Homogenous District

4. Which broad impressions about American life are upheld; any challenged? I thought cities had more diversity, more poverty, and low income household than suburb areas and this was supported by the above data. I learned that the increase of wealth and income in a small community hinders the rest of community where middle and low income families live. The ability to live in a “good” neighborhood is linked to income. Income can be one of the factors that determine how a region can be segregated. Even in the city, the income of the household separates the lower income families from the higher income families. High income families tend to live together and low income families tend to live in the same

Forgette Richard, Garner Andrew, and Winkle John. “Do redistricting principles and practices affect US state legislative electoral competition? State Politics and policy quarterly, 20(9) (2009): 151 175.

Washington Heights is a unique and ever changing neighborhood at the mezzo-level, but affects the macro and micro. It located in upper Manhattan that is north of Harlem and south of Inwood. Begins on 115th street, it is typically thought to end around Hillside Avenue. This neighborhood has the Hudson River on the west and the Harlem River to the east. New York City’s Community Planning has designated Washington Heights and Inwood as Manhattan Community District 12. These two communities are similar in their ethnic populations, make up the tip of the borough of Manhattan, and are often assessed by the government as one district. The 2003 New York City Community Health Profile reported that 270,677 people living in District 12 and “one in two

Without a certain degree of control over the governmental levels of power, blacks end up disproportionately dependent on white-created legislation and white administration of those laws (Pohlmann, 219). The potential dangers of gerrymandering involves the distribution of blacks into districts where they are diluted into a minority or the creation of districts where blacks are an excessive majority so that an overall district majority white can be achieved (Thornburgh v. Gingles, 31). These redistricting plans severely hindered blacks ability to vote for a representative of their choice (1). However, in order to stem the progress of racially discriminating gerrymandering, these districts are examined based on the impact and district composition

In order to combat gerrymandering, it is important to understand how and why a district is

Throughout all levels of American politics incumbents running for reelection have a huge and systematic advantage over their challengers. In this paper, the incumbency advantage will be examined through the lens of James “Jim” McDermott’s continual reelection in Washington’s 7th Congressional District and Sharpe James, the longtime mayor of Newark.

Verba et al. also speak to the impact of income level on political participation, a topic often repeated by political scientists (DeSipio 1996, McClain and Tauber 1998). The conclusion: “for each kind of participation, affluence and participation go hand in hand” seems rather obvious (Verba et al. 1995: 189). Indeed, if a Latino parent works two low paying jobs and worries about paying the bills every month (as many do) he or she will likely have little incentive to travel to the polling place to ensure Hispanic representation in Washington. Additionally, Hispanics encounter further impediments to political participation: lower ages and education levels, coupled with language difficulties and illegal and non-citizen statuses further enlarge the gap between

In 2013, Rep. Peter DeFazio’s (D, OR-4) party unity score was 94% (Weyl, 183). Party unity as defined in the textbook, Congress and Its Members, are votes in which the majority of voting Republicans oppose a majority of voting Democrats. In other words, average votes Peter DeFazio casted with the Democratic majority against the Republican majority. Furthermore, party affiliation as well as ideological positions, and the constituency pressure are strongly correlated with congressmen’s voting decisions (Davidson, Oleskek, & Lee 2014, 255).

Although tensions existed between both blocs, Harold Washington was able to prove that African American, like whites, could effectively run politics. The Mayor was able to renew the face of Chicago politics through a “rainbow coalition” that entailed the inclusion to high positions in the city government of “minorities, women,

Upon examining the population characteristics of California’s 2nd Congressional district, in terms of wealth, the district is somewhat wealthier than the average for the U.S. with a median income of $65,414. The population of the district according to data from 2015 is 720,346, which is close to the target population California set forth when redrawing the districts in 2011, which is 701,000 people, the difference probably reflects

Gerrymandering, the process where politicians get to choose their voters. Say there is a state with a population of fifty, now three fifths of that state are democratic and the other two fifths are republican, now we need to separate this state into five congressional districts. The best way to do this would be so there are two republican representatives and three democratic. However with gerrymandering democrats can draw districts that are unfair and they get all five representatives, but if republicans draw the districts they can draw them were there are three republican representatives and only two democratic representatives. This process is seen through many states. In North Carolina forty-four percent of voters voted democratic, however thanks to a creative congressional map, seventy- seven percent of representatives were republican. The twelfth district in North Carolina is considered the most gerrymandered district in the country, and is home to two more of the top ten gerrymandered districts. Republicans rule six of the most Gerrymandered states, including North Carolina, Louisiana, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Alabama. The other four

Powerful political “bosses” in each party compelled urban residents into voting for favored candidates, who would then give kickbacks and bribes back to the bosses in appreciation for getting them elected. Bosses would also spend money to improve constituents’ neighborhoods to ensure a steady flow of votes for their machines. Trading jobs and services for votes, a powerful boss might claim the loyalty of thousands of followers; the bosses found lodging, gave gifts of food and clothing, and patched up minor scrapes with the law. In this sense, party bosses and machine politics actually helped some of the poorest people in the cities, adding to the illusion of urban

in the Washington Post article,“Va. poll is a table of two states”, the writers Laura Vozzella and Emily Guskin discusses the political divide between Democrats and Republicans within the state of Virginia. This problematic divide can be seen in the specific churches, schools, neighborhoods, etc., that attract and repel specific

“All politics is local”, the famous statement from Tip O’Neil, describes the theory that while people may support or reject an issue nationally, their opinion may change if the decision impacts them locally. Two examples of this from Hardball were when Al Ullman lost his reelection to Senate because he “did not visit home enough” and when Lawton Chiles from Florida received many local votes all because he didn’t wear a classic suit and tie to Washington D.C. A modern example of “all politics is local” is occurring in Oxford right now. On a national level, many people from Oxford may support the construction of more low-income housing. However, now that it is being built in our local area, some people may be changing their opinion because it could bring unwanted attention to a small and quiet town and the noise and disturbance level from the construction site may be inconveniencing. At this point, because it is affecting the voter locally, it is more than likely that they will vote against

Rusk presents the community with a blaring ecological fallacy that creeps through the social science research for an extended period of time. The fallacy stems from assumptions of the unknown in his matrices where you have the differences between the parties, but actually assigning those unknowns to the problem presents