Analysis Of Gallup Polls Surveys

Unlike parties in many other countries, political parties in the U.S. are relatively weak in terms of their ability to mobilize voters to register and ultimately vote on election- day. This inability to mobilize voters has direct correlation to the fact that membership and affiliation in political

The growing ideological gap between the United States’ two major political parties, in other words, rising levels of political polarization, has had a negative impact on American politics as it results in Congressional inefficient, public apathy, and economic inequality.

A notion exists that the “independent voter” is also an independent thinker, researcher, and analyst - a voter not swayed by media and partisan politics; however, I propose that while voters may be successfully categorized, neither independent nor partisan voters are better informed than the other, this must be attributed individually and not categorically. “Independent” is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “not subject to authority or control; not depending on another…for one’s opinion; not belonging to or supported by a party” (Independent, 2002, p. 417). The problem with labelling a voter (or group of voters) with this term is that the label is most often a self-designation that sometimes has little to do with that word actually implies.

After research-filled, highly targeted, and negative campaigns, the results of the 2016 Presidential Election stunned the world. But were these results really all that surprising? America was prepared for a change in policy and election projections were incorrect due to the fact that there existed many “under cover Trumpers”, whom voted their conscience but were not willing to openly admit their political beliefs for fear of condemnation. The 2016 Presidential Election results open many areas for research into the legitimacy of the Electoral College, civic engagement, and campaign strategies as well as raises concerns over the fear American people possessed in defending their political values.

However, there is a competing explanation of the Party Polarization phenomena. These political scientists believe that the reason there is Party Polarization in our culture is not because of the way the districts are drawn, but is due to the way people organize themselves. Individuals are “segregating themselves by choosing to live in liberal or conservative geographical areas” without very much influence (372). This behavior is called self-

When you observe the graph that the American National Election Studies has created, you begin to notice a pattern. This pattern would be that there was either an increase or decrease in the strength of the people's partisanship for each party around the time that a new president came into office. It seems that every single time that there was a change in the political leader of our country that people either felt very strong partisanship or very little. This must have to do with the idea that with each new president, the new issues arising in the country will be handled a certain way. Furthermore, how said issues are handled by those in office affect the partisanship. These new issues

In national elections we rely on national party labels to help us decide on who to vote for and in local and state elections we also rely on party labels. Another quote from the article that directly supports this statement is, “The reason is that even when the election is for local office, we still rely on national party labels.” The only problem with this is we end up still relying on national party labels instead. The last reason that this statement is true is because families might be favoring a certain party just because one candidate was exceptionally better than the other in one election. They might continue voting for the same party just because of that one year without actually listening to what the new presidential candidate has to say. This relates with local and state politics because if the family is already voting for a certain party they could also blindly vote for a local or state candidate without listening to them first, just like how they could’ve with the presidential

The 2016 election is one of the most controversial Presidential races the United States has seen. One reason for this is the increased polarity of the country towards a specific political party. However, members of the parties may not all support the same candidate.For example, Donald Trump has been denounced for “insufficient conservatism” by members of his own party (Breitbart 1). Yet he is still running on the Republican ticket and will receive the votes of the majority of Republicans, simply because he is the Republican candidate, even though many Republicans (leaders and voters) do not support him.

As the Presidential election primaries drew to an end, there was no doubt about who will represent the Democratic and Republican parties at the general election. Over the past several years, it has become fashionable in the beltway to deny the existence of Independents despite the increases in registered Independent voters and surveys finding record-high numbers of Americans now calling themselves Independents. Turned off by the partisan wars in Washington, 39 percent of voters now identify themselves as independent rather than affiliated with one of the two major political parties, according to a 2016 analysis by the Pew Research Center. At that point, 3rd party candidates started emerging and the support of 3rd party candidates like Evan McMullen was growing really fast because of the low favorability rate of both party nominees. At first glance, we could immediately conclude that

In the United States of America, our bipartisan form of government is crucial to how we run our federal government. It is very important to some people to personally associate with a party, because it is a large part of their political identity, and how they vote. In the age of straight ticket voting, and the opposite split-ticket voting, there are many people who are uneducated voters who vote simply based off of a small “R” or a “D” next to a candidate’s name. When I turn 18 I will most likely register either as a Democrat or an independent not under any political party.

Have you been heavily involved in politics lately? Lately it seems the battle of Democrats vs. Republicans has been very heated and almost everyone is interested. With the presidential election right around the corner, the great debate at hand has been Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. These two individuals are from two separate parties, with many contrasting views. From gun control laws to foreign policy, every ideology seems to contrast between these two parties. Aside from liberal or conservative views, how are Democrats and Republicans similar? Also, How do they contrast from each other? Throughout this paper I will present the multiple differences and similarities within these two parties.

Much of a person’s political identity begins with the beliefs and ideas absorbed in the home from parents and relatives, in school, and so forth, but regional differences, race, ethnicity, gender, family structure, religion and level of income are also contributing factors in how one’s political identity and ideology takes shape. (Magleby, et al., 2008., p. 115) Though there are overreaching national political traditions such as our two party system by virtue of manifest destiny, the United States stretches from coast to coast with each region having

Many political science researchers study the forces that drive the vote. One of the earliest, and most well known, books about election studies is The American Voter. Written in 1960, the book tries to explain a model that describes what drives Americans to vote the way they do. The model suggests that social factors determine ones party identification, which determines one's issue positions and evaluation of candidate's characteristics. These forces all work together to determine how one will vote. This model may or may not still hold true today, as political researchers are not in agreement as to what exactly drives the vote. One thing that does remain true, however, is that factors such as social groups, party identification, issues,

There are various factors that influence how a voter will cast their choice in the U.S. elections. Party identification is the most top factor in a person's voting choice. Some voters are members of either the two majors political parties; the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. These party affiliations are usually determined by a person's influences from family, peers, media and the assessment of the candidates and the issues. Independents who are not affiliated with either party does not have a particular loyalty to any party. They vote mainly on the issues (Schmidt, Shelley, Bardes, 2011, p.193).

The most important behavioral contribution to political science were election studies. In 1955 American political scientist V.O. Key, Jr. (1908–63), identified that American voters shifted their party affiliation from one political party to another, giving rise to the dominance of the Republican Party from 1860 to 1932 and of the Democratic Party after 1932. In The American Voter (1960), Angus Campbell, Philip Converse, William Miller, and Donald Stokes used the results of studies by the SRC to develop the concept of party identification. They argued that the long-recognized influences of religion, social class, region, and ethnicity contributed to voting