Democracy: The Role Of Political Parties In The United States

Third parties in the United States do not win, but they do tend to keep elections interesting. Although third parties bring in votes for themselves, most of them have extreme views on issues. These type of views cannot put a party at the top of a nation that mainly consists of moderate individuals. America has one of the most advanced democracies and as a result has developed the two party system. The reason a two party system overpowers a three-party system is because, ideally, the constitution only has two sides to it, the opposing and the supporting. While the United States has a large two party system, third parties have been around for hundreds of years, they play a large part in presidential elections, and within the national government

“From 1972 to 2012, citizens 18-29 turned out at a rate 15 to 20 points lower than citizens 30 years older” from this data we can conclude that age is a demographic that affects voter turnout (What Affects Voter Turnout). Voting laws such as those of identification or registration impact voter turnout. For example, the introduction of early voting was meant to increase voter turnout, but has in fact decreased turnout (What Affects Voter Turnout). In response to the argument that the system lowers voter turnout rate, one should take the many other variables that contribute to turnout into account.

Today, there exists the rift in the American political system marked by the ongoing clash between our political parties: the Republicans and the Democrats. These parties’ dissenting ideas seem to create non-stop conflict as each party relentlessly competes for the support and votes of the American people. However, over two hundred years ago in the early days of our country’s government, political parties did not even exist. Early leaders, such as the revered George Washington, feared that political parties would split our country into warring factions that would not only subvert our delicate notion of patriotism, but also weaken public support for the new Constitution. Nonetheless, despite opposition by Washington and others, political parties began to form, and over the years have developed into the familiar political system we have today. The chief factors that led to the rise of political parties were the disagreements between influential politicians over the structure of the government, the proper interpretation of the Constitution, and foreign policy regarding European nations.

One reason for participation bias is the high information cost in the complicated political system. With a divided government and three separate branches of government, it is hard to identify how things work in politics and therefore who to blame. Also, candidate information is not accessible for the public unless they search for it, and they don’t have time to invest that much time in politics to learn and keep up with it. In addition, voting costs money by taking the time off work to go vote. In the article "Here's How Much It Costs to Vote in States with Voter ID Laws" (Kaveh, October 2014), it is

148). In essence, every voter has some political beliefs and values that often influence the way he or she views political parties, candidates, and ideals. Some conservative people tend to vote to Republican, while some people tend to vote Democratic. Voters have their own political attitudes, and these attitudes determine how society goes, whom they are voting for, and what kind of political parties they are supporting. Many elements have the ability to contribute the political attitudes, such as family, gender, education, income, religion, age, race, and etc. According to Ginsberg et al., the first place where people start forming their beliefs on politics is their families and society (148). This idea explains the reason some areas in the U.S. have more Democratic representatives while others have the majority of their residents being Republicans. The fact that most people possess these ideals means that in the event that the candidates in a ballot do not have the qualities that a particular group of voters is looking for, these voters will not partake in voting. When the impact of race in political socialization is factored in, it becomes increasingly evident that some people of one race are unlikely to spend their time voting for a candidate who does not represent their beliefs pertaining to racial issues. For instance, African Americans’ perception of the extent of racism is different from that of whites. This has a significant bearing on the motivation of voters from each divide to participate in an election (Ginsberg et al.

Obstacles to voting and the absent voting of pure independents are the reason of low turnout in the U.S. today, which may also have great influence both politically and legally. The voter turnout is the percentage of qualified voters who actually go to an election to cast a ballot. Overall, the voter turnout in America is low, with only between 51 and 57 percent of eligible voters going to polls in presidential elections from 2004 to 2012. The reason why America has such a low turnout is because of several obstacles in voting. The U.S. do not provide paid holiday for voters who are workers to vote or well-structured politics for different racial voters, other obstacles like advanced registration and absentee voting also make the voting more difficult for voters. The pure independents, who are unlike independent leaners or behaviour independents, are less well informed and less care about the election information and also definitely less likely to vote on the Election Day, they do not have any preference for any candidates or parties. As Hershey mentioned in his book,

The multiple characteristics that play into political participation of a person can span from gender, race, economic situation, amount of education, and their political affiliation. One case is that, “blacks and whites differ significantly in views of the role of race in criminal justice system” (152). It is likely someone who is black would vote if the candidate is promising to get rid of inequality. It is also possible that one group of people may not even vote at all if they believe the matter does not concern them. The voter's’ party affiliation can also affect them to vote. Let’s say a candidate is part of a party and they seem to have a good chance of winning. Naturally the other party would not want that candidate as their president and so, they would vote for whoever is representing their party. One example comes from the recent election; in which Republicans started to vote for Trump to avoid for Hillary, a Democratic, to become president. In addition, ...

In the 2012 United States Presidential election 58.2 percent of the registered voters turnout 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 first world and other OECD countries? There are countless factors that could affect voter turnout, the most standard of which are based on socioeconomic status. But when considering only developed nations, more is at play in predicting turnout. Focus is turned to institutional factors and the effect election mechanisms, such as registration laws and party systems, have on political participation.

At first, the constitution was for a non-partisan president because it “was intended to play the leading institutional role in checking and controlling violence of faction that the framers feared would rend the fabric of representative democracy” (Nelson, 295). In the early nineteenth century, “the president of the United States is nominated by a party” (Nelson, 296). The understanding of a solid relation between a president and his party began to be understood and was implemented in the political parties that whatever party a president was in. For example, Roosevelt was very keen at this that he demonstrated a solid and aggressive partisan effort, and his effort on this put a different and progressed idea that was totally about a progress

Jamaica, is a member of the British Commonwealth, and has a bicameral parliamentary legislative system. The executive branch consists of the British monarch, the governor general, the prime minister, the deputy prime minister, and the cabinet. The legislative branch is comprised of the Senate, and the sixty-member elected House of Representatives. The judicial branch is defined by the supreme court and several layers of lower courts. The two major parties are the People's National Party (PNP); which would be the democratic party in America, and the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP), which would be the republican party. Then there are many unions that govern the politicians. They include: trade unions, the Rastafarians, and civic organizations. During election time, it becomes very hostile and dangerous between the different political parties and unions. These parties and unions are represented by colors, and from the beginning of the election period, until it is over there is widespread violence. A person who has no affiliation with government in Jamaica could be killed for simply wearing the colors of a political party.

Political parties have been a part of American government since nearly the beginning. They help people navigate the political world and simplify the complex issues of government. Political parties are also supposed to be a way for the government and citizens to communicate, for one side to tell the other what they need or want. It also helps organize people by grouping them according to similar thoughts and ideals. Despite how central political parties have become to our government over time, there has been a growing dissatisfaction among Americans towards the parties, for various reasons.

The Democrats and Republicans are two different political parties. Democrats are the liberal party America, whereas the Republicans are the conservative party in America (Jeremy & Demand, n.d.). The Democrats are the oldest voting based party in the world. Ever since 1854, U.S. politics has been a battle between the Democrats and the Republicans.

“The initial expectation is that a substantial gap exists between the voting rates of the socially advantaged because the latter are less informed about politics, feel more alienated from the political system and are not the main target of mobilization efforts by political parties”

To strive for a democracy, the knowledge and full understanding of democratization and the series of actions needed to reach it should be obtained. What exactly is a democracy? A democracy is a governmental system that is represented by the nation’s citizens that elect officials that act upon the people’s opinions shown through elections. Whereas the regime results as the leaders are accountable to citizens. The main goal of a democracy is to hold the involvement of living in a free country. For a democracy it must meet the eight factors. These eight standards include a citizen to have the right to join and form organizations. The people of a democratized state also have the right to vote and freedom of expression to project individualism. The fourth factor of a perfect democracy is that any citizen

Gallagher and Mitchell (2005) explain some countries electoral system itself can be a major political issue. Gallagher and Mitchell wrote, “They (electoral system) are a crucial link in the chain connecting the preferences of citizens to the policy choices made by the government.” (Gallagher and Mitchell: 2005). They are explaining electoral system plays a certain role in the government therefore could have an input on voter turnout. This makes their research an interesting topic to focus on to study further to see if there is a relationship between turnout and electoral system. Depending on the electoral system, may make potential voters to believe their vote is not as important as other’s voter and will restrain them from going to the poll booth (Jackman, 1987). Various electoral system could have lower