Political Changes In Elections

The United States has seen significant changes in the systems of parties and elections over the years. Especially in the composition of party coalitions, the methods and practices used to choose elected officials and partisan conflict. Post 1960 there have been five huge changes in how our system operates. One change would have to do with the media and technology. The second change would be the introduction of the primary system and how it became increasingly popular. The third change would be how money rules a presidential campaign. The fourth change would deal with the realignment post 1960. The fifth and final change would deal with the party coalitions. There were many huge changes in how the political system was run and that will be discussed

The system of old politics was ended with the creation of the new deal. With the creation of the new deal came a new system of politics known as new politics. The system of old politics was a more up front approach to politics where the party would provide incentives and some power to people who would support that given party. The main connection between the candidates and the voters was the political party. The political party was more of a way for citizens to be involved with politics, not to rule and influence the political system. With the system of new politics came a change to primaries, which is now the number one means of the nomination process. In 1960 there were only 13 states that used primaries and by 1976 there were 37 states that used primaries for nomination (Nelson). Primaries soon became and are now the center of the nomination process. Primaries help determine a front runner for an election and then sets that candidate apart. Quite often the front of the primaries will win the election because of how they established themselves early on. For instance, if the candidate was to win the New Hampshire primary that would set them apart and potentially make them the front runner. Therefore, giving them momentum to help gain supporters and set themselves apart. The introduction of primaries completely changed the system of elections

This realignment plays a huge role in the changes of the system of parties and elections. For starters, take a look at the disintegration of the New Deal Coalition. The New Deal Coalition was basically a large alignment of groups that supported the New Deal and voted for Democratic presidential candidates. A huge voting block for the democrats were Catholics. The Catholics during the New Deal era were in mainly full support of it. It supported the idea of the catholic family based off the father that works and the mother that stays at home. Although it did not always embody just that it gained the Catholics support. However, in the late 1960s the Democrats began to push Catholics away by embracing new ideas. At this time, they began to embrace the idea of abortion. Which in most cases Catholics were not in support of. At the same time Republicans began to use abortion to their advantage. As they conveyed their strong pro-life stance that got Catholics to move away from the Democratic Party. Therefore, starting to begin that political party shift. Although there were many other groups that comprised the New Deal Coalition, it was the loss of the Catholics that made this big