7.3 Political Parties & Interest Groups

Why Parties and Interest Groups Get Their Own Blueprint Line

The official GED blueprint groups CG.e.1 (Political parties) and CG.e.2 (Interest groups) together under the broader heading "Political parties, campaigns, and elections in American politics," while the mechanics of campaigns and voting themselves fall under a separate subtopic, CG.e.3, covered in the next chapter. That split matters: this section is about the organizations that shape American political participation — how they are structured, what they do, and how they differ from one another — not about how an election is run or how votes are counted. Confusing "who is organizing" with "how the vote works" is one of the most common wrong-answer traps on this part of the test.

Political Parties: Definition and Function

A political party is an organization of people who share similar political goals and try to win elections in order to control and direct government policy. Parties perform several functions the GED expects you to recognize: they recruit and nominate candidates for office, mobilize voters on election day, articulate policy platforms so voters can compare choices, organize government once in office (majority and minority leadership structures in Congress and state legislatures), and provide accountability through an organized opposition that can challenge the party in power.

A Brief History of the U.S. Two-Party System

The United States has had a two-party system for most of its history, though the specific parties have changed:

Major party realignments reshaped these coalitions over time — most notably the New Deal coalition of the 1930s and the political realignment of the South from Democratic to Republican allegiance during the mid-to-late 20th century, discussed further in the U.S. History chapters. A major reason the U.S. tends toward two dominant parties, rather than the multi-party systems common in Europe, is its winner-take-all, single-member-district electoral system — a candidate needs only a plurality (the most votes, not necessarily a majority) to win a district, which discourages splitting votes among many small parties.

Third Parties: Influence Without Winning

Third parties (or minor parties) rarely win national office in the U.S. system, but the GED tests their real function: raising issues the major parties initially ignore, forcing those issues onto the mainstream agenda. Historical examples include the Populist Party (late 1800s), which championed the direct election of U.S. senators and a graduated income tax — both later adopted through constitutional amendments — and the Progressive "Bull Moose" Party (1912), led by former president Theodore Roosevelt. Modern examples include the Libertarian and Green parties. Third parties can also play a "spoiler" role, drawing enough votes away from a major-party candidate to affect a close election's outcome, even without winning themselves.

Interest Groups: Definition and Function

An interest group is an organization of people who share a common goal and try to influence government policy, without running their own slate of candidates for office. This is the single clearest distinction the GED tests between parties and interest groups: a party seeks to control government by winning elections; an interest group seeks to influence whichever officials are already in power, regardless of party. Interest groups take many forms:

• Economic groups — trade associations (e.g., the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) and labor unions (e.g., the AFL-CIO) representing business or worker interests.
• Public interest / cause groups — organizations advocating on behalf of a broad issue rather than members' direct economic interest, such as environmental groups (the Sierra Club) or civil liberties groups (the ACLU).
• Single-issue groups — organized around one specific policy question, such as gun rights (the NRA) or reproductive rights organizations on either side of the debate.

Lobbying and Campaign Finance

Interest groups most often influence policy through lobbying — directly communicating with legislators and officials to shape legislation. The constitutional basis for this activity is the First Amendment's guarantee of the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," directly connecting this section back to the Bill of Rights chapter. Registered lobbyists must publicly disclose their activities under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.

Interest groups also influence elections financially through Political Action Committees (PACs), which pool contributions to support favored candidates within limits set by the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). After the Supreme Court's Citizens United v. FEC (2010) ruling — which held that political spending by corporations and unions is a form of protected free speech — Super PACs emerged: they can raise and spend unlimited money to advocate for or against candidates, but by law cannot coordinate directly with a candidate's own campaign.

Political Parties vs. Interest Groups at a Glance

Exam Scenario Walkthrough

A stimulus item might describe: "An organization representing nurses lobbies state legislators to increase funding for hospital staffing, publishes position papers on healthcare policy, and contributes to a PAC that supports candidates favorable to its positions — but does not nominate its own candidates for office." The correct classification is an interest group, not a political party, precisely because it does not run its own candidates — it works to influence whoever wins, from either party.