ipl-logo

Summary Of Red State Poor State Blue State By Andrew Gelman

778 Words4 Pages

Andrew Gelman and his co-authors know what they are talking about when it comes to politics. They all have written numerous articles and papers on subjects revolving around politics. Especially Andrew Gelman he has won multiple awards on his articles. He went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then he went on to study at Harvard University. He now teaches statistics and political science at Columbia University. He is very well educated when it comes to politics and therefore knows what he is talking about when it comes to his book. In the book Red State Poor State Rich State Blue State by Andrew Gelman he first starts out with a paradox which is wealthy states vote Democratic and wealthy voters vote Republican. His book points out …show more content…

Andrew Gelman splits the book into three sections each part explains the paradox in even more detail. Part one of the book discusses how the Republican and Democratic Party have changed throughout the years. It explains how the voting patterns between democrats and republicans are changing and how pundits on both sides are puzzled. Gelman lets us know which states have higher income and if income is a high predictor of votes in that state. He informs the reader about which party does better every year. In part two it gives more information on the paradox and talks about it in geographical and historically detail more so than it did before. Readers also learn more on why wealthy voters vote for republicans and the wealthy states vote for democrats. Part two mainly focuses on the numerous differences between rich and poor, voters and states. It further explains how voters and states …show more content…

He does a good job with not using too many graphs and mathematical equations throughout his book. The book is interesting; it keeps the reader captivated because of the informative political statistics. I don’t agree with everything that was discussed throughout the book. I feel like Gelman is biased towards the republicans because there were more facts about republicans than democrats. Besides that he does a good job explaining all the political views. He really takes the time to explain all of his thoughts thoroughly. He makes sure to give plenty of examples throughout the book. He even quotes politicians and he explains whether what they said is right or wrong. By doing this he tackles a number of myths and explains why they are not true. I found it intriguing how he compiles and deciphers his data. I also found it very interesting that republican-leaning states have lower income people and they vote for democrats and wealthier people in democratic-leaning states usually vote for republicans. Andrew Gelman knows how to capture just the right amount of information without giving the reader too much. He is very thoughtful in the way he writes out his explains and

Show More
Related
628 Words | 3 Pages

Jacksonland by Steve Inskeep is an interesting book that describes the lives of President Andrew Jackson and the Cherokee leader John Ross. It describes the connections between their lives and the demise of their relationship from fighting together to fighting each other. It uses historical accounts and letters to help describe what life was like during the rough times that unfolded during the early 1800s. Not only does Inskeep describe what makes these two men famous, but he also describes their lives before fame. This includes the actions that resulted in them becoming famous.

Read More
859 Words | 4 Pages

He also points out differences between liberal and more conservative parties. Through these topics, he informs the reader of his opinions regarding problems in American politics; the equality of people governed and the divide amongst political parties. To begin his discussion, Berry describes how everyone has to pick a side in politics. He discusses the lack of understanding of what it really means to be in a particular party by saying, “It doesn’t matter that neither of these labels signifies much in the way of intellectual

Read More
614 Words | 3 Pages

Gerrymandering is a practice that stopped redistricting and goes to establish a political advantage for a specific party or group by manipulating district limits to create biased advantage districts. The process for making a congressional district map in Texas has grown more complex and significant over the years. Districts are usually drawn by politicians that typically have a vested interest in the effect of the new lines; according to laws and regulations they're subject to judicial review. This gives the state the power to control and maintain their districts. The disadvantage is that it allows representatives who could not otherwise get elected, to be elected.

Read More
369 Words | 2 Pages

Poor people were treated very treated unequally in comparison to the rich. In the book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, Loewen writes about how poor people were offered education, but weren’t given an equal opportunity for higher education. Chapter 7 of Lies My Teacher Told Me notes that rich people were treated more fairly than the poor people, more specifically with more respect and honor especially in the classroom.

Read More
1095 Words | 5 Pages

The meaning of the free enterprise on trial means to achieve success by hardwork and taking risks. In his book, “From beyond Outrage”, Robert Reich speaks about how wealth is concentrated among the top wealthiest people in American leading to a wide gap between the rich and poor by increasing inequalities in income. This has not only disgusted Reich, but he is outraged too with the statistics that suggest how the top rich Americans are only getting richer, while those at the bottom of the line are suffering. The inequality gap has grown consistently over the years in America making more than half of the public change their opinion about the wealthy families in U.S. People now believe that those with money need to be taxed heavily and there should be an equal re-distribution of wealth.

Read More
1236 Words | 5 Pages

Freakonomics Essay Freakonomics is a mind bending, engaging and controversial look into a never before talked about side of economics. From relating the Ku Klux Klan to real estate agents and to why drug dealers are living with their moms Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner turn conventional wisdom on its head. As a whole I enjoyed the book, but there were some things that annoyed me and that I didn’t like and/or confused me. Freakonomics makes you think differently about topics you thought you already knew the answer to. To most with little knowledge of writing techniques they would not have noticed/comprehended the authors uses of rhetoric and tone but luckily from these past few years of English classes I was able to pick up and see

Read More
802 Words | 4 Pages

Andrew Romano’s article “How dumb are we?” contradicts the idea that citizens at least know the basics about their country’s political system and state affairs. He describes how surveys reveal that many Americans lack a common understanding and knowledge of their domestic politics as well as foreign politics. Some of his main arguments explain why the Americans are less aware of their country’s politics than the Europeans are, e.g. the complexity of the American political system, the decentralized educational system and most importantly that Americans are ignorant, not stupid. Romano also empathizes that the Americans’ lack of knowledge poses a threat to the American society.

Read More
461 Words | 2 Pages

John F Kennedy was a level headed, determined and well accomplished person. During his short-lived presidency, he had to take on challenges like no other and did it with sophistication and grace. From conflicts involving other countries, like Vietnam, to the Civil Rights Movement that directly affected our own country, Kennedy continued to take each problem day by day until there was an overall improvement or resolution. It would be safe to say that he is one of the more progressive presidents our country has ever seen. David Burner’s John F. Kennedy and a New Generation was written with the sole purpose of giving an insight into Kennedys upbringing and presidency in an entirely unbiased approach.

Read More
304 Words | 2 Pages

While Republicans are voted mostly by white men, Democrats are voted by other minority races like Blacks and Hispanics, along with higher number of women. Of these, the younger adults tend to be toward Democrats, while middle-aged adults tend to favor the Republicans. This could also be linked to the income and education level, where higher income and education favors the Republican side and the lower, the Democratic side. Marital status has an influence too, where married couples are more toward the Republicans, and singles more toward the Democrats. The regions are distinct too, where Republicans are strongest in the South and Midwest of U.S. apart from Democrat’s power in the Northeast and California.

Read More
381 Words | 2 Pages

Party strength is a measure of the ability of a party to get people to vote for its candidates. The post-World War II shift in party strength was part of a massive shift in policy over time. Scholars saw Republican politicians increasingly excel at getting elected at the local level (Lublin 2006), to offices in the state (Hayes and McKee 2007), and federal governments (Black and Black 2002, 1992; Shafer and Johnston 2006). It is difficult to see how the Republican Party would have become the majority in Congress in 1994 without the increased voting strength in the South. This marked a dramatic shift in national policy.

Read More
1359 Words | 6 Pages

Students have often debated whether American politics were becoming more democratic in the early 1800s. American politics in the early 1800s had aspects in which they were becoming more democratic, and aspects in which they were becoming less democratic, when taking into consideration voting, campaigning, and political parties. Politics that are democratic are representative of everyone in America, and they everyone is able to participate in government practices. Politics that are not democratic are the opposite and do not represent everyone, or do not allow everyone in America to do participate in government practices. Although there are ways that American politics in the early 1800s were becoming more democratic, they failed to become fully

Read More
287 Words | 2 Pages

In order to understand why rural and working-class Americans tend to support Republicans, it is crucial to understand social intuitionist model. In Chapter 8 of his “The Righteous Mind,” Haidt presents a Durkheimain vision of society, which explains this model. In a Durkheimian society, the basic social unit is not the individual, but the hierarchically structured family. A Durkheimain society values self-control over self-expression, duty over rights, and loyalty to one’s group. Rural Americans tend to be more religious and have tighter family bonds (of course, there are exceptions) than people from urban areas, so the Durkheimain society model characterizes them better than a Millian model, which rests exclusively on Care and Fairness foundations.

Read More
1038 Words | 5 Pages

"The Plunkitt of Tammany Hall" written by William L. Riordon about George W. Plunkitt's multiple talks in defense of his career in the political machine Tammany Hall. George W. Plunkitt was a ward boss of the Tammany Hall Political machine. It was full of corruption which made George W. Plunkitt wealthy. Before people knew about Tammany Hall being corrupt, George W. Plunkitt tried to defend Tammany Hall throughout his political career in order to keep making a lot of money. Some of George W. Plunkitt's talks were on his honest graft against dishonest graft, Civil Service reforms, Tammany Hall being patriotic, and how successful politicians do not drink.

Read More
705 Words | 3 Pages

William Novak presents an argument on how the history of American government has been told upside-down for many years now. Novak depicts a mighty American state, capable of a great deal and responsible for some of the most important narratives in American history. However, there were many people, of whom had great interest in the founding fathers, were irritated by Novak’s argument. The main group of people being referred to here were people from the Tea Party political movement.

Read More
293 Words | 2 Pages

One of the things I found interesting is the fact that he did research on the topic before writing about it. For example, when he quotes something from Stephen Marche and how he thought that social media was isolating us and making us lonelier. He then asks the question if any evidence is provided to back that claim. I like the way he asks questions that start to make us think a little bit before giving us his opinion or the facts about said topic. For example, when he asked,

Read More

More about Summary Of Red State Poor State Blue State By Andrew Gelman

Related Topics

Open Document