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- QUESTION
Participation in civic life and turnout in elections is not the same across demographic groups in U.S.society It varies by age, race, gender, income, and a variety of other characteristics. How serious a problem is this for U.S. society?
Present some evidence from the readings or lectures to explain why you say this? Based on your assessment of how serious a problem this phenomenon is to democratic governance, what steps should be taken by government and by private organizations to enhance civic participation and voting?
Subject | Law and governance | Pages | 3 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Analyses of Voter Turnout in the U.S. Elections
Introduction
In the recent years, the United States has been experiencing low voter participation during general elections. Diversity in family background, jobs race and gender are among the most influencing factors that determine voting preferences among the Americans. Additionally, special interest groups and lobbyists also play a fundamental role in influencing elections by using money and other resources to lure citizens to vote in a particular manner. At times, the influence has grown so noticeably, and thus it’s becoming a solemn problem in the United States as it is slowly changing the democratic right to vote for a preferred candidate without being coaxed.
Analysis of Voter Turnout in Elections
Although individual citizens are the only ones allowed to cast a vote during elections, some political party leaders offer money and gifts to people in order to lure them to vote them to power. In a 2017 for instance, Moral established that some political party leaders use organizations, special groups and trade unions in the state that influence opinions of individuals greatly. Similarly, the media influence in the United States is undeniably another key influencer of the people’s preferences on a democratic presidential candidate. Primarily, citizens learn about politics and government through televisions and newspapers. Cebula (2013) claims that these media tools influence the opinions of people by shaping public sentiments on particular stories they report. Media can also affect people’s political opinions by filtering information they convey by choosing which stories to cover. As a result, most Americans are not independent to choose freely (Gabler et al., 2017).
Another significant issue affecting voting tendencies in the U.S. relate to socioeconomic factors such as education, gender, age, ethnicity, race and income levels among citizens. For instance, an individual’s level of education greatly influences his/her willingness to vote. Simply put, the more educated a person is the more likely, he/she will vote (King et al.,2016).
Conclusion
In conclusion, despite being a democratic right voting in the United States is slowly losing its impact due to oligarchy of special interest groups such as media, trade unions. These people use their influence to manipulate people’s opinions on certain political issues. The influence from these groups should be controlled if democracy has to be fully exercised in the country.
References
Gäbler, S., Potrafke, N., & Rösel, F. (2017). Compulsory voting, voter turnout and asymmetrical habit-formation. King, B. A., & Erickson, L. (2016). Disenfranchising the enfranchised: Exploring the relationship between felony disenfranchisement and African American voter turnout. Journal of Black Studies, 47(8), 799-821. Cebula, R. J. (2017). Unemployment and voter turnout revisited: A brief note. Electoral Studies, 48, 149-152. Moral, M. (2017). The bipolar voter: On the effects of actual and perceived party polarization on voter turnout in European multiparty democracies. Political Behavior, 39(4), 935-965.
Appendix
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