The Extent to Which Voting by Ethnic Minorities Reflects the Voting Behaviour of the Whole Electorate
In present day there are currently 12 ethnic minority MP’s in
parliament, all of who belong to the Labour party. Ethnic minority
groups tend to be part of the immigrant population and so are more
likely to belong to the working class and so have a stronger party
identification with labour. This can be shown in the 1997 general
election in which 70% of Asian voters and 86% of Black voters voted
for labour. The difference in the two could be to do with the fact
that Asian people in particular have been very successful in Britain
with setting up businesses so in the 1997 elections the 25% of Asian
voters that voted for conservative didn’t feel the effect of Black
Wednesday as significantly as the rest of the electorate. In the
opinion poll of the above source after labours first term in
government 84% of black voters & 80% of Asian voters said that they
preferred the labour government. This could be to do with the fact
that one of the conservative policies in 2001 election was
immigration, which led to a stronger party identification between
ethnic minorities and the labour party.
However although ethnic minorities tend to have a strong partisan
alignment with labour they have a low voter turnout. However in the
2001 election Britain saw the lowest voter turnout since 1918 with
only 57% of the electorate turning out to vote. So you could argue
that by not turning out to vote they reflected the voting behaviour of
most of the electorate who felt that in the 2001 election labour was
‘bound to win’.
In the 2001 election most of the ...
... middle of paper ...
...orate, because although they seem to
have a stronger party identification (which I think is because most of
them are in the working class) like the whole electorate at the moment
they are feeling voter apathy. But mainly because I don’t think that
your ethnicity is an important factor in which party you vote. I think
that other factors such as mass media, judgemental voting and party
leader likeability are more important and within these factors ethnic
minorities seem to vote the same way as the majority of the
electorate. Because no single person will ever reflect the voting
behaviour of the whole electorate whether there white, black, 25, 60
have blue eyes or green eyes, because there are so many different
factors that influence voting behaviour and because of the period of
volatility that is occurring at the moment.
Curtis, J., Fisher S., Lessard-Philips L. 2007.Proportional Representation and disappearing voter. British Social Attitudes: Perspectives on a changing society, ed. A.Park 119-25. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
The majoritarian electoral system could be divided into plurality or an absolute majority (Norris, 1997: 299). Plurality aims to create a manufactured majority via exaggerating the share of seats for the leading party to an effective working majority for the gove...
Singh, S., & Judd, T. (2013). Compulsory Voting and the Dynamics of Partisan Identification. European Journal of Political research, 52(2), 188-211. Retrieved from http://journals1.scholarsportal.info.proxy.bib.uottawa.ca/details.xqy?uri=/03044130/v52i0002/188_cvatdopi.xml
Karp, Jeffrey A., and Susan A. Banducci. " Political Efficacy and Participation in Twenty-Seven Democracies: How Electoral Systems Shape Political Behaviour." British Journal of Political Science 38 (2008): 311-334. Cambridge Journals. Web. 16 Mar. 2012.
Among the many ways Americans can participate in politics, voting is considered one of the most common and important ways for Americans to get involved. The outcome of any election, especially at the national level, determines who will be making and enforcing the laws that all Americans must abide by. With this in mind one might assume that all Americans are active voters, but studies show the voter turnout is actually astonishingly low. With this unsettling trend it is important to know what statistics say about voter turnout as was as the four major factors that influence participation: Socioeconomic status, education, political environment, and state electoral laws, in order to help boost turnout in future elections.
Nakhaie, M. R. (2006). Electoral participation in municipal, provincial and federal elections in Canada. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 39(2), 363-390.
In conclusion, it can clearly be seen that, because of the inequality to vote, gender, religious and race exclusions were pronounced side effects. Gender exclusions were shown through the inequality to vote due to the views of women in society. Religious exclusions were expressed through the uneven opportunities to vote through the prejudice set against the religions. And, racial exclusions were shown through the lack of the ability to vote be the intentional discrimination that these races were victims of. While others may say that these exclusions of groups can be seen through other actions, voting inequalities straightforwardly shows this. This is because when only specific groups can vote, it can be seen that the other groups are unfairly treated to their franchise.
Joseph points out that “lists are closed, in other words defined by the parties themselves, with no possibility for the voters to influence either the selection or the rank of candidates” (Joseph 188). Therefore, there is no guarantee that any party would rank a minority representative at the top of the party list or even nominate minorities for the party list. However, studies like the ones done by Matland and Studlar show that there is a much better chance of minorities being placed on party lists as compared to the FPTP system’, rather than a list of all white
Throughout American history, many minority groups have encountered significant barriers to the right to vote. Traditionally, specific populations concerned with protecting their power over others have maintained tight control over this privilege. In doing so, violations of basic human rights have occurred; state and federal governments established voting restrictions based on race. Fortunately, several methods were taken for overcoming these limitations that resulted in the voting practices used today. These recent legislations that government enacted have been to benefit voters. This research paper will go in depth with the main restrictions, laid out by either the states or the government, placed on different races in America, look at the over-comings of these limitations, and get a small glance at how voting is today and the acts the government put in place to help voters have a more pleasant voting experience.
The topic of race, redistricting, and minority representation in Congress has emerged as one of the most salient issues in contemporary political thought. The creation of so‑called majority minority districts has been attacked as unfair and racially polarizing by some observers and ultimately struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The study of race in relation to American politics and institutions, and, in particular, to the institution of Congress, has produced a wealth of research and literature in recent years. This scope of budding research ranges from legislative activity and Congressional voting to the electoral process and campaigning. This study examines the effects of race in Congressional elections and campaigning, and will be primarily focused on constituent relationships with members of the House of Representatives. Through this research, a better understanding of the differences in constituent relationships and engagement between African American House members and their Caucasian colleagues will be reached. Based on the current literature and prevailing scholarly attitudes, one could likely conclude that African American Congress members, on the whole, develop closer and more personal relationships with their constituents than do white representatives.
A considerable body of research has been injected into the nature and impact of both majority and minority influences. Moscovici (1980 in Hogg and Vaughan 2007) claimed that both majorities and minorities exert influence in different ways.
The majority and the minority bring forth change in policy in a democratic society. Majority rule means that, if there were an over whelming amount of support on a issue their voices would be heard by the government. Our government is run on a majority rule. People in our society elect officials and put their faiths in them to make their choices.
Midterm: (Q1) Identify your race and ethnicity. Explain the characteristics that distinguish one from the other. Which do you think has the greatest impact on your life? Why?
The present study explores the relation between voter demographics and personal values to the values held by political candidates who may not promote the same values as a voter's in-group. More specifically, we're looking at Christians' internal responses to voting for a candidate that does not hold Christian values. We hypothesize that Christians will change which values are important for a candidate to have when the candidate does not hold the same values as Christians, but does hold the same political party as the participant. We expect there not to be a value change when a candidate does not hold the same values as Christians and does not hold the same political party as the participant. After running a MANOVA, we found that our hypothesis was not supported. However, there was a significant difference between political parties on religious values, such that Republicans held higher religious values than Democrats. This research is beneficial because it helps us to understand voting behaviors.
In a world where society is mostly driven by our faults, family can be a relative term that brings it all back down to earth. Since societies can be extremely divided at times, it is important to have a back bone and a community that understand your own values, customs, and practices. It has been said that “minority group” families, which in Canada or the United States, could be considered anyone who isn’t Caucasian, are less stable in form and function than families who are a part of the general societal “majority”. Throughout this essay, I would like to discuss how untrue this statement is. From racial and cultural differences, to relying on each other and to growing as a unit, it is evident that minorities can have an even stronger relationship than those from the majority.