Political Party

Political Party

• Organization of Citizens with same ideas on public issues that put those ideas into effect through government action• Encourage voters to vote for their candidate• Work to pass laws they like• Members join voluntarily • Local, state, federal level

Role of Political Party

• Group people’s voices together to be more effective and achieve results• Nominate (select) candidates to run for office• Work to have laws passed tries to convince voter it is best• If they win: make sure leader does a good job so they can win again in

next election• If they lose: point out mistakes winner makes so they can win next

election

Beginning of party system

• Anti-Federalist later known as Democratic-Republicans• Thomas Jefferson was their leader• Washington warned against patries

Democratic and Republican Parties

• Democratic Party split from Dem-Rep in 1828 when Andrew Jackson became president• Republican Party was formed in 1854, opposed Democrats and

Slavery- Abraham Lincoln became first republican president in 1860

Advantages of two party system

• When one party fails, other party is strong and ready to take over• Majority of voters are represented• When both parties work together it is called a coalition

Third Parties

• Never won presidency but made changes• Ideas adopted by democrats and/or republican• Ex. Senators used to be elected by state representatives not voters.

Third party said senators should be elected by people (very popular with the people). Dems and Rep adopted the idea. 17th amendment=senators elect• Theodore Roosevelt and Ross Perot-most famous 3rd party candidate

One Party Government

• All other parties illegal• Some times called “dictatorships” or “totalitarian” government• Governments command=people obey• Hitler’s (Germany), Cuba are examples

Party organization

• Party committees• National committee• State central committee• Local committees• Local party organization

• The party needs organization• Each committee is headed by a chairperson• Party leaders are picked in party meetings called “caucuses”• Committees decide how to raise and spend money to get their

candidate elected

Democrats-Republicans-Independent/Moderates

Core Beliefs

• Democrats-communal/society• Republican-individual responsibility

Economy

• Democrats-favor labor and unions• Republicans-favor free market

Taxes/government spending

• Dems=raise taxes on the richest to pay for services for the poor• Reps=low taxes especially on the rich because they are job creators

• Dems=spend on government services like health care, welfare, food stamps• Rep-limit spending on government services because it gets taken

advantage of

National Defense

• Rep=spend and build military • Dems=spend less and downsize international presence

Education

• Dems=side with teachers and unions for educational issues• Reps=against unions, prefer testing to ensure performance standards

Immigration

• Dems=amnesty, road to citizenship• Reps=close borders, limit immigration because of dangers

Independent/Moderate

• Somewhere in the middle on issues

Other issues?????

Shaping Public Opinion

• People’s opinion of government matters • On any issue there are many opinions-public opinion is the majority

opinion held on a particular issue

What Shapes Opinion?

• Family• Friends, teachers, clubs• Mass media (tv, radio, books, magazines, newspapers, internet)-prime

source of information

Opinion of a candidate

• Factors:• personality• Position on issues• Party affiliation

Political advertising

• Billions of dollars are spent on advertising • Posters, billboards, shirts, bumper stickers, commercials• Important for undecided voters, most voters are decided • Information can be one-sided• Good citizenship means thinking about all the information presented

and recognize fact from opinion

Propaganda and public opinion

• Propaganda-ideas used to influence people • More media=more propaganda• Concealed propaganda-presented as being factual and sources are

kept secret “He said he hates puppies” -tabloids• Revealed propaganda-advertisement

Techniques

• Testimonials-famous people• Bandwagon-peer pressure, repetitive tactic• Name-calling=“anti-puppy”• Glittering generalities-”blue collar, patriot, freedom-loving, true-

blood, family man”• Plain-folk appeal- “I worked two jobs, and went to school and taught

my class for my teacher because he was a bad teacher. Then I would go home in the snow and milk the cow even though I lived in Miami.”• Card Stacking

Measuring Public Opinion

• Polls=surveys• Used to figure what the public likes or wants• Impossible to ask everyone about an issue so a sample is asked

Interest Groups

• One of the most effective way to express an opinion is to be part of an interest group• An organization of people with a common interest who try to

influence government decisions• Also known as a lobby• A person who is paid by a lobby to represent the group is called a

lobbyist• Different from parties because they are not primarily focused with

electing candidates but to influence public policies

Interest groups

• From the beginning we’ve had them. People who opposed slavery became a group • Now we have labor unions, farm organizations, veterans, teachers,

older citizens• Many interest groups focus on economic interest of their members

and they support candidates that will provide support for their job

Example

• American Farm Bureau Federation• Nationwide organization of farmers• Works to have bills passed that help farmers recover losses from

natural disasters and failing crop prices

Other types of interest groups

• NAACP-National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Work to promote racial equality• NOW-National Organization for Women. Seek to protect the rights of

women• Public interest groups-promote interest of the general public, like

consumer products, wildlife, environment

How they work

• Encourage members to right to politicians about specific bills• Hire lobbyist to speak for them in Washington or state capitol• Lobbyist name=in the passed they waited in lobbies for politicians• Some lobbyist are former members of congress themselves

EX

• Minimum wage• Labor interest want to raise minimum wage• Business interest are against it• Both have lobbyist go to Congress and try to influence decision• Every time there has been an increase its been a compromise where

both parties don’t get exactly what they want

Influence

• Lobbies (interest groups) try to influence government officials but all try to influence the public to gain support. They advertise in mass media for support• Government made laws that regulate lobbyist. They have to register

as a lobbyist and show how much money they have spent on lobbying

Political Campaigns

• Volunteers try to inform voters about candidates• Interest groups join campaigns by providing volunteers and give them

money for their campaign• It is against the law for interest groups to directly give money to a

candidate• So how do they do it

PAC

• PAC-political action committees• Interest groups give money to a PAC and the PAC runs commercials

that they want to help their candidate• Does not directly give money to any candidate

Qualifications for Public Office

• President• 35 years old• Native born • Resident of US for at least 14 years

• Senator• 30 years old• Live in the state you plan to represent• US citizens for at least 9 years

• House of Representatives• 25 years old• Live in state you want to represent• Citizen for at least 7 years

Demographics

• Social Economic status• Poorer or lower income people vote less than middle/upper income

people• Lower education leads to lower income leads to lower voting because

they are less likely to be educated on issues concerned with voting

Demographics

• Family characteristics• Married and children leads to higher amounts of voting than single

people• Because you are more likely to be older have a job and there are more

issues that effect you like education policy

Demographics

• Race, Age, Sex• African Americans have been discriminated against in many aspects of

society like jobs and voting. There are many African Americans with low social economic status and that leads to less voting. Also, a history of government discrimination leads to distrust in voting and government• Age- younger people tend to be in a lower social economic status or

uneducated and that leads to lower voting compared to older people• Sex- women vote just as much or more than women