Political Influence In Elections

There are a lot of ways in which citizens can participate in politics in the UK without necessarily having to vote for example: joining a political party, boycotting, and even signing petitions and fund raising. However, there is an argument that there has been a participation crisis over the past years in the UK. A participation crisis is when less and less citizens take part in political activities; this can be shown in the decrease of voter turnout and the level of participation. On the other hand, there is an argument that there is in fact not a participation crisis because the turnout of voting is increasing and specific

The AMS and FPTP are voting systems in use for the Scottish Parliament and House of Commons elections respectively. It can be argued that AMS gives voters more choice and better representation than FPTP, and in order to assess the validity of this argument 3 key indicators must be analysed: constituency links; proportionality and representation of smaller parties.

Political parties have many functions, one of which is to uphold the principles of a democratic political system. A democratic political system is one which involves various features, such as a peaceful transition of power from one government to another, free and fair regular elections, people having open access to independent information, government accountability to the people and representative institutions and that the government operates in the broad interests of the people. Democracy can take a number of forms, the main two being representative and direct democracy. In the UK a representative democracy is in place. Arguably, the mere existence of political

Moreover, Closed Party List system that is used to elect members to the European Parliament produces a different outcome to other voting systems because it is the most proportional of all systems used in UK. For example in 2009 EU parliament elections Conservatives received 227.2% of the votes and won 27 seats. This suggests that Closed Party List system assures accurate representation of parties

Monetary value has had significant influence in determining the outcome of elections. The input and strategies put forward by different forces determine the organizational scheme and the ability to grab most of the seats. Although money has been linked to corrupt deals in many countries, with leaders amassing power through corrupt and underhand methods, especially in Africa, this is not the case of the same monetary influence witnessed in America. The conventions of the U.S.A raise a lot of money in preparation for campaigns and elections to constitute a good number of representatives. The paper, therefore, looks at the effect of money in the recently concluded elections of the Congress, giving a deeper view of the 113th and 114th Congress election of the two major conventions.

A voter can be defined as an individual who votes, or has the right to vote, in elections. Voting behaviour is explained using the concepts of expressive voting and strategic voting. A rational voter would act more strategically, that is, the voter would vote to produce an election outcome which is as close as possible to his or her own policy preferences, rather than voting on the basis of party attachment, ideology, or social group membership (expressive voting). Strategic voting has become more important than voting on the basis of political cleavages (expressive voting), so voters have become more rational in their approach, however there is always an element of expressiveness in their behaviour. Political parties were initially formed to represent the interests of particular groups in society however, as these parties became more universal in the appeal of their policy programmes, voting behaviour shifted from expressive to strategic. This essay explores the reasons behind the declining importance of political cleavages, and the rise of strategic voting.

Machine politicians were an influential factor to urban cities during the wave of immigration. During this era, immigrants were unfamiliar with the urban lifestyle and assimilation was strenuous. It is apparent that Machine politicians helped impoverished immigrants gain a sense of cohesion within a community. For instance, Machine politicians sponsored local events such as picnics, youth clubs, baseball teams, and choirs for immigrants to divert from pubs. This local party organization became an essential institution for the community. Likewise, Machine politicians represented working class Americans, mainly consisting of lower-class immigrants. These groups were supported politically by the machines, which served their interests and helped

Despite some proponents of compulsory voting claiming that rising rates of informal voting are due to a lack of respect towards politics research suggests that it is not the case. In 2004 the electorate with the highest rate of informal voting was the NSW seat of Greenway. At 12% Greenway’s informal voting rate was twice the national average. However this was largely due to other factors, the AEC concluded that in the 2004 federal election’ The 10 divisions with the highest informality levels were in the 27 divisions with the highest non-English speaking background levels nationally’ (Hill and Young 2007). Education level is another important factor in voting rates with the lowest informal vote in 2004 held mostly in upper middle-class seats especially those the Liberals Party held including Indi, Kooyong and Higgins. The rate of informal voting can be as low as 3% in affluent electorates such as Higgins but as high as 12% in electorates such as Greenway with a large proportion of voters from non-English speaking households. (Hill and Young 2007)

Between the years of 1945-1970 social class dominantly shaped the voting behaviour of individuals. Whilst there has been a decline in prominence of class voting: Labour remains the most popular working class party and Conservatives perform best among middle-class voters. Social classes are defined by economic and social

The Extent to Which Voting by Ethnic Minorities Reflects the Voting Behaviour of the Whole Electorate

If the news was not manipulated to benefit one party’s best interests, society could manage to make choices which may make a difference to the growth of a nation. Voters can make better decisions when electing new leaders in office, people can band together to find justice for a single cause, and most importantly, people will feel more empowered citizens. As businesses drive the direction of a nation with limited coverage on stories, one's belief on a matter becomes discouraged from making changes. Thinking about the current candidates running for office. The media have exploited Donald Trump's behavior to minimize the pressing matter which include the actual principles each candidate intends to stand by as president. How does one decide who to put into office without understanding the consequences of their decision?

Throughout the referendum campaign, there was a shift in support towards Scottish independence, (Mann and Fenton, 2017: 156 / Curtice, 2016: 2) with “Yes” initially polling on 32-38% of the vote at the start of 2012; (BBC, 2012) starting the campaign polling at under 40% of the vote and finishing the campaign on 45% of the vote. (What Scotland Thinks, 2014) This shift in support towards independence was particularly prominent among those living in deprived areas (Mann and Fenton, 2017: 156, 161-162 / Curtice, 2014b) and among Labour voters, (Mann and Fenton, 2017: 157, 160) with around 40% of Labour voters from the 2010 general election in Scotland voting in favour of Scottish independence despite Labour’s constitutional position against independence during the campaign. (Curtice, 2014a) This shift towards independence among Labour voters and those living in deprived areas can be noted as having had a significant impact on the electoral prospects of the SNP around the Central Belt of Scotland between Glasgow and

“Since the vote by parliament against military intervention last summer, Britain’s political parties have mostly

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).

Whilst those in non-manual jobs are to be found in the 'Middle Class' and are expected to vote for the Conservatives. The majority of people belong to the working class sector and therefore ideally if class was the most important factor then Labour would when every single election. During 1945 and 1970 elections, of course this did not happen labour was not elected at every election. As they were not elected