American Politics Today - Essentials (3rd Ed)

MODERN AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES| 173

the moderate (middle) and even somewhat conservative right side. Democrats in

the 112th House were, on average, more liberal than their colleagues in the 83rd,

but a wide range of ideologies were still represented in the Democratic caucus. The

same is true for Republicans, who leaned in the conservative direction in both the

112th and the 83rd Houses.

The range of positions among members of the party in government can create

situations in which a caucus or conference is divided on a policy question. Com-

promise within a party’s working group is not inevitable—even though legislators

share a party label, they may not be able to fi nd common ground. On the Republi-

can side, divisions arose in 2011 over the need for tax increases in defi cit-reduction

packages, with one group (including Tea Party members and some Democrats)

opposing any tax increases, while other Republicans were willing to accept some

modest increases.^23

The Party in the Electorate

The party in the electorate consists of citizens who identify with a particular politi-

cal party. Most Americans say they are either Democrats or Republicans, although

the percentage has declined over the last two generations. Party identifi cation

(party ID) is a critical variable in understanding votes and other forms of politi-

cal participation.

PARTY IDENTIFICATION

Party identifi cation is diff erent from formal membership in a political party.
Although the Republicans and the Democrats have websites where people can sign
up to receive e-mail alerts and to contribute to party causes, joining a party does
not give a citizen any direct infl uence over what the party does. It is the party lead-
ers and the candidates themselves who make the day-to-day decisions. These indi-
viduals often heed citizens’ demands, but there is no requirement that they do so.
Real participation in party operations is open to citizens who become activists by
working for a party organization or one of its candidates. Activists’ contributions
vary from stuffi ng envelopes to helping out with a phone bank, being a delegate to a
party convention, attending campaign rallies, or campaigning door-to-door. Rela-
tively few Americans are activists, only a small percentage of
the population.
Figure 6.2 gives data on party identifi cation in America over
the last 60 years. The fi rst plot shows that the Democratic Party
had a considerable advantage in terms of the number of citizens
identifying with the party from the 1930s until the late 1980s.
During the 1970s nearly half of adults identifi ed with the Demo-
cratic Party, and only about 20 percent identifi ed with the Repub-
licans. During the 1990s the percentage of Democratic identifi ers
decreased signifi cantly and the percentage of Republican identi-
fi ers increased slightly, to the point that in 2002 the parties had
roughly the same percentage of identifi ers.^24 However, beginning
in 2003 the Democrats again opened up a signifi cant advantage
in terms of identifi ers, although the diff erence has largely disap-
peared in recent years. The two lines in Figure 6.2 do not add up

party identifi cation

(party ID) A citizen’s loyalty to

a specifi c political party.

ACTIVIST VOLUNTEERS UNDERTAKE

most of the one-on-one efforts to

mobilize support for a party and

its candidates.