political science
Given a synopsis of the role of interest groups and political parties in the political realm, analyze their impact on electoral success and compare their prospects in
the United States to their relative success in countries with proportional representation.
The Activity
Use a search engine to find the website of a U.S. interest group.
Spend a few minutes exploring and reading about what this group believes, what it wants to happen in Washington, and how it seeks to influence politicians.
Make a note of the group’s name and website information.
Distinguish three beliefs of the group and a specific policy or action that the group desires.
Analyze which U.S. party or Congressperson that this group should have or has lobbied most effectively.
Now visit https://www.congress.gov/.
Find a current piece of legislation that relates to a cause of your selected interest group.
Make note of the title of the legislation (include its origination or appropriate numbers), its key sponsors and their party affiliations, and its current status
within Congress.
Complete the assessment.
1 From your own research, what interest group did you find? Please list its name and website information.
2. From your own research, list three IMPORTANT pieces of information that give us a picture of what your interest group believes.
3. From your own research, describe a specific policy action your group desires.
4. From your own research, whom does this group lobby most, or most effectively? For example, is there a political party or certain congressional representatives who
seem to get more of its attention, money, or information? Which committees and subcommittees would it particularly lobby?
5. From your congress.gov research, what is the title of the legislation (include its
origination or appropriate numbers)?
6. From your congress.gov research, who are its key sponsors and their party affiliation?
7. From your congress.gov research, what is its current status within Congress?
8. From your congress.gov research, describe briefly your personal reaction to this legislation. Do you think it will pass and do you think it should pass? Why? (Two
to three sentences are required.)
