Achievable AP US Government

2. Political Participation

Our AP United States Government and Politics course is currently in development and is a work-in-progress.

Political Parties

9 min read

Introduction

In the context of American politics, a political party refers to a group of people with similar views who get together in order to win elections. They differ from interest groups that are concerned with influencing policymakers as opposed to winning elections. Both political parties and interest groups are linkage institutions, which are organizations that connect the people to the government. They are also what James Madison referred to as factions in Federalist 10.

Functions of political parties

As already discussed, political parties are interested in winning elections and getting their candidates elected into office. To achieve these objectives, they engage in the following activities:

Mobilization: Political parties motivate people to get people to go out and vote. They engage in voter registration drives, canvassing (where they use volunteers to go door to door and encourage voters to turn out on election day), and communicate with the voters via phone or mail to get out information and election guides, and use social media to interact with voters and encourage them to vote.
Recruitment of candidates: Political parties find qualified individuals who would be good candidates and encourage them to run for office.
Party platform: political parties produce a document that lists what they stand for on certain issues. The party platform is voted on at the party’s national convention every four years.
Party label: Political parties give a label to candidates (Republican, Democratic) so people with similar views recognize and support them in an election.
Organize the government: The government is organized along party lines. For example, Congress is organized along majority and minority party labels when it comes to leadership and assigning members to committees and subcommittees.
Raise and spend money: Political campaigns are very expensive. Political parties raise and give money to candidates running for office. Campaign finance laws limit the money given by political parties to a candidate to $5000 per election, but giving money to a candidate would be a signal to other donors to get involved.

Structure of political parties

Both political parties use similar structures to organize their respective parties. The national convention that officially selects the party’s presidential nominee meets every four years and approves the party’s platform, which is a list of the party’s views on political, social, and economic issues. The national committee of each party runs the party’s affairs between conventions. The membership of the national party is made up of delegates from each state. The national committee selects a chairperson to run the party. There are also state parties and local parties that run the parties at the national level. Each party also has a congressional campaign committee that works on electing party members to Congress.

Reasons we have a two-party dominance

Unlike the European system, the United States has had a dominant two-party system. The two-party system has become a permanent feature of our political system. Below is a list of possible explanations for the dominant nature of our two-party system:

Plurality system: Most of our elections are based on a plurality system where the winning candidate needs to get the most votes, not necessarily the majority of the votes. Therefore, if a candidate receives 35% of the vote and that is the highest, that candidate will win the election. In elections with a run-off system, the winning candidate must receive at least 50% of the votes. If that does not happen, a second round of elections will happen with the top two candidates from the previous round running again. In such a system, there is a better chance for smaller parties to succeed since there are multiple rounds to enter the race to succeed. Many of our elections, such as for the House of Representatives, are single-member districts (one person represents a given district) plurality system also referred to as first past the post, where whoever gets the most votes and reaches the finish line first wins. In such a system, people feel that voting for a smaller party is a waste of a vote.
Winner-take-all: In a winner-take-all system like the electoral college, the candidate with the plurality of the votes wins the election. So, in the presidential election in almost all states, the candidate with the highest number of votes takes all the electoral college votes from that state. Therefore, it is likely for most voters to avoid voting for smaller parties, since such a vote would be a “waste” since it is unlikely for a candidate of the smaller party to beat the other two main candidates and get most of the votes. Ross Perot from the Reform Party received 20% of the popular vote in 1992, but earned no electoral college votes because of the winner-take-all system.
Lack of cleavages: Americans tend to agree on issues such as the type of economy, the type of governmental system, and the idea that religion should be a matter of private choice. Americans tend to support the Democratic Party on issues such as education, environment, and favor the Republican Party on issues such as military and immigration.
Ballot access: For a long time, ballot access was an issue for the minor parties. They were required to collect a lot of signatures in every single state to even get on the ballot, while Republican and Democratic candidates were already on the ballot.

Political machines

Political machines were organizations that recruited members by offering them jobs, benefits, and money. The machines were in existence in the 19th century and controlled local politics. For example, when immigrants were pouring into the country, the machines were able to provide them with services in return for votes.

The political machines are no longer around for the following reasons:

Pendleton Act: Congress passed the Pendleton Act in 1883, which created a merit-based system for federal government employees. This law replaced the spoils system, which was the practice of political machines where political parties, after winning elections, took advantage of their win and distributed jobs and benefits to their supporters as an incentive for working for them.

Hatch Act: Congress passed the Hatch Act in 1939, which prohibited federal employees from running for partisan office, participating in political activities while on duty, to maintaining the integrity of elections. According to the law, federal civil service employees are not allowed to take voters to the polls or solicit money for political campaigns.

Welfare system: The federal government got control of welfare as opposed to political parties, which also took away the power of political machines to distribute benefits in exchange for support.

Voter registration laws: As laws were passed strengthening the voter registration system, political machines were not able to interfere in elections and artificially increase the voter turnout.

Increased education and income: As people became more educated and their incomes grew, they became less dependent on political machines for jobs.

Minor parties

Although the two-party system has been dominant for the reasons that have been discussed, we have had minor parties throughout history. Minor parties come about for different reasons such as ideology (socialist party or Libertarian Party), a single issue (Woman’s Party dedicated to woman’s suffrage), economic protest (Populist party opposed to the increased power of corporations in the late 19th century), or split from one of the main political parties (American Independent party that broke away from the Democratic Party in 1968 due to opposition to civil rights). The two areas where minor parties can be significant are when they force the other main parties to pay attention to their issues as Ross Perot from the Reform Party did in 1992 by focusing on the national debt or when they could split from a main party and take away votes from that party and possibly change the election outcome as Teddy Roosevelt did in 1912 by splitting from the Republican Party and causing the Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson to win.

Realignment

Realignment refers to changes in voting patterns where either a political party disappears or one party gains substantial support at the expense of another party. A realignment only exists if the changes in voting patterns are long-lasting. A critical election signifies the realignment period. A critical election is characterized by an unusually engaged electorate, a crisis facing a country (Great Depression), and results in a major shift in party affiliations, and is lasting. According to some political scientists, there have been five critical elections in US history (1800, 1832, 1860, 1896, 1932). In the last several decades, we have entered a period of dealignment (where voters abandon both political parties and become more independent).

Definitions

Critical elections: An election that signifies a lasting change in people’s preferences towards political parties.
Electorate: People who are eligible to vote in an election.
Hatch Act: A congressional law passed in 1939, which banned federal employees from running for partisan office and participating in political activities while on duty to maintain the integrity of elections.
Linkage institutions: Organizations that link the people to the government. There are four linkage institutions: Political parties, interest groups, the media, and elections.
Party national committee: An organization within a political party that runs the day-to-day operation of the party nationally.
Party platform: A formal list of principles, views, and goals of a political party.
Pendleton Act: A congressional law passed in 1883, which created a merit-based system for federal government employees.
Plurality system: An electoral system where a candidate wins by winning more votes than any other candidate. There is no requirement to win more than 50% of the votes.
Political machines: Organizations that recruited members by offering them jobs, benefits, and money.
Political party: A group of people with similar views that seek to win elections.
Realignments: A lasting change in politics where a political party disappears, or a political party substantially loses support.
Winner-take-all: An electoral system where a candidate who earns the most votes wins all the seats or prizes, even if they do not win a majority of the votes.

Next | 2.3 Interest groups

Political Parties

Introduction

Functions of political parties

As already discussed, political parties are interested in winning elections and getting their candidates elected into office. To achieve these objectives, they engage in the following activities:

Mobilization: Political parties motivate people to get people to go out and vote. They engage in voter registration drives, canvassing (where they use volunteers to go door to door and encourage voters to turn out on election day), and communicate with the voters via phone or mail to get out information and election guides, and use social media to interact with voters and encourage them to vote.
Recruitment of candidates: Political parties find qualified individuals who would be good candidates and encourage them to run for office.
Party platform: political parties produce a document that lists what they stand for on certain issues. The party platform is voted on at the party’s national convention every four years.
Party label: Political parties give a label to candidates (Republican, Democratic) so people with similar views recognize and support them in an election.
Organize the government: The government is organized along party lines. For example, Congress is organized along majority and minority party labels when it comes to leadership and assigning members to committees and subcommittees.
Raise and spend money: Political campaigns are very expensive. Political parties raise and give money to candidates running for office. Campaign finance laws limit the money given by political parties to a candidate to $5000 per election, but giving money to a candidate would be a signal to other donors to get involved.

Structure of political parties

Reasons we have a two-party dominance

Plurality system: Most of our elections are based on a plurality system where the winning candidate needs to get the most votes, not necessarily the majority of the votes. Therefore, if a candidate receives 35% of the vote and that is the highest, that candidate will win the election. In elections with a run-off system, the winning candidate must receive at least 50% of the votes. If that does not happen, a second round of elections will happen with the top two candidates from the previous round running again. In such a system, there is a better chance for smaller parties to succeed since there are multiple rounds to enter the race to succeed. Many of our elections, such as for the House of Representatives, are single-member districts (one person represents a given district) plurality system also referred to as first past the post, where whoever gets the most votes and reaches the finish line first wins. In such a system, people feel that voting for a smaller party is a waste of a vote.
Winner-take-all: In a winner-take-all system like the electoral college, the candidate with the plurality of the votes wins the election. So, in the presidential election in almost all states, the candidate with the highest number of votes takes all the electoral college votes from that state. Therefore, it is likely for most voters to avoid voting for smaller parties, since such a vote would be a “waste” since it is unlikely for a candidate of the smaller party to beat the other two main candidates and get most of the votes. Ross Perot from the Reform Party received 20% of the popular vote in 1992, but earned no electoral college votes because of the winner-take-all system.
Lack of cleavages: Americans tend to agree on issues such as the type of economy, the type of governmental system, and the idea that religion should be a matter of private choice. Americans tend to support the Democratic Party on issues such as education, environment, and favor the Republican Party on issues such as military and immigration.
Ballot access: For a long time, ballot access was an issue for the minor parties. They were required to collect a lot of signatures in every single state to even get on the ballot, while Republican and Democratic candidates were already on the ballot.

Political machines

The political machines are no longer around for the following reasons:

Welfare system: The federal government got control of welfare as opposed to political parties, which also took away the power of political machines to distribute benefits in exchange for support.

Voter registration laws: As laws were passed strengthening the voter registration system, political machines were not able to interfere in elections and artificially increase the voter turnout.

Increased education and income: As people became more educated and their incomes grew, they became less dependent on political machines for jobs.

Minor parties

Realignment

Definitions

Critical elections: An election that signifies a lasting change in people’s preferences towards political parties.
Electorate: People who are eligible to vote in an election.
Hatch Act: A congressional law passed in 1939, which banned federal employees from running for partisan office and participating in political activities while on duty to maintain the integrity of elections.
Linkage institutions: Organizations that link the people to the government. There are four linkage institutions: Political parties, interest groups, the media, and elections.
Party national committee: An organization within a political party that runs the day-to-day operation of the party nationally.
Party platform: A formal list of principles, views, and goals of a political party.
Pendleton Act: A congressional law passed in 1883, which created a merit-based system for federal government employees.
Plurality system: An electoral system where a candidate wins by winning more votes than any other candidate. There is no requirement to win more than 50% of the votes.
Political machines: Organizations that recruited members by offering them jobs, benefits, and money.
Political party: A group of people with similar views that seek to win elections.
Realignments: A lasting change in politics where a political party disappears, or a political party substantially loses support.
Winner-take-all: An electoral system where a candidate who earns the most votes wins all the seats or prizes, even if they do not win a majority of the votes.

Key points

Functions of the political parties
Reasons for the dominance of the two-party system
Role of the winner-take-all system in maintaining a two-party system
Political machines and the reasons they declined
Ways minor parties play an important role in American politics
Realignment v. dealignment

Introduction

Functions of political parties

As already discussed, political parties are interested in winning elections and getting their candidates elected into office. To achieve these objectives, they engage in the following activities:

Mobilization: Political parties motivate people to get people to go out and vote. They engage in voter registration drives, canvassing (where they use volunteers to go door to door and encourage voters to turn out on election day), and communicate with the voters via phone or mail to get out information and election guides, and use social media to interact with voters and encourage them to vote.
Recruitment of candidates: Political parties find qualified individuals who would be good candidates and encourage them to run for office.
Party platform: political parties produce a document that lists what they stand for on certain issues. The party platform is voted on at the party’s national convention every four years.
Party label: Political parties give a label to candidates (Republican, Democratic) so people with similar views recognize and support them in an election.
Organize the government: The government is organized along party lines. For example, Congress is organized along majority and minority party labels when it comes to leadership and assigning members to committees and subcommittees.
Raise and spend money: Political campaigns are very expensive. Political parties raise and give money to candidates running for office. Campaign finance laws limit the money given by political parties to a candidate to $5000 per election, but giving money to a candidate would be a signal to other donors to get involved.

Structure of political parties

Reasons we have a two-party dominance

Plurality system: Most of our elections are based on a plurality system where the winning candidate needs to get the most votes, not necessarily the majority of the votes. Therefore, if a candidate receives 35% of the vote and that is the highest, that candidate will win the election. In elections with a run-off system, the winning candidate must receive at least 50% of the votes. If that does not happen, a second round of elections will happen with the top two candidates from the previous round running again. In such a system, there is a better chance for smaller parties to succeed since there are multiple rounds to enter the race to succeed. Many of our elections, such as for the House of Representatives, are single-member districts (one person represents a given district) plurality system also referred to as first past the post, where whoever gets the most votes and reaches the finish line first wins. In such a system, people feel that voting for a smaller party is a waste of a vote.
Winner-take-all: In a winner-take-all system like the electoral college, the candidate with the plurality of the votes wins the election. So, in the presidential election in almost all states, the candidate with the highest number of votes takes all the electoral college votes from that state. Therefore, it is likely for most voters to avoid voting for smaller parties, since such a vote would be a “waste” since it is unlikely for a candidate of the smaller party to beat the other two main candidates and get most of the votes. Ross Perot from the Reform Party received 20% of the popular vote in 1992, but earned no electoral college votes because of the winner-take-all system.
Lack of cleavages: Americans tend to agree on issues such as the type of economy, the type of governmental system, and the idea that religion should be a matter of private choice. Americans tend to support the Democratic Party on issues such as education, environment, and favor the Republican Party on issues such as military and immigration.
Ballot access: For a long time, ballot access was an issue for the minor parties. They were required to collect a lot of signatures in every single state to even get on the ballot, while Republican and Democratic candidates were already on the ballot.

Political machines

The political machines are no longer around for the following reasons:

Welfare system: The federal government got control of welfare as opposed to political parties, which also took away the power of political machines to distribute benefits in exchange for support.

Voter registration laws: As laws were passed strengthening the voter registration system, political machines were not able to interfere in elections and artificially increase the voter turnout.

Increased education and income: As people became more educated and their incomes grew, they became less dependent on political machines for jobs.

Minor parties

Realignment

Definitions

Critical elections: An election that signifies a lasting change in people’s preferences towards political parties.
Electorate: People who are eligible to vote in an election.
Hatch Act: A congressional law passed in 1939, which banned federal employees from running for partisan office and participating in political activities while on duty to maintain the integrity of elections.
Linkage institutions: Organizations that link the people to the government. There are four linkage institutions: Political parties, interest groups, the media, and elections.
Party national committee: An organization within a political party that runs the day-to-day operation of the party nationally.
Party platform: A formal list of principles, views, and goals of a political party.
Pendleton Act: A congressional law passed in 1883, which created a merit-based system for federal government employees.
Plurality system: An electoral system where a candidate wins by winning more votes than any other candidate. There is no requirement to win more than 50% of the votes.
Political machines: Organizations that recruited members by offering them jobs, benefits, and money.
Political party: A group of people with similar views that seek to win elections.
Realignments: A lasting change in politics where a political party disappears, or a political party substantially loses support.
Winner-take-all: An electoral system where a candidate who earns the most votes wins all the seats or prizes, even if they do not win a majority of the votes.