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82 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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The Responsible Party Model
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parties should offer clear choices to the voters who can then use those choices as cues to their own preferences of candidates, political parties have distinct platforms which they should carry out when their members get elected, there are clear ideological and philosophical differences between the parties
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factions
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another term for political parties
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1. Provide candidates
2. Gets people to vote 3. Allows voters to recognize their options 4. Provides leadership and organization in running the government (congress) |
Functions of Political Parties
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realignment
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When votersthat traditionally vote for one party shift their support to a rival party and sticks withthat party over a prolonged period
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dealignment
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When voters that traditionally vote for one party shift their support away from political parties and become independent
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Jeffersonians
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believed in the rights of the people, advocated for a strict interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, calling for state and local governments to protect the rights and property of its citizens, small government
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the Era of Good Feelings
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time period of one party rule, no one opposed the Jeffersonians
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New Deal Coalition
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under FDR's presidency, united several voting blocs (big-city Democrats, labor unions, minorities (racial, ethnic and religious), farmers, and the "Solid" South), reason elected 4x
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party discipline
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pressure on party members to vote on bills that have the support of the party leadership, also for the tendency for members of a legislative party to vote as a bloc
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Watergate
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scandal by President Nixon, hired burglars to tap phones and steal important documents, made Americans more critical of the president
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1. introduced the public financing of presidential election (candidates can get individual contribution matched by the government in certain cases)
2. Limited contributions to campaigns (Individuals $1000 per race per candidate, PACs $5000) 3. Limited overall expenditures 4. Limited expenditures by national party committees 5. Limited cash contributions 6. Established the Federal Election Commission |
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971
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Federal Election Committee
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the federal agency that regulates donations to and spending by candidates for Congress and the presidency
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Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
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the US Supreme Court ruled that campaign expenditure was equivalent to speech and therefore individuals can contribute as much money as they want to fund their own campaigns, encouraged the rise of PACs
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Political Action Committee (PAC)
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a private group formed to raise and distribute funds for use in election campaigns
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soft money
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money spent on party building activities or "voter education", not individual political campaigns, and therefore not subject to FEC regulations
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hard money
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money given directly to an individuals campaign or in support of a specific candidate, are subjected to FEC regulation
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party building
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anything that advocates for a certain political party, but doesn't explicitly tell people to vote for a certain candidate (can't tell people to vote someone, but can tell people to vote against someone)
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1. Bans national parties from raising and spending soft money
2. Bans federal candidates from raising soft money for political parties 3. Prohibits state and local parties from using soft money to pay for TV ads that mention federal candidates 4. Bans the use of corporate and union money to broadcast ads mentioning federal candidates 5. Raises limits on individual contributions to $2000 and indexes for inflation |
Campaign Reform Act of 2002
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527 Political Group
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product of the loophole found in Section 527 of the IRS Code, groups became a primary means of giving money to candidates, can't use "magic words" that advocate for or against and individual's campaign or directly subsidize federal campaigns themselves
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Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)
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corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in elections can't be limited under 1st amendment
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Political parties were not a part of the initial constitutional arrangement. They viewed faction as a bad thing and did not one dominate faction. Instead, the framers wanted to divide and dilute the interests of factions.
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What did the framers think about factions?
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SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Committee (2010)
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since expenditures do not corrupt anyone, the district court reasoned that groups making those expenditures are not corrupt either, individuals can give money for ads advocating for or against a specific candidate
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Super PACs
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can raise unlimited sums of money and then spend unlimited sums to advocate for or against political candidates, must report their donors to the FEC like a traditional PAC, unlike traditional PACs they are prohibited from donating money directly to political candidates
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interest groups
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a group organized to influence government policy
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Political parties exist to change government policy by getting members elected to office. Interest groups promote a position on a specific issue.
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What is the difference between political parties and interest groups?
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1. Shared interests and goals
2. Organized structure 3. Desire to influence public policy |
Three Attributes of an Interest Group
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1. Size
2. Emotional intensity 3. Geographical distribution 4. Financial resources 5. Lack of an effective opposition 6. Volunteers or paid professionals |
What determines the success of an interest group?
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pluralism
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realized that there are wealthy powerful people in this nation, but no single elite dominates American society, we can influence public policy by choosing among competing elites in elections, individuals can maximize their influence by participating in groups
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free rider
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benefitting from a public good while avoiding the costs of contributing to it, in this case interest groups pushing for a certain cause
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latent group |
groups in which an individual member can avoid making a contribution without a noticeable drop to the public benefit (large groups) |
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1. Pre-nomination 2. Nomination 3. General Election |
3 Stages of a Presidential Election |
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Pre-nomination Stage |
before anyone has voted, front runner is declared |
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front runner |
the candidate that most people believe has the best shot of winning the nomination |
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1. More money donations 2. Less Competition 3. Automatic party support |
Advantages of being a front runner |
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1. More attacks on campaign (you against everyone else running) 2. People examine you closer |
Disadvantages of being front runner |
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Nomination Stage |
through a series of primaries and caucuses, each party chooses their candidate for president, done by selecting delegates who will be sent to the national convention |
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primary |
state party election where people can come vote for which party representative they want |
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open primary |
open for whomever to come and vote |
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closed primary |
registered voters can only vote for their party |
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caucus |
held similar to a town meet, people speak and then attendees vote (not by secret ballot) |
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Iowa Caucus |
first caucus is typically held here |
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New Hampshire primary |
first primary is typically held here |
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national party convention |
delegates vote and nominate a candidate for president as well as vice president (more like an approval for VP though), adopts a party platform, serves as a general lift off for the general election |
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party platform |
a list of the values and actions which are supported by a political party or individual candidate, in order to appeal to the general public, for the ultimate purpose of gaining the general public's support and votes on topics or issues |
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General Election stage |
the nominees campaign, participate in debate, and otherwise try to win voters across the nation |
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1. each state is allocated a number of electors equal to the number of its US Senators and Representatives 2. each state political party submits a list of individuals pledged to their candidate 3. whoever has the most electoral vote in a state wins that state 4. in the middle of Dec., state electors cast their vote for president and vice president 5. Jan. 6th, votes are read before Congress 6. If no majority then the House selects top 3 contenders for president and Senate top 2 for vice president |
Electoral College |
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538 270 |
How many electors are there? How many electoral votes do you need to win? |
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winner-take -all system |
refers to the fact that whoever has the most electoral vote in a state wins that state |
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faithless electors |
a member of the United States Electoral College who does not vote for the presidential or vice presidential candidate for whom he or she had pledged to vote |
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plurality rule |
a method for determining an election's winner in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins (rather than receiving more votes than all other candidate combined) |
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1. Partisan 2. Retrospective Voting 3. Spacial 4. Directional |
Four Models of Voter Decision Making |
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Partisan Model |
also known as the Michigan model, party identification is a deep psychological attachment to a particular party, which shapes his/her perception of facts or issues, people filter info through their partisanship and come to biased conclusions (focus on what candidates opinion are) |
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Spacial Model |
issues or ideology is the most important factors in influencing a person's vote, people vote for the candidates who have the closest ideologies to themselves |
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Retrospective Voting Model |
voters rely on politicians past performances to make judgements about them and their party, leading to whether or not they will support their party's candidate in the next election (Ex: people blame Obama and democrats for bad economy, next president will be Republican) |
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Directional |
voters are interested in knowing which direction the various parties will shift policy, leftist voters want politicians that will vote left as well and vise versa (focus on how candidates will vote) |
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delegates vote and nominate a candidate for president as well as vice president and adopts a party platform, |
What happens at a national party convention? |
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exploratory committee |
an organization formed to help determine whether a potential candidate should run for office |
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convergence theory |
politicians shift to more moderate ideals to appeal to media for the general election |
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divergence theory |
politicians try to appeal to fringe voters to get people active in supporting their ideals |
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party identification |
a psychological attachment or loyalty to a political party |
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collective action |
action taken together by a group of people whose goal is to achieve a common objective (Ex: interest groups) |
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book written by Mancur Olsen on the topic of collective action; argues that people do not join interests group because they are too much efforts and individuals will not make an impact and they would rather free rider, small groups are more likely to do better |
The Logic of Collective Action |
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social movement |
a loose coalition of groups and organizations with common goals that are oriented towards using mass action to influence the government |
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entrepreneur |
a group leader who is so committed to the group's goals and so skilled in the pursuit of those goals that he or she does not need selective incentives (benefits the group can offer in exchange for involvement) |
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selective incentives |
a benefit that a group can offer to potential members in exchange for participation as a way to encourage that involvement |
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political parties |
a group of candidates and elected officials organized under a common label for the purpose of attaining positions of public authority |
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the Solid South |
solid voting bloc for Democrats in the South |
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political machine |
a local organization that controls the city or county government to such an extent that it can reward whole neighborhoods or other groups with benefits such as jobs and government programs in return for supporting the party's candidates |
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confidence vote |
a vote held in a parliamentary system that if it fails brings on an election and possibly a new set of party leaders |
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single-member district |
an electoral district in which a single person is elected to a given office |
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initiative |
an election held to vote directly on a ballot proposition that was proposed by a group of individuals |
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electors |
members of the electoral college, chosen by each state, same number as those in Congress |
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by-product |
a political activity conducted by groups whose principle organizational purpose is the pusuit of some nonpolitical goal |
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inside lobbying |
activities by lobbyists and interest group leaders that involve direct contact with policy makers |
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the Progressives |
political party made up of former Republicans the didn't trust Democrats and believed that machine-style politics were corrupt, more in favor of more government regulations than most republicans |
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1. electoral reforms because of their strong dislike for major machine-style politics 2. more government intervention in the economy |
What causes did the Progressives support? |
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Duverger's Law |
a regularity that only two parties tend to compete for control of the government in countries that have single member electoral systems |
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Australian ballot |
type of ballot that lists all candidates running for each office and allows voters to cast their votes secretly and for specific individual candidates |
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referendum |
an election in which citizens vote directly on whether to overturn a bill or a constitutional amendment that has been passed by legislature |
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delegates |
representatives who listen carefully to what their constitutes want and make decision based on feedback from constituents |
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lobbying |
an attempt to influence public officials by speaking to them directly or by pressuring through their constituents |
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outside lobbying |
refers to activities by group leaders to mobilize constituents and other people who are not part of the policy making community to contact or pressure people inside the policy making community |
