Midterm 10/10/23 Flashcards
(141 cards)
1
Q
What is a political party?
A
A group organized to nominate candidates, to win power through elections, and to promote public policies
2
Q
Describe the three parts that comprise political parties
A
- Party organization: Party leaders and activities who work for the party’s causes and candidates (the people on the ground doing the work)
- Party in Government: Public officials and those who run for political office under the party label (the face of the party; trump, Biden, etc)
- Party in the electorate: Citizens who express an attachment to the party (the people who think of themselves as partisans)
3
Q
What are the activities of political parties?
A
Elections: put forth political candidates
Electorate: Educate the public, provide voting cues
Government: organize government and provide an opposition
4
Q
What factors shape American parties?
A
Voters: Each new group of voter makes the party readjust its ideas
States: Set the rules of the parties
Constitution: Federalism and Separation of powers
Political Culture
Media: social media has weakened party control over information
5
Q
Describe early political groupings
A
Early political groupings were very unorganized and had low participation. They functioned more as congressional groupings than anything. These first political groupings were federalists and anti-federalists. The anti-federalists turn into the Democratic Republicans after a while, and the parties emerge as the federalists and DRs. By the end, almost all federalists are gone and instead are all DRs, but factions start to emerge within.
6
Q
Why did the founders resist political parties?
A
They thought that factions (parties) would lead to disagreement and mass underrepresentation of people in America. Overruling the rights of minorities.
7
Q
What were the early political parties?
A
Federalists and Democratic Republicans
8
Q
What were the political activities of those early political parties?
A
Organizing the South and West and expanding the committees of correspondence
9
Q
Did early political parties include the public? Were these parties heavily organized?
A
They included the public in voting, but this voting public was limited to white men with property and even then they were not very active in the political process
10
Q
When did organized parties emerge and why?
A
Organized parties emerged in the 1820s. This is due to the end of property restrictions which extended the voting pool a bit, voters became involves in presidential elections, and the 1824 election
11
Q
Discuss the 1824 Election
A
In the 1824 election the Democratic Republicans were factions off and put up 4 different presidential candidates. No one ended up winning the majority of the vote so the election went to the US House to be decided. Top three vote getters are decided upon, Clay was voted out and he threw his support behind John Quincy Adams. John Quincy Adams ends up winning, defeating Andrew Jackson
12
Q
Discuss the response of Jackson’s supporters to his ‘loss’
A
Adams then chooses Clay as his Secretary of State and Andrew Jackson says it was corrupt and runs on that until he won against Adams in 1828. Jackson’s supporters are so large they create a separate faction called the Jacksonian Democrats which ultimately ends up turning into a fully fledged party.
13
Q
Describe the golden age of parties
A
By 1870 party organizations exist in all states and localities, they run campaigns controlled government jobs and provided into to voters. These parties were highly organized in government, and elections.
14
Q
What is a party machine?
A
The party machines were the party organizers that extended tangible incentives to voters. They played an important role in assimilating immigrants and provided their party supporters with basic need in exchange for votes. The party machine controlled everyday lives of Americans, what jobs they got, loans and mortgage rates, etc.
15
Q
Why were party machines so effective at winning elections?
A
The party machines were so effective because they were able to recruit and incentivize people to vote. They took advantage of immigrants and helped them in exchange for votes for their party in the elections.
16
Q
Discuss the Progressive reforms
A
The progressives implemented the direct primary, presidential primaries, the Australian (secret) ballot and registration requirements for voters. After the progressive reforms, the party organization was decimated.
17
Q
What characterized mid-century parties?
A
Internal party politics were set aside due to global events (war, depression, etc). The Democratic Party grows out of the personal party for Andrew Jackson and the Republican Party grows from the anti-slavery sentiment. Parties focus on their attitudes towards these events
18
Q
What led to the realignment of the parties?
A
The civil rights movement and the expansion of voting rights made the parties shift. Democrats started to lose their support among white southerners and Republicans lost their support of minorities.
19
Q
What characterizes modern parties?
A
Modern parties are characterized by polarization specifically among elected officials. They are more homogenous internally, but different compared to each other. Democrats are less to the left than Republicans are to the right (asymmetric polarization)
20
Q
How does polarization define the political parties?
A
The Democrat and Republican parties are characterized by polarization. They are characterize day being opposites of each other. Republicans are characterized by their extreme right rhetoric and Democrats are characterized by the left-centric policies.
21
Q
What is a two-party system?
A
A two party system means that only two parties have a realistic chance of winning seats in the legislature. There can be other minor parties, but they have no real chance of winning seats in the legislature.
22
Q
What is a multi-party system?
A
More than two parties have a realistic chance of winning seats in the legislature. This is the system almost everywhere else in the world.
23
Q
Discuss why the US has a two party system
A
Electoral college, Plurality/Majority voting, Psychological fears (money, voters, party organizations), “federalism”, voting rules (who can be a political party? state laws)
24
Q
What role does the electoral system play?
A
The electoral system incentives only two parties. All electoral college votes in a state are given to one party (winner takes all) so two major parties are incentivized. The plurality voting only allows for two parties to be competitive.
25
What is a majoritarian system?
A majoritarian system of voting is a system where the person who gets the majority or votes wins the election (first-past-the-post)
26
What is a proportional representation system?
A proportional representation system is where the percentage of the vote that a candidate gets, is the percentage of the seats in the legislature that they win
27
Describe Duverger's Law
Duverger's law says that under a majoritarian system, only two-party systems will emerge as competitive, whereas in a PR system, multiple parties will emerge and be competitive
28
What role does the presidential selection process play?
Electoral college requires a majority of votes to win
29
What role do the parties play?
Major parties control election rules in the states so they can impede the success of third parties
30
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a two-party system
Advantages: Extremists remain non-influential, Moderate policies to appease to the majority of voters, less fragmentation in the legislature as a whole, legitimacy because most of the country voted for a party gives the candidate more legitimacy, Electoral accountability (we know who to blame), Effective governance (the one party who has the majority should make it essentially easy to govern), Eases the burden on voters
Disadvantages: It is not natural due to the rules placed on the system, there is not a diversity of ideas, there is no role for underrepresented groups unless they are absorbed into the two-party system, people abstain from voting because they do not see their ideas represented, cannot ensure that the government represents the public
31
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a multi-party system
Advantages: More natural (without rules, multi-party systems would emerge), there is a diversity of ideas presented by multiple parties, there is a role for underrepresented groups (could be more women in legislatures and people from different racial/ethnic backgrounds), increases turnout because people see ideas and candidates that represent them, better represents the actual parties, there can still be a governing majority of coalition builders, Ensures the government represents the public
Disadvantages: Extremists have a platform and can win seats in the legislature, more extreme policies and lack of a moderate group, fragmentation in the legislature, there would not have to be majority support behind the candidates (prime minister only got 20% of the vote), Electoral accountability if voters don't like how things are going they don't necessarily know who to blame, if no party has the majority of the in the legislature there is no guarantee that it will be easy to govern
32
How does the public feel about the two-party system? Do these attitudes vary by individual characteristics?
Party: Almost a third of 30% of people would like to have more political parties to choose from, those who identify as independent are more likely to support the idea of more political parties, Republicans are less supportive of the idea of more parties than Democrats, there is a large middle ground of people who don't know. Age: people age 18-49 are more likely to support multiple political parties than those 50-65+, there is still a large middle ground; Education: College grads are more supportive of political parties than people with high school or some college
33
Identify exceptions to two-party rule in the US
Non-partisan elections (removal of party labels from many local elections), One-Party monopoly (in many places only one party has a realistic chance of winning), Third parties, independent candidates (some in office)
34
What was the role of the Progressive movement in establishing non-partisan elections?
The progressive movement worked to remove party legalese from many local elections to make it difficult for parties to let voters know which candidates are affiliated with the party
35
Why do parties dislike non-partisan elections?
There is no way to signal to voters what party they are in. Most of the time voters use the party question to make a vote without knowing anything about the actual candidate, under a non-partisan election there is no way to signal this.
36
Identify some examples of one-party monopolies
Small rural areas in Missouri, places in California, In the south, regional loyalties and racial fears overrode socioeconomic divisions
37
Why is is difficult to eliminate one-party monopolies?
There are stubborn party loyalties and an inability to raise money and recruit good candidates
38
Have third parties or independent candidates been successful in winning elections in the US? Why not?
They have not been particularly good at winning elections in the U.S. Only 7 have carried a single state in a presidential election. ~35 of the more than 1,000 governors elected since 1875 were from third parties there are non currently.
39
Why are strong party organizations important?
The party organization provides stability whole politicians and voters change overtime. Provide ling-term electoral success, give candidates a way to identify themselves to voters, gives voters a way to choose among candidates
40
What is a strong party?
A strong party is a party that has all or most of the characteristics required for a strong party. Those are legal, institutionalized, government status, Autonomous, Degree of Organization, Centralization
41
What is legality?
Strong parties are legal and regulated (acknowledged by the government)
42
What is institutionalization?
A strong party exists as a concrete object to the public separate from its momentary leaders
43
What is government status?
A strong party wins elections (wins the presidency, controls Congress, competes nationwide, and/or receives strong electoral support)
44
What are autonomous organizations?
A strong party is independent from nonparty organization (in terms of membership, leadership, and funding)
45
What is degree of organization?
A strong party is governed by rules, traditions, and norms, and has sub-national units throughout the country meeting regularly
46
What is centralization?
A strong party concentrates decision-making power at the national level and rewards/punishes candidates to ensure conformity
47
Discuss whether the American political parties are strong
American parties are strong in some respects that make a strong party, however, they are lacking in centralization, this is due to the fact that the president of the party is seen as the figurehead instead of the leader of the DNC and RNC
48
What about the legal environment (American political parties)?
American political parties are considered 'legal' and the states regulate party organization (financing, voting laws, etc.)
49
What about institutionalization (American political parties)?
The Republican and Democratic parties serve as concrete organizations distinct from current leadership they are institutionalized
50
What about government status (American political parties)?
Republicans and Democrats have both controlled the presidency, Congress, state offices, and local offices
51
What about being autonomous organizations (American political parties)?
Republicans and Democrats do receive support from specific sectors in society, but they are not dependent on these sectors for members, funding, and leaders
52
What about the degree of organization and centralization?
- The national party?
- State parties?
- Local parties?
Degree of organization: American parties are strong and are comprised of the national, state, and local party units (strongest) which all have rules, traditions, and norms
Centralization: American party units do not operate hierarchically, but as a layered organization (each with different responsibilities) and little power to enforce conformity
53
Identify incentives for party activists and discuss whether those incentives are concerning
Material incentives, Solidary incentives, purposive incentives, and combinations of the incentives
54
Explain participation in party activities
Party activists will participate in party activities like door knocking, canvassing, social media posts, discussing politics with others, showing up in every elections, consistently voting in one way or the other, etc.
55
What are material incentives?
Material incentives are those in which tangible rewards are exchanged for activity (money, jobs, preferments, steppingstones to office, etc.)
56
What are solidary incentives?
Solidary (social) incentives are intangible rewards gained from associating with others. These can include networking, feeling part of a group
57
What are purposive incentives?
Purposive incentives are intangible rewards gained from promoting and issue or principle of importance to the individual. The sense of satisfaction people feel when promoting an issue or cause that matters
58
What are motivations for professionals and purists?
Professionals: Material
Purists: Purposive
59
What does recruitment look like professionals and purists?
Professionals: Party Work
Purists: Issue or Candidate organizations
60
Where does loyalty lie for professionals and purists?
Professionals: Party Organization
Purists: Officeholders; non-party groups
61
What do professionals and purists see as the goal for the party?
Professionals: Win Elections
Purists: Adopt issue positions
62
What goals do professionals and purists have for candidate choice?
Professionals: Electability
Purists: Principles
63
How do professionals and purists give their support to candidates?
Professionals: Automatic
Purists: Conditional on Principles
64
Impact of Purists
- Do purists care about electability?
- Do purists resist party norms?
- Are purists detrimental to the party?
- Are purists representative of the party's voters?
Stone and Abramowitz surveyed all party activists and found that the majority were concerned with both ideology and electability and placed more emphasis on electability. Conventional wisdom says that persist will resist norms, however research suggests that experiences socializes event he most purists actives. It seems like an overreaction that purists are detrimental to the party, Bernie Sanders and his supporters still voting democrat even though he lost. Party activists are more extreme in their positions than party identifiers.
65
"The Policy Polarization of Party Activists in the United States"
- What is the research question or goal addressed in this paper?
- What is symmetric polarization?
- What is asymmetric polarization?
- What data is used to examine their question?
- What do the authors find regarding the polarization of party activists?
Collitt and Highton
Research Question: Are party activists polarized and if so, is this polarization symmetric or asymmetric
Symmetric polarization: polarization where both sides move an equal distance away from the center
Asymmetric Polarization: One side moves further away from the middle than the other group
The data used is the American National Election Studies (ANES) time series surveys from 1972-2016, party activists are considered people that engage in 4+ political activities, and policy domains are social welfare, economic issues, cultural issues, and racial issues
Results: the authors find that democrat activists are becoming more liberal and republican activists are becoming more conservative. There is asymmetry among policy, but not as much so between parties. Democrats have slight advantage on "normal" issues, abortion and the death penalty are two instances where the republicans are moving farther to the right than democrats are moving to the left
66
"The consequences of having weak parties and strong partisans"
- What does the author mean by weak parties and strong partisans?
- Why does this combination worry the author?
- Have their concerns played out?
- Are you concerned by the weak parties/strong partisans nature of American politics?
67
How are seats allocated int he US House?
Each state must have at least one, but all others are based on the population of the state.When states change in population size, they are taken away or added from other states. No new members (in terms of numbers) are added.
68
What power does this give to political parties?
The political parties have an incentive to keep people moving into their state. They also have the power to redraw lines when new populations call for it, meaning that the party in power will try to retain that power through redistricting.
69
What is reapportionment?
Reapportionment is the process of taking away and adding seats to a state when population changes. These seats are taken away from the states that have shrunk and added to the ones that have grown.
70
What is redistricting?
Redistricting is the process of redrawing congressional district boundaries in a state when reapportionment occurs. This is because it is illegal to have unequal population across the districts.
71
What is gerrymandering?
Gerrymandering is the process of legislatures redrawing district lines to benefit the party in power. Packing and Cracking are techniques used to either concentrate the position in a small # of districts, or split the opposition into as many districts as possible.
72
Describe the different ways redistricting can happen
Redistricting can happen by the legislature, courts, or commissions.
73
How does the type of redistricting process affect competitiveness?
The most competitive elections happen under independent commissions
74
How do candidates get nomination to represent their party?
Primaries are used so that the public can make the decision of who is nominated for each party
75
What is an open primary?
An open primary is a primary where anyone, regardless of listed party affiliation, can vote in any primary election. (registered democrat can vote in republican primary)
76
What is a semi-closed or semi-open primary?
A semi-closed primary is one in which partisans vote in their party's primary, but registered independents can choose which primary to vote in
77
What is a closed primary?
A close primary does not allow independents to participate and instead only registered democrats and republicans can vote and they must do so in their party's primary
78
What is a nonpartisan primary?
There are no party labels on the ballot
79
What is a runoff primary?
If no candidate receives a majority, the two-leading vote-getters compete in a run-off
80
Which type of primary is preferred by political parties?
Political parties prefer closed primaries because they know who to appease to. Only their partisans will be participating
81
What is cross-over? What is raiding?
Cross-over: voters participate in the other party's primary to participate in a more exciting race or to vote for an appealing candidate
Raiding: Voters participate in the other party's primary to weaken the other party
82
What is the Australian ballot?
a ballot produced by the government which includes all candidates and is marked in secret
83
Why was the Australian ballot adopted?
the Australian ballot was adopted because the progressives exposed the issues with the colored ballots that would indicate which party a person was going to vote for. red republican blue democrat. With the Australian ballot, the party machines had less control
84
What led to the adoption of the 1972 Nomination System?
LBJ had decided he was not going to run for reelection, so the Democratic National Convention was tasked with choosing a New Democratic nominee. Before this, primaries were optional and were used to demonstrate popularity to party leaders. The Democratic Party adopted reforms to open the nomination process to the public.
85
Describe the nomination process
- How are delegates allocated to the states?
- How are delegates selected to attend the nominating conventions?
- How do the parties select the winner of the party's nomination?
- parties allocate delegates to each state based on a formula that combines population and the state's party support
- delegates are distributes to the candidates. in the Democratic Party they are distributed proportional to the candidates vote total in the state and in the Republican Party the state can decide the number, but they must use proportional if the primary/caucus was held before march 15th
- when the delegates attend the national convention the candidate with the most delegates wins the nomination
86
What were the goals of FECA?
to limit campaign costs and reduce influence of money in politics
87
What are the provisions of FECA?
Disclosure of sources of campaign contributions: >$200 is required to be disclosed
Set limits on contributions from parties, groups, and individuals: limit of $2,000 to be given in totality
88
What is soft money?
Money that is given to a political party intended for "party building activities" this money cannot be given to candidates or used to endorse specific candidates, but instead can be spent on issue advocacy
89
What was the goal of BCRA?
to restore FECA's regulatory scheme
90
What provisions of BCRA were aimed at political parties?
prohibit national parties from using soft money in federal campaigns, limit contributions made to national parties, and restrict contributions to state and local parties
91
How has legal action altered the role of parties in elections?
The Supreme Court continue to hold harsh restrictions on parties and financing that were implemented by FECA and BRCA, but have taken away many rules on group spending. Parties must work harder to raise funds than groups and are far more limited in how they can spend funds
92
What are direct contributions to candidates?
Direct contributions to candidates have to be disclosed, there are fundraising limits on parties, there are spending limits on parties and there is input from candidates
93
What is coordinated spending?
coordinated spending has to be disclosed, there are fundraising limits, and spending limits, and there is input from candidates
94
What is independent spending?
independent spending has to be disclosed, there are fundraising limits, but no spending limits and no input from candidates is allowed
95
What are issue advocacy ads?
issue advocacy spending does not express advocacy for a candidate, does not have to be disclosed, there are no fundraising or spending limits and there can be no input from the candidate
96
What is hybrid spending?
hybrid spending expresses advocacy, has to be disclosed, there are fundraising limits, but no spending limits, and there is cost sharing between parties and candidates
97
Describe the pattern of party spending in 2020
Parties raise and spend more money year after year, but there is always a dip in raising during midterm years. Democrats raised more money than republicans in the 2022 midterms because off the overturning of Roe v. Wade
98
How has the campaign finance system weekend parties?
Vandewalker and Weiner, argue that the weakening of political parties is problematic because strong parties are those that win elections and maintain support throughout the years, and that parties organize government and then sort people into factions to make decisions. With campaign financing going to candidates, parties are losing out by all the restrictions, they are not able to function as well because candidates can be less reliant on them
99
Describe some suggested campaign finance reforms that might strengthen the political parties
raising or eliminating coordinated spending limits and other limits on party contributions to candidates, lessening federal regulation of state and local parties, relaxing disclosure requirements whose burden outweigh their benefits while strengthening others, To actually close the gas, parties' restrictions would have to be completely taken away or rules for groups would have to be reinstated
100
Define partisanship
a long-term, psychological identification with a political party
101
Discuss partisanship as social identity
the sense of self is defined by group memberships including party affiliation
102
Why is partisanship important?
It often gives people a sense of belonging
103
What is a party coalition?
104
Why are party coalitions important?
105
Describe the New Deal coalitions
106
Describe the Democratic coalition
107
Describe the Republican coalition
108
Define polarization
109
Are elites polarized?
110
What are the consequences of polarization?
111
Are voters driving polarization?
112
What two hypotheses must be true to demonstrate the connection that voters are driving polarization? Is there evidence to support either component?
113
What is affective polarization? How is it different from standard definitions of polarization?
114
What hypotheses do Iyengar, and colleagues examine?
- Describe Study 1. Are the hypotheses supported?
- Describe Study 2. Are the hypotheses supported?
- Describe Study 3. Are the hypotheses supported?
- Describe Study 4. Are the hypotheses supported?
115
Discuss the internal congressional dynamics that may contribute to polarization
116
Describe southern realignment. Does this explain polarization?
117
Discuss the effect of gerrymandering on polarization
118
How might primary elections contribute to polarization?
119
Does economic inequality drive polarization? Explain.
120
What ways might money in politics contribute to polarization?
121
Discuss the relationship between the changing media environment and polarization
122
Has negativity in campaigns contributed to polarization? Discuss
123
How might moderate voters solve the issue of polarization?
124
How can we get moderate voters to the polls?
125
Why would it be useful to discourage reflexive partisanship?
126
What can we do to encourage partisans to ignore their reflexes?
127
What role do young people play in solving polarization?
128
What can we do to encourage young people to participate in politics?
129
What is a responsible party?
130
When do responsible parties exist?
131
What American institutions discourage party unity? Why?
132
Is there evidence of responsible parties in the US?
133
Describe the role of parties in the organization of legislatures
134
How unified are the parties in the House and the Senate?
135
How polarized are the parties in the House and the Senate?
136
Have the parties become more polarized overtime?
137
How might the polarization of parties overtime affect the party's ability to govern?
138
"US Senators on Twitter: Asymmetric Party Rhetoric in 140 Characters"
- What is the research question?
- Discuss the asymmetry in party polarization identified by earlier scholars. What does this asymmetry lead Russell to expect for Twitter behavior?
- What is the argument? What is the hypothesis?
- What data is collected to test the hypotheses?
- What does the author find? Is the Twitter behavior of Senators asymmetric?
139
What role does the executive play in shaping the public image of the party?
140
How does a president affect the electoral fortunes of their party?
- Discuss the presidential coattails argument
- Discuss the role of presidential popularity
141
Can administrators in executive agencies be expected to implement the party's program?
