PoliSci 220: Final

Political Parties

Coalitions of people who form a united front to win control of government and implement policy.

Partisanship

Identification with or support for a particular political party.

(Parties represent the primary connection between ordinary citizens and the public officials they elect.)

Duverger's law

Single-member, plurality systems (first-past-the-post) electoral rules favor the development of two strong political parties.

Plurality System

A type of electoral system in which, to win a seat in a legislature or other representative body, a candidate need only receive the most votes in the election, not necessarily the majority of votes.

Maurice Duverger (b.1917)

Argues in his 1951 book "Political Parties" that America's electoral rules

contribute to the rise of an entrenched two-party system.

What do Political Parties Do?

1) recruit and slate candidates to run for office

2) help organize and fund campaigns for their candidates

3) organize primary elections to winnow candidates competing to run on their slates

4) develop messages to appeal to voters.

5) help like-minded politicians organize within government institutions.

6) help likeminded politicians coordinate to advocate for public policies within government.

7) synthesize interests by building coalitions among citizens.

8) educate the public by calling attention to and debating ideas in the public sphere.

Popular Critiques of Parties

1) Divided Government leads to gridlock.

2) One-party government can become dictatorial

3) Parties confuse responsibility by constantly blaming each other for America's problems.

Divided government

a government in which one party holds the presidency but does not control both houses of Congress

E.E. Schattschneider (1942)

Argued that "Political parties created democracy."

Federalist #10 (Madison)

Factions are inevitable. Large republic so no faction will dominate. Pluralism. (James Madison urges the country to reject faction in Federalist #10)

George Washington (political parties)

"Warns [America] in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party..."

Captured Groups Theory

Frymer asserts that some minority groups are excluded from political representation in America because both parties—in attempts to win

the median voter—refuse to develop strong messages in support of their interests.

Electoral Capture

political science concept referring to a situation in a two-party system where a specific demographic group reliably votes for one party, but that party takes the group's support for granted while the opposing party ignores them, leaving the group with little political influence or options

Harold Hotelling (1895-1973)

A statistician who noticed in a 1929 paper that party position taking in American tends to converge during general elections.

Duncan Black (1908-1991)

Formalized Hotelling's observation into the Median Voter Theorem in 1948.

Median Voter Theory

The theory that governments pursue policies that make the median voter as well off as possible. (messaging toward the middle)

- Affective polarization and negative partisanship make

"messaging in the middle" more risky.

Anthony Downs

Develops coalition of minorities law in 1958 to explain why excluded groups will always eventually be incorporated into the polity.

Coalition of Minorities Law

you pitch to the middle and lose, no permanent minority because you must expand coalition to capture more potential voters than before. Bigger pool = more chances.

Affective Polarization

The emotional dislike of members of the other political party

Negative Partisanship

A phenomenon in which people form strong opinions against a political party rather than in support of one.

Coalition Expansion

Doing a better job of courting new voters for the party; Anthony Downs' coalition of losing minorities law applies.

Realignments

are shifts occurring when the pattern of group support for a political party changes in a significant and lasting way

Plurality (FPTP/"First Past the Post")

The candidate who receives the most votes wins — regardless of whether that total constitutes a majority of all votes cast.

- Dominates federal, state, and local elections. Its chief

advantage is simplicity. Its chief criticism: it can produce "minority winner" outcomes.

Majority System

A type of electoral system in which, to win a seat in a representative body, a candidate must receive a majority of all the votes fast in the relevant district—50% or more.

Runoff Elections

When no candidate reaches 50% in round one, a runoff is held between the top two vote-getters

Article I, Section 4 of the US Constitution

The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.

--> the south locally controlled elections so Black voters couldn't use their 15 amendment rights

Key Federal Laws Passed by Congress

all set minimum national standards for election administration:

- Voting Rights Act (1965)

- Motor Voter Act (1993)

- Help America Vote Act (2002)`

Voting Rights Act (1965)

prohibits racial discrimination in voting

- a law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African-American suffrage

VRA Preclearance

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 required states with discrimination histories to obtain federal approval before changing any voting law.

Shelby County v. Holder (2013)

The Supreme Court invalidated the preclearance formula 5-4, freeing

covered jurisdictions to change voting laws without federal approval.

Louisiana v. Callais (2026)

The Supreme Court invalidated the Voting Rights Act of 1965;

Justice Samuel Alito argued in the majority opinion that partisan gerrymandering allowed states to dilute the voting strength of Black voters.

Executive Order 14248 (March 2025)

President Trump ordered the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to amend federal voter registration forms to include a requirement for documentary proof of United States citizenship; to prohibit mail ballots; and to require states to turn over registration data to the federal government.

- 3 federal courts ruled this EO UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Voter Fraud

Brookings Institution found only 36 cases of fraud, a rate of .0000845% from Heritage Foundation data (which is conservative leaning)

Single Member District (SMD) System

Every voter is assigned to a district that sends exactly one representative to the legislative body.

Proportional Representation (PR)

The main alternative to the SMD system; used in most European democracies; allocates seats in proportion to each party's share of the national vote.

Under SMD, geographic distribution of votes matters enormously

Article I, Section 2 related to House of Reps

requires a census every ten years to apportion seats in the House of Representatives among the states

3/5ths Clause in the Constitution inflated what? How was this fixed?

inflated the power of southern states in the House of Representatives and electoral college through to the Civil War.

- 14th Amendment reinforced and updated this apportionment

language.

14th Amendment, Section 2

reinforced and updated this apportionment language from Article I, Section 2 (requires a census every ten years to apportion seats in the House of Representatives among the states.)

Baker v. Carr (1962) and Reynolds v. Sims (1964

require districts to be roughly equal in population

Gerrymandering

Drawing legislative districts in such a way as to give unfair advantages to a political party or one racial or ethnic group.

- Partisan gerrymandering exists as politicians from one party intentionally manipulate the boundaries of legislative districts to disadvantage their political opponents' chance of winning an election and advantage their own party

Incumbency Advantage

Inherent electoral edge that current officeholders have over challengers, making it significantly easier for them to win re-election. Driven by 3 factors:

1) Name Recognition

2) Donor Networks

3) Safe Districts

Name Recognition

Years of publicly funded communications and constituent services build recognition challengers must pay heavily to match.

Safe Districts

Many incumbents represent gerrymandered districts drawn to favor their party. U.S. House incumbents win reelection at rates above 90%.

Open vs. Closed

- Open primaries allow any registered voter

- Closed primaries are limited to registered party members.

- Caucuses use in-person deliberation rather than secret ballots..

The Electoral College

Was established as a compromise at the 1787 Constitutional Convention

between those who wanted direct election of the president by popular vote and those who wanted Congress to elect the president from amongst their ranks.

--> mentioned in Article II of Constitution, but doesn't use the term Electoral College

--> formalized with 12th Amendment (1804)

David Brearley (1745-1790)

Delegate to the Constitutional Convention who proposed the establishment of the Electoral College.

Article II of the U.S. Constitution - Origins of the Electoral College

Calls for the states to send "electors" to the Congress to vote for president but does not use the term Electoral College.

12th Amendment (1804)

Formalized the procedure for electing presidents and vice-presidents through the actions of "electors" sent from the states.

Electoral College Inversion

When the Electoral College and popular vote split. Most people view these outcomes as undemocratic and negative.

EXAMPLE: The 2016 Inversion - Donald Trump won the Electoral

College 306-232 while receiving 2.9 million fewer popular

votes than Hillary Clinton

Interest Group

An organized group or association of people or institutions that used

various forms of advocacy to influence public policy.

Political Action Committee (PAC)

A private group that raises and distributes funds for use in election campaigns. These groups typically have direct relationships with interest groups and have strict limits on what they can spend to support a candidate or issue.

Super PACs

Nonprofit independent political action committees that may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, and individuals but are not permitted to coordinate directly with parties or candidates.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Argues in his book Democracy in America that Americans are "forever

forming associations" to advance collective goals. Tocqueville believed that Americans were a nation of "joiners" both for cultural reasons—their independence from government—and because of the weakness of their governments under the Federal system often demanded collective action

Pluralism

The theory that all interests are and should be free to compete for influence in the government; the outcome of this competition is compromise and moderation.

Kay Scholzman

Demonstrated in a 2010 study that two-thirds of the 14,000 interest groups with offices in Washington, DC represented corporate, professional groups, governments and unions.

Public Interest Groups

Interest groups that claim they serve the general public rather than only their own particular interest.

Lobbying

A strategy by which organized interest groups seek to influence the passage of legislation by exerting direct pressure on public officials.

Grassroots Mobilization

A lobbying campaign in which a group mobilizes its membership to contact government officials in support of a group's position.

Independent Expenditures

When Political Action Committees (PACS) or Super PACs spend on

communications to support or oppose a political candidate.

Free-Rider Problem

A problem that arises when people can enjoy the benefit of group activity without bearing any of the costs.

Public Goods

Goods enjoyed simultaneously by a group as opposed to a private good that must be divided up to be shared; free rider problem is most severe when groups are committed to generating public goods

Mancur Olson

An economist who demonstrated that the free-rider problem can be overcome with selective benefits (or incentives).

Selective Benefits

Specific private goods that an organization provides only to its contributing members.

Iron Triangle

The view from the 1940s and 1950s that stable, cooperative relationship that often develops among congressional committees, an administrative agency, and one or more supportive interest groups, not

all these relationships are triangular, but the iron triangle is the most typical.

Richard Hall and Frank Wayman

Demonstrated that lobbying gets interest groups time with politicians not necessarily the outcome that they want.

Counteractive Lobbying

The dominant view among political scientists that "most of what interest groups do in politics is cancelled out" by other forces—including the activities of other interest groups

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

The Supreme Court rules in a 5 to 4 decision that corporations can spend directly from their treasury funds on political campaigns; that corporations have free speech rights.

McCutcheon v. FEC (2013)

The Supreme Court rules in a 5 to 4 decision that individual limits on campaign contributions violate the free speech principles of the First Amendment.

Article I of the U.S. Constitution - Congress

establishes the Congress of the United States

Bicameral Legislature

two chambers make up Congress (House of Representatives and Senate)

House of Representatives

the lower chamber/house of Congress, consisting of a different number of representatives from each state, depending on population

Senate

the upper chamber/house of Congress, serves as a deliberative law-making assembly

Delegate Model

A theory of representation where the representative votes according to the preferences of their constituency. (House of Representatives in Framer's ideal model.)

Trustee Model

A theory of representation where the representative votes based on what they think is best. (Senate in Framer's ideal model.)

Edmund Burke (1729-1797)

Enlightenment philosopher and strong proponent of the Trustee Model of representation.

Substantive Representation

A type of representation in which representatives are held accountable to their constituency if they fail to represent them properly.

Descriptive Representation

A type of representation in which legislators have the same racial, gender, ethnic, religious, or educational backgrounds as their constituents.

Congressional Black Caucus

After the Voting Rights Act of 1965 expanded the ranks for Black

members of Congress, they formed the Caucus to actively tackle issues effecting the Black community.

Committee System

is the primary locus of legislative activity in the U.S. Congress

Standing Committee

A permanent committee with the power to propose and write legislation that covers a particular subject, such as finance or agriculture.

Select Committee

A temporary committee created in one chamber of the Congress to deal with a specific issue or problem.

Joint-Select Committee

A temporary committees created to deal with a specific problem that is

composed of members of both houses of Congress.

Sub-committee

Small units of the larger committees.

Seniority

A ranking given to an individual member of Congress based on the length of their continuous service on a committee; leadership positions on committees are typically doled out by seniority.

David Mayhew (1982)

The Committee system evolved to meet members' needs; but what

needs??? Mayhew asserts that reelection was the primary need.

Distributive Theory of Congress

legislative organization is designed primarily to help members deliver federal benefits (e.g., pork-barrel spending, public works, and targeted tax breaks) to their local constituents to secure reelection

Keith Krehbiel (1991)

Developed the informational theory of committees

Informational Theory of Committees

members of Congress want to make good public policy so they support committee work to reduce the costs of gathering the information they will need to cast votes. (argued by Keith Krehbiel )

Caucus (Congressional)

A voluntary group within Congress that is formed by members to pursue shared interests; a caucus can cross party, committee, and even chamber lines.

Susan Hammond (2001)

argues that Caucuses are another way for members to reduce informational costs about issues they really care about.

Speaker of the House

The presiding officer of the House of Representatives; normally, the Speaker is the leader of the majority party.

Majority Leader

the Speaker's chief lieutenant in the House; majority leaders are responsible for the day-to-day work of building political coalitions within parties and enacting laws.

Minority Leader

the leader of the minority party; coordinates their attempts to improve or defeat majority legislation.

Whips

members of the leadership team who serve as informational channels between the caucus leaders and the rank-and-file; they also count votes of the caucus on each piece of legislation.

Vice-President of the United States

President and presiding officer of the Senate; only votes during ties.

President Pro Tempore

resides over the Senate in the absence of the Vice-President; third in line of succession for the Presidency; longest-serving member

of the majority party.

Sponsor

a representative or senator who introduces a bill or resolution.

Markup

the process in which a committee or subcommittee considers and revises a bill that had been introduced.

Conference Committee

a group of representatives from both chambers who meet to reconcile differences in their two versions of a bill.

Fenno's Paradox (1975)

The political scientist Richard Fenno identified the fact, despite the low

approval ratings of the institution, citizens give their individual members high approval ratings.