Chapter 8: Political Parties
Political Parties and their Functions
 Political party: an organization that sponsors candidates for
public office under the organization’s name
 True political parties select individuals to run for public office
through a formal nomination process: designation as an
official candidate of a political party
 This distinguishes political parties from interest groups
 4 party functions:
1. Nominating candidates for public office
2. Structuring the vote choice by narrowing the field of
candidates—determine the voting choice by lowering
number of candidates on ballot
Party Functions Continued…
 3. Proposing alternative government programs: types of
policies advocated by candidate of one party tend to be
different than types of policies advocated by candidate of other
party
 Candidates tend to favor policies that fit their party’s underlying
philosophy
 4. Coordinating the actions of government officials: officials of
a specific party typically work together
 Officials with the same party affiliation tend to have same
philosophy and voluntarily cooperate with each other
History of U.S. Political Parties
 Political Parties Flow Chart
 Election of 1824: because of the era of good feelings, Democratic
Republicans weakened due to lack of partisan competition
 In 1824, divisions within the party led to five candidates, each one
representing a different faction within the party, seeking the presidency
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Henry Clay: Speaker of the House
John Calhoun: secretary of war, support of states’ rights
Andrew Jackson: war hero
J.Q. Adams: son of former president, secretary of state under Monroe
William Crawford: former treasury sec.
 Jackson led in popular vote, but failed to win electoral majority—Electoral
college split: Jackson 99, Adams 84, Crawford 41
 Under such conditions, Constitution turns matter over the House for final
decision among top 3 contenders– Clay backed Adams
 Adams promised to make Clay sec. of state for support—as Speaker of the
House, this clinched presidency for Adams
 Made Jackson mad—felt he should have won because had popular vote,
lead to split in party
Minor Parties—aka Third Parties
 Four Types:
1. Bolter Parties: aka splinter parties; formed by factions that have
split off from one of the major parties
 Have not affected outcome of presidential elections
 Example: Tea Party
2. Farmer-labor parties: represented farmers and urban workers who
believe they were not getting their fair share
 Example: Populist Party
3. Parties of Ideological Protest: criticize the established system,
propose radically different principles, often favoring more
government activism
 Example: Libertarian Party
4. Single-Issue Parties: formed to promote one principle, not a general
philosophy of government
 Example: Free Soil Party of 1840s,1850s; Republican Party began as a
single-issue party—against slavery
Minor Parties
 3rd parties formed primarily to express some voters’
discontent with choices offered by the major parties and
to work for their own objectives within the electoral
system
 When it comes to getting votes, generally not that
successful
 Take votes away from major parties
 As policy advocates, have bigger impact—women’s
suffrage, direct election of senators originated with third
parties
Why a Two-Party System
 Stem from the electoral system in the United States and the process
of political socialization—also due to the fact that there has always
been one
 In typical election, two or more candidates contest each office,
winner is the single candidate who collects the most votes—when
principles of single winners chosen by a simple plurality of votes
govern the election of legislative members= majority representation
 Two party system due to use of single-member districts and winner-takeall system
 Legislature might by chosen through proportional representation:
awards legislative seats to each party in proportion to the total
number of votes it wins in an election
 Tends to produce a multi-party system because each can win enough
seats nationwide to wield some influence
 Examples: most European countries—Great Britain, Denmark, France
Party Identification
 Party Identification: a voter’s sense of attachment to a party
 Differs from voting—voting is a behavior; party identification is
a state of mind
 Across the nation, more people identify with one of the two
major political parties than reject a party attachment
 Party identification predisposes citizens to vote for their
favorite party
 Studies show that about half of all Americans adopt their
parents’ party
National Party Organization
 Americans parties parallel our federal system: have separate
national and state organizations
1. National convention: delegates meets every 4 years in order
officially nominate party candidates for president/vp
 Supreme governing body of the party, designates a national
committee, which has power to govern party until next
convention, and determines party platform: the statement of
policies
2. National committee: runs the party between conventions;
composed of party officials representing the States and
territories
 Chairperson of each national committee chosen by the party’s
presidential nominee, duly elected by the committee
National Party Organization
3. Congressional party conferences: at beginning of each session of
Congress, Republicans and Democrats in each chamber hold
separate party conferences: used to select party leaders in
Congress and decide committee assignments
 Party conferences deal only with congressional matters and have no
structural relationship to each other and no relationship to the national
committees
4. Congressional campaign committees: raises fund to support
party’s candidates in congressional races
 Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate maintain separate
congressional campaign committees
 The national committees hardly give money to congressional candidates