POLS 207 2nd Edition Lecture 8 Outline of Last Lecture I Interest Groups in State Politics II Main Types of Interest Groups a Business Occupational Agriculture Public Interest III Strategies of Interest Groups a Financial Electoral Support Lobbying Public Relations Campaigning IV Interest Group Power and Influence a Factors Diversity of State Industry Party Strength Professionalism State Political Culture Government Fragmentation V Regulations of Interest Groups Specifically In Texas Outline of Current Lecture I The Three Dimensions of Political Parties a Party in Government in the Electorate as an Organization II The Responsible Party Model III Factors that have weakened party control over electoral politics IV Flaws in the Responsible Party Model V Party Competition in the States a unimodal verse bimodal distributions VI Functions of State Party Elections a Structuring Elections b Candidate Recruitment contested versus uncontested competitive versus noncompetitive c Voter Registration d Voter Mobilization e Campaign Resources Current Lecture STATE POLITICAL PARTIES In defining what the term political party means it is important to look at 3 different dimensions o Party in the Government o Party in the Electorate o Party as an Organization Party in the Government o all elected officials who identify with a political party o represent the party they identify with when in office Party in the Electorate o people who vote and typically support a specific party o represent the party they identify with by voting Party as an Organization o the buildings offices employees o employees who work to further the cause of the party to get members elected to get the message out The Responsible Party Model 1 Parties should present clear and coherent policy choices and platforms to voters o different parties should have a clear distinctive platform to give voters a choice 2 Voters should choose candidates according to what the parties present o look at the platform to vote not the person 3 Parties should recruit candidates that agree with party positions o makes voting for a platform work because the candidate will agree with it 4 Parties should organize and direct candidates campaign o support get the message out 5 The winning party candidate should carry out the party platform once in office reality is parties are not really like this closest to it was probably the party machines in history Factors that have weakened party control over electoral politics 1 Candidate centered politics greater candidate reliance on mass media o whether its presidential congressional etc voters will talk more about the candidate less about the party o candidates talk about their agenda on public tv instead of the overall party goal 2 Decline of Party Identification o increased percentage of voters declare themselves as independents o shows voters are looking more at the candidate than at the party label o rise of split ticket voting pick Republic for president Democrat for congressman etc picking different parties on voting day shows the greatest weakness of the party system o decline of straight ticket voting on election day vote completely for Republic or Democrat completely for one party check the box for one party 3 Increased reliance on primary elections o in order for the party to mean what they say and voters to vote for the party candidates need to truly represent the party and the party platform o in past parties choose their candidates through conventions o political parties have now turned to choosing candidates in primaries all voters now pick who the candidate is its more democratic but candidates don t necessarily agree with parties just have to get the most votes 4 Less patronage greater use of merit system o patronage winning party would hand out jobs to its supporters o merit system handing out jobs based on education experience skills etc takes away ability of party to reward supporters now that parties don t have the tool it is harder to keep supporters loyal weakens political party loyalty 5 Interest Groups and PACs Political Action Committees o PACs funding and interest group s support of campaigns has weakened political parties o in past candidates had to rely on parties o today candidates can get support from interest groups and PACs which means candidates do not have to be as loyal to the party in weakening political parties the US less represents the Responsible Party Model Some Pretty Big Flaws in The Responsible Party Model 1 Parties do not present clear distinct policy choices o it is sometimes irrational for them to present clear choices o if need to convince a majority of people parties try to be more central more towards the middle to appeal to most voters don t want to be extremist o the parties are going to be similar if they are all competing for the middle group of voters 2 Most voters do not think in terms of party platforms and do not vote on issues o then how are voters voting it s about the candidates this candidate is Republic this candidate is honest is supportive of people like me 3 Parties cannot discipline their members o to carry out platform need a legislature block that supports the platform yet legislative votes of both political parties often defect from their party platform and party leadership o in other countries if you don t support the party they will not help you get reelected but in US the voters in the primary now determine who can be reelected so legislators just have to go back to their home state and get primary votes Party Competition in the States The effects of party competition on public policy o Parties will have little impact on public policy when there is a unimodal distribution of voters o Parties will have a greater impact on public policy when there is a bimodal distribution of voters unimodal distribution majority of votes are in the middle between liberal Democrat and conservative Republic both parties come towards the center to be more moderate don t want to alienate themselves from the voters bimodal distribution two peaks of voters one peak more towards the liberal side one peak more towards the conservative side still won t be real extreme but will aim at that the peak o in this case there is greater distance between the two parties o now it makes a difference who is elected to office because will make different policy Overall what role do Party Organizations play in the states there is really no such thing as one national Democratic or
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