Basics
Which level of a party organization is considered the "workhorse of the party system?"
County-level because they identify and mobilize potential voters and donors, identify and train potential candidates for public office, and recruit new members for the party.
Name 3 of the 6 functions of a political party?
(1) Candidate Nomination.
(2) Electoral Mobilization.
(3) Issue Structuring.
(4) Societal Representation and Social Integration.
(5) Interest Aggregation.
(6) Forming and Sustaining Majority Governing Coalitions.
What is a critical election?
An election that represents a sudden, clear, and long-term shift in voter allegiances.
How many congressional districts does Georgia have?
14.
Name one government official who has benefited from the spoils system?
Pete Buttigieg
What is interest aggregation?
A political party brings multiple interests and stakeholders together under a single organizational framework.
What were the first two political parties in America?
The Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans.
What is Duverger's Law?
The observed tendency for single-member district / winner-take-all elections to favor two-party systems and for proportional representation (PR) elections to favor multiparty systems.
Name one independent party has had a presidential candidate in the last 8 years.
Green Party
Libertarian Party
Constitution Party
How long has the U.S. been dominated by two parties?
150 years
Why is issue structuring important?
Parties manage a large set of issues and identify top issues so as to have a constructive base from which to work.
What was the largest party realignment in American history?
In the 1960s when Black voters starting voting for the democratic party.
Most democracies have what kind of electoral system?
Proportional representation in which the number of legislative seats a party receives is a function of the share of votes it receives in an election.
Name a VP nominee from either party.
J.D. Vance
What is party discipline?
The ability for party leaders to get their rank and file members to vote in unison on legislation agreed to by leadership.
Why are political parties formed?
To resolve practical problems confronted by ambitious politicians seeking to win office and govern effectively.
Name a critical election that occurred in the 20th century.
FDR's election in 1932 because it was the first time parties began voting based on their socioeconomic status.
What is the spoils system?
Practice in which those show support a political party during elections are rewarded with jobs in the government bureaucracy if the party wins the election.
Which party has a majority in the upper chamber of Congress?
Democrats
True or False: More people watch the DNC/RNC today than they did decades ago.
False. Viewership of the national conventions has declined.
The majority party.
When did the Federalist Party collapse?
After the War of 1812
What law requires the U.S. to have a two-party system?
There is no law requiring the U.S. to have a two-party system.
What is a mega-identity?
Form of partisan identity through which multiple social identities reinforce and magnify each other.