or selecting national convention delegates, national party organizations rarely meddle in state party affairs. This level of organizational fragmentation reflects in part the consequences of a constitutional separation-of-powers system that creates only limited incentives for party unity among legislators with their party’s chief executive. The constitutional principle of federalism further decentralizes the parties by creating thousands of separate constituencies — at the federal, state, and local levels — each with its own officeholders. As previously noted, the use of primary elections to nominate candidates also weakens the party organizations by denying them the ability to control the selection of nominees. Individual candidates are encouraged to build their own personal campaign organizations and electoral followings, first to win the primaries and then the general elections. Even campaign fund-raising is largely the personal responsibility of the individual candidates, since the party organizations often are severely restricted by law in terms of how much they can contribute, especially to federal election campaigns. AMERICANS’ MISGIVINGS ABOUT PARTIES In spite of the impressive evidence of partisanship within the American political system, an ingrained component of the civic culture is a distrust of parties. The adoption of the direct primary to nominate congressional and state candidates earlier in this century and the more recent proliferation of presidential primaries, which have become the determining factor in presidential nominations, are testimony to antiparty sentiment within the public. Americans are uncomfortable with party organization leaders’ exercising great power over their government. Public-opinion polls reveal that large proportions of the electorate believe that parties do more to confuse the issues than clarify them — and that it would be better if there were no party label...
