Explain why some citizens are more likely to vote than others? Why does this matter?
In the case of voter turnout, there are several factors to be considered that explain why not all citizens vote in elections. First, individuals who make higher income are more likely to practice voting because they have received an adequate higher education. Those who attend college take classes that broaden their knowledge of politics and issues that the government is trying to solve. The more years of education one receives correlates with higher income earnings which leads to higher voter participation in comparison to someone who has merely a high school diploma. Also, older citizens are more likely to vote than the youth because they care about how the
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They prefer that the government separate their power into the states and local government to empower each state to solve its own problems. On the other hand, liberals emphasize government action in most aspects of the country’s affairs. They see the government role is to protect the citizens and create policies that can solve their problems. Yes, it creates conflict when one party holds power for an extended period of time because the beliefs of the dominant party is incorporated into the laws of the land while the less influential party has little effect on what actions politicians take.
4. What areas in the state are more likely to vote republican? Democrat? And who are they? Do you see this trend for the foreseeable future?
Popular republican states like Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Arizona or Missouri. For democrats, we have California, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois and Minnesota. Based on what I have learned in this class, if the voter turnout remains the same as it is then the separation of democratic and republican states may stay the same. But, if we have a rise in voting from the Hispanic population, it might turn some states blue because the democratic views are similar to that of Hispanics.
5. What are interest groups and what do they do? How do they influence legislation? Do you think they have too much power over
Daniel Elazar created a classification scheme moralistic political culture of individuals, and traditionalistic to describe the political culture of the state. According to Elazar, Texas can be described as traditionalistic and individuals. Historically, the Texas political parties demonstrated a strong tradition, provincialism, and business dominance. The models, however, may weaken as the Republicans increase its power in the state and urbanization continues. Texas is the second largest state in the country and there are four different geographical regions: the Gulf coastal plain, the interior lowlands, Great Plains, and the basin and range province,
Essentially, interest groups use many different tactics to accomplish their central goals but this paper will detail 2 of them. The first being lobbying, which is the act of persuading businesses as well as government leaders to help a specific organization by changing laws or creating events in favor of that group. Interest groups use this technique by hiring someone to represent them and advocate their cause to on the behalf of the entire group. These hired representatives usually have more than enough experience within the political field and are able to persuade connections within the government for help with their concerns. This method gets a lot of criticism because although lobbyist offer their input to government officials on pending laws, they only look at what is favorable for their cause. When trying to make a difference you have to not only reflect on your argument but on the side affects of that argument as
There has been a huge question of why Texas has shifted from being mainly Democratic to Republican state. When reading “Cowboy Conservatism” by Sean P. Cunningham the most basic analysis of why there has been the drastic change was because rather than Texas leaving the Democratic Party the Democratic Party left Texas. Both parties went through a great amount of change on what each specific party views were. For example “Both parties experienced periods of factional discord and ideological readjustment” The democratic and republican parties had big changes in their political views. The economic changes that Texas was undergoing was one of the reasons that there was discord in the democratic and republican party. Increase in the population in the suburbs was a huge impact in the change of the political parties. The migration into the major cities such as Houston, Austin, and Fort Bend County had an influence on the votes. Since there was an influx of people from other places with republican views there was a tremendous increases of change in votes of political party’s from democratic to republican. There was also a decrease in conservative democrats in the U.S. furthermore having a decrease of conservatives demarcated and increase of more suburbs and the Republican Party is what changed Texas to republican. Texans had a view of the Democratic
The political future of Texas has been widely debated since the 2012 election of President Bush. Barack Obama, since the state has always played a significant role in impacting national elections. Nationally, there was uneven support among minority voters in favor of the president and Democrats, and as a result there has been an increasing interest in the Hispanic population growth in Texas (Lawrence.) The speculation regards how the changing complexion of Texas voters will influence the political process, with political pundits broadly predicting that since the Latino population typically votes for Democrats, there is a possibility that Texas will eventually become a blue state.... ...
Texas is a dependably red state supporting the Republican Party, while Ohio isn’t announced as Republican, but the state will be essential to a Republican winning the White House in 2016.
In the youth of Texas, the Democratic Party enjoyed electoral dominance on all levels of state government and in the representation in the national government. Democratic rule was dominated by a conservative white political elite that strongly promoted economic development, but that resisted change either in race relations or social programs for the poor ("Texas Politics," 2009). Republicans were not completely absent during this period, but their electoral victories were few and limited in scope ("Texas Politics," 2009). In every election after 1980, however, the Republican strength grew into the now dominant rule that currently reigns in Texas. Since the 1990’s, the Republican Party, despite the attempts of others, has had a stronghold on the state government. With that being said, the Republican Party has dominated the overall elections.
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.
In the 2012 United States Presidential election, 58.2 percent of the registered voters turn out to vote (IDEA). This figure is in stark contrast to many other wealthy democracies in the western world for the same election cycle (IDEA). This begs the question, why is voter turnout significantly lower in the US compared to the rest of the world and other OECD countries? There are countless factors that could affect voter turnout, the most common of which are based on socioeconomic status. But when considering only developed nations, more is at play in predicting turnout.
Interest groups are an interesting part of politics that usually gets overlooked. The term interest group is self-explanatory but the definition can be a bit more politically thorough: An organized group that tries to influence the government to adopt certain interests, policies, or measures also called pressure group. Interest group refers to virtually any voluntary association that seeks to publicly promote and create advantages for its cause. America is a melting-pot of races, religions, languages, cultures, beliefs, and ideas, yet it only
Interest groups are groups that are protected under the 1st amendment giving people the opportunity to get together peaceably and petition or express their different opinions to the government or group representatives. There are more than one hundred thousand interest groups. Interest groups are created for many different reasons but often they are the result of a major controversial event that happens in society. When a major social movement happens like the “Black Lives Matter” movement caused by police brutality towards African American individuals, it sparks groups of people who get together to make changes in our political, economic, or social systems. These groups become Interest Groups because they are involved in making a change to
As of the ratification of the 26th amendment in 1971, the voting age in the US is 18. As I turn 18 this coming summer I now have the chance to participate in elections local, state, and national wide. The history of youth voting has changed over time with that more 18-24 year olds are voting as time goes on. The question comes to mind about voting in that why would someone want to vote and if it’s just a waste of time. I believe that if people have the chance to vote, then they should which is why I am going to vote in elections to come in the future.
In today’s politics, interest groups play a large role in the government system. An interest Group is defined as 'an organized body of individuals who try to influence public policy.' This system is designed so that interest groups would be an instrument of public influence on politics to create changes, but would not threaten the government much. These organizations are either made up of people who represent a different organization or people who represent themselves. Interest groups represent the citizens’ interests and views, while expressing their own needs as well. They are the link between people and politics, giving a way for the public to voice their opinions. Members of interest groups use different tactics to basically impose their wants or needs onto the government by lobbying, educating, and campaigning.
During our last presidential election, only sixty six percent (or two thirds of registered voters) actually showed up at the polls. This figure was the highest voting turnout in several decades. Out of the 62.6 percent of voters that showed up last presidential election, only 23 percent fell in the age 18-29 category. This means that forty-four percent of eligible citizens failed to participate. Many factors keep voters home, lack of accessibility to real information about the candidates, misinformation, isolation, and just general disheartenment in our country's current
Since 1912, only about 50 to 65 percent of Americans have voted in presidential elections and still fewer in other elections: 40 to 50 percent in off-year congressional elections and as few as 10 to 20 percent in primaries and minor local elections, although the exact number depends on how turnout is measured (Greenberg, and Page, 2009). Voter turnout started dropping at the end of the nineteenth century, reaching the 60 percent level by the election of 1912 (Teixeira, 1987). The right to vote, originally quite limited, was. expanded in various historical surges to include nearly all adults and to apply to most major offices. Turnout is lower than it was in the late nineteenth century in the US and lower than in other democratic countries, it has continued to decrease, not including the recent presidential elections (Greenberg, and Page, 2009).
Although there are 44 million eligible young voters ages 18-29, in 2012 only 45% of them voted. These young people make up one fifth, or 21%, of the eligible voting population, yet they often do not vote. Voting is a tremendous gift. Young people in many other countries around the world have to fight to gain this right. In America, voting is often taken for granted by all age groups, but the youth take it for granted the most. In this paper, the reason why young people do not vote will be explored and solutions as to how to get them to vote will be proposed.