Political Parties

America has a two-party system. We didn’t plan it that way. It just happened. And third parties can’t break in no matter how hard they try.

What Parties Actually Do

Parties are the organizational backbone of democracy:

Recruit and nominate candidates: The pipeline from “interested citizen” to “on the ballot.” Parties develop and promote political talent.

Mobilize voters: Get-out-the-vote operations, canvassing, phone banking, digital outreach. Elections are won on the ground.

Organize government: Majority/minority status determines everything in Congress. The majority party controls committees, sets the agenda, and holds power. The minority opposes.

Provide cues: The (D) or (R) next to a name is a cognitive shortcut. Voters don’t need to know every candidate’s positions; party identification tells them enough.

Develop platforms: At least theoretically. Platforms are adopted at conventions but often ignored afterward.

Party Organization

National Level

Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Republican National Committee (RNC): Set party rules, organize national conventions, coordinate messaging, raise money.

Congressional campaign committees: DCCC and NRCC for the House; DSCC and NRSC for the Senate. Focus on winning congressional races.

National parties have grown more powerful in fundraising and coordination.

State Level

Run primaries and caucuses, coordinate statewide campaigns, manage party affairs. State parties vary enormously in strength and organization.

Local Level

County and precinct organizations. Grassroots organizing, canvassing, the ground game. Often understaffed and underfunded but crucial for turnout.

Party Identification

Most Americans identify with a party, and that identification is remarkably stable.

Strong identifiers: Vote party line consistently. About 30% of electorate for each party.

Weak identifiers: Lean toward a party but occasionally defect. Another 10-15% each.

True independents: No consistent party preference. Only about 10% of the electorate. (Most “independents” actually lean one direction.)

Party ID is usually inherited from parents and resistant to change. It functions like a social identity, not just a policy preference.

Party Coalitions

Democrats Today

Urban voters, racial minorities (especially Black voters), union members, college-educated voters (increasingly), young voters, secular and non-Christian religious voters, women (especially unmarried women).

Geographic base: Cities, coasts, upper Midwest.

Republicans Today

Rural voters, white evangelicals, older voters, non-college white voters (increasingly), military and veterans, business owners.

Geographic base: Rural areas, South, Mountain West.

The Education Flip

This is recent and important. College-educated voters used to lean Republican. Now they lean Democratic. Non-college voters moved the opposite direction. Education has become a major political dividing line.

Party Change and Realignment

Parties aren’t static. They evolve as coalitions shift.

Critical Elections

Sometimes party coalitions fundamentally restructure. These “critical elections” redraw the political map:

1860: Civil War realignment. Republicans become the party of the Union. Democrats dominate the South.

1896: Industrial realignment. Republicans consolidate business support.

1932: New Deal coalition. Democrats become the party of the working class, minorities, and urban voters. Dominance lasts 36 years.

1968-1980: Southern realignment. The solid Democratic South flips Republican over civil rights. Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” completes the transformation.

Dealignment

When party ties weaken overall, producing more independents and more ticket-splitting. Some argue we’ve experienced dealignment rather than realignment since the 1970s.

The Current Moment

Are we in a realignment? Possible. The parties have sorted geographically and demographically. Trump accelerated working-class movement to Republicans and suburban movement to Democrats.

But realignment requires durable change. We’ll know in retrospect.

Polarization

The parties have become more ideologically distinct.

What’s Changed

There used to be liberal Republicans (Northeastern moderates) and conservative Democrats (Southern Blue Dogs). They’re nearly extinct now.

Congressional voting shows virtually no overlap between the parties. The most conservative Democrat is more liberal than the most liberal Republican.

Causes

Gerrymandering: Safe seats mean primaries are the real election. Primary voters are more extreme than general election voters.

Primary electorate: Small, motivated, ideologically committed. Punishes moderation.

Media ecosystems: Fox News viewers and MSNBC viewers inhabit different political realities. Social media algorithms reinforce existing beliefs.

Geographic sorting: Liberals cluster in cities; conservatives in rural areas. People live among the like-minded.

Elite polarization driving mass polarization: Voters take cues from party leaders. When leaders diverge, followers diverge.

Consequences

Compromise becomes harder. Governing becomes harder. Each side sees the other as an existential threat rather than a legitimate opposition.

Third-Party Politics

Why Third Parties Fail

The American system is structurally hostile to third parties:

Winner-take-all districts: Second place gets nothing. No proportional representation means third parties can win millions of votes and zero seats.

Electoral College: Must win states, not just popular votes. Winning 20% everywhere means winning nothing.

Ballot access laws: Getting on the ballot requires petitions, filing fees, and legal hurdles. Major parties write these laws.

Debate exclusion: Need 15% in polls to get on the presidential debate stage. Can’t get 15% without visibility. Classic catch-22.

Duverger’s Law: Plurality voting systems tend toward two parties. Rational voters don’t “waste” votes on parties that can’t win.

But Third Parties Still Matter

They don’t win, but they influence:

Spoiler effect: Nader in 2000, Perot in 1992. Whether they “cost” anyone the election is debatable, but major parties fear it.

Agenda setting: Introduce issues that major parties later adopt. The Populist Party pushed the income tax. The Progressive Party pushed women’s suffrage. The Green Party mainstreamed environmental concerns.

Protest vehicle: Let dissatisfied voters express discontent without staying home.

Notable Third Parties

Libertarian Party: Free markets, social liberalism. Gets on most ballots. Rarely exceeds 3%.

Green Party: Environmental focus, left of Democrats. Nader won 2.7% in 2000.

Reform Party: Perot’s vehicle. Won 8% in 1996.

Bull Moose Party (1912): Roosevelt’s third-party run. Won 27%, more than the Republican nominee.

The Takeaway

The two-party system structures all of American politics. Understanding parties means understanding:

• What functions parties perform
• How party identification works
• The current coalition compositions
• How and why parties change
• Why we’re more polarized
• Why third parties can’t break through

Parties aren’t in the Constitution, but they make constitutional government work. Or don’t work, depending on your perspective.