- DATA: Forty points (40 points) will be based on the
completeness and the presentation of the data in tables or
graphs; twenty points (20 points) for the data on Special Interest
Group Ratings; and twenty points (20 points) for the data on
campaign finance for each of Members of Congress;
- ANALYSIS: Fifty points (50 points) will be based upon the
analysis of the data, and the conclusions reached; twent-five
points for the analysis of the interest group ratings and
twenty-five points for the analysis of the campaign finance
data.
- INVESTMENT: Ten points (10 points) will be based upon the
quality of writing (including grammar and spelling), the design of
the research, and appropriate documentation and citations. In this
regard remember that "Republican" and "Democratic" or
"Democrat" are proper nouns and, should be
capitalized.
To find out if political parties are different, select three Democrats and
three Republicans who are members of the U.S. House of Representatives
elected from California. To answer
this question, first, look at the ratings given each Representative by
special interest groups. You can find these ratings at
Project Vote
Smart.
Another set of data that helps you to determine the differences
between the political parties is to find out who contributes and how much
they contribute to the campaigns of Democrats and Republicans running for the
U.S. House of Representative. The law requires Members of Congress to
disclose the source of their campaign contributions. This information also is
available on the internet. You can find out about campaign contribution
from the data on the web site of The Center
for Responsible Politics.
Are Political Parties Different? The Issues
- Select three (3) Democratic and three (3) Republican members
of the U.S. House of Representatives from the same state. Report the
ratings each Member of Congress received from at least six (6) different
special interest groups of your choice.
- Organize these data in one (1) table; you may supplement the
table with graphs if you choose. Scores on Project VoteSmart.org are
grouped by catagory (i.e., Abortion, Conservation, Labor, etc.).
Use one interest group ranking from each catagory.
- In your table, group the Democrats together and group the
Republicans together so you can better compare the two political
parties.
- What to Look For
- Which issues are partisan issues? A partisan issues
would be those in which the special interest ratings of a
majority of the Democrats have high ratings, and a
majority of Republicans have low ratings, or vise
versa.
- Which issues are non-partisan issues? A non-partisan
issue would be those in which members of both parties have
similar ratings by the special interest groups.
- Which issues show intra-party differences? These
issues would have some Democrats and some Republicans with
high ratings while others in the same party have moderate
or low ratings.
- What do the issues tell you about political party
differences in California?
Are Political Parties Different? Campaign Contributions
Project Vote Smart provides information about candidates to assist voters.
The information provided by Project Vote Smart includes the candidates
sources of campaign funds.
There is a link on the course Web Page to Project Vote Smart, or you may access
it by clicking on the following link:
http://www.vote-smart.org
Here is a link that will help you identify where to find the
information on Project VoteSmart regarding campaign finance and the
Special Interest Group ratings of Members of Congress.
Using Project Vote Smart
Here is a link with instructions on how to construct a table. The
information is appropriate for a table reporting Special Interest Group
Ratings (illustrated), as well as for campaign finance data.
Format for Tables
- Select the same three Democrats and the same three
Republicans you used to examine issue positions.
- Report the percentage of campaign contributions each Member of
Congress received from Political Action Committees (PACs) and from
individuals.
- Report the percentage of campaign contributions each Member
of Congress received from Business PACs, Labor PACs, and
Ideological/Single Interest PACs.
- Organize the data in a single table so that you can
identify the sources of contributors to each of the candidates.
Write an essay in which you answer the following questions:
- Do Republicans or Democracts get more of their campaign
contributions from Political Action Committees or from individuals?
- Do you see a relationship between campaign contributions and
the way Members of Congress vote?
- Which special interest groups (i.e., business, labor,
ideological) contribute the most money to Republicans and which
special interest groups contribute the most money to
Democrats? Are these differences substantial in your judgment?
- How much does it cost to run for election to the U.S. House of
Representatives from California? Calculate an average of money
spent or raised from the Members of Congress you select
- How important are contributions from Political Action Committees
in raising money for political campaigns?
In terms of both issue positions and campaign
contributions, conclude your essay by explaining:
- How are Democrats and Republicans in California
different?
- How are Democrats and Republicans in California similar?
