A new realignment a reagan won in 1980 because he was

5. 1980: a new realignment?
a. Reagan won in 1980 because he was not
Jimmy Carter
b. Could not have been a traditional realignment
because Congress was left in the hands of the
Democrats
6. Major shift that has occurred: shift in presidential voting
patterns in the South
a. 1972-2004: South has been more Republican
than nation as a whole
b. If continues, will constitute a major regional
realignment
F. Party decline
1. Evidence that parties are declining, not realigning
2. Proportion of people identifying with a party declined
between 1960 and 1980
3. Proportion of those voting a split ticket increased
c. was almost unheard of in the 19thcentury,
because voters were given ballots by the
parties
d. became more common with the adoption of the
office=bloc ballot (listing candidates by office
instead of party)
III. The national party structure today (THEME A: PARTY
STRUCTURE TODAY)

support the party’s congressional candidates
4. National chair manages daily work
B. Party structure diverged in the late 1960s and early
1970s
1. RNC moved to bureaucratic structure
a. Became a well-financed party devoted to
electing its candidates, especially to Congress
b. Beginning in 1980s, RNC used computerized
mailing lists to raise money
c. Money was used to provide services to
candidates
d. RNC effectively created a national firm of
political consultants
2. Democrats moved to factionalized structure
and redistributed power
a. Democrats lost 5 out of 6 presidential elections
between 1968 and 1988
b. By the 1990s, DNC had learned from the RNC:
adopted the same techniques, with some
success
3. DNC and RNC send money to state parties,
to sidestep federal spending limits (soft
money)
C. National conventions
1. National committee sets time and place;
issues a “call” setting the number of
delegates for each state and the rules for
their selection
2. Formulas are used to allocate delegates
a. Democrats’ formula shifts delegates away from
the South, to the North and West
b. Republicans’ formula shifts delegates away
from the East, to the South and Southwest
c. Result: Democrats move left, Republicans right
3. Democratic formula rewards large states
wile the Republican formula rewards loyal
states
4. Democrats set new rules
a. In 1970s, rules were changed to weaken local
party leaders and increase the proportions of
women, youth, Blacks, and Native Americans
attending the convention
b. Hunt Commission in 1981 increased the
influence of elected officials and made the
convention more deliberative
5. Consequence of reforms: parties represent
different sets of upper-middle-class voters
a. Republicans represent more traditional middle
class – more conservative
b. Democrats represent more leftist wing of the
liberal middle class