| Term | Definition |
| civil service laws | acts removed the staffing of bureaucracy from political parties and created a professional bureaucracy filled through competition |
| direct primary | selection of party candidates through ballots of qualified voters rather than at party nomination conventions |
| issue-oriented politics | politics that focuses on specific issues rather than on party, candidates, or other loyalties |
| machine | party organization that recruits its members with tangible incentives and is characterized by a high degree of control over member activity |
| national convention | party meeting held in the presidential election year for the purposes of nominating a presidental and vice presidential ticket and adopting a platform |
| national party platform | statement of the general and specific philosophy and policy goals of a political party, usually promulgated at the national convention |
| party in the electorate | voters who consider themselves allied or associated with the party |
| proportional representation | voting system that apportions legislative seats according to the percentage of the vote won by a particular party |
| think tank | institutional collection of policy-oriented researchers and academics who are sources of policy ideas |
| third-partyism | tendency of third parties to arise with some regularity in a nominally two-party system |
| ticket-split | to vote for candidates of different parties for various offices in the same election |
| organizational party | workers and activists who staff the party's formal organization |
| party identification | citizen's personal affinity for a political party, expressed by his/her tendency to vote for the candidates of that party |
| governmental party | office holders and candidates who run under a political party's banner |