A Level Revision Notes: US Parties - An Introduction, Theories of Party Renewal and Decline & Third Parties

Specification Key Words On Parties:

Ideology: A collectively held set of ideas and beliefs
Factionalism: Refers to the arguments and disputes between two or more small groups from within a larger group. It is said that a substantial amount of “factionalism” occurs within the movement if this is the case.
Party Decline: The idea that parties are losing control to the people
Party Renewal: The theory that parties are increasing in importance, during elections and voting during Congress.
Party Organisation: How a party involves itself within the political process i.e it can either be top-down or bottom up.
Third Parties: A party that is the 3^rd most popular in a country e.g Libertarian Party.
Independent Candidates: A candidate that runs for office without the backing of a political party

What Are The Differences Between The Republicans & The Democrats:

Republicans:	Democrats:
Rebuilding the economy and creating jobs	Raising wages, closing the wealth gap
Fair and simple taxes for growth	Lowering health care costs
A competitive America	Defending the borders
Freeing financial markets	Fixing the criminal justice system
Workplace freedom	Guaranteeing rights for minorities, LGBTQ community and all Americans
Responsible homeownership	Common-sense gun reforms
Reducing the federal debt	Investment in modern education

Summarise 4 Democrats Policy That Show They Are More Focused On Social & Moral Issues:

Crime: They understand the disproportionate effects of crime, violence and incarceration of communities of colour.
Abortion: Believe that every women should have access to quality reproductive healthcare services including safe and legal abortion. Want to start the right to roll back the clock on women’s health and reproductive rights.
Minimum Wage: Want to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour over time and index it to inflation.
Healthcare: The affordable care act has covered 20 million more Americans and ensured millions more will never be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. They support reducing the cost of prescription drugs, combating drugs and alcohol addiction and improving the treatment of those with mental health issues.

Summarise 4 Republican Policy That Show They Are More Focused On ‘Small Government’:

Minimum Wage: Think that the minimum wage should be handled at state and local level
Education: Federal government should not be a partner as the Constitution gives it no role in education, only parents are a child’s first and foremost educators.
Wall Street: Called banking regulations an excuse to establish unprecedented government control over the nation’s financial markets.
Environment: Support all forms of energy that are marketable in a free economy. Oppose any carbon tax.

How Have The Two Parties Become More Distinct And Polarised In More Recent Decades:

The 1990s brought a seismic shift in American politics.
Up until then, both parties included a wide ideological range from liberals to conservatives.
With the break-up of the old Solid South, southern conservative Democrats began to cross to the Republican party. This made the Republican party more ideological conservative party and this made the Democrats as a more homogeneous liberal party.
As the 21^st century commentators began to talk of a 50-50 nation of Red & Blue America, with blue being more Democrat and red being more Republican.

Red America:

Characterised as white, overwhelming Protestant but often joined by practicing Catholics.
In Red America, the majority of voters think that the federal government does too many things which would be better left to private businesses and individuals, and they tend to think that the federal income tax should be cut.
They are pro-life, pro-guns and pro-traditional marriage and they oppose Obamacare.
They get their news from Fox News and listen to Conservative radio stations featuring Mark Levin.
They love W. Bush but hated the Clintons and Obama.

Blue America:

It is claimed that it is a racially, a rainbow, a coalition of white, black, Asian and Hispanic Americans.
Attending a place of worship on a regular basis is not a huge important in Blue America.
They think the federal government should do more to solve problems and they think that the federal income should increase.
They are pro-choice, favours gun control, pro- same sex marriage and are supportive of Obamacare.
They get their news from CNN and watch Saturday Night Live.
They hated W. Bush and Donald Trump whilst they loved the Clintons and Obama.

What Is The ‘Coalitions Of Supporters’:

American political parties are best thought of as “coalitions of interest”, they can be narrowly drawn than they were three or four decades ago but they still need to be in the coalitions in order to get enough people to vote.

Gender:

In 9/10 elections between 1964 and 2000, women were significantly more supportive of the Democrat candidate than the Republican.
This is known as the Gender Gap: The gap between the support given to a candidate by women and the support given to the same candidate by men.
The GG for Trump was 11 points – 52% men, 41% of women.
Clinton: 13 points, 52% women, 41% men.
Trump’s attitude towards women became a feature of the 2016 POTUS election. With rude remarks made during the Primaries and one month before Election Day when the an infamous video tape was leaked “When you’re a star, they let you do anything...” After this one would have expected for his support among women to drop but it only went down by 3%. But it was still the lowest for any Republican candidate among women since 1964
Some argue that women tend to vote for Democrat more since they have more favoured policy such as the pro-choice and gun control.

Race:

In 10 elections between 1980 and 2016, African-Americans never gave less than 83% of support to the Democrats. President Clinton had the most loyal supporters among this group.
When Obama was the first AA candidate for a major party, the share of AA voting increased from 88% to 95%. Turnout also increased, as AA accounted for 13% of the electorate.
Hispanics are a growing group, they form 12% of the population but their full political importance is not yet known.
Bush’s Republican campaign spoke out to them as he himself can speak fluent Spanish and his brother is married to an Hispanic women. The vote increased to 31%
Not many voted for Trump after his promise to build a wall.

Class & Education:

30 years ago, Reagan Democrats were the most popular: White, working class voters, mostly living in the northeast and Midwest, employed in blue collar jobs who had been traditional Democrats but who supported Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980 & 1984.
Trump did well in the Rust Belt, winning 6 primaries and getting close in another.
Most of his votes came from people who only had qualifications from high school. Trump’s message of bringing back jobs was what they had been longing for and these people flocked to vote for Trump.

Geographic Region:

The Northeast has become the heartland of the Democrat party, it used to be the south but now it is the northeast. In 7 elections from 1984 to 2008, the NE gave the Democratic candidate his largest percentage of vote.
However in 2016, Trump broke through the “blue wall” (an area that almost always voted Democrat) and gained votes in Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan as well as Pennsylvania.
The south has moved from being the Democrats best area to the Republicans.
In 2000 the Republican won all of the south, and in 2008, Obama flipped 2 states back to Democrat control
In 2016, Clinton won only one state in the South (Virginia)

Urban Vs Rural:

The 2016 election revealed how America is more and more divided by community, urban areas heavily support the Democrats whilst white, small towns and rural areas swing significantly to the Republicans.
Romney won small towns and rural areas by just 50-48%. Whilst Trump won these areas by 27% (61-34%.)
Trump’s message of making ‘America great again’ resonated with voters especially, white, older, blue collar voters.
As Obama just about dug America out of the economic crisis, many felt that he had not done enough “banks got bailed out, we got sold out”.
In 2016 Trump appealed to these voters with his promises and many voted for him as they felt that they had been “left behind”

Religion:

In a country with a strict separation between Church and state, it is surprising in the 21^st century that it remains an issue, but it links with social and moral issues that divides the parties.
Protestants & White Evangelicals: The Bible Belt (Southern states from Texas to Virginia), tend to support the Republicans, giving them between 54-59% of the vote. Trump got 84% of this vote, the highest ever, but this could be down to apathy with Clinton. They put a high premium on the appointment on strict Supreme Court judges.
Catholics: Traditionally, goes to the Democrats but this has decreased after the Democrats changed stance on abortion. Thus, they now tend to vote Republican. 45% of Catholics voted Democrat in 2016.
Religious Attendance: There is a correlation between frequency of attendance at a religious service and party support. Of those who go to a religious service, 56% of them voted Republican whilst, those who do not tend to get around 30% of the vote to the Democrats.

Describe The Factionalised Nature Of The Parties And The Internal Divisions Within Them:

The Democrats:

After the 2016 election, the Democrats were in poor shape.
Obama did not leave the Democrats party in a stronger state than he found it
White House: Obama’s Democrats lost the White House and the fact that their candidate won the popular vote by nearing 3 million votes offered little comfort as it is Electoral College votes which count.
Congress: In 2009, the Democrats controlled 58 seats in Senate and 255 in HOR. 8 years later they had just 48 votes in the Senate and 194 in HOR. They were now the minority party.
State Governorships: When Obama was first elected, the Democrats controlled 29 of 50 state governorships but 8 years later they held just 16 which, was a loss of 18.
State Legislatures: In 2009, the Democrats controlled 61 of the 98 partisan state legislative houses. By 2017, they controlled just 31 – a loss of 30. They held 4082 seats (56%) of state legislative seats in 2009 but only held 315 (43%) by 2017 – a loss of nearly 1000.
Sone of those on the left of the party will be arguing for a more left-of-centre, radical approach, stressing issues such as income equality. Whilst others want to appeal to the Trump vote – white working class.

The Republicans:

After the election of Obama, the Tea Party movement grew out of dissatisfaction with Obama’s response to the banking collapse and the economic meltdown on Wall Street.
They stood for a strict adherence to the Constitution, limited government and a reduction in the size of the federal government.
They also opposed Obama’s healthcare reforms
Some argue that the Tea Party movement gave birth to Donald Trump in 2016 – however, a winning team is still a party in conflict.
How will the traditional and religious conservatives adapt to the Donald Trump version of Republican ideology?
What do the internationalists think of ‘America First’?
Internally, can the party change the way candidates are elected and what will they do if they lose the mid-terms?

List The Key Debates Surrounding Party Debate & Renewal:

Theories Of Party Decline:

David Broder said that the US parties were in serious decline.
Whilst what he said was taken out of context, he meant that party loyalty has been “eroded”
Candidate Selection: Until the last 1960s, POTUS candidates were chosen by bosses on smoke-filled rooms whilst now the ordinary person chooses. Both parties are struggling to choose candidates. The Democrats struggled to anoint their preferred candidate because of strong opposition from Sanders whilst the Republican hierarchy lost complete control by a hostile takeover from Trump.
Communication With Voters: Parties have lost their traditional function as the communicator between politicians and the voters. Whilst the party rally used to do this by answering questions, nowadays TV does this whilst voters ‘speak back’ via opinion polls.
Emergence Of ‘Movements’: The emergence of the Tea Party and Occupy movements during the first 10 years of the 21^st century showed the extent to which many Americans are more prone to join a movement than a traditional party. Americans tend to want to influence rather than join. The way the Tea Party movement was able to get the preferred Congressmen over the wishes of the Republican party suggested that the decline of the political parties. Trump presented himself as a movement rather than a candidate.

Theories Of Party Renewal:

Theories Of Party Decline Were Exaggerated: Whilst it’s true that parties have declined, some argue that they play a less significant role in politics. The death of the Republican party came after Watergate whilst the death of the Democrats was reported to be in the 1960s-80s when it took a leftward shift but was resurrected by the ‘New Democrats’ of Clinton and Gore.
Nationalism Of Campaigns: Some say that party renewable can be solved towards the nationalising of electoral campaigns. This was true of the Republican party in the mid-term elections of ‘94 and ’02 when they campaigned for “Contact with America” where a Constitutional amendment would be applied for balanced budget and congressional term limits.
Increased Partisanship In Congress: If parties were declining in importance, a decline in partisanship could be anticipated. After all, if parties no longer matter, why should their members continually disagree?

Evaluate The Weakness Of US Parties:

The 2 Party System:

A party system in which two major parties regularly win the vast majorities of votes, capture nearly all the seats in the legislature and alternately control the executive.

Evidence Of A 2 Party System:

Popular Vote: Between 1992 and 2016, the Democrats & Republicans accounted for more than 80% of the popular vote on every occasion. In 4 of these 7 elections, their combined vote exceeded 95%
Seats In The Legislature: Following the 2016 elections, only two members of Senate where not elected as Democrats or Republicans. Sanders is the longest running independent, though he does represent the Democrats.
Control Of The Executive: In the White House, every POTUS since 1853 has been either a Democrat or a Republican. This has been the case for a century and a half.
State Government: In January 2017, 49 of the 50 state governors were either Democrats or Republicans, only exception being Bill Walker of Alaska, he ran unsuccessfully as a Republican in 2010 and Democrats in 2014.

Reasons For A 2 Party System:

Electoral System: FPTP makes it hard for 3^rd parties. A winner takes all system means that a 3^rd party receive no reward at all. Having a 3^rd party would lower the percentage of vote needed by the major party candidates.
Broad Party Ideologies: When the two major parties encompass such a wide ideological spectrum there is not much room left for any other parties to attract substantial support.
Primary Elections: The phenomenon of primary elections helps to make the major parties more responsive to the electorate, minimising the need for protest voting. Protest votes often go to the third party.

Does The USA Have A 2 Party System:
Yes:	No:
All POTUS since 1953 have been either Democrat or Republican	The USA have a 50-party system with individual state parties being autonomous and ideologically varied.
Democrats & Republicans combined regularly win over 95% of the vote.	Some states are virtually one-party states
All 435 of the Representatives are either Democrats or Republican	Third parties have played a significant role in some elections
98/100 Senators are either Republican or Democrat	Many voters join ‘groups’ or ‘movements’ rather than a party (e.g the Tea Party movement)
Leadership in Congress is organised by the two major parties	Many Americans are self-described ‘independents’
State politics is equally dominated by the two major parties.	Many Americans are self-described ‘independents’

Describe The Significance Of 3^rd Parties & Independent Candidates:

Despite the domination of parties by the Republicans and Democrats, 3^rd parties do exist.
Best known national 3^rd parties are the Libertarian Party and the Green Party.

Impacts Of Third Parties:

3^rd parties are both unimportant and important. Their combines popular vote in 2012 was 2% and just 6% in 2018.
In 1968, 1992 and 2000 the 3^rd party affected the outcome.
In 2000, the 2.7% for the Green Party almost certainly cost Al Gore the presidency. Data suggested that the 22,000 votes given to him would have gone to Al Gore.
In 5 sets of House elections between 2008 and 2016, the 3^rd party vote never exceeded 3.6% whilst the Senate had 4.5%.

Third Party Difficulties:

Electoral System: FPTP along with a winner takes all bonus, makes it hard for a 3^rd party. Regional third parties can do well. In 1968 George Wallace won 45 EC votes with just 13% of the vote. In 1992, Ross Perot won no EC vote with 19% of the vote.
Ballot Access Laws: 3^rd parties are disadvantaged by the states’ ballot access laws. Laws in each state regulate how 3^rd parties’ candidates can qualify to get their name on the ballot. Some such as Tennessee are straightforward requiring just 25 signatures. But some are more complicated requiring signatures from each county in each state.
Lack Of Resources: People are understandably reluctant to give money to parties that they know are going to lose. Hence 3^rd parties cannot compete with the two parties in terms of expenditure on organisation, staff and media.
Lack Of Media Coverage: 3^rd parties suffer from a lack of media coverage. News programmes do not advertise them because they are not newsworthy. The parties cannot afford to make an advert. And the candidates are usually barred from appearing in TV debates.
Co-optation: If the 3^rd party does well in the pre-election, against all the odds as Ross Perot did in 1992. It brings a problem as they need to co-optation of its key policies by one of both major parties. It happened to Perot when Clinton and the Republicans adopted policy to deal with Perots flagship policy – the federal budget deficit.

Do Third Parties Play An Significant Role In US Politics:
Yes:	No:
Ross Perot won 19% of the vote in 1992 and contributed to President Bush’s defeat.	Two major parties dominate presidential elections
Green Party’s 2.7% in 2000 contributed to Al Gore’s defeat.	Two major parties control Congress
Third parties can lose elections but win influence by changing the policy of one or both of both the major parties.	Two major parties control state politics
Some states (Alaska) have quite vibrant third parties which can play a significant role in state and local races	Two major parties will often co-opt the policy of successful third parties, thereby curtailing their election success (e.g co-opting Perot’s call for balanced federal budget)