Political Parties

27 October, 2008

The 2008 US Presidential Election: A Roundtable Event Sponsored by the Department of Politics & the Centre for

Elections, Media and Political Parties 29 October, 2008: 2.00 PM - 3:30 PM Queen's Building Lecture Theatre 2 CHAIR: Professor Regenia Gagnier,  Director of Exeter

Interdisciplinary Institute and Professor of English  Roundtable Participants:  Susan Banducci (Exeter) Tereza

Capelos (Surrey) John Rigby (BBC News), Jeffrey Karp (Exeter) and Dan Stevens (Exeter)

The 2008 Election

Another Way of Looking at the Distribution of Votes

Culture War? Fiorina argues that the ideological disputes that engage

political elites and activists have little resonance among the American mass public

Ordinary 21st century Americans “are not very well-informed about politics, do not hold many of their views very strongly, and are not ideological” (p. 19).

Culture War? Fiorina’s characterization of Americans as uninterested and

non-ideological may apply very well to the large number of Americans who rarely or never vote.

However, it may not apply as well to regular voters, and it is voters whose opinions are of greatest concern to candidates and elected officials.

Distribution of Voters on Liberal-Conservative Issues Scale

Distribution of Non Voters on Liberal-Conservative Issues Scale

Percentage of voters donating money to a party or candidate by ideology

The Constitution’s Unwanted Offspring The Constitution contains no mention of political parties. What is a political party?

An organization whose purpose is to monopolize government. Power.

One definition: “A coalition of people who seek to control government by contesting elections and winning office”

A party differs from a single candidate’s campaign because a party runs an entire slate of candidates for a wide range of offices.

A party differs from an interest group because a party seeks to win offices rather than to influence those in office.

Parties are made up of ordinary voters, officeholders, office seekers, and activists

What do parties do?

Organization organize people by bring people under one tent.

Provide information, propagandize party ideology for the average citizen they simplify the political world

Parties recruit candidates (more commonly, politicians are self-starters) But

candidates need the party label to get elected. Contest elections

Parties mobilize the electorate

Consequences of Party Action Form governments Form organizations: committee/party leadership

-inter-branch coalitions: between executive and leg.; senate/house

legislatures of 49 states and the US Congress are organized along party lines.

Provide accountability provide a set of people to reward or blame Dispersal of power destroys political responsibility

Why only two parties? The rules of our political system play a large role in

determining how voters and parties behave. The U.S. electoral system is based on “winner take all”. It

is referred to as a single member plurality system (SMD). Also referred to (in the UK) as “first past the post”.

Under such a system, voters are discouraged from voting for smaller parties that have no chance of winning.

Smaller parties are discouraged from contesting elections

Multi-party Systems Most modern democracies have an electoral system that

is based on proportional representation. The system gives a party a share of seats in the

legislature matching the share of votes it wins on election day.

In most cases, parties put forth a list of candidates and citizens vote for the list. Thus voters choose among parties, not individual candidates.

Voters have less of an incentive to defect (from their sincere preference) and smaller parties have a greater incentive to contest elections.

U.S. Sample Ballot4 Nov, 2008

Party List System (PR)

Ireland

Single Transferable Vote (STV)

Voters select candidates based on their preference, i.e Mark 1 in the box for your first choice, mark 2 beside the candidate for your second choice…

Implications of Two Party System Encourages parties to converge toward the “median

voter”. Parties adopt moderate platforms to appeal to the broadest

possible audience Difficult for voters to recognize differences

Example of Spatial Competition

Median Voter

Party A Party BParty C

Num

ber

of

Vote

rs

Disadvantages with Having Only Two Parties Normative concerns (what is lost) Fairness

Should 50% of participating voters make govt.? Should incumbent parties draw districts?

Trust If voters are not aligned with major party, and their vote

is “wasted” on a third party, will they trust government? Participation

US has one of the lowest rates of participation Why show up if vote will be wasted?

Competition

Competition Consider the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election Competition focused largely in the “battleground” states See where the candidates travelled during the campaign

Advantages of Two Party System Stability

Multi-party democracy said to be unstable Must form coalition governments Evidence is that coalition governments are less stable

than single party government Illusion of Majority Rule Accountability

“responsible party” thesis

How Could a Third US Party Form? Institutional Change

Prospects slim for US Congress to act State Legislatures Citizen’s initiative

Major split in existing party Rise of regional conflict

Strength of Parties in the US Generally “weak” as compared to parties elsewhere Lack of recruitment (most candidates are usually self

starters) Lack of funding (most candidates have to raise the bulk of

their funds independently) Lack of party discipline

Should Parties be Strengthened? Strong parties would:

Promote party discipline Provision of a clear choice Concentration of power in hands of winning party

How Can Parties be Strengthened?

Campaign Finance Reform Allow soft money? Limit contributions from interest groups…

Reform primary system Closed primaries