The Two-Party System
Political parties frame the debate, recruit candidates, and raise money. The Democratic and Republican parties dominate American politics and are organized at the national, state, and local levels. Over the past decade in many states, an increasing percentage of the electorate has chosen to remain unaffiliated. Despite dissatisfaction with the Democrats and the Republicans, minor parties face huge obstacles in their efforts to gain a foothold.
The United States Constitution makes no mention of
political
parties, yet the two-party system has become a foundation of the
American political system. The party that controls the White House has
a major advantage in setting the national agenda through the bully
pulpit, but executive power is constrained by the legislative and
judicial branches. Congressional leadership plays a key role in
determining the directions of the parties as do the national party
committees, state parties and state leadership. Surrounding both
parties are constellations of ideological and interest groups seeking
to push them in
one direction or another.
Both parties boast long traditions, the Democrats pointing to Thomas
Jefferson, FDR, Harry Truman and JFK and the Republicans tracing back
to Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. Thanks to
cartoonist Thomas Nast in the 1870s, Democrats are represented
by the donkey and Republicans by the elephant; a more recent phenomenon
is the assignment of the color red for Republicans and blue for
Democrats. Generally,
conservatives align with the Republican Party and liberals and
progressives align with the Democrats.
There
is
also
the
stereotypical
image
of
Democrats
as
the
party
of
big
labor
and
ivory
tower
academics
and
Republicans
as
the
party
of
big
business
and
the
rich.
Views
of
the
parties
are
also
shaped
by
their
national
leadership;
thus
the
Democrats
are
seen
as
the
party
of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer and the Republicans as the party of President Donald Trump and
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Within the parties are various forces and factions. In the Democratic Party there is constant tension between progressive and more pragmatic or centrist elements such as Blue Dog Democrats. In the Republican Party social conservatives form a significant element of the base, tea party activists have been a force since 2010, and there are also libertarian elements. Moderate Republicans are seen as a disappearing breed, disparaged by conservatives as RINOs (Republicans in Name Only). Many independent groups such as the tea party movement or the labor movement operate outside the party structure but seek to influence it even as they in turn are wooed by the party.
A contrarian view holds that the major parties are basically
very similar. During his campaigns Ralph Nader often spoke of a
"two-party duopoly" and
likened the Democrats and Republicans to Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
As politics has
become
increasingly
professionalized, candidates of
both parties must raise vast amounts of money to pay for pollsters and
consultants. There is a Washington establishment, a culture of money
and lobbyists, described in the book This
Town,
in which Democrats and Republicans figure equally.
National and state party committees work to provide infrastructure to ensure electoral success of candidates up and down the ballot. For example in areas such as technology and online security national committees are best equipped to stay abrest of the latest developments and then train and educate state and local committee staff. Parties raise money to support candidates and register voters to produce a more favorable electorate and. This type of work goes on in election and non-election years (+).
On a micro level, far away from Washington, DC county parties and
local party clubs provide a direct interface with citizens, engaging in
such activities as sponsoring speakers or tabling at farmer's markets
or county fairs.
Shifting Fortunes
Over time, the American electorate has tended to vote so that
neither of the parties holds too much power, and fortunes of the
parties can change unexpectedly. Bill Clinton was elected President in
1992, but Republicans rebounded to gain control of the House of
Representatives in 1994. Twelve years later Democrats regained control
of the House. When Barack Obama won the White House in 2008, Democrats
appeared to be in a very strong position. In May 2009 Time
magazine ran a cover story showing the Republican elephant as an
"Endangered Species" and National Journal focused on "The
Shrinking GOP." However, in November 2009 Republicans won
governorships in New Jersey and Virginia, on January 19, 2010 they
elected Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate in the
Massachusetts special election, and in November 2010 they dealt
Democrats an historic drubbing.
Then, in 2012, despite all
efforts, they failed to make President Obama a one-term president. Some
observers even questioned Republicans' ability to regain the White
House in future due to changing demographics of the country.
Republicans started working to address the problem. Following
the 2012 campaign, the
Republican National Committee undertook a major reassessment and vowed
"a new way of doing things." (+) The Republican
State Leadership Committee's Future Majority Project focused on
recruiting diverse candidates and women in the 2013-14 cycle.
In the 2014 midterms, Democrats endured widespread losses, casting some doubts on its future prospects. In addition to losing control of the Senate, and falling short in governor's races, Republicans achieved a net gain of between 300 and 350 state legislative seats according to he National Conference of State Legislatures, giving them "their highest number of legislators since 1920." Democrats have their own gender gap, among white males. One need only look at the U.S. political map, which is a sea of red with dots of blue in urban areas, to see that Democrats have a problem in rural areas. The Democratic National Committee announced its own "top-to-bottom review" following the 2014 midterms (+), Donald Trump's stunning upset in 2016 dealt another blow to Democratis.
Most Republicans have fallen in line behind Trump despite his chaotic approach and despite some differences in policy. In the 2018 midterms the pendulum swung decisively to Democrats. Democrats regained control of the House and picked up governor's offices and legislative seats. Trump's presidency has dealt a setback to GOP efforts to diversify. In the 2018 elections while Democratic women candidates for U.S House achieved historic successes, Republicans actually lost ground (+).
Over the past decade, conservatives and progressives
alike have
developed increasingly sophisticated infrastructure to support
like-minded candidates. Functions such as training, data and
opposition research, which were formerly filled by the party committees
are supplemented by or even implemented by outside entities.
Although
the assortment of groups and
networks
on the right and on the left are independent of the parties, there are
often linkages and connections. For example, party committees and
independent groups may use the same consultants or vendors, and it is
not uncommon for staff of these groups to have worked at one of the
party committees. In effect such groups form adjuncts to the
parties, aligning with them and supplementing their work; one could
argue the have as much or more impact. While progressives had
somewhat of
a head start in the development of this infrastructure, conservatives
have clearly caught up in recent years.
One key group on the progressive side is America Votes. Formed in the 2004 cycle, America Votes coordinates the campaign activities of a number of progressive groups thus avoiding duplication of efforts. Another group, Catalist, provides "progressive organizations with the data and services needed to better identify, understand, and communicate with the people they need to persuade and mobilize." The Analyst Institute is "a clearinghouse for evidence-based best practices in progressive voter contact." The Atlas Project provides "political data, analysis, election history and insight." Also on the progressive side, American Bridge focuses on opposition research, including having trackers following and videotaping Republican presidential candidates and other Republican candidates. Democracy Alliance, formed in 2005, "was created to build progressive infrastructure that could help counter the well-funded and sophisticated conservative apparatus..." A recent addition on the progressive side is the American Democracy Legal Fund, "a group established to hold candidates for office accountable for possible ethics and/or legal violations."
On the
conservative side, groups such as The Leadership Institute (founded in
1979) and
GOPAC (founded in 1978) work on training activists and leaders.
The
Koch brothers provide backing to an array of organizations.
Freedom
Partners supports "broad-based coalitions to advance free markets and a
free society." i360, a "data and technology resource for the
pro-free-market political and advocacy community," has developed a
database of 190+ million active voters and 250+ million US
consumers."
Americans for Prosperity is "an organization of grassroots leaders who
engage citizens in the name of limited government and free
markets." The Kochs also support three constituency groups:
Generation Opportunity (youth), Concerned Veterans of American and
LIBRE (Hispanics). Another group on the conservative side is
America Rising LLC, which like American Bridge does opposition research
and tracking.
Another example of ideological infrastructure are think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation on the right and the Center for American Progress on the left; these serve as idea factories.
Is Increasing Partisanship a Problem?
Many commentators and officials believe the partisan
tone has become
more strident in recent decades. Some observers have argued that there
are
fewer swing seats in Congress, and that as a result Members, ensconced
in
safe districts, do not need to moderate their positions. The
professionalization of politics may also contribute; while there have
certainly been negative campaigns in the past, consultants now have the
attack campaign down to a science. They churn out slick
communications
attacking opposing
candidates. In a fair number of races, campaigns are outspent by
outside interest
groups whose backers are not apparent and whose messages frequently
feature attacks. Additionally, talk radio,
cable television and the blogosphere abound with heated rhetoric,
echoing attacks. The net result appears to be severe dysfunction, where
both sides are talking past each other.
There have been various efforts to transcend partisanship. During
their presidential campaigns, candidates
George W. Bush ("uniter not a divider") and Barack Obama ("there
are no
red states and no blue states") both made bipartisan appeals, but once
they were in office they found those sentiments difficult to implement.
There are a number of groups working to advance a bipartisan approach.
The Bipartisan Policy Center,
formed
in
2007
by
former
Senate
Majority
Leaders
Howard
Baker,
Tom Daschle, Bob Dole
and
George Mitchell, is a think tank that "combines the best ideas
from both the Republican and Democratic parties to address the nation's
key challenges." No Labels,
launched
Dec.
13,
2010,
seeks
to
"counter
hyper-partisanship"
and
"bring
together
leading
thinkers
from the left, right, and all points in between." While
mainly focused on Congress, in Fall 2015 No Labels tried to advance a National
Strategic Agenda "to help catalyze debate in the 2016
presidential
election." For 2020 the group is again seeking to have an impact. Unite America,
previously
the Centrist Project, launched in 2018 with the goal of
electing "common sense, independent candidates." Credible third party
or independent candidates can help to elevate the quality of the
debate, but the results for independent and third party candidates in
recent elections have continued to be underwhelming. Another approach
with some promise is Better
Angels, "a citizens’ organization uniting red and blue Americans in
a working alliance to depolarize America." More broadly there is the
notion of "transpartisanship,"
which "recognizes the validity of all points of view and
values a constructive
dialogue aimed at arriving at creative, integrated, and therefore,
breakthrough solutions that meet the needs of all sides."
At the presidential level, efforts to elect independent candidates
or
even a unity ticket have failed. The last strong showings by an
independent candidate were Ross Perot's 1992 (18.9%) and 1996 (8.4%)
campaigns.
In 2016 former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg looked into an
independent run, but decided against it fearing it would tip the race
to Trump. Former Starbucks head Howard Schultz encountered a lot of
pushback as he looked into an independent run in the first part of
2019; ultimately he abandoned the effort
(+).
Likewise
the
idea
of
a
unity
ticket
has
not
gotten anywhere.
In 2018 there was some talk that Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) and Gov. John
Hickenlooper (D-CO) might team up, but it never moved beyond talk. In
the 2012 cycle Americans
Elect.
Americans
Elect
("Pick
a
President,
Not
a
Party")
proved
to
be
a
flop;
after
working
on
ballot
access
in
all
50
states,
the
group
conducted
a
primary
process
that
failed
to
produce
a
qualified
candidate. In May 2006 Unity08 launched with the goal of electing a
bipartisan
ticket to the White House; the group folded in 2008. Another
effort to overcome partisanship was 1787, which started up in 2013 and
described itself
as "an organization with a policy platform grounded in common sense."
1787 planned to have "a
presidential, vice presidential and multiple congressional candidates
on ballots in 2016." However, this effort gained
no traction.
Third Parties: Huge Obstacles
In an Gallup survey
of
1,028
adults conduced in Sept. 2018 (>),
57
percent
of
respondents
said
a
third
major
party
is
needed.
(The
question
asked
was,
"In
your
view,
do
the
Republican
and
Democratic
parties
do
an
adequate
job
of
representing
the
American
people,
or
do
they
do
such
a
poor
job
that
a
third
major
party
is
needed?")
Supporters of existing minor or third
parties including the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, and the
Constitution Party argue that their parties can fill the void.
In 2016, the Libertarian ticket of Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, two
former Republican governors, achieved the best showing ever by the
party, obtaining almost 4.5 million votes or 3.27% of the vote. In 2000
Green Party nominee Ralph Nader won 2.9 million votes or 2.74%. More
often, however, third party candidates are little known and face a
struggle to achieve credibility and resources needed to have any impact
in a race. Despite
the apparent opening for a third party, difficulties
with uneven and inequitable ballot access requirements (+), raising
money,
recruiting
credible candidates, and attracting media attention form high
barriers to these parties. There
are also
a few state-based third parties such as the Independence Party in
Minnesota which could benefit from dissatisfaction. The historical
record and the many
formidable
obstacles in our system suggest that third parties will continue to
have a marginal impact. Even if third parties' efforts do not fully
succeed,
their ideas leaven the debate and their presence may hopefully improve
our democracy.
Useful Links
- American Political Science Association: Political Parties
- Open Secrets: Political Parties
- Platforms: Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Greens, Constitution
- Pew Research: Political
Party
Affiliation
- Amazon.com: search Political Parties