⇒ 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
⇒ 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)
⇒ 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
⇒ 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