Interest Groups

Interest Groups rule. So What?

For this blog, I will talk about interest groups and how these groups move political parties and voters in their favor. As noted in one of our readings in class, A Theory of Political Parties: Groups, Policy Demands and Nominations in American Politics, interest groups, activists, and coalition groups are the main actors in political parties because they are the ones who choose a candidate. In order to do this, these groups, also knows as policy demanders, form coalition groups which means that different interest groups come together for a common agenda.

Interests groups will always pick the candidates who have the best chance to win elections and who will uphold the ideals and interests of these factions. According to an article published in PressThink, “Parties no longer compete to win elections by giving voters the policies voters want. Rather, as coalitions of intense policy demanders, they have their own agendas and aim to get voters to go along.” It seems that candidates seek to please voters when it is necessary to win. This gives an opportunity to policy demanders to persuade voters that do not pay attention to general elections.

One key term that helps policy demanders to persuade “swing” voters is the electoral blind spot. The bling spot argument dictates that voters do not pay attention too much attention what the party does. However, it poses a risk for extremist officers or candidates because people can notice how extremist they really are and even if voters do not care or know too little about politics, voters do not usually like extremists. In order for this to work, interest groups need to enlarge the blind spot. As long as parties stay within the electoral blind spot, they are effectively free to nominate any candidate they want.

Interest groups are out-performing political parties. These policy demanders have become integral in determining candidates’ success. A candidate can have extreme ideologies, but if interest groups play their card nicely, people will still vote for that candidate. The extremity of political ideology amongst elected officials and candidates is not due to voters having the same ideology, but because interest groups have a powerful influence over voters who do not pay attention to candidates. Also, not everyone holds politicians accountable. If something goes wrong, the whole party is responsible.

In conclusion, if people get more involved in democracy and focus more on politics, society will have representation in the system. The press can also get an opportunity to teach swing voters about current policy, so they do not get stuck in the blind spot. Interest groups are important in the electoral process because at the end what is really a political party if not a coalition of interest groups and activists seeking everything for self-interest. However, some voters lack policy knowledge that can be easily persuaded to vote for a candidate only for being charismatic and not for their polices or ideologies. Political parties are having problems and people involvement might be the solution.