Ch. 7 Political Parties: Organizing Politics

Front 1

POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS

Back 1

Parties and interest groups that funtion as intermediaries between individuals and government

Front 2

POLITICAL PARTIES

Back 2

Organizations that seek to achieve power by winning public office

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FEDERALISTS

Back 3

Those who supported the U.S. Constitution during the ratification process and who later formed a political party in support of John Adams's presidential candidacy

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ANTI-FEDERALISTS

Back 4

Those who opposed the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and the creation of a strong national government

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MAJORITY

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Election by more than 50 percent of all votes cast in the contest

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PLURALITY

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Election by at least one vote more than any other candidate in the race

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DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Back 7

One of the main parties in American politics; it traces its origins to Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party, acquiring its current name under Andrew Jackson in 1828

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REPUBLICAN PARTY

Back 8

One of the two main parties in American politics, it traces its origins to the antislavery and nationalist forces that united in the 1850s and nominated Abraham Lincoln for president in 1860

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GOP

Back 9

"Grand Old Party"-popular label for the Republican Party

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NEW DEAL

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Politicies of President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the depression of the 1930s that helped form a Democratic Party coalition or urban working-class, ethnic, Catholic, Jewish, poor, and southern voters

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FAIR DEAL

Back 11

Politicies of President Harry Truman extending Roosevelt's New Deal and maintaining the Democratic Party's voter coalition

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GREAT SOCIETY

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Policies of President Lyndon Johnson that promised to solve the nation's social and economic problems through government intervention

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REAGAN COALITION

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Combination of economic and social conservatives, religious fundamentalists, and defense-minded anticommunists who rallied behind Republican President Ronald Reagan

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DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

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Organization of party leaders who sought to create a "new" Democratic Party to appeal to middle-class, moderate voters

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RESPONSIBLE PARTY MODEL

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System in which competitive parties adopt a platform of principles, recruiting candidates and directing campaigns based on the platform, and holding their elected officials responsible for enacting it

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PARTY POLARIZATION

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The tendency of the Democratic Party to take more liberal positions and the Republican Party to take more conservative positions on key issues

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NOMINEE

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Political party's entry in a general election race

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NOMINATION

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Political party's selection of its candidate for a public office

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PRIMARY ELECTIONS

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Elections to choose party nominees for public office; may be open or closed

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MACHINE

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Tightly disciplined party organization, headed by a boss, that relies on material rewards-inluding patronage jobs-to control politics

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PATRONAGE

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Appointment to public office based on party loyalty

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DIVIDED PARTY GOVERNMENT

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One party controls the executive branch while the other party controls one or both houses of the legislative branch

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SOFT MONEY

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Campaign contributions, not subject to regulated limits, given to a party for activities such as party building or voter registration, but not directly for campaigns. Soft-money contribuitions to national parties were banned in 2002

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NONPARTISAN ELECTIONS

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Elections in which candidates do not officially indicate thier party affililiation; often used for city, country, school board, and judicial elections

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CAUCUS

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Nominating process in which party leaders select the party's nominee

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WARD

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Division of a city for electoral or administrative purposes or as a unit for organizing political parties

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PRECINCT

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Subdivision of a city, county, or ward for election purposes

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CLOSED PRIMARIES

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Primary elections in which voters must declare (or have previously declared) their party affiliation and can cast a ballot only in their own partys primary election

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OPEN PRIMARIES

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Primary elections in which a voter may cast a ballot in either party's primary election

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RAIDING

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Organized efforts by one pary to get its members to cross over in a primary and defeat an attractive candidate in the opposition party's primary

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RUNOFf PRIMARY

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Additional primary held between the top two vote-getters in a primary where no candidate has received a majority of the vote

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GENERAL ELECTION

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Election to choose among candidates nominated by parties and/or independent candidates who gained access to the ballot by petition

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PARTY-IN-THE-ELECTORATE

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Voters who identify themselves with a party

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TICKET SPLITTER

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Person who votes for candidates of different parties for different offices in a general election

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PARTY-IN-THE-GOVERNMENT

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Public officials who were nominated by thir party and who identify themselves in office with their party

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PARTY ORGANIZATION

Back 36

National and state party officials and workers, committee members, convention delegates, and others active in the party

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CONVENTION

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Nominating process in which delegates from local party organizations select the party's nominees

Front 38

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES

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Primary elections in the states in which voters in each party can choose a presidential candidate for its party's nomination. Outcomes help determine the distribution of pledged delegates to each party's national nominating convention

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DELEGATES

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Accredited voting members of a party's national presidential nominating convention

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SUPERDELEGATES

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Delegates to the Democratic Party national convention selected because of their position in the government or the party and not pledged to any candidate

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PLATFORM

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Statement of principles adopted by a political party at its national convention (specific portions or the platform are known as planks); a platform is not binding on the party's candidates

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PARTY IDENTIFICATION

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Self-described identification with a political party, usually in response to the question, "Generally speaking, how would you identify yourself: as a Republican, Democrat, independent, or something else?"

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DEALIGNMENT

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Declining attractiveness of the parties to the voters, a reluctance to identify strongly with a party, and a decrease in a reliance on party affiliation in voter choice

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REALIGNMENT

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Long-term shift in social-group support for various political parties that creates new coalitons in each party

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THIRD PARTY

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Political party that challenges the two major parties in an election

Front 46

IDEOLOGICAL PARTY

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Third party that exists to promote an ideology rather than to win elections

Front 47

SINGLE-ISSUE PARTY

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Third party formed around one particular cause

Front 48

SPLINTING PARTY

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The party formed by a dissatisfied faction of a major party

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PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

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Electoral system that allocates seats in a legislature based on the proportion of votes each party receives in a national election