Terms : Hide Images
| 188286673 | political party | an organized effort by office holders, candidates, activists, and voters to pursue their common interests by gaining and exercising power through the electoral process | |
| 188286674 | governmental party | the office holders who organize themselves and pursue policy objectives under a party label | |
| 188286675 | organizational party | the workers and activists who make up the party's formal organization structure | |
| 188286676 | party in the electorate | the voters who consider themselves allied or associated with the party | |
| 188286677 | machine | a party organization that recruits voter loyalty with tangible incentives and is characterized by a high degree of control over member activity | |
| 188286678 | direct primary | the selection of party candidates through the ballots of qualified voters rather than at party nomination conventions | |
| 188286679 | civil service laws | these acts removed the staffing of the bureaucracy from political parties and created a professional bureaucracy filled through competition | |
| 188286680 | issue-oriented politics | politics that focuses on specific issues rather than on party, candidate, or other loyalties | |
| 188286681 | ticket-split | to vote for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election | |
| 188286682 | candidate-centered politics | politics that focuses directly on the candidates, their particular issues, and character, rather than on party affiliation | |
| 188286683 | party realignment | a shifting of party coalition groupings in the electorate that remains in place for several elections | |
| 188286684 | critical elections | an election that signals a party realignment through voter polarization around new issues | |
| 188286685 | secular realignment | the gradual rearrangement of party coalitions, based more on demographic shifts than on shocks to the political system | |
| 188286686 | coalition | a group made up of interests or organizations that join forces for the purpose of electing public officials | |
| 188286687 | national party platform | a statement of the general and specific philosophy and policy goals of a political party, usually promulgated at the national convention | |
| 188286688 | proportional representation | a voting system that apportions legislative seats according to the percentage of the vote won by a particular political party | |
| 188286689 | winner-take-all system | an electoral system in which the party that receives at least one more vote than any other party wins the election | |
| 188286690 | national convention | a party conclave (meeting) held in the presidential election year for the purposes of nominating a presidential or vice presidential ticket and adopting a platform | |
| 188286691 | think tank | institutional collection of policy-oriented researchers and academics who are sources of policy ideas | |
| 188286692 | soft money | the virtually unregulated money funneled through political parties under the auspice of party building | |
| 188286693 | hard money | funds that can be used for direct electioneering but that are limited and regulated by the Federal Elections Commission | |
| 188286694 | party identification | a citizen's personal affinity for a political party, usually expressed by his or her tendency to vote for the candidates of that party | |
| 188286695 | dealignment | a general decline in partisan identification and loyalty in the electorate |
