Explain how political parties are organised in the USA. (10 MARKS)

There is two prominent political parties who have success within America’s political system. Political organisation in the USA is relegated in 3 different levels, national, state and local. The size and diversity of America makes it harder to campaign and organise party policy on a wide scale. America’s federal system and separation of powers makes it hard to organise and parties need different party branches that work suitably for each of these areas. This means that party organisation is decentralised and weak as compared with the UK which has centralised power and one party leader.

Parties are a collection of 50 state parties rather than one centralised party. The same party in different states often share separate views such as Ted Cruz, Senator of Texas, advocated for more conservative policy that Mark Kirk, Senator of Illinois, despite them both being from the Republican Party. Further, Nevada’s state convention removed opposition to gay marriage and abortion in 2014 even though the national Republican party were against these policies. This is because of the federal system which delegates certain powers to the state and officials at state level can achieve different aims to fit…