Chapter 10

Question 1

3 Elements to a Party

Answer 1

Party in Government
Party as an Organization
Party in the Electorate

Question 2

Party in Government

Answer 2

People who serve in government and identify with the given party label.

Question 3

Party as an Organization

Answer 3

The party organization separate form government. Examples: DNC, RNC.

Question 4

Party in the Electorate

Answer 4

Party identifiers in the public who often vote for their co-partisan candidates.

Question 5

Incentives to why Parties

Answer 5

• Structure of US Government requires building majorities across multiple institutions. Party is a bridge to do this.
• Parties are critical to voter mobilization (GOTV drives).
• Parties organize politics and information for voters and the government. (Collapsed to a single dimension)
• Party labels may create collective responsibility for policy outcomes.

Question 6

Constitution

Answer 6

Does not discuss parties.

Completely silent on the matter.

Question 7

Early Elite Factions

Answer 7

Factions developed within the legislature, but these were elite institutions.

Question 8

Rise & Fall of Machines

Answer 8

Political machines, running on patronage, dominated 1860-1894 with a progressive backlash between 1894-1932.

Question 9

Modern Party System

Answer 9

What we have now.

Question 10

Mass Party

Answer 10

With an expanding franchise, the mass party system develops with Jackson’s election (1828).

Question 11

Pendleton Act killed the federal spoils system but many city party machines continued to persist for years afterward.

Answer 11

True

Question 12

Party Brand/Label

Answer 12

The collection of cues, policy preferences, and information that people associate with a party in order to differentiate it from other parties.
Examples: Pro/Anti-Regulation, Gun control, Environment, young vs old, Progressive vs Conservative, +/- Taxes…

Question 13

Implications of Party Brand/Label

Answer 13

• Party brands are a collective good that can help or hurt all members of the party in the next election.
• Politicians have an incentive to protect and advance the party brand.

Question 14

Why No 3rd Party

Answer 14

Electoral System:
A “first past the post” system (most votes wins).
Single member districts (one winner per district).

Question 15

Implications of Why No 3rd Party

Answer 15

• If only 1 candidate wins, parties have an incentive to run just 1 candidate to avoid splitting the votes.
• Small parties can’t win seats. As such, there is an incentive to join a party (the closest) that can win.
• Two parties tend to develop who compete for the middle.

Question 16

Splitting the Vote

Answer 16

Two or more candidates with similar ideas and coalitions will split the vote between them, thus lowering the odds of any one of them succeeding.

Example: if a third candidate were to enter a race on the Democrat side, who would win? Why?
The Republican because the Dems would split the votes.

Implication 1: There will only ever be two effective political parties because each side, conservative and liberal, will prefer their candidate to win.

Implication 2: The candidates of each party will “race to the middle” to get the median voter because that’s where the most votes are.

Question 17

Recent Trends

Answer 17

• Higher rates of “Independent” ID.
• Split ticket voting is increasingly common.
• Rise of interest groups in GOTV activities.
• Campaign $ flowing to interest group PACs and not directly to the political parties. This makes the message (brand) harder to control.