Objective 5. Identify the factors that influence whether people vote.
A. Describe three major reasons why people might choose to vote. 1. they see policy differences between the parties on issues that concern them 2. they have a high sense of political efficacy 3. they vote out of civic duty
B. What other conditions contribute to low voter turnout? Also look at “America in Perspective” to answer this question. –the requirement of voter registration
-voting occurs more often than in other countries
- Americans are expected to vote for a much wider range of political offices
-little incentive to vote (consequences of the vote are not that great)
-voting occurs midweek (most people are working)
C. What was the 1993 Motor Voter Act?
…show more content…
C. What are the three most important dimensions of candidate image?
Integrity, reliability, & competence
D. Based on what you read in the section on “Policy Voting,” assess how easy it is to be a policy voter today.
It is very easy to be a policy voter today because presidential platforms are no longer clouded with ambiguity. Through the Electoral College system, candidates are now forced to take clear stands on issues in order appeal to their own parties’ primary voters. Voting by policy can be easily accomplished today due the incentive of candidates to be straightforward about their policies.
Objective 7. Explain the fairness of the Electoral College system for choosing the President.
A. How would you explain to a person desiring citizenship how the electoral college works?
The president is determined is not from popular vote, but the Electoral College, which is a form of indirect democracy. In the Electoral College, each state has a body of electors equal to the number of the state’s senators & representatives who vote for the President and Vice President on behalf of the public. Following the November election, electors meet in their states to mail their votes to the VP (who is in charge of the
If people do not vote, it would lead the country to a very vulnerable and perilous position due to incompetent and irresponsible leaders. Not voting during an election is voting indirectly against democracy and making way for irresponsible leaders (Akande, 2011).
Getting to polling locations can be a hassle, especially for the disabled, the sick, and people without transportation. In addition, voting becomes even more difficult for
When Americans vote for president, they are actually voting for presidential electors, who are known as a whole to be the electoral college. These electors, who are elected by citizens of the United States, are the ones that elect the chief executive. The electoral college has shaped the past, present, and future of the United States ever since it was constructed by the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The electoral college was created with fair and good intentions.
The article, “Electoral College: An Overview,” written by Ballaro, Beverly, Bourassa, and Cheryl, explains how the electoral college is used and why people do not support it. This article targets anyone who is able to vote in the 2016 election. The purpose of this article is to inform voters that their vote does not always choose the president and explains how the president is chosen and the system behind it. The thesis of this article explains that many people abroad are still unaware that the president is not elected directly by the people. The president is chosen by the electoral college. The electoral college is a body of electors chosen to elect the president and vice president of the united states. This setup allows the chance for an
Question 4) What are some explanations for why voter turnout is so low in the U.S. compared to other wealthy, literate and democratic countries?
electors are chosen. All electoral votes in a state go to the candidate that gets the most votes, and
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.
There are several people within the states that have the power to chose the President. There is a system to help it is called Electoral College. People would vote as normal and then all the votes for the state would determine the states candidate. This can help or hurt the the people for the opposing candidate. There need to be changes to the Electoral College and how many electoral votes are determined.
To clarify how the college works, chosen by each state of the U.S., 538 electors vote for a president and their overall choice are actually guaranteed over the popular vote whose selections are not direct to electing a president. The candidate, with the assistance of their certain state, are voted for by the electors that make up the Electoral College (HowStuffWorks.com). Those who win the popular vote most of the time will get the support of the
“From 1972 to 2012, citizens 18-29 turned out at a rate 15 to 20 points lower than citizens 30 years older” from this data we can conclude that age is a demographic that affects voter turnout (What Affects Voter Turnout). Voting laws such as those of identification or registration impact voter turnout. For example, the introduction of early voting was meant to increase voter turnout, but has in fact decreased turnout (What Affects Voter Turnout). In response to the argument that the system lowers voter turnout rate, one should take the many other variables that contribute to turnout into account.
The president is elected by a group of people called electors and each state has a number of electors equal to their congressional delegation. During the presidential election, a smaller group of representatives, at state level, give the final decision of the presidential election. Throughout numerous elections, only four occurrences where the candidate could not be agreed upon. In 1800, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received the same amount of electoral votes, resulting in the House of Representatives breaking the tie. In 1876’s presidental election, the popular vote went to Democrat Samuel Tilden, however a commission voted for Republican Rutherford B. Hayes as the winner. In 1888 the popular vote candidate, Grover cleveland, did not win the election but rather Benjamin Harrison due to the electoral votes. Just recently in 2000, George W. Bush won the majority of electoral votes, even though AL Gore won the popular vote.
Write an essay that explains how the Electoral College works. How does the Electoral College shape the strategy of candidates? Why is it harder to win presidential elections post 1968?
As politics and government becomes more complex and involved, more effort is required to keep up with and understand it. As a result, many Americans have lost touch with current events and happenings. Therefore, when election time rolls around, many people lack enough information to develop an educated opinion and support a candidate with their vote, so they just do not vote at all. This lack of information is also related to the belief that one vote will not matter. People believe that their vote will not count, and are therefore following the news less and becoming out of touch with public affairs and politics (Is the System Broken?”). This lack of information is also more strongly apparent among the younger voting population. When interviewed
Data used for this term paper was obtained from Houghton Mifflin Company through the 1996 Voter's Data Set found as part of the Crosstabs package. The dependent variable (rows) I chose to highlight the 1996 U.S. presidential election voting pattern was the Final Voting Choice. The independent variables (columns) I chose were personal traits such as education, income, age, religious affiliations, race, and gender. The data made available by the Crosstabs program was compiled in a statistically scientific way by a national survey of citizens before and after the 1996 election. The objective of this research is to determine which of the personal traits of the electorate has a positive, negative, or an indifferent impact on voter turnout. Therefore, I have made the following five assertions in the below listed hypotheses:
Each state appoints a number of electors that equals the number of senators and representatives of their state. The popular vote determines how the electoral college of each state will vote. The candidate with highest amount of votes from the electoral colleges wins the election. This process of electing a president based on the majority of electoral votes began when the Constitution was written in 1776. Our forefathers designed this system because they felt it was the fairest way to govern.