The Seventh Party System is a proposed era of American politics that began sometime around the 2010s or 2020s. Its periodization, alongside the Sixth Party System, is heavily debated due to the lack of an overwhelming change of hands in Congress since the end of the New Deal Party System.
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Dating the Seventh Party System
editTheories as to the beginning date of the Seventh Party system range from 2008 to 2020. Mark D. Brewer and L. Sandy Maisel speculate that it is 2016, since "in the wake of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential victory, there is now strengthening debate as to whether we are entering a new party system as Trump fundamentally reshapes the Republican party and the Democratic party responds and evolves as well."[1]
Alternatively, the argument for placing 2008 as the beginning of the Seventh Party System is that, like the previous Party Systems, the Seventh Party System also occurs concurrently with a realignment of an important base of third party voters, specifically the realignment of Anderson and Perot voters in the North and West in 1980, 1992 and 1996. When these Independents/Reform voters realigned into the Democratic Party, the Democrats became the dominant party in the White House since 2008 as a result of their new-found dominance in the North and West.
Characteristics of the proposed Seventh Party System
editRegardless of which election year is used to mark the beginning of the Seventh Party System, it is clear that there is currently a Seventh Party System because of a recent shift in demographics and voting patterns. Non-whites, who predominantly vote Democratic, have grown as a share of the population, and previously Republican-leaning secular college-educated whites have moved to the left. At the same time, Republicans have made significant inroads with white voters without a college degree, while holding steady with evangelical voters.[2][3]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Brewer and Maisel, Parties and Elections in America: The Electoral Process (9th ed. 2021) p 42 online
- ^ Vance, Chris (2021-01-12). "The Seventh Party System - Niskanen Center". Niskanen Center - Improving Policy, Advancing Moderation. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
- ^ Gerstle, Gary (2022). The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0197519646.