Final answer:
A group aiming to control the government by winning elections is known as a political party, which seeks to elect members to government positions to set public policy directly, differing from interest groups or lobbying organizations.
Step-by-step explanation:
A group of people with shared ideals and common goals that attempt to forward those goals by controlling the government through winning elections is best described as: a) A political party. Political parties are organizations that try to gain political power, primarily in democracies, by running their candidates for office. Their main goal is not just to influence public policy, which interest groups also aim to do, but to actually win elections and hold office, thereby setting public policy directly.
Political parties differ from other entities like special interest groups or lobbying organizations in that they organize around a shared political ideology with the primary goal of electing members to positions in government. Unlike interest groups or lobbying groups, which can work with any elected officials to meet their policy ends, political parties seek to control the government from within by getting as many of their members elected as possible.