How Democratic Is the United States of America? Essay

Overall, I think the presidential election process is very democratic, or at least much more democratic then it was. The Founders’ original plan was to have the state legislatures decide how the electors would be elected and the only role the people would play would be to elect the people in the legislature who would then vote for the electors. However, the introduction of the political parties has made the presidential election process more democratic since the founding, as seen through its effects on the Electoral College, the nomination process, and the development of a two-party system.

When the United States (or any other nation) is referred to as a “democratic republic” we then know two things about that nation’s system of government. First, the term “democratic” tells us that the citizens of a nation rule its government and that those citizens are afforded certain rights. These rights include the right of speech, free press, free elections, and religious freedom. Secondly, the term “republic” refers to the process of a nation’s citizens voting in/electing their own representatives. So, when someone describes the United States as a “democratic republic” they are simply stating that we the citizens rule our government, that we have certain rights, and that we choose our representatives. An example that demonstrates that the U.S. is a democratic government is our Constitution. Our constitution helps to limit the power of the government and keep the power in the hands of the people, therefore making us democratic. While an example illustrating that the U.S. is a republic is Election Day where we elect our president.

In presidential elections, citizens do not actually vote for the candidate of their choosing, instead citizens are voting for electors known as the Electoral College. The Electoral College chooses a President, and Vice President. The Constitution gives each state a number of electors that equals the number of House of Representatives and Senate, which totals five hundred and thirty eight and also includes three electors for the District of Columbia. Each state receives a certain number of electors based on population size. The results in a state determine which electors are chosen. All electoral votes in a state go to the candidate that gets the most votes, and after state elections appointed officials certify the popular vote of each state. Two hundred and seventy votes are needed to elect a President; the candidate with the majority of the votes becomes the president.

The problem that has brought the Electoral College to the spotlight in the past few years is the fact that the Electoral College winner does not always reflect the winner of the popular vote. This has already occurred three times in history: Rutherford B. Hays vs. Samuel J. Tilden in 1876, Benjamin Harrison vs. Grover Cleveland in 1888 and most recently, the 2000 election between Gore and Bush (Cornwell). Although half a million more Americans voted for Al Gore than did for George Bush, Bush won the Electoral College 271 to 266, granting him the presidency (Abolish the Electoral College). It doesn't make much sense that the candidate in which received a majority of the votes overall would lose.

The Electoral College is a body that elects the President and Vice President of the United States. When Americans endeavor to vote for the President and Vice President, they are actually voting for Presidential Electors who comprise the Electoral College. These Electors elect the Chief Executive. The Constitution assigns each state a number of Electors based on population. The number of Electors per state ranges from 3 to 54. In most states, all the electoral votes for that state are assigned to the candidate who earns the most popular votes. Maine and Nebraska are exceptions that apportion their electoral votes. In order to win the Presidency, a candidate must get at least 270 of the electoral votes. While winning the

Whichever candidate wins the popular vote in a particular state wins all of its electoral votes. Due to changes in population, the number of representatives for each state changes every ten years with the new census results. And, consequently, so does the distribution of the electoral votes. This year, five hundred thirty eight votes were apportioned to the fifty states and DC, making the magic number two hundred seventy. Whichever candidate hits two hundred seventy votes wins the presidency.

Rooted in Article II section I of the constitution, the electoral college is a system put in place to delegate the Presidency. The Electors that comprise the electoral college are 435 House of representative members 100 senators along with 3 electors appointed from the the District of Columbia, for a total of 538. To win the the Presidency a Candidate must receive 270 votes from the electoral college, the number of electoral votes a state has varies based on population and the representation the State has in Congress. Appointed Electors are voted into the position by popular demand, nevertheless regardless of their states popular vote toward a particular

The Electoral College is a group of people that elect the president and the vice president of the United States and to win the presidency a candidate needs at least 270 electoral votes within 538 electoral votes. When you cast your vote, instead of voting for the president, you vote for the Electoral College, they are the one that electing a chief executive. The Electoral College has to vote for the candidate that wins the popular vote. They swore to vote for the candidate who wins the popular vote because they don’t let the candidate win by the popular vote, in order to avoid any kind of collusion.whithin the 50 states, Nebraska and Maine only that allow splitting the vote upon on the popular vote within congressional districts. It is totally

When the Founding Fathers were piecing together our government, they did not intend to make it a true democracy. Instead, they designed it to be a republic in which the citizens are represented by electors. If it was not this way, rural areas of the country would have almost no say in the presidential election. Most states follow the winner-takes-all rule. This states that the candidate that gets the majority of votes within a state automatically gets all of the electoral votes (Ross).

Democracy, as it is used today, means “ the people rule.” A democracy is a form of government ruled by the people of the country through elections and representation. A democracy is really a form of republic known as a democratic republic. A republic is a government where officials elected by a small group of people that make the important decisions.

The Electoral College is our voting system based off of 538 votes dispersed over the span of all 50 states. It is based off of population rather than size; a state with a massive population like New York gets twenty-nine votes while a more scarce state like Montana only gets three votes. If a majority of the previously elected voters vote for a particular candidate, then all of the votes for that state is delegated to said candidate.

In a fair democracy, the 538 electoral votes would be evenly distributed among the population, so every 592,800 votes would be equal to one electoral vote. So Ohio for example has a population of around 11.6 million people so it should get 20 votes but it only gets 18. Those 2 votes go to states like Rhode Island. Rhode Island has about 1.1 million people

It is important to note that the winner of a Presidential Election is not based entirely on who gets the most votes, rather it relies on the electoral college. Each state has a certain number of electoral college votes based on the number of state representatives and senators of the state. In every state, except Maine and Nebraska, the candidate who obtains the most popular votes receives all the electoral college votes for that particular state. There is a total of 538 electoral college votes and to win the Presidency a candidate must win 270. The US Census assigns the number of electoral college votes for each state. According to Wilson and Dilulio, an electoral college serves as a way for candidates to worry not only about winning states

The United States of America is the first and longest lasting example of a Democratic Republic, and it has slowly been shifting to an oligarchical uneducated republic. It is the dumbing down of the voting base within America that is taking the nation down this path. Additionally, it is the hesitation of personal research on either the candidates or their affiliated parties. To truly have a strong opinion of either a candidate or their stances, personal investigation needs to occur. The architects of our nation created a government for, and supported by, an informed, educated, and invested population; something we are not.

The United States of America is considered to be the most prominent example of a democracy, as it was the first modern state to elect a president as the head of the state. Yet, more accurately, the U.S. is a democratic republic, where the citizens who are entitled to vote have the power to elect representatives in various branches of the government to rule. Such form of democracy, where the people elect (directly or indirectly) representatives to rule is a representative democracy, and although its name suggests it to be, representative democracy is significantly different than a true democracy.