The Impact of Memory on Voting Behaviors

Response Paper for The Responsible Electorate The essay The Responsible Electorate was written by V. O. Key Jr. in about the relationship between politicians and voters. Throughout his essay he indicates this relationship as an echo chamber. He also mentions that political candidates and scholars try to figure out why voters vote the way they do. The information found by surveys is used to improve political campaigns to increase the chances of a win for the candidates.

In class, we discussed the Iran-Contra Affair involving Ronald Reagan. However, we did not go in depth about public opinion, George H.W. Bush’s involvement, or how people feel about it today. This paper will seek to continue this topic. For example, the Iran-Contra polls showed that most Americans did not believe Regan’s cover stories, yet there was never a push for him to pay the political price, which would ultimately have been impeachment. Thus this paper will further attempt to understand the mindset of people that allowed these events to occur with little penalty.

Introduction: Persuasive speeches are used to convince the audience about a speaker’ point on view of a particular subject. Persuasive speeches contain evidence and facts to keep the speech formal. Two persuasive speeches are Tom Collins’, “Eve of Battle,” and Martin Luther King’s anti-war speech, “Beyond Vietnam.” Each of these speeches are about war, one speech, Tim Collins’ urges troops into war, while the other by Martin Luther King is an anti-war speech.

In the studying public opinion and political psychology, the major concern is whether citizens can form and uphold sensible attitudes and beliefs about politics. Previous studies have been skeptical about the capacities of mass public as they emphasized on the merits of basic heuristics in assisting citizens make sensible choices (Lupia 75). Milton Lodge and Charles Taber’s The Rationalizing Voter lays emphasis on the unique aspects of politics- how the masses respond to the prominent political issues and figures. Lodge and Taber focus on the ways in which the automatic affective responses define information processing and opinion updating. They argue that these sentimental responses are stored and rationalized in the long-term memory, and

American public 's ability to understand the importance of our presence in Iraq, and the countless

As Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone was walking to the Senate floor on October 2nd, 2002 to give what would be one of the most momentous speeches of his career as a statesman, he recognized the harm he was doing to his reelection campaign. A resolution, backed by the George W. Bush Administration and supported by the majority of Congressmen and Senators, would allow the President to use military action against Iraq to topple the nation's regime. Wellstone, a progressive Democrat, had long been vigorous in his opposition to entering foreign wars, but at that time he found himself engaged in a difficult and close campaign for reelection--a campaign that could likely be swayed in his challenger's favor by a vote against the popular resolution. Yet on that day, instead of joining the bipartisan chorus for war, Wellstone chose to stand as a "monument of individual courage" and voice his strong objection to consenting to military action against Iraq (Kennedy 223).

Deploying a propaganda technique that would be honed to perfection during the Gulf War thirty years later, Nixon began to redefine the war. From the spring of 1969 on, the war was going to be first and foremost about the men who were being sent to fight it (and not, mind you, about the people who sent them there). In the first instance, this meant prisoners of war. The administration’s clever campaign to muster public opinion around the POW issue was launched on May 19 at a press conference held by Defense Secretary Melvin Laird. Enthusiastically promoted by the media, the POW issue soon dominate war news to such an extent that the writer Jonathan Schell observed that many people were persuaded that the United States was fighting in Vietnam in order to get its prisoners back.

Public opinion on the Vietnam War hit its second turning point during the Tet offensive, which raged between January and April in 1968. NVA forces launched a huge attack on nearly all cities in northern Vietnam. Many US military bases were also affected by the attack. In total, over 4300 American and South Vietnamese soldiers were killed in action during the Tet Offensive. 16000 were wounded and over 1000 were missing in action. North Vietnamese and Viet Cong casualties numbered approximately 45000, with an additional 7000 taken prisoner. Shortly after this information was released, the anti- war movement reached its highest membership. In hindsight, we cannot fully understand weather the anti-war movement escalated because censorship of the media was let go, but one could argue that they worked together hand-in-hand to increase interest in the truth about Vietnam. If it had not been so vividly presented in the media, the Tet Offensive would not have posed such a huge problem. The offensive became a turning point. Up until this point, the US public was led to believe that the war was coming to an end, and that the soldiers would be home within the year. Herman and Chomsky argue that “Media coverage of the Tet Offensive has been the centrepiece of the critique of the media for ‘losing the war’ by their incompetent reporting and anti-government bias reflecting their passion for confronting authority.” They can be supported when we consider that still iconic images such as ‘the napalm girl’ began to be seen in the papers and on television. Americans depended on television to see and understand the war, but the death and destruction they saw appeared as unjustified murder when prospects for the war began to deteriate, so as expected the more and more American people lost faith in the war and the government after

Foremost, Larson assumes that the American public considers the same aspects of intervention in casting their opinion that politicians and military analysts evaluate in making their decisions. However, this is not a valid formulary. In reality, public opinion polls are primarily intrinsic, meaning they are based highly on individual emotions and interests, instead of due-diligence analysis and facts. Because of this dichotomy, public opinion polls should not guide public policy.

The day September 11, 2001 stands out in the minds of all Americans, not only because it changed the course of history, but it affected the daily lives of America’s people. Whether they encountered the events first-hand in New York City, or they simply watched the iconic World Trade Center fall on television as the events unfolded, the assaults of 9/11 have left a permanent stain on the lives of America’s citizens. Individuals such as my father, Kurt M. Thomas, have vivid recollections of exactly where they were on the day of the attack. However, the retention of this event is not the only result of these events, for Dad’s experience as an American citizen who lived through the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks is one that reflects the pervasive apprehension that many Americans have towards the future of the United States and its relations with counties of the Middle East as a result of the fear experienced that day. His recollection expresses the nativist concern and fear for oneself and one’s nation that many Americans articulated throughout the course of history.

The last study that will be analyzed however, does not frame their research in that manner, instead, “the purpose of this study is to assess the impact of anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in the U.S.A. on the changes in the American public’s views about the war.” There is general consensus among Verba, Brody and Schreiber that the polls did not serve as an adequate metric for determining whether the war was truly out of touch with many. Schreiber referred to the demonstrations, noting that “many members of the public simply do not mentally join together” This could lead to the formation of two conclusions according to Schreiber; one being that demonstrations had no effect in altering public opinion, and the other being that those demonstrations had great effect in communicating with the public. “The major point to be gleaned from this review is that there is no evidence that shows an effect of anti-Vietnam war demonstrations on reducing American public support for the war in Vietnam.” Schreiber then goes on to reiterate the point

When one thinks of Iraq war, the two key players are perceived to be George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein. As leaders of the opposing sides, they are also perceived as the decision makers. In the individual and sub group levels of analysis, toppling of the Hussein’s regime in Iraq was a success. This success

During all three of the benchmarks in the Persian Gulf War, public opinion was very influential. The first benchmark was President Bush's decision to send troops to the Gulf in Operation Desert Shield. This was the beginning of a rapid increase in interest by the American people. Secretary of State, James Baker III made statements

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,

In August of 2002, the Bush administration’s position about Iraq had changed significantly. Prior to this point, the United States and other western countries had been arming Iraq with weapons of every type. The fact the United States and other countries had been arming Iraq with weapons, shows how little they considered Iraq to be a threat. This quickly changed. A debate on invading Iraq, held by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, created