Factors That Affect Political Attitudes Of Voters

In Political Parties and Party Systems, Alan Ware summarizes the two main competing theories that attempt to explain party systems. First, the Sociological approach and then the Institutional approach. In order to comprehend his analysis it is necessary to realize that party systems are in a constant state of evolution, they do not remain stagnant. This evolution may, at times, be imperceptible and at others very noticeable, such as during a revolution; but the change is undoubtedly occurring. It is much easier to understand these theories if you view these two theories from a flexible standpoint as opposed to having a concrete beginning and end with exact delineations in between.

Most people are exposed to the same principals and agents of political socialization. Families spread values that support political authorities and can heavily contribute to children's initial political ideological views, or party preferences. Families influence political knowledge and identification depending on variables such as family demographics, life cycle, parenting style, parental level of political skepticism and frequency of political discussions. Demographics such as gender and age also attribute to political socialization. School is another agent of political socialization. Spending numerous years in school, children in the United States are taught and reinforced a view of the world that their text books tell them to trust. Through primary, secondary and high schools, students are taught key principles such as individual rights and property, personal responsibility and duty to their nation. Another is mass media. Mass media is not only a source of political information; it is an influence on political values and beliefs. Various media outlets, through news coverage and late-night programs, provide different partisan policy stances that are associated with political participation. Religions, beliefs, and practices play a role in political opinion formation and political participation. The perspective offered by religious institutions shape judgement regarding public policy, and political decision

The author, V. O. Key, states the results of a survey that shows that voters tend to vote for people who vote for candidates that will help them financially. He also states that people tend to vote for a certain party’s candidate because of their ties to the party. Key then declares that one can predict a person’s vote based on their personality and attributes. Key also shows that although these behaviors show strangeness, the voters have great importance to politics. Key says that the voters’ behavior has importance as it helps candidates discover the nature of the voters’ interests to try gain an advantage. Finally, Key states that voters behave as well as possible, considering the possibilities of other

Some common issues that political parties present can include problems with inequality, wrong education of the people, the spread of communal hatred, and the decrease of personal individuality. Issues with inequality originate from the thought that one political party doesn’t have the right to make decisions for the public and many citizens may not support everything that a specific Party supports. Educational issues with the political system are caused by political parties trying to obtain votes through false promises and propaganda, this type of advertisement creates misunderstandings among citizens. The spread of communal hatred is based on the fact that many people believe that religion based parties create hatred against other communities and cause conflict in our country. The decrease of personal individuality has also become an issue, this refers to how political parties expect people to follow them blindly and how these parties refuse to be criticized for their own shortcomings.

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

As society rapidly changes with an influx of new ideas and issues, studying the college educated and those who are not will help evaluate behaviors and attitudes towards the government, ultimately, clearing the way to adaption into a modern society that perhaps offer remedies of educational and voting discrepancies or even close the gaps between political ideology or identification. Hence, this paper proposes the research question: How does education level influence political party identification.

127). This point is the first of emphasized three that seems worthy of its own chapter. While still maintaining that Americans are not polarized, Fiorina et al. give concessions to the opposition, recognizing their own speculation (p. 133). In addition to this, the authors included an appendix immediately after the chapter to clarify their charts. Although slightly different, this is reminiscent of the early chapters. The authors have rediscovered their confidence that had faltered in the two previous arguments. No longer relying on misrepresentations to paint a prettier picture, the authors instead trust in themselves enough to admit supposition and then defend it. Before getting into that, the authors begin by explaining that many scholars have identified a correlation between religion and voter identification (p. 128). What Fiorina et al. argue is that specific religions are not an indicator of specific political identification. Instead, they claim that it is the commitment of an individual to their religion, regardless of denomination, is the determining factor. This important distinction provides the authors with a base on which to build their

Political socialization often times begins during childhood; most parents do not consciously indoctrinate their children into partisanship, but they are nevertheless the main teachers of political attitudes. This early identification, according to Hershey, takes hold before children have much information as to what the parties

Ever since the election of 1796, political parties have vigorously battled it out for the right to hold office in the United States legislature. Many of these new political parties had beliefs that differed from their political counterparts and many of these ideals are still intact today. But how does a person decide what political party to join or what to truly believe in? Depending on the person, it might take years or even a couple decades to find what is right for them. When I am asked to state what I politically believe I say I stand independently because I feel I agree with different political parties on a wide range of issues. These issues are particularly related to immigration, abortion and the morality of

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.

What remains stable and what is open to change over a lifetime is somewhat ambiguous. Sears and Funk (1999) illustrate that over time, party identification and left-right ideology remain consistent. From the age of 30 onward to around what they deem “retirement age” there is some noticeable change in both identification and ideology, but it is overshadowed by the overwhelming presence of consistency. This time begins after the impressionable years, so this stability isn’t exactly surprising.

Party identification is the political party that an individual categorizes them self with. Political parties came about as a way to organize citizens with similar beliefs and attitudes. These parties then attempt to influence the government by electing members into office. Today there are two main parties people can identify: Republican and Democrat. There is also a third choice, being an Independent, but for the purpose of this paper this group will not be recognized as a political party. These reasons will be discussed later. There are many different theories as to why people do or do not identify with a political party, including social psychology, issue related, and psychological attachments. I believe the social psychology

Voter turnout, as well as election results, depend upon and are effected by several different factors. Everything from family status to beliefs about abortion can determine how a person will vote. In my presentation, however, I focused on three aspects that effect voter turnout and elections. I found, in my research, that a voter's age, sex and party identification greatly factor into how a person will cast his or her vote.

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).