Key Terms
- bipartisanship
- a process of cooperation through compromise
- critical election
- an election that represents a sudden, clear, and long-term shift in voter allegiances
- divided government
- a condition in which one or more houses of the legislature is controlled by the party in opposition to the executive
- first-past-the-post
- a system in which the winner of an election is the candidate who wins the greatest number of votes cast, also known as plurality voting
- gerrymandering
- the manipulation of legislative districts in an attempt to favor a particular candidate
- majoritarian voting
- a type of election in which the winning candidate must receive at least 50 percent of the votes, even if a run-off election is required
- majority party
- the legislative party with over half the seats in a legislative body, and thus significant power to control the agenda
- minority party
- the legislative party with less than half the seats in a legislative body
- moderate
- an individual who falls in the middle of the ideological spectrum
- party identifiers
- individuals who represent themselves in public as being part of a party
- party organization
- the formal structure of the political party and the active members responsible for coordinating party behavior and supporting party candidates
- party platform
- the collection of a party’s positions on issues it considers politically important
- party polarization
- the shift of party positions from moderate towards ideological extremes
- party realignment
- a shifting of party alliances within the electorate
- party-in-government
- party identifiers who have been elected to office and are responsible for fulfilling the party’s promises
- party-in-the-electorate
- members of the voting public who consider themselves part of a political party or who consistently prefer the candidates of one party over the other
- personal politics
- a political style that focuses on building direct relationships with voters rather than on promoting specific issues
- plurality voting
- the election rule by which the candidate with the most votes wins, regardless of vote share
- political machine
- an organization that secures votes for a party’s candidates or supports the party in other ways, usually in exchange for political favors such as a job in government
- political parties
- organizations made up of groups of people with similar interests that try to directly influence public policy through their members who seek and hold public office
- precinct
- the lowest level of party organization, usually organized around neighborhoods
- proportional representation
- a party-based election rule in which the number of seats a party receives is a function of the share of votes it receives in an election
- reapportionment
- the reallocation of House seats between the states to account for population changes
- redistricting
- the redrawing of electoral maps
- safe seat
- a district drawn so members of a party can be assured of winning by a comfortable margin
- sorting
- the process in which voters change party allegiances in response to shifts in party position
- third parties
- political parties formed as an alternative to the Republican and Democratic parties, also known as minor parties
- two-party system
- a system in which two major parties win all or almost all elections
