Parties and Voting

Political Party

• Reasons include ideological, economic, and single issues. Often these parties form to propose new ideas.
• A propaganda technique used by politicians to try and appear like plain, common people.
• The constitutional amendment adopted in 1870 to extend suffrage to African American men.
• A group of individuals with broad common interests who organize to nominate candidates for office, win elections, conduct government, and determine public policy.

Partisanship

• An organization of people sharing a common interest or goal that seeks to influence government decisions.
• Government action based on firm allegiance to a political party.
• All of the people entitled to vote in a given election.
• A committee set up by a corporation or interest group to raise and funnel money to political candidates.

Federalists

• With only two parties one party is usually able to win a majority of the votes and new ideas and programs emerge when one party does not succeed.
• A bipartisan body charged with administering campaign finance laws.
• An official public meeting of a party to choose candidates for office.
• A term used to describe supporters of the Constitution during ratification debates in state legislatures.

Anti-Federalists

• Opponents of the Constitution at the time when the states were contemplating its adoption.
• An organization of people sharing a common interest or goal that seeks to influence government decisions.
• Reasons include ideological, economic, and single issues. Often these parties form to propose new ideas.
• A political party's statement of its goals and policies for the next four years. It is drafted before a party convention. It is the best formal statement of a party's beliefs.

Washington's Farewell Address

• Warned Americans not to get involved in European affairs and not to form political parties.
• A 2010 decision by the United States Supreme Court holding that independent expenditures are free speech protected by the 1st Amendment and so cannot be limited by federal law. Changed the nature of campaigning in America.
• The practice of voting for the candidates of more than one party in an election.
• Believes in liberal ideas, greater government involvement, and the need for government to care for its people.

General Beliefs of the Democratic Party

• A body of 538 people who represent the states of the U.S. and who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.
• Believes in liberal ideas, greater government involvement, and the need for government to care for its people.
• Propaganda technique that appeals to people's desire to fit in, follow the crowd, and be part of a group.
• Warned Americans not to get involved in European affairs and not to form political parties.

General Beliefs of the Republican Party

• A group of individuals with broad common interests who organize to nominate candidates for office, win elections, conduct government, and determine public policy.
• Believes in conservative ideas, less government involvement, and that each person is responsible for themselves.
• Elections held to select a party's candidate for the general election.
• The constitutional amendment adopted in 1920 that guarantees women the right to vote.

Advantages of a Two Party System

• A body of 538 people who represent the states of the U.S. and who formally cast votes for the election of the president and vice president.
• Government action based on firm allegiance to a political party.
• These characteristics include higher education, higher income, being over 35 years of age, and residence in urban areas.
• With only two parties one party is usually able to win a majority of the votes and new ideas and programs emerge when one party does not succeed.

Reasons Third Parties Form

• A committee set up by a corporation or interest group to raise and funnel money to political candidates.
• Reasons include ideological, economic, and single issues. Often these parties form to propose new ideas.
• In this type of ballot the voter's choice is anonymous.
• A 2010 decision by the United States Supreme Court holding that independent expenditures are free speech protected by the 1st Amendment and so cannot be limited by federal law. Changed the nature of campaigning in America.

Split-Ticket Voting

• The practice of voting for the candidates of more than one party in an election.
• The constitutional amendment adopted in 1870 to extend suffrage to African American men.
• Propaganda technique that appeals to people's desire to fit in, follow the crowd, and be part of a group.
• The primary law regulating political campaign spending and fundraising.