Democracy and participation - parties and interest groups

Question 1

What has the pattern been of changing party polarisation?

Answer 1

In recent years, parties have become far more polarised

Question 2

What do Republicans believe in?

Answer 2

A conservative attitude on social and moral issues e.g. oppose gay marriage and abortion and a tough stance on law and order. Heavily informed by Christianity and support of the second amendment. Opposition to publicly provided healthcare

More restricted government intervention while protecting US jobs and trade - belief in Laissez faire economics and negative freedom. Industry before the environment

Acceptance of social welfare but a preference for personal responsibility

Question 3

What do Democrats believe in?

Answer 3

Progressive attitudes on social and moral issues, including crime
Pro choice and pro-LGBTQ+

Greater government intervention in the national economy - enabling state, Keynesianism and modern liberalism

Government provision of social welfare - greater gun control, more freedom for immigrants and Obama care

Question 4

What is the structure of national parties like?

Answer 4

They have national committees e.g. DNC and RNC. These are based in Washington

Then there’s congressional leadership committees - they oversee the election of each house of congress

Finally, there’s state and local party organisation - considerable power here lies with state governors and mayors

Question 5

What is the American party system sometimes referred to as and why?

Answer 5

The 100 party system. This is because each party has a varying ideology in each state

They can also be said to have a ‘two party system with no party rule’ - when in opposition, the party in America still has more power than the party of opposition in the UK

Question 6

What are the three different factions in the Democrats and what are the caucuses associated with them?

Answer 6

Liberals/progressive - Congressional progressive caucus

Moderates - New Democrat coalition caucus

Conservative Democrats - Blue Dog Coalition

Question 7

What is the term for parties being broad or catch all in the US?

Answer 7

Big tent

Question 8

Why are factions in parties more pronounced in the US compared to the UK

Answer 8

Because of the existence of primaries

Question 9

Which factions of each of the parties are becoming less heard because of party polarisation?

Answer 9

Moderate Republicans and Conservative Democrats

Question 10

What are the three factions and caucuses of the Republican Party?

Answer 10

Moderate democrats - Tuesday Group

Fiscal Conservatives - freedom caucus - emerged from the Tea Party movement

Social Conservatives - Republican study committee

Question 11

What are the arguments that political parties still matter?

Answer 11

• nearly all elected officials from state level upwards align with one party or another (only 3 independents in the Senate)
• umbrellas of allegiance - voter’s immediately get a sense of a candidate’s political stance
• hyper-partisanship - being seen as a party loyalist is often viewed as a political asset

Question 12

What are the two types of party polarisation? What has happened to them in recent years?

Answer 12

Substantive political polarisation - ideological gap between members of the two parties

affective political polarisation - the extent to which parties dislike one another

They have both increased considerably

Question 13

Who do white people tend to favour?

Answer 13

Republicans - they have favoured the Republican candidate every year since 1968. However in 2020, this percentage point margin was reduced from 12 to 8%

Question 14

What way do protestant Christians tend to vote (this includes evangelical Christians and Catholics)?

Answer 14

Republican giving them support anywhere between 54 and 62% since 2000

Question 15

How do Catholics tend to vote?

Answer 15

Generally an even split with a history of voting democrat but a dislike for their policies on abortion

Question 16

How does attendance of a place of worship affect your voting likelihood?

Answer 16

The more you go to a place of worship the more likely you are to vote Republican - of those who attended weekly, 61% voted Trump and 37% Biden

Question 17

Who do Jewish and Muslims tend to favour?

Answer 17

Democrats - 68% and 64% respectively supported Biden in 2020

Question 18

Who do people of no religion tend to favour?

Answer 18

Democrats - 72% backed Biden in 2020

Question 19

Who do women tend to support?

Answer 19

Between 1964 and 2000, 9 times out of 10 women were decisively more supportive of the democrats

Question 20

What statistic shows that race is a more important factor of how someone votes than education?

Answer 20

51% of white graduates voted Biden while 70% of non-white college graduates voted Biden and 72% of non white no degree voters backed Biden

Question 21

What is evidence to suggest women don’t always vote Democrat?

Answer 21

White women voted more for Trump (55% to 44%). This could suggest race is a stronger factor (90% black women). However, Biden received more of the college educated women (54%) suggesting education could also be a more important factor

Question 22

How does education tend to affect your vote?

Answer 22

Non-educated people tend to vote Republican and vice versa. 62% of post graduates voted for Biden in 2020, while Trump won 2/3rds of people without college degrees

Question 23

How does vote tend to change according to region?

Answer 23

Urban = democrat and rural = republican

Question 24

What shows that you cannot tell someone’s vote just by the state they live in showing it to be a less important factor?

Answer 24

In a red state like Texas, there are still more liberal cities like Austin and Houston, with the most liberal member of the HOR coming from Houston Texas.

Question 25

How does age affect voting in the US? How does this factor compare to the UK?

Answer 25

The Democrats tend to perform better with younger voters but the older ages are split more evenly

Question 26

Why does the US have a two party system?

Answer 26

• electoral system
• broad party ideology
• They find it difficult to get on the ballot as a result of the American Ballot Access Law
• they have to receive 5% of the vote at the last election to qualify for matching funds
• They aren’t usually invited to debates
• primary elections - this minimises the need for protest voting which tends to go to third parties
• gerrymandering

Question 27

Are the two main parties in renewal or decline?

Answer 27

This depends on what you place the most important criteria on. Arguably, their most important duty is representation in Congress, meaning they are in renewal as all but 3 senators align with a party

Question 28

What are the roles of pressure groups?

Answer 28

Representation
Participation
Agenda Building
Monitoring programmes of the government - they might take legislation to court

Question 29

What tactics will interest groups use to get their way?

Answer 29

• electioneering and endorsement
• lobbying
• voting cues and score cards
• organise grassroot activities
• mounting legal action

Question 30

What are the advantages of lobbyists?

Answer 30

54% use to work in Congress and 26% in the executive branch, meaning they have contacts and understand how the governmental systems really work

Question 31

Who do lobbyists target and why?

Answer 31

Members of standing committees who consider bills before they are debated by the rest of Congress. Few bills make it pass this stage and they only have to build a few key relationships with these people meaning they target them

Question 32

Why do Congressmen benefit from the relationship with Lobbyists?

Answer 32

They need key information + advice and they want to know what their constituents want or what donors want on order to keep them happy so they are re-elected

Question 33

Why are interest groups good for democracy?

Answer 33

• provide legislators and beaurocrats with useful information
• broaden participation opportunities in a two party system
• help to overcome such low turnout in elections - 58% turnout in 2016 elections
• Increased accountability e.g. score card
• may hep with the representation of minorities - can be more diverse than congress
• education
• draft legislation
• mobilise voters

Question 34

What are the negatives of interest groups for democracy?

Answer 34

• advice is inevitably bias
• not all interest groups are equal
• revolving door system - people who have just lost an election can re-enter Washington via becoming a lobbyist
• Can lead to tyranny of minority
• Arguably not needed because of the high number of elections in the US meaning there’s already great representation
• buying access undermines the free and fair system

Question 35

How are pressure groups of the US different to the UK?

Answer 35

Same sheep different fields
Interest groups exert significant influence because of the written, entrenched constitution, and the separation of powers, meaning there are greater access points and greater numbers of elections to influence.
There’s also a lack of sticks and carrots in Congress making congressmen more responsive
They can also donate far more financially to a party through Super PACS. UK pressure groups are prohibited in doing this by law
Ability to lobby judges in the US is far more established. It does exist in the UK - Gina Miller - but on a more limited scale. They can also use amicus briefs. Judicial review has risen in the UK
Ability in US to try and influence judicial nominations e.g. Brett Kavanaugh

Question 36

Example of a group using lobbyists?

Answer 36

After the Sandy Hook shooting of 2012, much tighter gun regulation was desired, but the NRA successfully defeated changes to the law thanks to their lobbying and sheer determination in targeting congressmen

Question 37

How many amicus briefs were filed in 2015 when Oberfell V Hodges was in the SC?

Answer 37

148 filed in 2015 - record number
This was largely contributed by Conservative anti - gay marriage group: American family association

Question 38

What are the similarities of methods used by pressure groups?

Answer 38

• Shape new laws - US Banking industry and the Dodd Frank Act
• Violent and high profile stunts - Just Stop Oil and Rise and Resist - campaign against Trump Administration
• social media