6. Should people feel obligated to vote if they know nothing about the candidates or issues in an election?…
The irony is that while the quantity of places we can go for political information continues to increase, the quality of that information has not. Recent voter turnout shows an American public with a general apathy toward government and the political process.…
In his book Against Democracy, Jason Brennan states that the importance of politics to the individual’s life is so insignificant that they do not invest the proper amount of time and effort into their consideration. A vote does not have any immediate consequences and is disconnected from the individual’s sense of responsibility because after all, what is the likely hood that their specific vote is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. People are not required to know about politics and politicians, so they do not spend any time attempting to become aware of the current political scope. Because of their ignorance, their vote dilutes what the general population truly thinks the government should do.…
Democracy only works if the United States citizens are informed responsibly and frequently. As citizens who are actively involved in elections -whether by voting or running for office- United States citizens need to be informed by non-bias news networks. Politicians rely on Americans not to be informed, that they will follow their words and plans without looking at them closer and seeing their flaws. Davis Mindich reflects this well in his passage.…
First, Teixeira points to individual, psychological, and cultural explanations. Then, Piven and Cloward indicate to government and institutional evidence especially within parties. Finally, Putnam stresses social and environmental factors including diminishing social capital and civic engagement that have contributed to the voter turnout decline. A major factor that the authors disagree upon is how large the role of education level plays in whether Americans vote. Teixeira and Piven and Cloward claim that education is an important variable in determining voter turnout and that those who are not well-educated often do not vote. While the two respective works offer different reasons for why the lesser educated Americans do not vote, they both agree that the lowest class suffers the most. This is true in terms of both structural and psychological reasons. First, Parties do not mobilize these voters and they know a lot less about the registration process and about politics itself. Additionally, educated people are more likely to participate in social connectivity and politics, and therefore aren’t declining at as steep of a…
In the 1996 article “The Alienated American Voter”, Richard Harwood investigates whether the American voter feels that they have become alienated from the political process. Harwood believes that the average American voter feels alienated or in at least some ways, disconnected from the workings of the political system. From how politics are portrayed in the media, to the way legislation and certain topics are presented to the average voter, there are numerous reason for the feeling of alienation.…
The American system of government is democratic. Democracy is a form of government in which people choose leaders by voting. In America, they hold elections at the local, state, and federal level. In the elections the voters choose among the leaders of political parties for the open office position. America has two major political parties: Democrat and Republican. There are more political parties than that, but with the way the electoral process works most third parties are doomed to fail since they will not get the popular vote. Though for President and Vice President the popular vote does not matter since the Electoral College chooses the President and Vice President. Many eligible voters have decided to “protest vote” meaning not voting…
After an extensive review of ten articles, I have developed the following information: The President of the United States is not chosen due to popular vote, but rather due to the fact that the framers of the constitution created the Electoral College. Americans have questioned the system since its creation. (Uselton, 2008) The Electoral College was born due out of the the debate whether congress had the power to elect a president, or did the public’s national vote. One wonders if because we have such a democracy in place, does the American vote really count? Recently during the 2012 Presidential election, this researcher asked her husband if he had voted yet. He replied “yea, but who cares, it didn’t count anyway”. (W. K. Ellis, & M. J. Ellis, personal communication, November 13, 2012). It boggles the mind to think how many Americans think that and don’t even bother to get out and vote. I think as Americans we have lost our way in the political system. It is complex and difficult to understand. No longer do people gather at the barbershop to talk about politics and process. They spend their time watching sports on the big screen while waiting for their haircut. Poplar vote wins you nothing in the political arena; the big game takes place at the Electoral College. Let us start with the origins of our political system. The Electoral College was developed to assist in the debate of who…
Compulsory voting would help citizens to become further educated about voting. In accordance to the George Mason University citizens with a lower education or are of a younger age, have a lower percentage of voter turnout(Doc. B). This would be caused by the fact that these citizens don’t have much knowledge of how to vote. Having compulsory voting would eliminate this due to the fact that…
First, Models 1-4 suggest that turnout does not have a significant impact on party strength. In the national party strength models, turnout does indeed have a significant and positive impact on party strength. This finding makes perfect sense. At the start of the period of study, whether one voted was highly dependent on class. Today, this relationship is not as strong. Figures 3.3 and 3.4 show a distinctive upward trend in the data. Moreover, midterm effects are visible. It makes it reasonable to expect that more new voters were showing up at the polls and voting for at least some Republican candidates in high profile races. Turnout is not by itself significant in any of the state party strength models. This suggests that candidates such as Senator Trent Lott and President Ronald Reagan may have been able to convince new southern voters to show up and vote for them, but those new voters continued to vote for Democratic candidates in state level…
Alienation of citizens in politics is measured by the comparison of indifference vs. activism in American political systems and culture. While a slim number of citizens vote in every election and pay attention to their state policies and officials, there is a large number of citizens displaying indifference about politics, who do not even vote at all. These citizens who do not care to participate in or pay attention to politics may be consciously choosing this path on their own, or they may have fallen into a feeling of alienation by the system. Either way, in his article, Harwood discusses how many citizens of 1996 are disconnected from government.…
IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH VOTER TURNOUT? There is not a problem with low voter turnout because that would signify that educated people voted. It is better for the people who don’t care about politics not to vote because if they would vote there is a chance they could jeopardize the outcome. There is no point in voting if they did not take the time to learn about or care about the issues in the society. For example, let’s say that people are voting whether or not guns should be illegal. If most people who are serious about politics voted that guns should be illegal and let’s say the other people who don’t take it seriously voted that guns should not be illegal, then there would be a big problem.…
It is the duty of the American people to play an active role in determining who represents their best interests in Congress. Stephen Witham, in his presentation titled, Becoming an Informed Voter, says the following in regards to the American peoples’ responsibility to not only vote, but to do so intelligently, “We, as voters, are supposed to focus primarily on electing Congress…I challenge the students to think about voting for an individual based on the way they vote to represent you in Congress.” In response to the aforesaid…
In the first article “Voters Are Ready to Punish Pro-Gun Politicians. There’s Just One Problem” by George Zornick talks about where the candidates stand on the topic of guns during the races. It is believed that the gun control issue would be a big factor during the race. Voters want to know where it is that the both candidates, Kelly Ayotte and Marco Rubio, stand on. It mentions how 76 percent of the voters in Florida believe that Rubio actually “supports banning people on the terror lists from buying guns” (Zornick). Another 69 percent believe or are unsure whether or not he “supports background checks on gun sales” (Zornick). In the case of Kelly Ayotte, 74 percent of the voters from New Hampshire believe or are unsure that Ayotte agrees…
In order for Americans to not lose their right to vote we need to be able to show that being apart of making the decisions for our country is important to us. Being able to vote on the decisions our country makes is a privilege that we have that the rest of the world may not. As I talk to my peers they seem to know less and less about the current election that is going on, when the reality is that some of them will be old enough to vote for it in the next couple of months. Sure they know who Donald Trump and Ben Carson are but most of them do not know what the candidates views are or who any of the other candidates are. Most do not understand politics at all, are not sure of their views, do not know which party they stand for or how…