CHAPTER 8 – POLITICAL PARTIES AND INTEREST GROUPS
WHAT ARE POLITICAL PARTIES?: Political parties, like interest groups, are
organizations that seek influence over government. They can generally be distinguished
from interest groups on the basis of their mission. A party seeks to control the
government by nominating candidates, electing them to public office, and winning
elections. Interest groups do not seek to control the operation of government or win
elections, but rather try to influence government policies, often through lobbying elected
officials and contributing to campaigns. Although the Founders did not envision the rise
of political parties, these quickly became a core feature of the American political system.
Parties and partisanship organize the political world and simplify complex policy debates
for citizens and elected officials. Parties also play central roles in mobilizing citizens to
vote, informing the public about government policies, and ensuring that the public voice
is heard in policy debates.
o THE UNTED STATES’ TWO-PARTY SYSTEM: Over the past 200 years,
Americans’ conception of political parties has changed considerably. In the early
Republic, parties were seen as threats to the social order and to the stability of
the new democratic government and were referred to as “factions.” In the
Federalist Papers, both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison condemned
factions that pursued narrow self-interest over the well-being of the nation as a
whole. In his 1796 Farewell Address, President George Washington warned his
countrymen to shun partisan politics. Nonetheless, a two-party system emerged
quickly. Beginning with the Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans in the
late 1780s, two major parties have dominated national politics, although which
two parties has changed with the times and issues. Most other democratic
countries use a proportional representation system for election to their national
legislature or parliament, in which some or all seats are allocated to political
parties based on their share of the total votes cast in the election (if a party wins
40% of the votes in an election, its controls 40% of the seats in the legislature).
In contrast, in most elections the United States uses geographic single-member
districts combined with winner-take-all (or first-past-the-pot) elections. For
example, in a U.S. House district election, the candidate who wins the most votes
(the plurality) wins the seat, no matter if that candidate won 40%, 51%, or 80% of
the overall vote. That is why the system is winner-take-all: unlike in proportional
representation, no runners-up gain seats in government. Other countries require
the winning candidate to win a majority (50% plus one), not just a simple plurality.
This method of election exists because it is set out in the rules that govern it.
These laws encourage and support the American two-party system.
o POLITICAL PARTIES ORGANIZE AND CHANNEL MANY VOICES: Political
parties speak on behalf of citizens who individually have little voice but
collectively, acting through the parties, can have a loud voice. Parties have been
chief points of contact between government officials, on the one side, and
individual citizens and interest groups, on the other.
o RECRUITING CANDIDATES: One of the most important party activities is the
recruitment of candidates to run for office. Parties recruit candidates who are
loyal to the party’s philosophy and policy agenda, with the goal of controlling the
government and adopting laws that are consistent with the party’s platform.
Each election years, candidates run for thousands of state and local offices and
congressional seats. For “open” seats, where no incumbent is running for re-
election, party leaders attempt to identify strong candidates and encourage them
to run. An ideal candidate has experience holding public office and the capacity
, to raise enough money to mount a serious campaign, especially if that candidate
will face an incumbent or well-funded opponent in the general election. Party
leaders often have difficulty finding strong candidates and persuading them to
run, especially at the state and local levels.
o PARTY ORGANIZATIONS DEFINE HOW PARTIES OPERATE: In the United
States, party organizations, usually called committees, exist at every level of
government. State law and party rules dictate how such committees are created.
Usually, committee members are elected at local party business meetings, called
caucuses, or as part of primary elections. The best-known examples of these
committees are at the national level: the Democratic National Committee (DNC)
and the Republican National Committee (RNC).
o NATIONAL COMMITTEES: The DNC and RNC are gatekeepers for their
respective parties, influencing which candidates have a chance to win the
primaries by giving candidates money for their campaigns. They also try to
minimize disputes within the party, work to enhance its media image, and set the
rules for primary elections and caucuses. Sometimes party rules cause disputes.
The RNC was criticized for holding too many televised presidential debates in
2016, which some think helped Trump (a former television celebrity) win his
party’s nomination. In 2020, the DNC used performance in polls as a key
criterion for candidates to qualify for the nationally televised presidential debates,
which some candidates objected to. Money for campaigns is critical to winning
elections. The DNC and RNC have each established Super PACs (political
action committees) as critical fundraising organizations. These Super PACs
promote and publicize political issues, including by airing campaign ads. As
nonprofit political advocacy groups, they can claim tax-exempt status under
Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code. Super PACs can raise and spend
unlimited amounts of money as long as their activities are not coordinated with
those of formal party organizations or candidates.
o PARTIES SEEK TO CONTROL GOVERNMENT: When the bumps, bruises, and
dust of the campaign and election have settled, does it matter which party has
won? Yes. The party with the majority of seats in the House, Senate, or in the
seat of the presidency controls party leadership positions and sets the policy-
making agenda.
PARTIES AND POLICY: For decades, one of the most familiar
complaints about American politics was that the two major parties tried to
be all things to all people and were therefore indistinguishable from each
other. But since the 1980s fundamental differences have emerged
between the positions of Democratic and Republican party leaders on
many key issues. For example, the national leadership of the Republican
Party supports reducing spending on social and health care programs,
cutting taxes on corporations and the wealthy, protecting rights of gun
owners, reducing immigration to the United States, maintaining or
increasing military spending, preserving traditional family structures, and
opposing abortion. The Republican Party also opposes government
regulation of businesses, including environmental laws. The Democratic
Party, on the other hand, supports expanded funding for public education
and social services, a national health insurance system, increased
regulation of business to address climate change, higher taxes on the
wealthy and corporations to reduce economic inequality, restrictions on
gun ownership, and consumer protection programs. Democrats also
support legalized abortion and support protecting the rights of racial,
, ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities and undocumented immigrants.
Partisan conflict has intensified in recent years. Americans believe there
are stronger conflicts in U.S. society today between Democrats and
Republicans than between Blacks and White non-Hispanics, the rich and
the poor, and other social groups. In 2020, 91% of Americans said
conflicts between Democrats and Republicans are either strong or very
strong.
o FACTIONS WITHIN THE PARTIES: While party polarization, or the depth of
divisions between Republicans and Democrats, is at an all-time high, the
divisions within each party may be nearly as important. Parties are coalitions of
people and groups who agree on a broad common approach to issues but also
represent many diverse interest competing for power and influence. For leaders
in Congress and state legislatures, keeping these different groups working
toward shared goals can be difficult. The Republican Party today, for example, is
divided in at least four major ways. Pro-business conservatives, or traditional
Republicans, such as Nebraska senator Benjamin Sasse, are a generally affluent
group that favors small government and lower corporate taxes along with global
free trade. Far-right or alt-right conservatives, such as President Trump, are
opposed to immigration and global free trade and to institutions like the United
Nations. They favor tariffs on imports to the United States in order to protect
American-made products and tend to be social conservatives, often with lower
levels of education. Social and religious conservatives, such as Texas senator
Ted Cruz, are primarily driven by their values on cultural and moral issues, such
as opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Finally, libertarians, such as
Kentucky senator Rand Paul, believe in small government, less government
regulation, and more individual freedoms, and they oppose foreign wars. These
divisions can present severe challenges for governing. In 2020, Democrats in
Congress staunchly opposed President Trump and his policies, but differences
between the moderate and progressive wings of the party threatened to
undermine Democratic Party unity. The super-progressives like members of “The
Squad” – Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley
(Mass.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.) – seek European Union-
type policies to create universal national health care and to eliminate private
health insurance. Traditional Democrats support traditional liberal government
policies, but seek more incremental rather thang dramatic change. Such
divisions may have contributed to the Democrats losing the White House and
Congress in 2016, as many Sanders supporters refused to vote for Clinton in the
general election and 10% voted for Trump. Democrats strongly favor expanded
social safety nets, reducing student-loan debt, and addressing climate change.
PARTY IDENTIFICATION GUIDES VOTERS: One reason why parties are so important
is that individuals tend to develop an identification with one of them at a young age. Part
identification has been likened to wearing blue- or red-tinted glasses: they color voters’
understanding of politics in general and are the most important cue in how to vote in
elections. Party identification can create information bubbles and filters, where citizens
follow news media or candidates on social media that are of the same partisan leaning.
The vast majority of Republicans vote for Republican candidates, and the vast majority
of Democrats vote for Democrats. Although it is partly an emotional attachment, party
identification also has a rational component. Voters generally form attachment to the
party that reflects their views and interests. Once those attachments are formed, usually
in youth, they are likely to persist and even be handed down to children, unless some
very strong factors convince individuals that their party is no longer serving their
WHAT ARE POLITICAL PARTIES?: Political parties, like interest groups, are
organizations that seek influence over government. They can generally be distinguished
from interest groups on the basis of their mission. A party seeks to control the
government by nominating candidates, electing them to public office, and winning
elections. Interest groups do not seek to control the operation of government or win
elections, but rather try to influence government policies, often through lobbying elected
officials and contributing to campaigns. Although the Founders did not envision the rise
of political parties, these quickly became a core feature of the American political system.
Parties and partisanship organize the political world and simplify complex policy debates
for citizens and elected officials. Parties also play central roles in mobilizing citizens to
vote, informing the public about government policies, and ensuring that the public voice
is heard in policy debates.
o THE UNTED STATES’ TWO-PARTY SYSTEM: Over the past 200 years,
Americans’ conception of political parties has changed considerably. In the early
Republic, parties were seen as threats to the social order and to the stability of
the new democratic government and were referred to as “factions.” In the
Federalist Papers, both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison condemned
factions that pursued narrow self-interest over the well-being of the nation as a
whole. In his 1796 Farewell Address, President George Washington warned his
countrymen to shun partisan politics. Nonetheless, a two-party system emerged
quickly. Beginning with the Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans in the
late 1780s, two major parties have dominated national politics, although which
two parties has changed with the times and issues. Most other democratic
countries use a proportional representation system for election to their national
legislature or parliament, in which some or all seats are allocated to political
parties based on their share of the total votes cast in the election (if a party wins
40% of the votes in an election, its controls 40% of the seats in the legislature).
In contrast, in most elections the United States uses geographic single-member
districts combined with winner-take-all (or first-past-the-pot) elections. For
example, in a U.S. House district election, the candidate who wins the most votes
(the plurality) wins the seat, no matter if that candidate won 40%, 51%, or 80% of
the overall vote. That is why the system is winner-take-all: unlike in proportional
representation, no runners-up gain seats in government. Other countries require
the winning candidate to win a majority (50% plus one), not just a simple plurality.
This method of election exists because it is set out in the rules that govern it.
These laws encourage and support the American two-party system.
o POLITICAL PARTIES ORGANIZE AND CHANNEL MANY VOICES: Political
parties speak on behalf of citizens who individually have little voice but
collectively, acting through the parties, can have a loud voice. Parties have been
chief points of contact between government officials, on the one side, and
individual citizens and interest groups, on the other.
o RECRUITING CANDIDATES: One of the most important party activities is the
recruitment of candidates to run for office. Parties recruit candidates who are
loyal to the party’s philosophy and policy agenda, with the goal of controlling the
government and adopting laws that are consistent with the party’s platform.
Each election years, candidates run for thousands of state and local offices and
congressional seats. For “open” seats, where no incumbent is running for re-
election, party leaders attempt to identify strong candidates and encourage them
to run. An ideal candidate has experience holding public office and the capacity
, to raise enough money to mount a serious campaign, especially if that candidate
will face an incumbent or well-funded opponent in the general election. Party
leaders often have difficulty finding strong candidates and persuading them to
run, especially at the state and local levels.
o PARTY ORGANIZATIONS DEFINE HOW PARTIES OPERATE: In the United
States, party organizations, usually called committees, exist at every level of
government. State law and party rules dictate how such committees are created.
Usually, committee members are elected at local party business meetings, called
caucuses, or as part of primary elections. The best-known examples of these
committees are at the national level: the Democratic National Committee (DNC)
and the Republican National Committee (RNC).
o NATIONAL COMMITTEES: The DNC and RNC are gatekeepers for their
respective parties, influencing which candidates have a chance to win the
primaries by giving candidates money for their campaigns. They also try to
minimize disputes within the party, work to enhance its media image, and set the
rules for primary elections and caucuses. Sometimes party rules cause disputes.
The RNC was criticized for holding too many televised presidential debates in
2016, which some think helped Trump (a former television celebrity) win his
party’s nomination. In 2020, the DNC used performance in polls as a key
criterion for candidates to qualify for the nationally televised presidential debates,
which some candidates objected to. Money for campaigns is critical to winning
elections. The DNC and RNC have each established Super PACs (political
action committees) as critical fundraising organizations. These Super PACs
promote and publicize political issues, including by airing campaign ads. As
nonprofit political advocacy groups, they can claim tax-exempt status under
Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code. Super PACs can raise and spend
unlimited amounts of money as long as their activities are not coordinated with
those of formal party organizations or candidates.
o PARTIES SEEK TO CONTROL GOVERNMENT: When the bumps, bruises, and
dust of the campaign and election have settled, does it matter which party has
won? Yes. The party with the majority of seats in the House, Senate, or in the
seat of the presidency controls party leadership positions and sets the policy-
making agenda.
PARTIES AND POLICY: For decades, one of the most familiar
complaints about American politics was that the two major parties tried to
be all things to all people and were therefore indistinguishable from each
other. But since the 1980s fundamental differences have emerged
between the positions of Democratic and Republican party leaders on
many key issues. For example, the national leadership of the Republican
Party supports reducing spending on social and health care programs,
cutting taxes on corporations and the wealthy, protecting rights of gun
owners, reducing immigration to the United States, maintaining or
increasing military spending, preserving traditional family structures, and
opposing abortion. The Republican Party also opposes government
regulation of businesses, including environmental laws. The Democratic
Party, on the other hand, supports expanded funding for public education
and social services, a national health insurance system, increased
regulation of business to address climate change, higher taxes on the
wealthy and corporations to reduce economic inequality, restrictions on
gun ownership, and consumer protection programs. Democrats also
support legalized abortion and support protecting the rights of racial,
, ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities and undocumented immigrants.
Partisan conflict has intensified in recent years. Americans believe there
are stronger conflicts in U.S. society today between Democrats and
Republicans than between Blacks and White non-Hispanics, the rich and
the poor, and other social groups. In 2020, 91% of Americans said
conflicts between Democrats and Republicans are either strong or very
strong.
o FACTIONS WITHIN THE PARTIES: While party polarization, or the depth of
divisions between Republicans and Democrats, is at an all-time high, the
divisions within each party may be nearly as important. Parties are coalitions of
people and groups who agree on a broad common approach to issues but also
represent many diverse interest competing for power and influence. For leaders
in Congress and state legislatures, keeping these different groups working
toward shared goals can be difficult. The Republican Party today, for example, is
divided in at least four major ways. Pro-business conservatives, or traditional
Republicans, such as Nebraska senator Benjamin Sasse, are a generally affluent
group that favors small government and lower corporate taxes along with global
free trade. Far-right or alt-right conservatives, such as President Trump, are
opposed to immigration and global free trade and to institutions like the United
Nations. They favor tariffs on imports to the United States in order to protect
American-made products and tend to be social conservatives, often with lower
levels of education. Social and religious conservatives, such as Texas senator
Ted Cruz, are primarily driven by their values on cultural and moral issues, such
as opposition to abortion and gay marriage. Finally, libertarians, such as
Kentucky senator Rand Paul, believe in small government, less government
regulation, and more individual freedoms, and they oppose foreign wars. These
divisions can present severe challenges for governing. In 2020, Democrats in
Congress staunchly opposed President Trump and his policies, but differences
between the moderate and progressive wings of the party threatened to
undermine Democratic Party unity. The super-progressives like members of “The
Squad” – Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley
(Mass.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (Minn.) – seek European Union-
type policies to create universal national health care and to eliminate private
health insurance. Traditional Democrats support traditional liberal government
policies, but seek more incremental rather thang dramatic change. Such
divisions may have contributed to the Democrats losing the White House and
Congress in 2016, as many Sanders supporters refused to vote for Clinton in the
general election and 10% voted for Trump. Democrats strongly favor expanded
social safety nets, reducing student-loan debt, and addressing climate change.
PARTY IDENTIFICATION GUIDES VOTERS: One reason why parties are so important
is that individuals tend to develop an identification with one of them at a young age. Part
identification has been likened to wearing blue- or red-tinted glasses: they color voters’
understanding of politics in general and are the most important cue in how to vote in
elections. Party identification can create information bubbles and filters, where citizens
follow news media or candidates on social media that are of the same partisan leaning.
The vast majority of Republicans vote for Republican candidates, and the vast majority
of Democrats vote for Democrats. Although it is partly an emotional attachment, party
identification also has a rational component. Voters generally form attachment to the
party that reflects their views and interests. Once those attachments are formed, usually
in youth, they are likely to persist and even be handed down to children, unless some
very strong factors convince individuals that their party is no longer serving their
