In April 1947, the American Institute of Public Opinion Surveys asked a sample of voters a question it had been asking off and on for years: “It has been suggested that we give up the present Republican and Democratic parties and have two new parties – one for the Liberals and one for the Conservatives. Would you favor this idea?” Today, this question might seem absurd. For most practical purposes, the present Republican and Democratic parties are parties of conservatives and liberals. But in 1947, 72 percent of respondents said no (Smith and Davis 1947).

This poll question carries a lot of meaning. First, it reminds us that, within some readers’ lifetimes, ideology and political parties were two separate ways of organizing political conflict. This is something we often forget, but as Schattschneider put it, “Measured on a scale of radicalism and conservatism from Left to Right, both parties try more or less successfully to spread over the whole political rainbow from one extreme to the other. Specimens of nearly all shades of opinion are found in both parties” (1942, p. 88). But the poll tells us more than that; it also implies that, at least for some, there is some idea that they should not be separate. Ideology somehow seems like a reasonable way to organize party politics, even if it is not the only way. Finally, with hindsight, we know that those 72 percent of respondents did not get their wish. We did not give up the Republican and Democratic parties altogether, but we do now have two new Republican and Democratic parties, one for the liberals and one for the conservatives.