Essay on Voting Behavior in the United Kingdom

Arguably the most important referendum in Australia’s history occurred on May 27th 1967. This was the day that decided Indigenous Australians place in society, representing Aboriginal discrimination coming to an end. The vote was not about getting citizenship or voting right for the Aboriginals, it was targeted at making amendments to the constitution, allowing the Indigenous Australians to be counted in the Australian census and allowing Australian laws that included the Aboriginal Australians. The 1967 referendum had two sections requiring change, section 51 and 127. The eradication of all prejudice requirements within Commonwealth constitution was passed with voters support by the Australian body with an astonishing  90.77% of votes.

the media, and how this ultimately limits their roles in areas of social life such as politics and

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

The first election in British America was in 1607 by the commanders of the 105 colonist using a ballot system. There was suspicion of concealing a mutiny and since that time more individuals were asked asked to vote who they thought had a stake in the government. Individuals who were asked to participate in the voting were property owners.

Voting in many countries is held in different ways. In The United States of America, voting is voluntary while the Australian citizen has to vote, it is compulsory. When an Australian citizen does not vote they receive a fine. Compulsory voting has now become a large political issue for many countries. Great Britain has seen a dramatic decline in the number of people voting in the last 15 years (Singh, 2014) and compulsory voting has become a large political and social debate. However, as with any political change, there are strengths and weaknesses. The Australian system is an excellent one to analyse as the question has to be asked when introducing compulsory voting what are the long term democratic, economic and social issues? Four key points can be outlined to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the Australian compulsory voting system. The first, compulsory voting provides a clear and accurate representation of an entire electorate. Additionally, this system may influence an increase in support for the leftist policy in a current democratic institution. Another key issue to consider is, does an active and informed citizen have a moral duty and obligation to vote to protect and further society? Key constitutional changes brought about by referendums can prove that compulsory voting is essential and needed in society for every vote to count. Lastly, compulsory voting when being a secret ballot can turn into a more compulsory “turn up” for many citizens as they can

Many women and African American men had long dreamed to have the right to vote. In many states, they could only vote if their state allowed them the privilege. The dedicated men and women fought for their right to vote in the Civil Rights Movement in the early and mid 1900s. Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment and the Voting Rights Act to give African Americans the rights to vote. It would have not occurred if the Civil Rights Movement had not taken place. The Nineteenth Amendment would not have occurred either if not for the Civil Rights Movement. The freedom to vote is now held by a majority because of the fight by the people involved in the Civil Rights Movement, and the African Americans and women who fought for their right to

‘Voting behaviour at UK elections is determined more by issues of personality and image than on the basis of policies or performance in office’. Discuss.

Industrial Countries all over the world have seen a steady decline in voter participation; Great Britain is a great example of this. The country has witness turnout in elections falling slowly as time pass. However, the election of 2001 dropped the country from their average of 76% voter turnout to just a 59.4% turnout. Comparatively, Australia, a former colony of Britain, has enjoyed high and steady voter participation since 1924 because of the implementation of compulsory voting. This system has proven to be not only effective in bring voters to the polls, but also effective in improving Australia’s democracy. By evaluating these two countries with similar political structure; one can see the difference in compulsory voting turnouts

Media plays a huge role in today's society. Media, in its many forms, can be very persuasive and can change how people view a certain topic. The past few years, media has greatly affected how people feel about topics such as: gay rights, abortion, racism, and anything political. Depending on what site, or source you are on, media can depict the topic you research however it wants. It has been argued that there are political bias in media, which is not wrong. You can find just about anything in whichever political view you want. When talking politics, there are multiple media outlets that are party-based. Even in print, you can find just about anything in favor of what you believe if you look for it. Media does a fantastic job of manipulating people to believe certain things without the audience realizing it. The media provides constant information about politics, and in more times than not, political rather than professional. In this lesson, we learned about liberals and conservatives and how political parties can be affected through media bias and public opinion.

If one were to look at the voting history as of late in America you would surely find information on the Florida catastrophe in 2000. The problem with our voting system today is in the technology being used; many demographic groups find our current systems confusing and hard to use. As voters step into the polling places this election year many will be voting through new devices some even sporting “touch screen” technology and we can only hope that the new technology is understood and accepted.

It can be said that this could be the reason for a coalition government. This shows that the media can influence public opinion, which will have a knock on effect to cause government to consider acting in a positive way to what the public thinks. However, votes for the Liberal Democrats only went up by 1% from the 2005 general election. This shows that it can be argued that media is not as great an influence as seen, as support didn't go up for the party, but instead just the

Media is known as the “king maker” for many reasons, such as shaping candidates in audience’s perspective. Television has been a big influence in shaping voters choice and labeling political parties, even though some believe media information can be scant in regards to candidates. Media can be anything from television to social media networks and how many people think that media is a great influence, some also think it can be a problem. “It only takes 140 characters to damage a political campaign” in which Smith is referring to social media as being a problem. (Smith, K. 2011. Pg. 9) At the state and local levels party affiliation remains the most important. “In television age, journalist became the chief influence in the selection of candidates

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,

Under the 15th amendment, there is a right to vote by every people who are the citizens of the United States even though; they are Latinos, African-American or Asian. Voting is the important issues in political process as well as for the people themselves to decide the upcoming government in election. Moreover that, immigrants citizen must be very concerned about voting as there are few candidate who shows interest in the favor of immigrants people. Among the immigrants, Hispanic or Latinos are the largest minority group i.e. 44.3 million or 15 percent according to the U.S. census bureau (2006) (Zulema Valdez). They got rights to choose a candidate as they can rely on for their needs to be fulfilled by that candidate. As shown, most of the Immigrants people are not utilizing their rights to vote even though, they are eligible to vote. Such kind of people who don’t participate to vote in the election, known as a voter apathy as their lack of interest in voting. Voter apathy is one of the main factors that impact the political process making very large difference in the upcoming government. A group-based discrimination has been the reason behind the voter apathy affecting the political participation. The political incorporation of immigrants or Latinos group is caused by the group based on resources or by their own perception for the election that’s the reason for not participating in the electoral political process which affect their political participation

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).