Seventh Party System

The Seventh Party System is the era in United States politics following the Sixth Party System, which began with the unexpected election of Republican Donald Trump in 2016 and the rise of right-wing populism and the Tea Party movement.[1][2]

Seventh Party System
2016 – present
United States presidential election results from 2016 and 2020. Blue shaded states voted for the Democratic Party in both elections, red shaded states voted for the Republican Party in both elections, and purple shaded states voted for each party once.

Prior to 2016, in the Sixth Party System, the Democrats and Republicans had generally reached a consensus on support for neoliberalism, and politics was focused mostly on the economy. However, 2016 saw the rise of right-wing populism and open white supremacism on the right wing of politics and the rise of green politics, social democracy, and progressivism on the left wing, and these changes were reinforced by the 2018 US Congress elections, during educated suburban whites moved away from the GOP and which an increasing number of progressives, women, minorities, and LGBT individuals were elected to Congress in a progressive backlash against the Republican party. Likewise, the Seventh Party System coincided with a global surge in right-wing populism resulting from the rise of identitarianism in Europe, the emergence of the Islamic State, and concerns about immigration in several Western countries.[3][4]The 2020 presidential election saw what is likely to be the end of Donald Trump, (unless he wins in 2024) but the effects of his presence on the national spotlight from 2015-2021 have had a profound impact on both "sides of the isle," especially conservatism, that it is becoming less and less likely for American politics to return to its previous form, in which the national conversation circled around small government and slow social change. The new politics in the United States will likely result in both the economic and social conversation turning more liberal, and what will define how these changes occur is whether the Republican Party and conservatism in general will continue to try and hold on to their core base at the expense of the national popularity of their platform, or whether they will decide to embrace popular policies like healthcare reform and renounce their support for unpopular policy like tax cuts for high earners in order to win over growing parts of the electorate that have written them off as being too extreme.

This new era of American politics is marked by a heightened level of polarization unseen since Reconstruction,[5] the rise of fringe movements, the reduced importance of the mainstream media due to the rise of social media, and right wing accusations of the media promoting "fake news", an emphasis on identity politics on both sides, and the return of race and religion to the forefront of politics. Much of the era is dominated by hyper-partisanship, the culture wars, information warfare, and a rise in grassroots activism. As President, Trump battled against the courts, which struck down his Muslim travel ban and which attempted to force him to release his tax returns, against the pro-establishment faction of his own party, against the increasingly-progressive Democrats, and against dissenting members of his own cabinet.[6][7]

White college-educated, secular, suburban moderates are completing their migration from Republican to Democrat, while working-class whites, particularly men, are moving in the opposite direction.[8][9]This shift has made the GOP more competitive in places like the upper Midwest, but has taken former swing states like Virginia and Colorado, filled with educated suburbanizes in Denver (Colorado) and northern Virginia, out of contention. [10]

The seventh party system also brought about major shifts in congressional election voting patterns. Before 2016, it was quite common for voters to "split" their ticket, which means that they would vote for an individual of one party for President, but vote for an individual from the other party for a congressional seat. Between 2016 and 2020, only one concurring senate election was won by the opposite party from whom the state had voted for the President, this election being the 2020 Senate election in Maine, won by republican Susan Collins, while Joe Biden comfortably won the state of Maine (Technically, the state of Georgia did this too, when David Perdue received a plurality of the votes for U.S. Senate in Georgia in the first round that coincided with the presidential election, while Joe Biden carried the state by 0.2%.[11][12]However, in the runoff election, Jon Ossoff defeated Perdue, along with Raphael Warnock winning his runoff, which meant that the final senate results matched the outcome of the presidential election in the state). This hyper partisanship in congressional elections has been demonstrated by the composition of the United States Senate. In the 117th congress, which is coinciding with the first two years of Joe Biden's term, only six states (Maine, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and West Virginia) are represented by one democrat (or independent caucusing with the democrats) and one republican. This differs greatly from the peak of the Sixth Party System, which many argue to be the first two years of George H. W. Bush's first and only term (101st congress), when 21 states were represented by one democrat and one republican.[13]

Factions
Timeline of Development of Political Parties in the United States

The major factions of the Seventh Party System are:

  • The Democratic Party shifted to the right during the Sixth Party System, embracing neoliberal economic policies under Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. However, the 2016 presidential election and the new popularity of social democracy and progressivism among young, female, and minority voters led to a major realignment within the party. By 2019, the party was sharply divided between a 'socialist' wing personified by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive wing personified by Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, a centrist wing personified by Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, and a conservative wing personified by Henry Cuellar and Joe Manchin.
    • Centrist Democrats are socially liberal, but they do support support the neoliberal system even as more young voters support social democracy and progressivism.[14]
    • Liberal Democrats are a large portion of the Democratic base. According to 2018 exit polls, liberals constituted 27% of the electorate, and 91% of American liberals favored the candidate of the Democratic Party.[15] White-collar college-educated professionals were mostly Republican until the 1950s, but they now compose a vital component of the Democratic Party.[16]
    • Progressive Democrats are the most left-leaning faction in the party and support strong business regulations, social programs, and workers' rights.[17][18]
    • Conservative Democrats or blue dogs are a conservative-liberal faction of the Democratic Party, formed in response to the Republican Revolution during the 1990s. The Blue Dog Democrats represent a decling breed of right-wing Democrats who were foreign policy hawks, staunch supporters of the neoliberal economic system, and cautious about economic or gun rights legislation. While the Blue Dog Democrats were out of touch with the increasingly progressive views of the younger generations, they appeal to college-educated suburban whites who were driven into the Democratic ranks due to their opposition to Trump and the rightward shift of the Republican Party. In 2020, only 18 Blue Dog Democrats were elected to Congress, which is a severe decline from their peak in the 111th congress (2009-2011) of 57 members.[19]
  • The Republican Party is a conservative political party founded in 1854. The Republicans were a solidly right-wing party by the start of the 21st century, as its liberal wing disappeared during the 1980s and its conservative orientation was bolstered by the influx of socially conservative Southern Democrats starting in the 1960s and finishing by the 2000s. Pre-Trump, the party had four factions: fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, business conservatives, and moderates. Trump brought new voters into the primary process and created a fifth faction: nationalist conservatives, who want to lower immigration and redo foreign trade deals.[20]
  • The Libertarian and Green parties are currently the two largest third parties in the United States. The Libertarian Party, in many ways, is a combination of the Republican party's fiscal and business conservatives with a stronger emphasis on individual liberty. These core values of the Libertarian Party are exemplified by their motto: "Minimum government, maximum freedom." Their primary voter base is conservative voters who feel disaffected by the Republican Party's support of interventionism and its opposition to gay rights and abortion. The Green Party, on the other hand, is a home for liberals who feel disaffected by what they feel is a lackluster effort by the Democratic Party to solve problems in America like income inequality and climate change. While smaller than the Libertarian Party, many argue that Ralph Nader of the Green Party spoiled the 2000 election, as Gore lost by only 537 votes in Florida.

See also

References
  1. Kerbel, Matthew (September 18, 2020). "Birth Pangs of the Seventh Party System". Wolves and Sheep.
  2. Laudadio, Tony (2017). "The Seventh Party System? Social Homophily and the Reemergence of Culturally-Based Political Coalitions" (PDF). Mississippi State University Scholars Junction.
  3. Chris Vance (2019-09-19). "2020 Will Create a New Party System and Transform American Politics".
  4. Chris Vance (2021-01-12). "The Seventh Party System".
  5. Laura Paisley (2016-11-08). "Political polarization at its worst since the Civil War".
  6. Publico LaLocke (2020-08-19). "The Sixth Party System is over. Welcome to the Seventh Party System".
  7. Andrew Solender (2020-11-02). "All The Former Trump Officials Who Have Endorsed Joe Biden". Forbes.
  8. "As college grads flee the GOP, political 'diploma divide' grows". Christian Science Monitor. 2020-10-27. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  9. "Waiting for Trump: The Move to the Right of White Working-Class Men, 1968-2016" (PDF). California Journal of Politics and Policy. Retrieved February 8, 2021. line feed character in |title= at position 19 (help)
  10. Ball, Molly (2016-09-14). "The State That Fell Off the Electoral Map". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  11. "Senate Election Results: G.O.P. Keeps Control". The New York Times. 2017-08-01. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  12. "U.S. Senate Election Results: Democrats Win". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  13. Rosenbaum, David E. (1988-11-09). "The 1988 Elections; Democrats Keep Solid Hold on Congress (Published 1988)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  14. "About Us - New Democrat Coalition". Archived from the original on March 5, 2016.
  15. "Exit Polls". CNN Politics. Archived from the original on November 14, 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  16. Judis, John B. (July 11, 2003). "The trouble with Howard Dean". Salon. Salon.com. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
  17. "Progressivism". Columbia Encyclopaedia. 2007. Archived from the original on June 29, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  18. "Important Examples of Progressive Reforms". University of MIchigan. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
  19. "Blue Dog Coalition". Blue Dog Coalition. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  20. Henry Olsen (2019-02-26). "The GOP is the party of Trump — but not for the reasons anti-Trump conservatives think".
  21. Kurth, James (2016). American Conservatism: NOMOS LVI. New York University Press. p. 48. ISBN 978-1479812370.
  22. Sociology: understanding a diverse society, Margaret L. Andersen, Howard Francis Taylor, Cengage Learning, 2005, ISBN 978-0-534-61716-5, ISBN 978-0-534-61716-5
  23. Fried, pp. 104–05, 125.
  24. Dagger, Richard. "Neoconservatism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  25. "Neoconservative". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  26. Gaudiano, Nicole. "Trump wants to teach 'American exceptionalism,' an idea he once disavowed". POLITICO. Retrieved 2021-02-07.

Further reading
  • Ross, Brian. "The Republican Un-Civil War – The Neocons and the Tea Party Fight for Control of the GOP" (August 9, 2012). Truth-2-Power.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.