Essay On Voting In America

American citizens are brought up believing that voting is the most privilege that we can participate in. We are taught from a young age that if we want change that voting is one of the first actions we can take to change a negative into a positive. American voting rates when compared to other democratic countries fall short. Most eligible to vote don’t, even when there are big debates on policies that can affect them directly. They have little understanding of major issues and instead vote based on whatever party they identify with or how attractive the candidate looks on TV. Even their choice of party is not based on politics but simply on whatever party their parents happen to identify with. The average American voter is not rational. Behavioral and Social predispositions produce this irrational voting behavior in America. The Behavioral Theory sets out to explain political behavior through influences that mold an individual’s

Most people will gravitate to a group that holds similar interests. This may not be intentional, but people seem to be most comfortable when they are around those who believe in what they do. This leads to your beliefs to be reinforced further. Similar to the last two influences people tend to spend a lot of time with their peers both inside and outside of institutions like school or work. Something that makes peers special is that they have a unique generational affect. Every generation has grown up in a time when a specific issue is taking place. Generation one may have grown up during segregation in the south. Generation two will be brought up with the mindset of generation one. This continues as new generations are born. Interestingly enough in 1997 children are shown to be slightly more independent in forming their own political beliefs. Meaning small percentages of children drifted away from their parents political beliefs by senior year in high school (Flanigan, 2015, p.