Assignment:
Party systems in the United States are inherently unstable. In a two-party system , the party that wins is the party that builds the biggest coalition of voters. But the bigger the coalition, the more unstable it is.
Let's review how this works. Successful American parties get a majority of the vote by forming ties that include a wide segment of the population. But there may be differences among the various coalitions in the party. For example, the Republican Party must try to reconcile the free trade segment of the party (favored by business) with the protectionist trade policies (favored by the white working class). Similarly, the Democrats must reconcile their support for NAFTA and the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) with union support for a protectionist trade policy. In the end, the parties must do their best to hold together the disparate concerns of their members. As political scientists Gary Miller and Norman Schofield state: "maintaining such diverse majority coalitions is necessarily an enormous struggle against strong centrifugal forces."
Now that they finally have power, Republicans will have to find a way to reconcile two competing visions for the party: the traditional small-government, free-market, internationalist mode that many in Congress ran on and the new nationalist, populist, isolationist mode that Trump supports.
On the Democratic side, there is a battle for the heart and soul of the party. There are about 15 women and men running for the nomination of the party. The Democrats move to the left has also unsettled the party. 2020 Democratic candidates to the left on Divisive Issues.
Your task this week is to try to build a winning coalition for the Democratic or the Republican presidential nominees in 2020. If you pick the Republicans, please make that clear in the title of your post . If your post is on the Democrats, please do the same thing. For example, a possible title might be: Republicans must focus on the white working class.
Here are the news articles to help you with this task. Please use some of the information in these articles and keep outside sources to a minimum
Articles on the Republicans (with some references to the Democrats)
- Donald Trump Will Dramatically Realign America's Politics
- What Does Your Party Want?
Articles on the Democrats
- Should Democrats Embrace the Center or Abandon It?
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Leading and Following at the Same Time.
Building a winning coalition is not easy. Candidates and political parties must appeal to voters. If a party is too extreme and the country is moderate, then this is a recipe for losing the election. But if the voters buy the more extreme positions of one party, then this could be a winning strategy.
It is now your job to pick a winning electoral strategy for either the Republican nominee for president or the Democratic nominee. Will the voters that backed Trump in 2016 still vote for him in 2020? Will he have enough support beyond his base of support to get reelected?
On the Democratic side, will the appeals of the progressive wing of the Democratic party for environmental regulation (The Green New Deal), taxing the rich more, or Medicare For All, appeal to a majority of the voters?
Please use some evidence from the articles to devise a winning strategy for either the Democratic nominee for president in 2020 or the Republican nominee. Remember that you must appeal to various segment of the population with your suggested positions. Your appeals may attract some voters but will also repel other voters. You must take this into account.