POLI 208 Party as an Organization

Electoral mobilization

System in which group , particularly political parties, create incentives to encourage people to vote

Voter turnout equation

Claims that voters must find ways to make voting worth embracing the costs through means such as self fulfillment or belief in fulfillment

Cost-reduction-techniques

Strategies employed to reduce the cost of voting to encourage greater participation

Strategic party hypothesis

Parties will delegate resources to areas in which they will receive the most benefits with the least effort

Decision costs

Costs that occur to voters to make a decision, including trade-offs and time spent researching candidates

Competition

Close elections, both within and between parties

Black belt

Area in the southern US with a high proportion of black people due to slavery

Sectionalism

When one part of the nation acts as a unit against the rest

Party identification

A person’s long-term view and feelings towards a party; a lasting core value that influences how they view actors

Partisan ambivalence

Conflict between partisan and personal beliefs

Party coherence

Degree to which beliefs among a party are congruent

Social choice voting

People vote based on individual preferences and judgement

Proximity voting

Voters choose which candidate to vote for based on who has policies closer to a voter’s own preferences

Spatial indifference

When a voter is equally between two candidates or candidates appear too similar on a one-dimensional voting model

Voter Alienation

When citizens feel disconnected from candidates because their policies offer too little in order to support

Office-seekers

Actors who benefit from holding office

Benefit-seekers

Actors who benefit indirectly from the party’s control; either seek patronage or influence

Spatila theory

Places political actors on a spatial field based on policy stances

Insider-supported candidates

Candidates in primary elections who have backing from party leaders, activists, and elites

The invisible primary

Time before an election in which presidential candidates “nominate” themselves, then elites decide who to support with their resources

Candidate recruitment

Candidates usually enter races as party activists, in which they search for the nomination from the more desirable party

Party/partisan activists

Party elites who engage in political activities to push specific special interests

Electability

One’s belief in a candidate’s chance to win a general election

McGovern-Fraser Reforms

Mandated that national elections, specifically the presidential primary, select candidates based on a primary election

Candidate-centered campaigns

Largescale eletions shifted focus from one’s party affiliation to the candidate themself

Median voter theorem

Claims that voters and candidates along a one-dimensional field will ultimately elect a candidate preferred by the median

Exchange system

Members of Congress provide money to their parties to access other rewards such as leadership roles

War chest

Leftover campaign resources that members of Congress hoard for future political endeavors