| A | B |
|---|
| Incumbent | People who currently hold office. |
| Factions | Groups of people that cause problems. |
| Splinter Parties | Parties that have split away from a major party. |
| Ideological Parties | Parties based on a particular set of beliefs. |
| Political Party | A group of people who seek control of the government by winning elections. |
| Major Parties | The two main parties in the US (Republicans and Democrats). |
| partisanship | A firm allegiance to a political party. |
| Minor Party | A party without wide support. |
| plurality | The person who recieves the most votes. |
| Bipartisan | When parties find common ground and work together. |
| consensus | A general agreement among various groups. |
| pluralistic society | An area that has many distinct cultures and beliefs. |
| Coalition | When a number of parties share the power in government. |
| Sectionalism | A political concern that only effects a certian area of the country. |
| Liberal | The government needs to do more to make the peoples lives better. |
| Conservative | The government is doing to much and makes peoples lives worse. |
| Republicans | A political party in the US that trends to be conservative. |
| Democrats | A political party in the US that trends to be liberal. |
| Status Quo | The way things are in a given point in time. |
| Single-member district | Only one person is elected to represent an area. |
| Multiparty | A place that does not have a dominate party but many different parties (France, Germany). |
| National Chairperson | Person who runs a political party. |
| National Committee | An elected body in each national party that creates the party platform. |
| National Convention | This is a party meeting where both parties offically nominate a person to run for president. |
| Split ticket voting | Is when people vote for the person not the party (Democarts and Republicans). |
| Free Soil, Know Nothings and Right to Life | Examples of third parties that have been created in the US. |
| Spoiler role | Minor parties take away votes from one paty allowing the other party to win. |
| Economic Protest Party | Minor party that focuse only on economic issues. |
| Single Issue Party | Minor party that focuses only on one important issue. |
| Solid South | Democrats won almost all the elections in southern states from 1930's to the 60's. |
| Two party system | Political system where only two major parties win. |
| One party system | Describes a political system where only one party controls the election process in a country (China, Russia). |
| Watch dog | Is when the party out of power watches to make sure the party in power does their job. |
| Bonding Agent | How parties control their own members. |
| Base | The number of strongest supporters for a political party. |
| electioneering | To be active in a political election or campaign. |
| party bosses | A party leader who controls votes and dictates appointments. |
| primaries | A preliminary election in whichvotersofeachparty nominate candidates for office. |
| platform | A list of beliefs for a political party. |
