Political Parties

One Big Party?

iCivics Lesson

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Define “political party”

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Identify America’s two major political parties

●

Describe the roles of political parties

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Explain what third parties are and issues around ballot access
for third parties

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Identify ways that political parties influence public opinion

Lesson Objectives:

Drag and Drop

What are the two major political parties in the United States?​ ​ ​

Placeholder

​

Placeholder

Drag these tiles and drop them in the correct blank above

Republican

Democratic

Rastafarian

Constitution

Whig

Alliance

Idiots

Progressive

Open Ended

Can you name any other political parties?

If not, why might this be hard?

Multiple Choice

Political parties work at all levels of government—national, state, and local.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

The U.S. has a two-party system.

• True

• False

Many political parties exist in the United States. Candidates for political office can represent any party, but that doesn't mean you'll see everyone's names on the ballot. Each state has rules about ballot access- allowing a political party to put a candidate on the ballot. Usually the rules involve getting a certain number of signatures from registered voters. Theses rules keep most third parties from even offering a candidate for voters to choose from. The Democratic and Republican parties have ballot access in all the states. The Libertarian Party is the largest third party, with ballot access for the presidential election in more than 30 states. As of 2015, the Green Party had ballot access in over 20 states, and the Constitution Party had access in over 10 states

Third Parties

​Write-In Candidates

Most ballots include a place to write the name of a candidate who is not on the ballot. This is one way you can vote for third-party candidates who don't ballot access. You can also vote for Mickey Mouse or even yourself- but it might be a wasted vote!

Open Ended

Why do you think states have rules about ballot access? Can you think of any ways in which these rules might be unfair?

Take a Minute to
Explore!

Click the link to
explore the major
parties’ platforms.

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Open Ended

Describe the issue and where the party stands on it.

Multiple Choice

Political parties work at all levels of government—national, state, and local.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

In the U.S. Congress and most state legislatures, Republicans and Democrats are split into a majority party and a minority party

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

The president or governor’s political party has no effect on the lawmaking process.

• True

• False

Open Ended

List at least 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages to joining a political party

Match

VOCAB CHECK! Match each term with its definition

• A political party other than Republican or Democratic

• An organized group of people who share similar political views and work to influence government

• Set of statements describing a party’s views on major issues

• A person running for political office

• Political party that does not have a majority of the elected members

Third Party

Political Party

Platform

Candidate

Minority Party

• Third Party

• Political Party

• Platform

• Candidate

• Minority Party

Match

Match the following

• Write-in Candidate

• Political Views

• Ballot Access

• Public Policy

• Majority Party

A candidate whose name a voter must hand-write on the ballot

A person’s ideas about how government should run and how issues should be solved

Allowing a political party to put a candidate on the ballot

The stand the government takes about how issues should be handled

Political party with the most elected members

• A candidate whose name a voter must hand-write on the ballot

• A person’s ideas about how government should run and how issues should be solved

• Allowing a political party to put a candidate on the ballot

• The stand the government takes about how issues should be handled

• Political party with the most elected members

Multiple Choice

By forming a political party, people gain more influence over government by banding together with others.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

No independent has ever been elected to political office.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

You can only vote for a candidate who is the same party as the party with which you’re registered. 

• True

• False

Open Ended

Will you want to join a political party when you’re old enough to vote?  Why or why not?

Open Ended

Pretend your friend was absent from class today…Explain ONE thing about Third Parties that you learned and ONE thing about Political Parties in general.