Cause Of Political Realignment

The First Party System refers to a period between 1792 and the 1820’s when the American political system was divided into two parties. Both parties, the Federalist Party, and the Democratic-Republican Party, wanted control of the Congress, the presidency, and the states. The parties were the result of the differences between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson on how to solve various national problems such as the economic crisis that was threatening the nation at the time (Dickerson, 2004). However, the roots of these political parties and concerns emerged during the constitution ratification process. On one hand, the Federalists supported the constitution while, on the other hand, the Antifederalists (Democratic-Republican) did not support it due to key issues that had not been considered in the new constitution (rAndon HersHey & Beck, 2015).

The Funnel of Causality model describes voting behaviour in terms of socio-demographics, party identification, issues, and candidates. In this essay I will focus on issues because they can be compared between countries. An issue is essentially a problem that is perceived to be important, and there is an actor with “ownership” of the issue, meaning that there is someone who is thought to be “the best man for the job” so to speak. The economy isn’t an issue because you can’t have “ownership” over the economy. Issues are important because they explain a lot about voting behaviour.

It is 2014 and since the beginning of the millennium there has been a major shift in America’s political ideology and demographics, more so than in any set period of time. America which has historically been very conservative, has started to become more liberally made evident by the results of the last two elections. Although America’s government is based on a less centralized system and free market, Americans have seemed to start embracing things like big government and a stricter market. Americans are also starting to think different on social issues such as homosexuality and drug usage. America has also experienced a change in its demographics as minorities like Asians and Hispanics continue to grow while whites are, percentage wise, starting to make up a smaller part of Americas population. Along with a shift in ideology and change in demographics, technology and communication has advanced greatly making the world a much more connected place. Because of this connectivity people are also beginning to be influenced by foreign ideas that are not familiar to most Americans such as universal healthcare. Overall, because of factors such as foreign influences due to technology and changing demographics, America has become less conservative and more liberal.

Regime Parties and Realignments- The topic of party realignment was one that was brought up during lecture. Critical realignment theory has stated that some Presidents have played a larger role in the realignment of their parties. The definition of a critical realignment is when the parties and the issues that are at the forefront of the American attention change. Realignments have often been the result of a pressing issue coming to the forefront of Americas attention and allowing for third parties to arise and challenge the two major parties of that era. They often cause huge strains on the ideology and strength of the party because these issues cause rifts within the party weakening its structure. Richard Hofstadter recognized that a new issues arose around the elections of 1800, 1828, 1860, 1896, and 1932 and that the Presidents who won those elections all benefited by taking a stance on that issue.

A key turning point in American politics was the election of 1980. It indicated the new electoral power of the suburbs. The success that Reagan had as a conservative would initiate a group of parties because liberals and conservatives would either leave politics or change party affiliations through 1980 's and 1990 's. The research shows this caused the 1980 election to be recalled as one of America 's best historical events.

A new order of demonstrated political loyalties, such as seen in Texas and the South from Reconstruction until the middle 20th century with the movement from a Democratic majority identification to a development of parity between the Democratic and then in the latter half of the 20thcentury the shift to Republican

Early in the beginning of the United States of America, political parties began to form. After the Revolutionary war, the people disagreed on how the government should govern the country, and, in 1787 the first party was created. Following the federalist party, in 1797 the Republican party formed. The year before the formation the Republican party, the first president of the United States, George Washington resigned from office. Before he left office his issued a Farewell Address where he warned the country about political parties.

Dealignment has contributed to the decilne in political parties because it has caused an increase in split-ticket voting and people have started to identify themselves as independents instead of part of a major political party. Political machines have also contributed to the decline of political parties because they were ran by a specific person, taking power away from the political groups.

Partisan Politics in the newly formed United States of America was being established before the stipulated time governing this essay suggests. From as early as the Articles of Confederation and by the time of Ratification, Partisan politics was well on its way to play an integral role in the United States political life. It was tried to be avoided as dual-parties were thought to be a weakness in a Nation, however this was unavoidable.

Geographically, how the territory is shaped as a major influence on what happens in an election. When you have the different sizes of districts it can come down to a win/lose situation. There are many examples throughout history of how gerrymandering has influenced and changed political outcomes, in this paper we are going to be looking a couple of different examples in order to see why the movement and location of the various districts has an impact. For this paper I am going to start by looking into historical impacts of gerrymandering, and what it has done for maps and territories. Secondly, I will then look at a specific example, North Carolina and Maryland and study how the changing of the given territory will impact the political election. Finally, I will look at gerrymandering system as a whole and the pros and the cons it has on the geographical

It could be argued, however, that the two party system which was once in place is declining, meaning more parties have a realistic chance to achieve role as government. In the last thirty years the support for the Conservative and Labour parties has been gradually decreasing, leaving them with only 67% of the vote at the 2005 general election, which was the smallest percentage they’d gained since 1918. This is an example of partisan dealignment because the working class started to transfer their party support to Conservative instead of Labour. The Liberal Democrats support was significantly increasing, leaving them with 22% of the vote in the 2005 election as well as 62 seats. Their seat numbers had been increasing since 1974 when they only had 14 seats in parliament, suggesting a change in the dominance of only two parties. Today, the Liberal Democrats, who haven’t been considered a main party since, are currently the weaker part of a coalition government, with Labour in opposition. This shows a clear end to the two party system, with three parties in significant places of power.

In the mid-1800’s, the country was split between the Republicans, who had allied with the Union, and the Democrats, who had allied with the Confederacy. Over time, the Democrats and Republicans switched platforms and ideologies back and forth multiple times. In fact, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican by name, but today we would consider him a socially left-leaning Democrat. These switches were caused by Civil Rights in the 18 and 1960’s and other major events (DeMichele).

There are many theories as to how or why political polarization was formed, and the impact it has on government in modern day. Polarization has varied significantly over the years ever since the 1970’s. However, what is the true cause and can it be explained? This paper will discuss some theories on how political polarization came about, and analyzes some accounts of polarization overall. Defining political polarization is vital into developing an understanding of how or why it was initially formed.

The first area I looked at was political parties role in our history. There were a multitude of sources that came up, but only a few that dealt with American political parties or was broad enough to use for this topic. For example, there was one article that dealt interpreted the political parties role in U.S. tariff policy in the 1820s (Daniel Purt). I felt that that subject was too narrow for the area of interest I was looking to explore, so with that I decided to move on to another article. The first article I really looked in depth at was an article from Richard L. McCormick, titled “Politics in the United States: Reinterpreting their Natural History” And this article goes over, broadly, the different realignments and political transitions that have occurred in our country. In the article it also talks about new ideas political scientists now focus on. Being as previously they only focused on voting patterns (McCormick), the scope of inquiry has now increased to a multitude of topics. While

Many political science researchers study the forces that drive the vote. One of the earliest, and most well known, books about election studies is The American Voter. Written in 1960, the book tries to explain a model that describes what drives Americans to vote the way they do. The model suggests that social factors determine ones party identification, which determines one's issue positions and evaluation of candidate's characteristics. These forces all work together to determine how one will vote. This model may or may not still hold true today, as political researchers are not in agreement as to what exactly drives the vote. One thing that does remain true, however, is that factors such as social groups, party identification, issues,