Advantages And Disadvantages Of Professional Partisans

• Professional Activist- Partisans can be split into two categories: professionals and amateurs (POLS 119, Spring 2016, 3/1). Professional partisans are identifiable for their pragmatic political strategy and strong loyalty to the political party as an organization (POLS 119, Spring 2016, 3/1). These activists are motivated by material benefits (POLS 119, Spring 2016, 3/1). The focus of these partisans is on winning elections and choosing electable candidates (POLS 119, Spring 2016, 3/1). Support of these candidates is automatic (POLS 119, Spring 2016, 3/1). For professional partisans, loyalty is to the party first, and the candidates they back are simply a means to the end goal of winning the election (POLS 119, Spring 2016, 3/1). Professional

The Downsian Model of partisan attachment believes that the electorate votes based on the issues and what matters most to them at the time they cast their ballot (POLS 119, Spring 2016, 4/13). In this model the cost of voting outweighs the benefits (POLS 119, Spring 2016, 4/13). The benefits are relatively limited to civic duty, the potential of that candidate winning, and the warm fuzzies (POLS 119, Spring 2016, 4/13). The costs outweigh these benefits as they include time, money, education on the candidates and their issues, taking time off work, and registering to vote (POLS 119, Spring 2016, 4/13). No one vote will ever decide the election this makes the parties the rational actors of the scenario (POLS 119, Spring 2016, 4/13). The electorate turns out for the issues they care about in this model. The flaw in this method of determining partisan voting is that it does not factor in loyalty (POLS 119, Spring 2016,

Abramowitz makes the argument in his book The Disappearing Center that the polarization in the United States Congress can be explained by the expanding polarization of the American electorate. Washington’s partisan divide is not caused by personal vendettas between the Democratic and Republican leaders in power, but partisan-ideological polarization (Abramowitz 2010, 112). Contributing to this polarization has been the increasing political awareness of the American electorate. In the 1970’s ANES data determined only forty percent of participants were able to place themselves on the 7-point liberal-conservative scale (Abramowitz 2010, 122). This percentage has since increased to a much higher sixty-three percent in the years 2002 to 2004 (Abramowitz 2010, 122). Because the increases among education levels were about half the total percentage increases in ideological sophistication, it was concluded that about half of this dramatic increase in awareness can be attributed to rising education obtainments (Abramowitz 2010, 122) Nonetheless, ideological sophistication examination suggests there is a growing political awareness among the