Linkage institutions connect citizens to the government, and play significant roles in the electoral process. Some important functions of political parties as a linkage institution in elections is to get others informed to join their party. With linkage institutions involved with political parties, they provide information about policy choices and provide voter cues. They also provide distinct political choices to voters, and fundraise. In all, their basic goal is to provide the most possible access to elected officials by the people who elected them.
Goalkeeping/agenda setting and scorekeeping/horse race journalism both influence the media on the electoral process. With goalkeeping and agenda setting, the media determines which issues are perceived as relevant to voters. With scorekeeping and horse race journalism, the focus is on who’s winning rather than focusing on policy issues relevant to the voters. …show more content…
When endorsing candidates, it's the action of publicly declaring one's personal or group's support of a candidate for elected office. Some endorsements can bring particular benefits, and candidates can increase name recognition and establish credibility by winning endorsements. Interest groups use this tactic to influence the electoral process. The other strategy used by interest groups is forming PACs. A PAC is a political action committee that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaign for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. A PAC’s purpose is basically to raise and spend money to elect and defeat candidates, and are allowed to give up to $5000 to a candidate committee per election, which is one of the main strategies interest groups use to influence the electoral