Political Parties and American Democracy

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Political Parties and American Democracy

1. Purposes Parties Serve
2. Nomination of Candidates
3. Minor Parties in America

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What do political parties do for American
democracy?

• Organize Competition
• Unify Electorate
• Help Organize Government
• Translate Preferences into Policy
• Provide Loyal Opposition

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Nomination of Party Candidates

• Parties organize competition by nominating
  particular candidates to run under their party
  label in general elections.
• 3 Ways to choose candidate to nominate
• Direct primary
• Caucus
• Party convention

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Direct Primaries

• Traditional elections in which voters select
  party nominee
• Open primary
• Anyone can vote
• Closed primary
• Only registered party members can vote

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Caucuses

• Meetings of local party members to select party
  nominee
• Often differ from primaries in that they involve
  discussion/debate and no secret ballot

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Party Conventions

• Larger meetings of party members to create party
  platform and nominate party candidates
• Generally intended to give party activists and
  leaders significant authority
• Dont play much of a role in nominating
  candidates anymore
• More like extended TV commercials now

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Presidential Debates

• Nationally-televised debates are a key part of
  the presidential election process

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Electoral College

• American presidents are not elected by popular
  vote.
• There are really 51 small presidential elections,
  rather than one big one.
• Most states are winner-take-all all of their
  electoral votes go to the candidate with the most
  popular votes in that state
• Each state is assigned a number of electoral
  votes based on . . .
• . . . its number of representatives in Congress

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Controversy Surrounding the Electoral College

• Four times in our history, the candidate with the
  most popular votes has not been elected president.

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The American Two-Party System

• American democracy is said to operate under a
  two-party system because two large parties have
  traditionally dominated American politics.
• Effects/Virtues
• Stable
• Few dramatic policy changes
• More incremental/gradual change likely

Why do we have a two-party system?
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Winner-take-all system

• In US congressional elections, only the candidate
  with the most votes gets a seat.
• The US is said to use single-member districts,
  therefore.
• Is there an alternative to the winner-take-all
  system?

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Proportional Representation

• Alternative to winner-take-all single-member
  districts used in many parliamentary democracies.
• Seats in parliament are apportioned according to
  the percentage of the vote each party receives in
  a given district.

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Minor/Third Parties

• Traditionally not very successful
• The most successful minor parties have been . . .
• . . . candidate-centered.

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Relatively successful minor parties
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Political Participation, Voting, and Elections

1. Awareness
2. Voting
3. Campaigns and Elections
4. Interest Groups and Campaign Finance

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Are you politically aware?

• Who is your Congressman?
• Who is the Chief Justice of the United States?
• Who is the governor of Massachusetts?
• Who is the mayor of Worcester?
• Who is the US Secretary of the Treasury?

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Are Americans interested in politics and
government?

• 15 cant name their Congressman
• 28 cant name the Chief Justice of the US
• 67 report being interested in politics only
  some of the time or less
• About40 of Americans are part-time citizens,
  who participate only in major elections.

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A Pew Research Center Poll, 2009
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A further breakdown . . .
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The Attentive Public

• About 25 of Americans are generally interested
  and well-informed citizens who follow public
  affairs closely.
• Why arent more people interested in how their
  country is governed?

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Public Opinion

• Public opinion is generally measured through the
  use of public opinion polls.
• Serious polls are scientific and are created and
  executed by trained professionals.
• In order to be scientific, a poll must employ a
  random sample.
• Everyone in the group whose opinion is being
  sought has an equal chance of being polled.

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Margin of Error

• While highly accurate, even scientific polls
  cannot be entirely precise.
• For every poll, there is a particular statistical
  chance that it is inaccurate, which is the polls
  margin of error (MOE).
• How does the MOE concept work?

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Other things to consider in polling/pubic opinion

• Intensity
• How strongly a particular opinion is held
• Some polls measure this by providing respondents
  with a range of potential responses.
• Salience
• How central/significant a particular
  opinion/belief is to a person
• Latency
• The concept that some opinions/beliefs are held
  but not expressed until something triggers them.

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Sources of Error in Public Opinion Polls

• Survey error
• Bad/leading/misleading questions
• Sample error
• Not a truly random sample
• (Non)Response error
• Some people refuse to be polled
• Halo effect
• Tendency of people to give the right/socially
  acceptable response

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How do Americans participate in
politics/government?

• Voting
• Protest/demonstration
• Interest group activity
• Public expression of opinions
• Participation in political campaigns
• Why is open/public political participation not
  more popular?

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Where do we get our political beliefs/opinions?

• Parents!
• Media
• Church
• Friends
• School

The process of forming ones political beliefs is
known as . . .
. . . political socialization
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Evolution of Voting Rights

• 1870 15th Amendment
• 1920 19th Amendment
• 1924 Native Americans granted citizenship
  rights
• 1961 23rd Amendment (DC voting rights)
• 1965 Voting Rights Act
• Allowed federal govt. to register voters
• 1971 26th Amendment

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Voting in the United States

• Voter registration is required.
• Australian ballot now the norm (wasnt in 1800s).
• Does every democratic country require voter
  registration?

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Voter Turnout

• Percentage of those either registered or eligible
  who vote in a given election
• Highest in presidential elections
• Lowest in local elections

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Why dont more people vote?

• People most commonly say that they are . . .
• . . . too busy.

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Voting Reform

• National Voter Registration Act of 1992 (Motor
  Voter Law)
• Allows voter registration while applying for or
  renewing a drivers license
• Help America Vote Act (HAVA 2001)
• Provided federal money to improve voting
  technology
• Permits casting of provisional ballots if
  registration status of an individual is in
  question

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Should we implement other reforms?

• Automatic registration?
• Election day as a holiday?
• Early voting?
• Voting via internet?
• Compulsory voting?
• See chart, p. 231

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Who votes?

• Old more than young
• Wealthy more than poor
• White more than minority
• Better-educated more than less-educated
• See chart, p. 263

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Is non-voting a major problem?

• Groups that are under-represented due to
  non-voting
• Racial minorities
• Poor and working class
• Young people

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How do people decide who to vote for?

• Party identification
• Candidate appeal
• Issues

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What makes a candidate appealing?

• What qualities do you look for?

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V. O. Keys Theory of Critical Elections

• Election with especially significant interest and
  voter participation
• Significant and durable realignment of the
  electorate results

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Voting on the basis of issues

• Retrospective issue voting
• what candidate has done in the past
• Prospective issue voting
• what candidate is likely to do in the future

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Terms for federal offices

• President
• 4 years
• Limit of two terms or ten years
• House of Representatives
• 2 years
• No limit
• Senate
• 6 years
• Terms of US Senators are staggered

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Types of Elections

• Primary Election
• Voters select a partys candidate for a general
  election
• General Election
• Candidates from different parties square off
  against one another
• Winner is elected to office

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Midterm Elections

• Congressional elections that take place in the
  middle of a presidents term.
• Often considered a referendum on the president
  (whether they are or not)
• Party opposite the presidents usually does well

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Congressional Elections

• The first rule of Congressional elections is that
  most incumbents are re-elected.
• This is more true in the case of House seats than
  in the case of Senate seats.
• Why are incumbents so often re-elected?
• Safe seats, gerrymandering, name recognition,
  money, apathy, etc.