POLITICAL PARTIES, FINAL EXAM, SPRING 2026

                Answer any TWO of the following four questions, and answer them fully with specific examples and in complete sentences. These questions of course refer only to the United States party system. This is a take home test which should be returned to the professor as a Word e-mail attachment no later than 3 PM on Tuesday, May 12. It is closed book, closed notebook test (on your honor), so do all of your studying before beginning the test. You should not spend more than three hours on the test; in actuality, the test should not take more than one or two hours of your time. You can complete and return the test before the deadline, and the professor will grade them and input your course grade into Banner soon afterwards. But you only get one chance at this test, so take it seriously.

1) What are the 9  Democratic party rules changes since 1968 in how the national party selects its delegates to attend the national party convention, as discussed by the lecturer? About when did each rule change occur, why did it occur, and how did each rule change affect the party’s nomination contests? If you were the campaign manager for a Democratic presidential hopeful in the open nomination contest of 2028, what would be that candidate’s characteristics? What would your campaign strategy be to win the presidential nomination, and explain how it would address these party rules and practices?

2) What are the 8 factors that explain who tends to win the presidential nominations of the two major parties, and explain why they are important? Give specific examples of how each of these factors helped a particular candidate in a particular year win their party’s nomination. If you were the campaign manager for a Republican presidential hopeful in the open nomination contest of 2028, what would be the characteristics of your candidate, and how would these attributes help the candidate win the Republican nomination? How would you exploit some of these factors to help your candidate be nominated, and explain fully?

3) In each of the presidential general elections from 1948 up to and including 1980, how did the social psychological model of party, issues, and candidates help explain the outcome of each general election, and be specific? For each election, give the names of the candidates and their parties, and explain what specifically were the key factors that explained their victories. If you had been the campaign manager for the losing candidate in each election, what specific advice would you have given them to improve their chances of winning (and address each election year separately)?

4) In each of the presidential general elections from 1984 up to and including 2016, how did the social psychological model of issues, candidates, and parties help explain the outcome of each general election, and be specific? For each election, give the names of the candidates and their parties, and explain what specifically were the key factors that explained their victories. If you had been the campaign manager for the losing candidate in each election, what specific advice would you have given them to improve their chances of winning (and address each election year separately)?