political parties

A 2025 NPR/PBS News/Marist poll found that respondents reported little to no confidence in major U.S. institutions including Congress, the media, political parties, the Supreme Court, and the presidency.

State-level redistricting of congressional district maps can be used to increase a political party's chances of winning seats in the U.S. House.

Courts can reject congressional district maps if a map unduly favors one political party and can adopt remedial maps proposed by plaintiffs in redistricting lawsuits.

Electoral victories can embolden a political party's hardline factions and reduce centrists' willingness to compromise in subsequent legislative negotiations.

Partisan redistricting (gerrymandering) can be used to shift the partisan lean of specific congressional districts, potentially converting districts held by one party into districts more favorable to the other party.

Partisan gerrymandering is the practice of reshaping electoral district boundaries to give a political party's candidates an electoral advantage.

Labor unions are not monolithic political supporters and can publicly break with or pressure traditional party allies to accept legislation that unions say protects workers' pay and public services.

Partisan redistricting (gerrymandering) is used as a tactic by political parties to try to insulate themselves from electoral losses by drawing districts favorable to their candidates.

Political parties and leaders may use mass protest events as leverage or political tools during legislative disputes, such as government shutdown negotiations.

Redistricting outcomes can change the partisan distribution of U.S. House seats between election cycles, affecting how many seats each political party wins.

Successful bipartisan negotiations typically require trust between parties; a lack of trust hinders good-faith conversations and dealmaking.

Redistricting outcomes can change the partisan balance of U.S. House seats and thereby influence which political party controls the U.S. House of Representatives.

Expensive primary contests in safe seats can divert attention and financial resources away from a political party's efforts to compete in more competitive general-election races.

Redistricting controlled by a state's dominant political party can be used to design congressional maps that increase the number of districts favoring that party.

Redrawing congressional district boundaries can be designed to create additional districts that favor one political party, thereby increasing the number of party-leaning seats.

Redrawing congressional district lines (redistricting) can change the number of seats held by each political party in a state's congressional delegation.

Mid-decade redistricting, meaning redrawing congressional maps between decennial censuses, is sometimes pursued as a political strategy to change the partisan balance of congressional seats.

Major political parties can contain distinct ideological factions (commonly described as progressives and centrists) that may disagree about strategy, tactics, and how aggressively to confront opposing parties or legislative procedures such as the Senate filibuster.

Linking annual appropriations or short-term funding bills to unrelated policy priorities can prolong budget stalemates and contribute to government shutdowns.

Mid-decade redistricting, the practice of redrawing congressional district maps outside the regular decennial redistricting cycle, is used as a political strategy to attempt to change electoral advantages for political parties.