Political Parties
­ Political parties are groups of people who seek control of government through winning of elections. Each party is a coalition which is a union of diverse interest groups. They're a vital link between the people and the government, they help unify people and make compromises to soften extremists on both sides. Goal of Political Parties?
­ Winning office is the ultimate goal for most parties. Watchdog Function
­ Parties watch over the daily business of the government, report abuses. Not all watchdog groups are political parties. Ex: Parents Music Resource Center American Ideological Consensus
­ one of the reasons for a two party system. Winner Take All
­ electoral system, winner take all system, one party wins the election National Convention
­ main purpose of it is to announce candidates to the public and establish a party platform. They’re held in major cities, held every 4 years and lasts about a week. The national chairperson is selected at the convention. FEC
­ stands for the Federal election commission. The Congressional campaign committee establishes rules that the FEC must follow when they monitor elections, or how much money people can contribute in the elections. Gerrymandering
­ drawing up political districts to favor a particular candidate, party, or group of people. They reapportion representatives every 10 years by using a census. Australian ballot
­ ere we borrowed our ballets from. Voting must be done in secret. Voting must be done only at the polling station. All the names of the candidates must appear on the ballot. Ballots are printed at taxpayer expense.
We vote in precincts, which are small geographic units used to carry out elections. Sociological factors
­ Voter preferences can't be predicted by just one sociological factor, voter opinion is a combination of all of these factors in more. they can be measured by surveys, income and occupation, education, gender and age, religious and ethnic background, geography, and a membership and groups. Psychological factors­ voters perceptions of their party, the candidates, and the issues significantly affects their voting. We are looking at the deeper meaning of white people vote a certain way. A. List the different eras that the Republicans and Democrats controlled in the last 200+ years. 1800 to 1860 was democratic domination from Thomas Jefferson to the Civil War. Republican domination was from 1862 1932 with Lincoln's election through Hoover. Democratic

domination was from 1932 to 1968 from FDR through LBJ. Republicans dominated from 1968 to 2006 with Carter and Clinton. B. What are the functions of the political parties? Nominating function which is selecting a candidate and presenting them to voters. Next is the seal of approval which is when parties give their stamp of approval for for a candidate to speak or run on their behalf. Next is governmental, the US government is run by the parties. Many functions done according to party practices. Then is informer function which is when parties inform the public and stimulate their interest in politics. Finally is the watchdog function, which is when parties watch over the daily business of the government and report abuses. Not all watchdog groups are political parties. C. Why do minor parties struggle against the major parties?
Because of the winner take all system, history/tradition, and the need for TV/radio time, whether advertising, or billboards. D. What is the main goal of the political conventions? To win. E. What type f people support the Democrats and the Republicans?
Democrats­ African americans, middle class, union people, women, younger people, senior citizens, jewish people. Republicans­ white males, wealthy, protestant, older people, white collar, traditional values, cuban americans. F. Why do some people vote or not vote? Some don’t vote because they can’t. For example, people in