AP U.S. Government and Politics · Lesson 2

Parties, third parties and interest groups

Know Know it

Linkage institutions connect citizens to government: parties, interest groups, elections and the media. A political party recruits and nominates candidates under its label, mobilizes voters, writes a platform of positions, and organizes government. The majority party in each chamber of Congress picks its leaders and committee chairs.

Party coalitions change. In a realignment, large groups of voters shift their loyalty for a long time, often after a critical election, such as 1932, which began a long Democratic majority. In dealignment, loyalty weakens and more voters call themselves independents. Primaries, social media and outside spending have made campaigns more candidate-centered, and parties have answered by building voter data and fundraising operations that candidates rely on.

Most U.S. elections are winner-take-all: one seat goes to whoever gets the most votes. A party that wins 15 percent everywhere can win no seats, so voters avoid wasting votes and two major parties dominate. Ballot-access rules and debate thresholds add hurdles. Countries with proportional representation give parties seats in line with their vote share, so more parties win seats. Third parties still matter: major parties often adopt their issues to win back their voters, and a third party can act as a spoiler that changes who wins.

An interest group is an organized group that tries to shape policy without running its own candidates for office. Its tools include lobbying officials, testifying at hearings, filing amicus curiae briefs and lawsuits, mobilizing members at the grassroots, rating lawmakers, and giving through a political action committee. Groups, committees and agencies can form an iron triangle; looser webs of many groups and experts on one issue are issue networks. Groups face the free-rider problem, since people can enjoy a group's wins without joining. Groups answer with benefits only members get, such as magazines, insurance or discounts. Small groups with a large stake in one issue often organize more easily than large groups whose members each have a small stake.

Trap A party is not an interest group

Both try to influence government, but only a party runs candidates under its own name to win office. An interest group may back candidates and donate to them, yet it does not put its own nominees on the ballot.

Worked example Easy

Which feature of U.S. elections makes it hardest for third parties to win seats in Congress?

  1. Proportional representation of parties in House races
  2. Six-year terms for members of the House
  3. Winner-take-all districtsAnswer
  4. Public funding that goes only to third-party candidates

How to solve it

  1. Ask which rule turns a third party's votes into zero seats.
  2. Winner-take-all districts give each seat to the single top vote-getter.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Incorrect. Proportional representation of parties is not used for House races, and where used it helps small parties win seats.
  • B. Incorrect. Six-year terms belong to senators; House members serve two years, and term length does not shut out small parties.
  • C. Correct. When each seat goes to the top vote-getter, a party that comes in third everywhere wins nothing.
  • D. Incorrect. Public funding that goes only to third-party candidates does not exist, and it would help them rather than hurt them.

Explain Explain it

Task verbs: describe, explain

To explain a group's action, name the tool or problem, then say what it does in the case. For example: the group files an amicus curiae brief, so the justices hear how the ruling would affect its members even though the group is not a party to the case.

Worked example Medium

For decades, a sugar growers' association, the House agriculture committee and the Department of Agriculture have worked closely together to protect a sugar program that helps all three. What is this relationship called?

  1. An iron triangleAnswer
  2. An issue network of many shifting groups and experts
  3. A critical election
  4. A party coalition formed in a realignment

How to solve it

  1. Count the partners: one interest group, one committee, one agency.
  2. A lasting three-way partnership in one policy area is an iron triangle.

Why each choice is right or wrong

  • A. Correct. A group, a committee and an agency in a stable, three-way partnership that serves all of them is an iron triangle.
  • B. Incorrect. An issue network is a loose and changing web of many players, while this is three fixed partners over decades.
  • C. Incorrect. A critical election is a vote that shifts party loyalties, not a working tie among a group, committee and agency.
  • D. Incorrect. A party coalition formed in a realignment is a bloc of voters, and none of these three partners is a party.

Explain Your turn

A fictional group, Clean Lake Now, wins a law that cleans up a lake used by 200,000 people, yet only 3,000 of them pay its dues. Explain why so many people who benefit do not join, and give one way the group could attract more members.

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A full answer does this

  • Explains that people get the benefit whether or not they join
  • Gives an accurate way the group could attract members

Model answer

This is the free-rider problem: the lake is cleaner for all 200,000 users whether or not they pay, so most of them enjoy the benefit without joining. Clean Lake Now could offer something only members get, such as discounted boat-launch passes, to give people a reason to pay dues.

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