Political Parties Key Terms
Blanket Primaries: - Elections to select party nominees in which voters are presented with a list of candidates from all the parties; voters can then select some Democrats and some Republicans if they like (in 2000, the USSC ruled 7-2 in California Democratic Party v. Jones that states violate political parties' rights when they allow primary
election voters to cast their ballots for any candidate, regardless of affiliation, throwing out the blanket primary system
used in California and three other states; the justices said allowing nonparty members to help choose a political party's nominees in the manner used by California violated parties' free-association rights under the Constitution's First Amendment).
Caucus – A meeting of local party members to choose party officials or candidates for public office and to decide the platform.
Closed Primary – elections to select party nominees in which only people who have registered in advance with the party
can vote for that party’s candidates, thus encouraging greater party loyalty.
Coalition - Unions of many persons of diverse interests who are election — rather than issue-orientedupon which every political party depends.
Coalition Government - When two or more parties join together to form a majority in a national legislature; this form of
government is quite common in the multiparty systems of Europe.
Congressional Campaign Committee- party committee in Congress that provides funds to members who are running for Congress, that provides funds to members who are running for reelection, or to would-be members running for an open seat or challenging a candidate from the opposition party
Crossover Voting – Voting by member of one party for a candidate of another party.
Dealignment – Weakening of partisan preferences that points to a rejection of both major parties and a rise in the number of independents.
Democratic-Republicans - Also known as Jeffersonians, this party replaced the Federalists. Democratic-Republicans were derived from agrarian interests — which made the party popular in the rural South.
Direct Primary – Election in which voters choose party nominees.
Divided Government – Governance divided between the parties, as when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.
Federalists - America's shortest-lived major party which was marked by poor organization. The party faded after John Adams was defeated in his reelection bid of 1800, and the party no longer even had a candidate for president after 1820.
Green Party – A minor party dedicated to the environment, social justice, nonviolence, and the foreign policy of nonintervention. Ralph Nader ran as the Green party’s nominee in 2000.
Honeymoon – Period at the beginning of the new president’s term during which the president enjoys generally positive relations with the press and Congress, usually lasting about six months.
Independent Expenditure – The Supreme Court has ruled that individuals, groups, and parties can spend unlimited amounts in campaigns for or against candidates as long as they operate independently from the candidates. When an individual, group, or party does so, they are making an independent expenditure.
Libertarian Party – A minor party that believes in extremely limited government. Libertarians call for a free market system, expanded individual liberties such as drug legalization, and a foreign policy of nonintervention, free trade, and open immigration.
Linkage Institutions - The processes which translate inputs from the public into outputs from the policymakers. They serve as the "bridge" between the public and government, and by definition, NOT government components. There are four main linkage institutions in the United States: parties, elections, interest groups, and the media.
"Loyal Opposition"- Commonly referred to as the "out party," whose primary function is to criticize the policies of the party in power.
Minor Party – A small political party that rises and falls with a charismatic candidate or, if composed of ideologies on the right or left, usually persists over time; also called a third party.
National Chairperson- The individual who carries out the day-to-day activities of the national political party. The national party chairperson hires the staff, raises the money, pays the bills, and attends to the daily duties of the party.
Usually hand-picked by the presidential nominee
National Party Convention – A national meeting of delegates elected in primaries, caucuses, or state conventions who assemble once every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president, ratify the party platform, elect officers, and adopt rules; ; the national committee is composed of representatives from the states and territories
New Deal Coalition - A coalition forged by Franklin Roosevelt and the Democrats, who dominated politics from the 1930s to the 1960s; its basic elements were the urban working class, ethnic groups, Catholics and Jews, the poor, Southerners, African Americans, and intellectuals. African Americans largely changed their allegiance from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party during this time.
Nonpartisan Election – A local or judicial election in which candidates are not selected or endorsed by political parties and party affiliation is not listed on ballots.
Open Primary – Primary elections to select party nominees in which voters can decide on Election Day whether they want to participate in the Democratic or Republican contests.
Party Activists - Those individuals who perform the day-to-day, grass-roots work of politics.
Party Convention – A meeting of party delegates to vote on matters of policy and in some cases to select party candidates for public office.
Party Eras - Those periods throughout American history where one party has been the dominant majority party for long periods of time. Party eras were punctuated, begins, or is made more certain by critical elections, in which new issues appeared that divided the electorate and party coalitions underwent realignment. Critical elections involve and accelerate party realignment.
Party Identification – A long-term psychological attachment or an informal and subjective affiliation with a political party that most people acquire in childhood.
Party Machines- A party organization that uses specific and material inducements to win party loyalty and power, such as patronage, in which jobs and financial rewards were given by party machines for political reasons rather than for merit or competence. Also know are political machines.
Party Registration – The act of declaring party affiliation; required by some states when one registers to vote.
Party-as-an-organization - Organization which has a national office, a full-time staff, rules and bylaws, and budgets. Party activists keep the party running between elections and make its rules. Although American parties are loosely organized at the national, state, and local levels, the party organization pursues electoral victory.
Party-in-government - Individuals which consists of elected officials who call themselves members of the party (such as President and Congress). These leaders do not always agree on policy; but they are the main spokespersons of the party.
Party-in-the-electorate - Those individuals who perceive themselves as party members; many voters have a party identification that guides and influences their votes.
Patronage – The dispensing of government jobs to persons who belong to the winning political party.
Political Party – A group of persons organized primarily for the purpose of controlling government through winning elections and holding public office; An organization that seeks political power by electing people to office so that its positions and philosophy become public policy.
Political Polarization - Described as an increase in the number of people holding extreme political views.
Proportional Representation – An election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote.It is used in most European countries.
Realigning Election – An election during periods of expanded suffrage and change in the economy and society that proves to be a turning point, redefining the agenda of politics and the alignment of voters within parties.
Reform Party – A minor party founded by Ross Perot in 1995. It focuses on national government reform, fiscal responsibility, and political accountability. It has recently struggled with internal strife and criticism that it lacks an identity.
Republican Party - Party which rose in the late 1850s as the anti-slavery party. It was a new party and not just a new version of the Whigs.
Responsible Party Model - Model which calls for each party to present distinct, comprehensive programs; carry out its program if elected; implement its programs if it is the majority party or state what it would do if it were in power; and accept responsibility for the performance of the government.
Single-member Districts - Districts from which one individual is elected from particular boundaries, as opposed from the district-at-large. Single-member districts are the institution that promotes continuation of the two-party system.
Split-level Party- Refers to the recent phenomenon in which parties have strong, vigorous organizations but with only mass weak followings in the mass level.
Super-Delegates - A new category of national convention delegate created by the Democrats in 1984 to make sure that elected public officials as well as party officials are able to attend the national convention as delegates.
Winner-take-all System – Election system in which the candidate that receives a plurality (more votes than anyone else, even though it may be less than a majority) is declared the winner.