- 11.01 membership
requirements
- 0, ac9
- The Republican Party at the
national level establishes no requirements for membership
in the party. State party organizations per se also have
no requirements for party membership. However, in
approximately 35 states during our time period,
participation in the Republican primary was closed to all
voters who failed to meet some test of party affiliation.
Typically, this test in such "closed primary" states was
established by state law rather than party rules and
applied to the Democratic Party as well as the
Republicans. The test was administered in some states by
the party, with which the voter had to register in
advance of the primary election, and in other states by a
challenge system, in which voters who requested a
Republican ballot were open to challenge as to their
party affiliation. Depending on the state, challenges
could be met by the voter swearing that he had supported
the party in the past, or supports it at present, or will
support it in the future (Ranney and Kendall, p. 206).
These legal requirements of party membership in closed
primary states pertained mainly to the eligibility of the
voter to participate in the primary election at hand and
not to his participation in party activities generally.
In the 15 or so "open primary" states, even these minimum
tests were not present, and any voter could request a
Republican ballot and vote for Republican candidates in
the primary.
- 11.02 membership
participation
- 0, ac9
- Most "members" of the Republican
Party are self-defined and do not participate in party
meetings or engage in campaign activity.
- 11.03 material
incentives
- 1, ac5
- Research on incentives for party
activists in the United States is still in the beginning
stages. Researchers in the field have distinguished
between incentives that draw the person into party work
initially and those which serve to keep him active in the
party. Conway and Feigert's study of precinct chairmen in
Montgomery County, Maryland, and Knox County, Illinois,
found that material incentives drew less than 10 percent
of Republican chairmen to their jobs but served to
sustain about 25 percent of the chairmen in their roles
(pp.1166-1168). Gluck's data on committeemen in Buffalo,
New York, showed that material incentives attracted about
one-third of the Republican committeemen to their jobs
but continued as the most important reward for only about
one-quarter.
- 11.04 purposive
incentives
- 1, ac5
- In the same research discussed in
variable 11.03, Conway and Feigert found that purposive
incentives attracted about 75 percent of the Republican
chairmen initially but that they continued to sustain
only about 20 percent in their jobs. Gluck's data showed
that purposive incentives recruited more than half of the
Republican chairmen but that only about 30 percent looked
to purposive incentives as a reason for staying in the
job. In both studies, the importance of social contacts
and solidary motivations increased for Republican
officials following recruitment.
- 11.05 doctrinism
- 0, ac9
- No identifiable body of material
can be cited as the touchstone of Republican Party
policy.
- 11.06 personalism
- 0, ac7
- Eisenhower's campaigns in 1952 and
1956 were populated by many "citizens for Eisenhower"
activists who worked primarily for his election rather
than for the election of Republicans generally. Because
these Eisenhower Republicans stayed largely aloof from
Republican Party politics otherwise, they have not been
included in scoring this variable. Nixon in 1960 did not
seem to claim much personal allegiance from Republican
militants, although he was their clear choice for the
nomination.
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