Chapter 7 Political Parties, Participation, and Elections Professor Gladden

An organization that tries to influence the government by getting its members elected to office

Winning elections

Voting

Warned Americans against the dangers of political parties in his farewell address

Political conflicts prompt officials and competing factions within government to mobilize popular support

A group of politicians outside government organizes popular support to win governmental power

Seats in the legislature are allocated to political parties based on their share of the total vote cast in the election

The practice of tailoring campaign messages to individuals in small, homogenous groups

Refers to the decline of partisan attachment within the electorate, the growth in the number of voters identifying themselves as independents, and the rise of split-ticket voting

Occur when new issues combine with economic or political crises to mobilize new voters and persuade large numbers of voters to reexamine their traditional partisan loyalties

The United States had one political party: the Jeffersonian Republicans

The two major parties in the United States were the Democrats and the Whigs

Both the democratic and Whig parties were divided by conflicts over slavery

The republican party was the party of the north while the democratic party was the party of the south

After the civil war, lead by the republican party

The republican party was the nation's majority party

Added religious conservatives and working-class whites to their coalition

Occurs when one party controls the presidency while another party controls one or both houses of Congress

Movement that is an organized challenge to incumbents in the republican party by the most conservative wing of the republican party; has had the largest impact on state legislative races in recent years; believe that they can have more influence in state politics if they become a force to be reckoned with within the republican party

Such as registration fees and petition requirements, have the effect of reducing the number of third-party and independent candidates who can run for office

Partisan loyalty, issues, the characteristics of candidates

Presidential electors from each state who meet after the general election to cast ballots for president and vice president

Has 38 electoral college votes, 36 house of representatives and 2 senators

The supreme court ruled that the government could not restrict independent expenditures by corporations or unions to political campaigns