One Big Party?

Notes

1). Name the two major political parties in the U.S.? ___________________ & _____________________

2). Can you name any other political parties? ________________________

Why might this be hard? _________________________________________________________

3). _____________ ___________- an organized group of people who share similar political views and
work to influence the government in support of those views.

4). _____________ __________- a person’s ideas about how the government should run and how the
issues facing our country should be solved

5). Political parties __________ _____ ________ _______________ ___________ by having candidates
elected to office

6). Political parties exist ____ __________ __________ _____ ___________________, from the national
level to your very own neighborhood. By organizing into political parties, people have more power to
influence government than if they acted alone.

7). True / False - The U.S. has two major political parties

8). A political party can be defined as: A B C D

9). The U.S. technically has a __________-___________ ___________

10). _________ __________________ identify with one of these two parties, Democrats or Republicans

11). About _______ of Americans identify as _______________ __________________, meaning they

don’t want to identify with any party

12). ___________/__________ Parties- lacking wide political support, have never made a successful
showing, so people are reluctant to support them

Examples: ______________, _______________, and _________________

13). Bringing up issues- minor parties will bring forth issues that the major political parties _______
_______ ________ _____________ ____ or is shying away from. However, if public opinion is behind an
issue, the major parties will need to focus on it as well

14). Which statement is true about third parties in the U.S.?

Encouraged by Constitution : Prohibited in many states : Win most elections : Have alternate ideas

15). ______________- a document that describes the party’s views on all major issues facing the nation.
It is the set of beliefs that pollical parties stands on.

16). _______________- people who are running for political office and will almost always declare
themselves a member of a political party.

17). A candidate gains support from the political party and makes it ___________ ______ __________ to
figure out what the candidate believes in and where they stand on the issues
18). Parties support their candidates by __________ _________, ________________,
____________________ ____________ and urging people to vote on election day

19). True / False – Political parties work at all levels of government- National, State and Local

20). In the executive branch, the _______________ and _____________ ___________________ almost
always belong to a political party

21). Like lawmakers, their _________ ______________ ____________ with their political party’s
platform.

22). He or she doesn’t make laws, but is key in developing ___________ ____________- the stand the
government takes about how issues should be handled.

23). A president who belongs to the minority party may also disagree with laws passed by the majority
party and _______ _________ __________ ________

24). What other public policies can you think of?

25). True / False – The president or governor’s political party has no effect on the lawmaking process.

Vocab Check

26). ____________ ___________- political party other than Republican or Democrat

27). ______________ _________- organized group with similar views and work to influence government

28). ________________- set of statements describing a party’s views on major issues

29). ___________________- a person running for political office

30).True / False - By forming a political party, people gain more influence over government by banding
together with others

31). True / False - No independent has ever been elected to political office

32). True / False - You can only vote for a candidate who is the same party as the party with which
you’re registered