Chapter 14 Introduction

1. Explain how Trump and Sanders were not “traditional” candidates for their respective parties in the 2016 election cycle.  Why were these two candidates able to gain support among the American electorate?

   1.  Because they were outside the mainstream positions within their parties, and many Americans responded to their campaigns.

   2. Because they were both relatively close to the far side of their party while still raising policies that appealed to the moderates of their party.

2. How did Trump and Sanders deal differently with party leadership in comparison to candidates from previous election cycles?

   1. Unlike in the past, neither candidate concentrated on courting the best-known activists and leaders in their parties, the so-called party establishment or party elites. In fact, their campaigns went out of their way to alienate those elites.

3.  Analyze the quote: “Partisanship is strong, but parties are weak.”  

   1. The supporters of policies for a certain party are strong, but the actual party itself including things like organizational skills are weak.

4. What was Occupy Wall Street and what is it an example of? 

   1. This was a movement that protests income inequality (movement against the economy.) It is an example of a social movement.

5. Why did (does) the mainstream leaders of the Democratic party not support the beliefs of Sanders?

   1. Because they said his potential policies/ideas were unrealistic.

   2. -fear of losing democratic support and thought his beliefs were unrealistic. 

6. Specifically, why were many leaders of the Republican establishment leery of Donald Trump?

   1. Because he was an outsider and had never held a public office, he had never worked in government, and because he was a democrat for a long time so people questioned if he would be loyal to the party.

7. What attracted many Americans to Trump?  As president, has Trump continued to do the things that initially attracted many Americans to support him?  Explain.

   1.  Because he called to upend the entire system.

   2. He was described as authentic and blunt

   3.  He appealed to thee poorer people of America

8. What commonalities did/do Trump and Sanders share?

   1. Both argued that politicians can be bought with large campaign contributions. Also they shared a message of economic pessimism. Both drew strong support from voters who were anxious about where the economy was headed. Both actively criticized their parties’ mainstream beliefs on trade with other countries. They accused the parties of supporting trade deals that had led to the outsourcing of thousands of American jobs to foreign competitors.

Chapter 14, Section 1

1. What is a linkage institution?

   1. Institutions that connect citizens with the government (media, elections, PACs, interest groups, political parties, social media.)

2. According to V.O. Key Jr, what are the three roles of political parties?

   1.  As organizations, political parties recruit, nominate, and support candidates for political office.

   2.  In the electorate, parties provide labels that voters can use as shortcuts in identifying candidates closer to their own political ideologies. 

   3. In government, a party enacts the policy positions of its members and acts as an opposition to the majority party when it is in the minority.

3. In what ways are political parties “organizers”?

   1. They organize things such as fundraisers and goals for the party.

   2. -educate and mobilize voters, find and select candidates, money, establishing a platform, try to make politicians have good behavior

4. In what ways are the political parties struggling as a result of the Citizens United case?

   1. This case allowed for the unlimited collecting and spending of money by PACs and Super Pacs. And The campaign finance system restricts the ability of parties to raise and spend money and to coordinate campaigns so that candidates of the same party can pool their expenses.

5. What does electorate mean?

   1. All the people in a country that are allowed and registered to vote.

6. How are political parties a shortcut for voters?

   1. Because Some states have ballots that enable voters to cast their votes for all of the candidates from one political party. This is known as party-line voters (they pick candidates based solely on which party they are running under.)

7.  What is straight-ticket voting?

   1. Voting for all of the candidates on the ballot from one political party.

8. Analyze Figure 14.1  What does the top graph tell us about party identification?  According to the text, why might these numbers of party identification be trending in the direction indicated by the line graph?

   1.  Independent leaners are more common than democratic or republican leaners. 

   2. Because in recent elections voters have been less likely to support candidates of different parties in a single election.

9. What is split-ticket voting?  Has it become more or less prominent recently?  Support your answer with data from the text.

   1.  Voting for candidates from different parties in the same election. (ex. Voting for 5 democrats and 6 republicans)

   2.  It has become less prominent recently.

   3. “From 1964 until 1988, as many as one-third of House elections featured a candidate of one party winning even though a presidential candidate of the other party got the most votes in that candidate’s district….In 2012, only 26 out of the House’s 435 members won elections in districts where someone who was not from their party got the most presidential votes.”

10. What is the party platform and when does each party release their respective platform?

    1.  The party platform is a set of positions and policy objectives that members of a political party agree to.

    2. They release them at the party's national convention (every four years.)

11. What is the purpose of the national party chairperson?  

    1. They raise money and serve as a prominent spokesperson in the media (hired, not elected) They are a salesperson for people to vote and give money to their party.

12.  There are three levels of political party organization; national, state, and local.  Does the national party have complete control over the lower two levels? Using examples from the text, explain your answer.

    1.  No, they do not, they just have the power of advisory.

    2. “Yet the national party organization’s power over the state and local parties is advisory. It can’t tell them what to do. In fact, the state parties can put pressure on national parties.” If anything, the state has power over the national party.

13. What types of candidates do parties recruit?

    1. Candidates who best reflect the party’s philosophy and who will draw voters to them. Also they try to discourage prospective candidates who do not have a good chance of winning.

14. What types of support do the parties provide for its candidates?

    1. People who can contrast sharply with their opponents. 

15. Currently, how are parties (i.e. candidates) using technology to influence their campaigns?

    1. Parties maintain voter databases to collect information about potential voters and how to target them.

Chapter 14, Section 2

1. What is a party coalition?  In the table below, provide groups that form the coalition for both the Democrats and Republicans.

   1. A Party coalitions are interest groups and like-minded voters who support a political party over time.

2. Name the primary elements of the New Deal coalition.  When did that coalition fall apart?  What caused the coalition's demise?

   1.  Northern liberals, African Americans, and white southerners, labor unions

   2. It fell apart in 1964

   3. The issue over Civil Rights caused this coalition to fracture.

3. What is party realignment?  Explain how the 1968 and 1972 elections demonstrate this via a critical election. (The elections are in the next subsection of section 2).  The election of whom in 1980 solidified the Republicans control over the south?

   1.  When there is a sharp change in the ideologies of a party or when a certain group of people switch to another party after a long time

   2.  In the mid-1960s, the Republican Party’s base began shifting away from the Northeast and toward the rapidly growing South and West, which allowed Nixon to win the presidency in 1968 and even more decisively in the 1972 election. Much of this change had been driven by a realignment in which large numbers of southern white voters shifted from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.

   3. The election of Ronald Reagan.

4. Explain a party era?  How is that different from an era of divided government?

   1.  A party era is a time period where one party wins most national elections.

   2. An era of divided government is a trend since 1969, in which one party controls one or both houses of Congress and the president is from the opposing party, so this is more talking about controlling multiple aspects of government while a party era is more talking about winning national elections instead of multiple aspects of government.

5. How did George W. Bush’s campaign of a “compassionate conservative” impact the 2000 election, in terms of party politics?

   1. He eked out a narrow electoral college victory while barely losing the popular vote.

6. Analyze Figure 14.2.  What trends do you notice?  Explain the trends.

   1.  As time has gone on the presidency and the senate seems to have strewn towards voting democrats into office.

   2. There was a democracy for president in 2016 so this could have affected the office holders in other areas of government as well.

7. Explain the role of the Tea Party in regards to the Obama Administration and subsequent elections.

   1. Tea Party members were hostile towards. The Tea Party was credited with helping Republicans regain control of the House in the 2010 elections.

8. Following the 2012 elections, how did the two parties “rebrand” themselves?

   1. The RNC formed a panel of experienced activists who made a series of recommendations, including putting out a positive message and creating a diverse, nationwide operation of local activists. The democrats kept their majority in the Senate.

9. Explain possible problems that may diminish the future of both the Republican AND Democratic parties.

   1.  A problem that may diminish the future of democrats is the large range of ideologies faced in the same party. Many people may consider themselves democrats but have completely different views.

   2. A problem that may diminish the future of republicans is the growing demographic problems in the US. As the US becomes more diverse, those strongholds of demographics that republicans relied on may not be as prominent anymore.

10. Critical elections=1968 with Nixon, Lincoln’s election=1860 (states rights), 1932=new deal and great depression