Decline and Renewal of US Parties

Party Decline

Parties no longer have sole control over who their party candidate is - this is left to delegates and the public in primaries and caucuses e.g, Trump was unpopular with the Republican establishment

Candidate centred politics can be seen in Presidential election campiagns (e.g. TV debates focused on Clinton vs. Trump rather than Democrats vs Republicans)

Party platform is now widely decided by the candidate themselves e.g. Trump saying he wants to build a wall, which divided the party

Energence of 'movements' e.g. the TEA party and Occupy, show the extent to which many Americans are more prone to join a movement than a traditional party

Party Renewal

Democrats have some control over who their candidate is with super delegates, also the party may rig results e.g. Bernie called Iowa count 'suspicious', Hillary had a huge super delegate lead over Bernie

A unified party is important for a successful election campaign, so factional infighting is kept to a minimum (e.g. Bernie endorsed Clinton at the Democratic National Convention)

  • The Republicans were divided and Trump still won

Policies are based on the parties overall ideological position (e.g. Trump's desire for a wall is based on anti-immigrant policy)

Increased partisanship in Congress - votes are often split along party lines (e.g. Obamacare, Gorsuch)

High voter loyalty still exists about 89% of registered Democrats voted for Clinton

Extra

Now check out our notes on the Democratic party and the Republican party

Also check out our notes on partisanship, party organisation, and the party system

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