Political Parties American Government 2

What is political socialization

Process through which individuals acquire their political beliefs and values

What are agents of socialization

Factors that have a significant impact on an individual’s socialization to politics

What is a political preference

Attitudes (or opinions) regarding performance of political leaders and institutions, candidate preferences in elections, and specify policy issues

What is an example of a political preference

Support for minimum wage, approval of Biden and congress

What is preference influenced by

Political orientations

What does your political socialization affect

The degree to what you participate, priorities, issue importance, and party of choice

What is a political party

Organizations that seek to win elections by influencing the outputs of government

What is a party guided by

Political philosophy rooted in particular value and an ideological approach to governing

Are parties stronger in the US than other countries

No

Why are European parties stronger

Clearly defined constituencies based on social, class, regional, ethnic, or religion definitions

Why are American parties weaker

Ideologically vague, align with broader constituencies, and gravitate towards more centrist issues and positions

Did Framers design a political system with political parties

No

What did the Framers want to be running America

Independent-minded people

What caused the first two parties

Ratification of the constitution

What were the first two parties

Federalist and Antifederalists

When was it organized to win seat in House

1792

When did party competition start occurring

1796

In 1800 were both parties highly organized and endorsed a slate of candidates

Yes

What is the party system

Voters directly choose electors which are necessary for parties to organize states and localities in better appeal to voters

How did party organizations become larger and stronger

Developed into critical instruments in campaigns

What was the national party convention for

Choose the party’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates and articulate the party platform

What are the functions of political parties

Contesting elections, recruiting candidates, nominating candidates, providing a framework for voters to make choices, providing organization for the operation of government

What party system does the US have

Two party

What party system does many other countries have

Mulriparty system

What is a multiparty system

Large number of viable parties organized on the basis of ideology, economic interest, geography, religion, or position of single or sets of issues

What key factors contribute to the two-party system

Electoral college, winner takes all process for selecting House members, and ideological nature of Americans

What is the Electoral college

Candidate must win a majority of voters to be elected president and leads to group of voters aligning with one of the major party candidates so as to not waste their vote

What is the winner take all process for selecting house members

Candidate with the most votes gets the seat, other candidates/parties get nothing

What does winner take all process for selecting house members prevent

Minor parties from achieving even minimal representation in congress (from which they might build more power)

What is the ideological nature of Americans

Most are centrist/moderates and it keeps the two parties from becoming too strongly ideological and risking their ability to build a winning coalition to make it electorally unfeasible for a third party to stake out a centrist or more extreme position

What was the democratic party originally

Democratic-Republicans

Who created the democratic party

Thomas Jefferson and James Maddison

When was the democratic party made

1790

What was the democratic party created in opposition too

To Hamilton and a strong central government

What did the democratic party believe in

Protecting individual rights and smaller government

Who split the Democratic party

Andrew Jackson’s election

What was the party from the 1840-1920s

The conservative party

What did the conservative party favor

Small federal government

What is the Grand Old Republican Party

Created in 1854 as an anti-slave party which was liberal in economic policies and favored a feral government to protect individual rights (to end slavery)

What began to shift in the 20th century

Who is joining the parties

Who is the democratic party gaining

More immigrant members, non-western, non-Christian, non-protestant Christian and working class

Where is republican party strong

Rural areas and the south, members predominately protestant, evangelical Christians, predominately white members and non-working class

Why do parties re-align

To match their base