Unit 7: Political Parties Flashcards
(T/F) Political parties are formally sanctioned in Article III, Section 4 of the Constitution.
False
What was the underlying cause for the shift from the fourth to the fifth American party system?
the Great Depression
(T/F) A system of proportional representation encourages the development of a two-party system.
False
Party alignment occurring in 1 or 2 elections
Critical Realignment
A durable shift in patterns of party support
Realignment
Party alignment occurring over 3 or more elections
Secular realignment
An organization that sponsors candidates for office
Political party
Durable pattern of competition for office between 2 or more parties
Party system
A term from political science and political history describing a dramatic change in the political system.
Critical election
The executive branch and the legislative branch is split between two parties, and in semi-presidential systems, when the executive branch itself is split between two parties.
Divided government
Part of the nominating process of candidates for United States presidential elections.
State primary
All of the following activities occur at the party’s national convention except _________.
choosing the party’s congressional leaders
Which of the following is true of third parties in the American political system?
They have forced the major parties to address important issues.
A statement of a political party’s proposed program
Platform
“Winner-Take-All Plurality Voting” helps explain why the United States has a…
Two-party system
The __________________ Commission proposed major rules changes to the delegate selection process for the Democratic National Committee Convention (these changes included encouraging states to hold primaries and to make the primaries binding on the delegates, reducing the number of convention seats going automatically to elected officials, and developing quotas for women and minority delegates).
McGovern Fraser
The congressional election system in the US is called “first past the post” because
the candidate with the most votes wins even if she did not win a majority of the popular vote
one of the two main US political parties which follows a broadly liberal programme
Democratic Party
one of the two main US political parties which follows a broadly conservative programme
Republican Party
A meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement.
State Caucus
An organization that seeks to influence public policy
Interest group
