Swing Voters Research Paper

Proponents of a lowered voting age were quick to point out the irony that these young people were old enough to go to war but not old enough to elect the people drafting them. Congress proposed the 26th Amendment in response to immense pressure from angry, anti-war protesters. And, according to the National Constitution Center, the 26th Amendment was ratified in less than four months in what was and continues to be “the shortest ratification period of any constitutional amendment” (n.d.). Now, one would think that the record-breaking ratification of an expansion of voting rights would inspire young people to flock to the polls. Unfortunately, the opposite is true.

     In the following essay I will be talking about the disadvantages and advantages of partisan elections for state politics. I will also examine the last couple year’s election results and costs. Finally, I will discuss if partisanship made a difference in the vote, as well as if a judge should be decided by partisan vote. In the next couple paragraphs I will talk more specifically about these topics.

Voting has not always been as easy as it is today. It is interesting to examine how far America has progressed in its process of allowing different types of people to be able to vote. Voting was once aimed at a particular group of people, which were white males that owned their own property. Today, most people over the age of eighteen can vote, except for the mentally incompetent or people who have been convicted of major felonies in some states. The decline of voter participation has always been a debate in the public arena. According to McDonald and Popkin, it is “the most important, most familiar, most analyzed, and most conjectured trend in recent American political history (2001, 963)” The question is, how important is voter

Texas has a controversial way of electing its judges. When Texas became a state in 1845, judges were appointed by the governor with Senate consent, but since 1876, judges at all levels of courts have been elected by the people in partisan elections. The main problem with this system is partisan elections lead to more campaign contributions and increased partisanship among judge which hinders fair and independent judiciary system.

The film Swing Vote is an American political culture film that relies heavily on film subtext to depict the negative attitude many Americans have towards voting, corruption inside a political election, and the spectacle of media frenzy. While the film gives a light hearted impression of a rare political snafu it is still consistent with the main themes of other political films of manipulation, money lust, and power hungry political heads that will stop at nothing for their own personal gain. We also see the political candidates merely as puppets while their campaign managers are the ones truly calling the shots. Swing Vote is a unique political culture film because due to the ordeal in the film’s plot, the politicians are at a disadvantage when they are usually the ones in power. With the tables turned we see how they construct their corrupt schemes and the direct effect it has on the character representing the American perspective. The strong symbols that convey the cultural norms in America’s political system are in need of a deeper analysis.

In the following essay I will be talking about the disadvantages and advantages of partisan elections for state politics. I will also examine the last couple year's election results and costs. Finally, I will discuss if partisanship made a difference in the vote, as well as if a judge should be decided by partisan vote. In the next couple paragraphs I will talk more specifically about these topics.

In our system of government we are privileged with the option to take part in the political process that runs the country. It is our right to vote that lets the people influence change in policy and set the guidelines that politicians must follow to be elected representatives. This precious ability, which is most coveted in most non-democratic countries, is taken for granted in our own.

Before I had viewed over the movie, I had one thought on what the movie, Swing Vote, was going to be on. The one conviction would be originated from the knowledge I had on the title. My thinking would be the candidate would visit the swing states and compete against his/her opposing rival, to persuade the citizens and achieve the states’ electoral votes. The title made me think this because I saw the words “swing” in the title, which reminded me of the swing states, which also contains the words “swing”. The notion of a candidate traveling from each swing state to win the electoral votes came from the word “vote” in the title. In the termination, I realized that

The United States national elections have been experiencing a steady decline of eligible voters showing up to vote. This steady decline has been ongoing since experiencing a significant increase in voter turnout from 1948 through 1960. Over the years there has been significant, meticulous research done to try to pinpoint the cause of the decline in voter turnout over years. All of this research has led to the production of an enormous number of literatures written on the perceived causes. The vast amount of literature produced has led to a number of competing explanations about this decline. The quest for the answer to the question of, why this decline in voter turnout, is very important for an overwhelming majority of Americans and

Murphy, Bruce. "Murphy's Law: The Most Gerrymandered State in America.” Urban Milwaukee Murphy’s Law The Most Gerrymandered State in America Comments. N.p., 6 Aug. 2015. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.

Who is Gary Johnson? Gary earl Johnson is an American businessman, author, politician, libertarian party nominee for president of the united states. This was not the only time when he was nominated for president, he apply couple of times. Gary also have a personal life like each human at the world, but not all the people see this part of his life. Because they are concentrated just in the political thigs.

The main point according Martin P. Wattenberg in Is Voting For Young People is that young people today do not vote during elections as much compared to other voting groups. Young people today are politically unengaged. “These state patterns of voting participation can be confirmed on the national level by the Census Bureau’s 2010 survey data. Among U.S. citizens under the age of 30 in 2010, only 24 percent reported that they voted.” (Page-188, IVYP) The low attendance of young people voting in Presidential elections indicates that young people do not care enough about politics to participate.

It seems as though the younger population of voters have all grown up in a world where they have been influenced to believe that their one vote will not make a difference, and therefore they do not bother to take the time out of their busy schedules to cast their meaningless vote. In the last presidential election, only one out of four citizens between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four casted their vote (“Is the System broken?”). The opinion that one vote will not make a difference appears to be directly respondent to the younger generation of voters. This generation needs to be educated on the difference that one vote can make.

Intro-The average American voter. Typically the claim or reason a person votes is because of agreement with a candidate or policy. General knowledge about the issues in this country and current running candidates is extremely abundant. As I mentioned voters will vote for a politician who they believe “knows” how to fix these issues. Yet in a recent Newsweek survey 1,000 random U.S. citizens were asked to take America’s ‘official’ citizenship test, 29 percent could not name the vice president. 73 percent could not identify why we fought the Cold War. 44 percent were unable to define what the Bill of Rights are, and 6 percent couldn’t even circle Independence Day on a calendar. If American people/voters cannot even identify

In the American Political life, Massachusetts and Alabama considered as yin and yang. Therefore, any candidate who has primary elections in those states is might be a lock for his/her party’s nomination. However, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton got those states and got a really high score on Super Tuesday as well, storming to big delegate victories. On the other hand, each of the other candidate won his important or what they call it home states. Ted Cruz won Texas. Marco Rubio took Minnesota. Bernie Sanders got Colorado, his home state. Nevertheless, Super Tuesday turned out to be a wild ride.