Parties and Interest Groups

For Thursday, Schatzinger, ch. 2, Cigler, ch. 7.

Polarization

• Ideological gaps
• Demographic gaps
• Geographic gaps
• Corporate perception gaps

Interest groups

• JFK accepted life membership in the National Rifle Association
• In 2018, polarized view of the NRA
• Strong (but not perfect) polarization on guns in the Senate
  

Political Money  

• Janise's question about why corporate PACs often avoid tossup races:  ACCESS MONEY v. BELIEF MONEY.
• Compare NRA in 1990 with NRA in 2020 (to date)
• Abortion
• For economic interest groups, a key variable is chamber control:  consider insurance, casinos, banks

Limits

• A timeline of efforts to curb spending
• Federal limits
• State limits

Loopholes

• Bundling
• Joint Fundraising Committees
• Super PACs and Dark Money Groups