There was a belief in the past that elections resolved big debates in the country and could be turning points of what the public thinks about the issues. But this did not transpire in 2012 and Balz sees the future of elections to be more of the same: he expects that they will be predicated on hate of the opponent divided along demographic and party lines, not the merits of the candidates and their policies; he predicts social media and technology as a whole to grow in importance and scope; and he believes debates will become more important while becoming less and less about the issues and more about
84) that point to the use of stealth campaigns. The account of each not only puts evidence behind her argument, the reader later discovers that these accounts go against the viewpoint she argues in her conclusion, adding depth to her argument: she states what critics think on the outside, later going into statistical analysis for the rest of the chapter to prove them wrong. Data primarily consists of table charts pulled from a survey and two case studies. The surveys, as outlined in Appendix A of the book, were taken from randomly selected school districts around the nation, and the case studies, also outlined in Appendix A, were from Fairfax County, Virginia, and Garrett County, Maryland, both counties with conservative Christians on the school board (pp. 176). The survey pool selected by Deckman is well rounded; she took into account small vs. large school districts, districts with no elections, candidates who ran unopposed, candidates with incorrect home addresses, and candidates who did not respond to the survey (pp. 176).
The general perception of voters is that they are ill-informed and ill-equipped to vote on complex measures. Nonetheless, Ethan Rarick argues that voters generally act rationally and that they “rely on cues such as endorsements from people or organizations they trust to make their decisions.” (143). By providing more information and resources to voters, more constituents will be able to vote wisely and
As these statistics serve as evidence, they help validate the logic behind Bruni’s wish to educate the reader on the reality of Trump and Cruz. In this reality, a significant number of voters approve of Cruz, despite members of his own party disapproving. Thus, Bruni uses evidence to show that most Republicans themselves appose Cruz, and then statistics to prove the frightening fact that this doesn’t matter to certain voters, while simultaneously appealing to ethos by establishing
Looking at the numbers of the popular vote and understanding that the people have spoken, that they have chosen their perfect candidate, to elect another candidate. The confidence and the reassurance citizens may have to know this candidate will attend to their needs is turned against them. The feeling of being ignored instills an understanding that citizens have no say in these significant elections and that even if they speak up, their voice doesn't matter. Historically, there have been "Five times the candidate who gained the most (popular) votes did not win the presidency." (Document G).
In the piece titled” Public Opinion in Supreme Court Confirmations,” Jonathan Kastellec presents the role of the public’s opinion in the Supreme courts final decision on who will serve on the bench. Kastellec presents the idea of electoral incentives by senators tying the Supreme Court nominations directly back to the public. Nevertheless, public opinion influences the votes of the individuals who ultimately cast the ballot. Therefore, decisions on who sits on the court aren’t only in the hands of the president or the senate to decide. In the grand scheme of events, there is a connection between the Supreme Court and the American public.
In a survey conducted by Lydia Saad, “Sixty-three percent would abolish this unique, but sometimes controversial, mechanism for electing presidents that was devised by the framers of the Constitution”. Furthermore, “between 61% and 66% of all major party groups saying they would vote to do away with the Electoral College if they could” (Saad). Most Americans as well as politicians are ready to get rid of the extremely flawed electoral
However, there are other factors that could have potentially influenced the outcome of this presidential election. The factors that influence how a voter will vote include party identification, a candidate’s personality, race, gender, issues, policy, and presidential approval ratings. Silver makes his argument that Obama won the election because his campaigns targeted urban areas while McCain prioritized appealing to the rural population. This certainly could have been influential to more moderate voters, but party identification tends to be relatively stable for most voters carrying over from one election to the next. Instead of focusing on Obama’s campaigning of urban areas as determining his victory, the other highly controversial factor could simply be the low presidential ratings that commonly occur at the end of the president’s term.
Even today, the Electoral College ensures that “the preferences of minority voters count for almost nothing” (Hoffman). The popular “winner take all” system of distributing electoral votes at the state level fundamentally disenfranchises the conflicting opinions of minority votes (Hoffman). In alternative systems of distributing electors proportionally or using the national popular vote, the ballots cast by minority voters across the country would significantly add to one candidate’s total. In this manner, the effects of the Electoral College with regard to suppressing minority votes is appallingly similar to the types of political gerrymandering banned by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (Kelkar)
After performing their civic duty and voting for a candidate, Americans feel disappointed if their candidate wins the popular vote while failing to be appointed to office(Drew Desilver, Pew Research Center). Disappointment equates to a feeling of hopelessness which, in turn, deters Americans from voting in future elections. If a candidate can win without the popular vote, then does their vote even matter?(Drew Desilver, “Pew Research Center) Discouragement has even been shown by presidential candidate Hillary Clinton who stated “it’s time to move away from the electoral college and move to the popular election of our president”(Mahler and Eder, “The electoral college is Hated by so many. So why does it endure?”).
This essay claims that public opinion may not be sound as the public lacks political knowledge. In the article “Election 2014: What the Voters said”, a comprehensive political report called AEI presented exit-poll data from demographic groups. The report from 11/12/14 presents voters’ opinions on political issues. The opinions presented were: beliefs on which direction the country was heading, the marriage vs. gender gap, views towards the government and the economy, views on the legalization of same sex marriage, assessing the affordable care act, and opinions on 2016 election candidate.
As the United States gets ready to enter into another election year, each party is gearing up and raising money for their political campaigns. Numerous polls will take place and questions as well as platforms will come together in an effort to get the publics endorsement and hopefully their vote. It is important to understand why money and polls play a vital role in the American political system. It is equally important to look at certain aspects of issues that have plagued Congress such as the government shutdown and the debt ceiling crisis and how each of these aspects shape the political arena and what needs to be done in the future to preserve our way of life.
The United States currently faces a severe problem with one of their governmental processes. In the democratic system of the United States, politicians are elected by voting from the citizens, in most cases. The problem the United States is facing is that people are no longer voting in elections for officials. This problem is discussed in the article, “In praise of low voter turnout”, written by Charles Krauthammer. The main idea behind this article is that voters are no longer interested in politics, as they were in previous generations.
America is regarded highly in the world, due to its economic, political, as well as social development. As countries mature politically, voter turnout is expected to increase. This is the case for most industrialized nations who experience an average voter turnout above 70%. However, it is troubling to see that America still lags below 60% in voter turnout. Viewed as one of the healthiest democracies in the world, the United States is always referred to as an example that other countries should follow.
In the United States, people always talk about freedom and equality. Especially they want elections could be more democratic. In American Democracy in Peril, Hudson’s main argument regarding chapter five “Election Without the People’s Voice,” is if elections want to be democratic, they must meet three essential criteria, which are to provide equal representation of all citizens, to be mechanisms for deliberation about public policy issues, and to control what government does. Unfortunately, those points that Hudson mentions are what American elections do not have. American elections do not provide equal representation to everyone in the country.
