Political Parties and Interest Groups
Political parties have become increasingly unpopular and have lost a great amount of power because of it. Interest groups are slowly picking up where parties left behind and are becoming more and more important not only in mobilizing voters, but also in lobbying government officials to aide their cause. In the early 1900's, parties solely were in charge of the nomination process. A small group of party leaders, also known as a caucus, would choose who would run against the opposing party's candidate and what office this individual would be seeking. It was a process that was closed off to everyone but the party leaders, and thus, could be tagged "undemocratic." Years later, because of the 'Party Machines' of the north and the completely Democratic south, primaries replaced caucuses. Primaries allowed for members (not only leaders) of the party to vote for whom they wanted to nominate. Primaries also gave individuals the right to run for office under their party's name. Thus, the party couldn't prohibit anyone from running for public office as a member of that particular party if the individual was a registered member of that party. The primary system of nominations has become so vast and popular that it has broken down int
The primary system is set up so that adverse effects can help and/or hurt the candidates and nominee. For example, because during a primary most candidates are very similar as far as ideologies go, voters tend to vote according to the candidates' personal characteristics. Looks, popularity, etc. will always help a candidate during the primaries. Primaries, though, can be hurtful to nominees because voters are less likely to vote for someone in the general election if they didn't vote for them in the primary. After each party has chosen its candidate, they ratify their decision at their national conventions. "The principal significance of a national convention is that it is the kickoff of the general election campaign (Bibby 174)." The national convention also gives nominees the opportunity to set the theme for their upcoming election as well as giving parties a forum where they can draw up and sell their platform. But who exactly attends these functions? More so, who even votes? There are many factors to take into consideration when determining who actually goes out and votes and why it is that others don't. The main factor is, without question, wealth. Those who are well off tend to vote more often because they can afford the luxury of taking off from work early, have transportation to take them to the polls, know the issues (are more educated), etc. Another advantage that the wealthy have is that they can mobilize 'friendly' voters, transport them to and from the polls, thus greatly helping their candidate/party. Also, men tend to vote more than women, perhaps because women are usuall
Some common words found in the essay are:
Democrats Republicans, , White House, President President, Democrats Blanket, tend vote, AARP NRA, party leaders, party primary system, vote republican, national convention, party's name, vote party, lobby president, party primary, blanket primaries, primary system,
Approximate Word count = 1083
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
