Dixiecrats or RINOs.
3. lack of party involvement in candidate selection due to the primary system, which enables outsiders such as Trump to ‘gate-crash the party’
   You could examine and analyse this by noting how this does remove the old party machines and enables right-wing populist candidates, e.g. Trump, or on the liberal side, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, to emerge in both parties. The party establishment can sometimes still play a role, such as superdelegates in the Democrat convention