• how the government is related to each other and how the people are related to the government - the medium is the policy

  • this includes media, interest groups, elections and campaigns

  • or on the other side you have legislative congress, executive president, and judicial court

Political Parties

• a group of citizens who organize to

  • win elections → hold public offices → operate the government → determine the public policy

• the party that has the most control in the gov then you can drive the policy making nature

  • more demo seats → more demo value policy

  • more repub seats → more repub value policy

• democrat and republican are labels

• bc we have a federal form of government → national, state, and local level of organization

  • there is a chairperson at each level → decentralizes leadership → hard for the party organization to stay strong

  • there is not a lot of cohesion in each of the parties between the levels of organization

• the party in the gov includes the party’s candidates and the office holders

Functions of a Party

• recruit and nominate candidates for public office

  • look at governors and the senate

  • senate is more likely to be picked for a candidate then the house bc the senate is elected by the whole state

• run political campaigns

• articulates positions on issues

  • what republicans feel about controversial issues

    • ex. global warming

• critiquing the policies of the party in power

  • the party that does not have a president in power looks at what the current party in power and citizens what they did wrong in order to use that to convince people to vote for them the next year

• serving as a linkage institution that connects citizens to running for office

  • providing info to voters about candidates

  • mobilizing voters to elect party candidates

  • raising funds to support party candidates

Two - party system

• a political system where there are 2 major parties who compete for control of the pubic offices

• there could still be minor or smaller parties who will run for office → will not win

• reasons why we have a 2 party system

  • strong consensus on core values

    • freedom, political equality, equality under the law, individualism

    • most Americans are moderates and hold beliefs that fall between liberal and conservative and the two parties hold the same core valued but he means to achieve those core values are different

  • single member district: only one candidate is elected to each office on the ballot

    • plurality system - prioritize the two main parties - and the candidate who gets the most votes wins

    • this makes it almost impossible for the smaller parties to win → a 2 party system

  • legal barriers for a 3rd party

    • 3rd party candidates have to petition in every single state to put their name on the ballot

    • major parties are already on the ballot

    • since the 1800s

Party Eras

• historical periods that are dominated by one party

  • 1860 - 1928

• critical election

  • national crisis forces voters to confront divisive issues that fracture party coalitions

  • significant groups of voters change their traditional patterns of loyalty

    • civil war

• party realignment

  • triggered by a critical election

  • the majority party is displaced by the minority part → ushering in a new party era

FDR and the New Deal Coalition

• the great depression ended the era of republican dominance

• FDR is trying to revive the democratic platform → slogan: relief, recovery, reform

• the new deal coalition - support to beat the wealthy industrialists

  • urban dwellers - has been a supporter of the republican party but is now democrat

  • labor unions

  • Catholics and jews

  • southerners

  • African Americans - has been a supporter of the republican party but is now democrat

• it excluded northern business leaders and the wealthy industrialists

• this is an example of realignment

Divided government 1968

• Nixon election also marked a new era of divided gov

  • republican president with congress dominated by democrats

• the trend continues: one party controls the white house and the other controls congress

Consequences of Having Divided Gov

• harder to come to a compromise and negotiate on terms

• slowed confirmation and the legislative process → gridlock

  • ex. highway 400 rush hour: potential to get to where you want to go but nothing is moving

• increased public frustration with gov → declining in trust and confidence in gov

• decline in the percentage of voters who identify with a party and the rise of independent voters

  • increase of split ticket voting

  • period of party delegation

Decentralized nature of Political Parties

• both of the major parties are highly decentralized and fragmented

• why?

  • the party out of power usually lacks a strong leader or obvious leader

  • the federal system distributes power widely → decentralized power in gov and in political powers

  • the nominating process can pit party members against one another → whoever wins will have to be supported by the same people who was against them → fragmented party

Types of minor parties

• parties dominated by charismatic leaders

  • Theodore Roosevelt’s bull Moore party organized around progressive ideas

  • George Wallace American independent party expressed southern backlash against civil rights legislation urban riots and antiwar protests

  • ross Perot’s campaign

• parties organized around a single issue - usually avoid other issues

  • free soil part - opposed the spread of slavery

  • the know nothing - opposed Irish Catholics immigrants

  • the right to life party - opposed to abortion

• parties organized around a ideology - profess a comprehensive view of society that is radically different from the established parties

  • the socialist party supported labor unions and advocated laws to regulate big business

  • the libertarian party emphasizes individualism and reduction of gov programs

Obstacles to Minor Party Candidates

• the winner take all format of the electoral

  • the most popular votes in the state gets the all the electoral votes

    • ex. Ross Perot won 19% of the popular vote but did not get a single electoral vote

• single member districts make it difficult to win seats in congress

• 3rd party candidates - exclusion from the presidential debates

Importance and Impact of Minor Parties

• express strong views on controversial issues

  • major parties usually make issues black and white in order to maintain followers and supporters

• often push major parties to adopt their ideas → makes the minor party more irrelevant

• minor parties can play the “spoiler” role of affecting the outcome of the election

  • ross Perot - independent party - pulled support away from Geore HW Bush in 1992 allowing Clinton to win

  • Ralph Nader - green party - pulled away from the Al Gore in 2000 allowing George W Bush to win

The Administrations of Elections

• elections are primarily regulated by the State law, but there are some overreaching federal regulations

  • congress has the power to set the time, place, and manner of congressional and presidential elections

  • congress has chosen the first Tuesdays after the first Monday in November of every even numbered year for the congressional elections with the presidential election being held the same day every 4th year

• states determine the details of the election of thousands of state and local officials

  • most states provide for absentee voting for voters who are unable to get to their regular polling places on election day

  • some states within the last few years have started to allow voting a few days before the election to increase voter participation

History of the Ballot

• voting was done orally in the beginning - it was considered “manly” to speak out your vote without fear of reprisal

• paper ballots began to be used in the mid-1800s

  • people would provide their own ballots → political machines took advantage of the flexibility of the process to intimidate, buy or manufacture votes

• in the late 1800s, ballot reforms cleaned up ballet fraud by supplying standardized , accurate ballots and mandating that voting be secret

Election Process - the first step

• the US there are two steps

  • nominations - where the field of candidates narrow down

  • general election - where the voters make the final decision of the who holds office

Presidential Primaries

• closed primary - voter are required to identify a party preference before the election and are not allowed to split their ticket

• open primary - voter can decide on election day what party they want to participate in

• the democratic party has replaced winner take all primaries with a proportional system that awards delegates based on the percentage of votes a candidate receives

• the republican party uses both - depends on the state

• only about 25% of adult citizens cast votes in primary elections - primary voters tend to be party activists who are older and identify

The Party Conventions

• they formally name the party’s presidential and vice pres. candidates

• they adopt a party platform

• they attempt to unify the party and generate positive publicity and momentum

• they kick off the transition from the primary season to the general election season and the candidates strategy changes

Presidential vs congressional campaigns

• presidential race

  • more competitive

    • winner usually gets less than 55% of the vote

  • larger voter turnout

    • still does not mean that it is healthy

  • must rely on the mass media to reach the voters

    • have to be able to reach people on a larger scale - all the people

  • incumbent presidents are often held responsible for whatever has gone wrong

    • ex. president trump - the covid pandemic - the spike in deaths, the mask/no mask policy, high unemployment rates

• congressional race

  • less competitive

    • winner usually gets more than 60% of the vote

  • smaller voter turnout

  • closer contact with the districts voters

  • even incumbent congressmen are held responsible for bad decisions made

    • people tend to be less knowledgably about the congressmen → most congressmen are more likely to get voted for re election just because they were already in office

      • unless they were on the news for some type of scandal

    • “run against Washington”

Congressional elections

• incumbency advantage - more clear cut for a congress election

  • during the last 50 years =, incumbency has been the single most important factor in determining the outcome of congressional elections

  • over 90% of house incumbents seeking reelection wins

  • over 75% of senate incumbents seeking reelection win

• why incumbents win

  • money

  • visibility - as long as they have not been in the news for bad choices or illegal things or shown in a bad light → they are more likely to get re elected

  • constituent service

    • casework - working to provide a certain group with certain things → leads to more support

    • pork barrel preservation - creates animosity between Americans because tax dollars on to a specific district for a project in order for that person to get re-elected by that certain district

  • the franking privilege - free mail - free advertising

  • gerrymandering - drawing district lines in funky shapes to benefit one party

    • which every party has control over the government can draw the lines in order to maximize votes during the elections

Consequences of incumbency advantage

• more experience in congress → enabling it to maintain continuity of leadership and policy

• discourages radical change - lack of consistency while encouraging close relations with interest groups(want to influence policy)

  • the longer you have people in congress → the stronger the relationship between congress and the interest groups

• incumbents benefit most from existing campaign finance laws - they have no incentive to change them

Campaign spending and reform

• federal election campaign reform act of 1974

  • created the FECA - provided partial funding for presidential primaries, provided full public financing for major party candidates in the general election, placed limitations on individual contributions to the candidates

• Buckley vs Valeo

• Soft Money (gets banned) - unregulated donations to political parties- building activities - this is used to circumvent the hard money limitations in campaign finance

• The Bipartisan Campaign reform act 2002

  • eliminated soft money contributions

• 527 groups

  • tax exempt organizations created to influence the political process

  • not regulated by the FECA

  • spend hundreds of millions of dollars on political messages

Electoral College

• was created because they thought that the citizens were not smart enough to know what they want - safeguard from the direct popular vote election

• each state has as many electoral votes as its combines total representative and senators

  • California has 55

• electors were originally chosen by the state legislatures - today they are selected by the parties

  • the framers intended the electors to be independent but now they are expected to vote for their party’s candidates for president and vp

• it takes 270 electoral votes to win the presidency - if that number is not reached the house of reps decides the election

Consequences of Winner take all electoral college

• in all the states but two, the president who gets the most votes gets all the states electoral votes

• candidates devote a disproportionate amount of time and resources to closely contested states known as swing states

• candidates emphasize issues that many swing a key block of voters in a pivotal state

• the winner take all system severely limits the 3rd party candidates

• sometimes a candidate will win the popular vote but not the electoral vote

Reasons why the electoral college as not been abolished

• it would require a constitutional amendment to abolish the electoral college

• it collectively benefits the small stats that are guaranteed at least 3 electoral votes

• the electoral college benefits facial minorities and interest groups located in key states

• there is no consensus on how to reform the electoral college

What decides the elections

1. the party has the main priority

2. issues(economically)

   • prospective voting and retrospective voting

3. the campaign

4. finding a winning coalition

Linking Citizens to Gov

• an organization where people whose members share the same policy views on specific issues and attempt to influence public policy

  • a social club is different bc an interest group actively tries to influence public policy

• interest groups operate at every level of gov expr4esses their members preferences to policy makers

  • can be labeled as a faction by the gov

• interest groups convey gov policy info to their members

• they raise and spend money to influence policy makers

  • this is not bribe

  • there are specific ethic rules that have to be followed

Key Differences between Political Parties and interest groups

• political parties - nominate candidates, contest elections, and seek to gain control over gov

  • they seek to win → to gain seats → to gain control over congress and gov

  • have positions on every single potential issue and current issues that are out there

  • they have to make polices that keep the greatest number of people happy

• interest groups - seek to influence people who are already in seats or in congress

  • focus on specific issues that directly affect their members - they become experts on the policies but on very few policies

  • they are only accountable for the interests of their members not the vast majority of society

Types of interest groups

• business groups

  • Chamber of Commerce

• labor groups

  • American Federation of Labor

• agricultural groups

  • Farm Bureau

• professional associations

  • National education association

• environmental groups

  • The Sierra Club

• public interest groups

  • League of Woman voters

• equality interest groups

  • NAACP

• single issue groups

  • Planned Parenthood

Interest groups goals

• lobbying - the process by which interest groups attempt to influence the decisions of policy makers

  • lobby courts

  • lobby congress

  • lobby the executive branch

• friend of the court brief - an individual or group that has nothing to do with the case but is permitted to assist the court by offering information or filing a brief that has a bearing of the issues in the individual or groups favor

1. gain access to policy makers

2. influence public policy

3. support sympathetic policy makers

4. supply credible information

   • policy experts - they have to give good correct info → can support from policy makers that trust your info

Contributing money to candidates

• if you want to give money directly to a candidate you must create a PAC

• PAC - political action committee formed by business, labor, or other interest groups to raise money and make contributions to the campaign

• PAC can contribute up $5000 per candidate per election

• there are more than $5000 PACs - they play a significant part in supporting incumbent members

Sharing Public Opinion

• interest groups spend a lot of money on public relation campaigns to bring an issue to the public attention

• they use ads to promote their image as good citizens who protect the environment and care about the communities

• they may engage in

• interest groups may provide incentives to people to join their groups

  • solidarity - a solution to feeling alone in your beliefs

  • material

  • purposive - allows you to feel like you are actively making a change in the political world

Mass Media

• a medium of communication

• entertainment

  • the ratings are keys to success

• news reports

  • political news has been published since the late 18th century (the federalist)

  • the role of gatekeeper

    • news stations filter through all the stories that they have been aware of choose to report it - we are not made aware of absolutely everything

  • the role of score keeper

    • similar to horse race - reporting on polling results

  • watchdog

    • watching for certain thing that can be reported and told to the public - a major check on the national gov on what they are doing wrong

• creation of political forums

  • politicians use the mass media to promote their careers and draw attention to their issues

  • the president has direct access to the media and this is able to use it to help set the policy agenda

• linkage institutions - how this connects us to the gov

  • connects people to the gov by interviewing citizens, presenting poll results, and covering protests

  • connects the gov to the people by interviewing political leaders and reporting on gov committees and programs

* the internet and social media are the new ways of campaigning and reporting news and they way the news can be spread

The media and politics

• candidate centered campaigns - they seem to be more significant themselves than the party themselves → the candidate can use the internet to campaign for themselves and not have to rely on their party funding

• political campaigns have become more focused on the candidate and less focused on the issues

• the mass media has contributed to

  • sound bites that have replaced dialogues and speeches - because no one is going to sit and watch a 40 min long speech

  • this could also be used to take things out of context and make the opposing candidate look bad

The internet and politics

• because of the internet…

  • potential candidates can now raise money in small donations

  • organize people to attend meetings - zoom is a great example of the advancements

  • take instant polls - even though those are unreliable most of the time

  • instantly criticize you opponent

    • ex. sound bites

  • mobilize local followers

    • Instagram, twitter

  • target campaigners with the names of people they should contact

Are the National Media Biased

• do members of the media have a distinctive political attitude

  • yes of course - they choose to report certain political issues a certain way or choose not to report them at all

• does that attitude affect what they say or write

  • yes the bias is apparent in their published works or even on TV when they show debates between newscasters on their beliefs on a political candidate, issues, or the president

• does what they write or say affect what the citizens believe

  • no because people tend to watch or read things that support what they already believe rather than delve into the other side of things

Government and News

• the news covers the government on different scales

  1. they give the president the most air time because he is more important

  2. then congressional coverage because that is where most of the decision making takes place

• there are so many news leaks because the media is testing out how the public will react to that piece of information - whether the reaction is good or bad

• sensationalism in the media - adhering to what the people want to see in order to get more air time or reach a high number of viewers and followers

• there are government constraints on journalists - some stuff is just on a need to know basis for the public