Introduction to American Government

Answer

Roles of Political Parties

Political parties play an essential role in the social movement of political communication as representatives of electoral mobilization (Ginsberg et al., 2019). Additionally, political parties mobilize individuals to take part in the political field and vote as they convey information about the policies that candidates support. These are organized groups of individuals with similar ideologies or same political position aimed at supporting and proposing aspirants for the national election, with an opinion to establishing or influencing the establishment of Government (Ginsberg et al., 2019). This paper, therefore, describes the roles that political parties and candidate characteristics play in mobilizing electoral participation in current elections in the United States. Additionally, the article analyzes how personal characteristics of voters, political socialization, electoral laws, and electoral practices influence voting likelihood.

Roles of Political Parties

Political parties have long been vital in democracy and serve various purposes. A strong political party helps as a consistent check on the opposition, promoting thoughts and candidates that vary from other parties so that electorates can decide how they may need to be represented. Ginsberg et al. (2019) substantiate that the major work of political parties includes mobilizing and engaging individuals in the political process. When a political party mobilize the voting public to take part in election activities, they play an essential role in democratic politics, therefore, involving the country in democratic governance. Additionally, through mobilization of people, political parties promote unity under a common banner of economic, social, and political aim. Moreover, these political parties mobilize their voters through campaigns and convincing them to turn up and vote during election days (Ginsberg et al., 2019). They mobilize through informing and educating electorates in a politically substantive manner to make the right decisions.

Additionally, contemporary political parties of the United States generally focus on parties as official secondary organized groups that endorse and support aspirants, publishing platforms, and provide elected official with a framework for coalition establishment (Ginsberg et al., 2019). In this case, party leaders try to identify the strongest aspirant and support them in the campaign. It is imperative to consider that as electoral mobilization agents, political parties occupy a significant role in the social movement of political communication. Therefore, inexorably, partisan efforts and political parties at electoral mobilization comprise of heavy doses of social impacts. In a great exposition, when a party operator deliberately offends a citizen with a yard sign, calls a citizen via phone, or knocks on a citizen's door, one person is making an effort to provide information that might influence the behavior of the other person.

Furthermore, the motivation for such interaction resides in a set of implicit presumptions concerning how electorates make their political decisions. Successful operations at electorate mobilizations do not engage party followers in single-file fashion. Instead, the party's efforts at electoral mobilization unavoidably rest on a process of information persuasion and social diffusion (Ginsberg et al., 2019). If a political party candidate can succeed in convincing one individual to vote, then the same individual can convince another person to do the same and so on. The investment of political party resources turns out to be more robust to the extent that the votes of people are inter-reliant since the first contact has cascading results and significance within the communal deliberation of democracy.

Finally, during the mobilization of voters, candidates in United States also play a significant role. Contemporary national political campaigns are powered by huge amount of money which is partly donated by the candidates. For instance, in 2016 election, the combined candidates and party donations shattered the previous records for campaign expenditure by raising $1.3 billion for campaigns. This act of funding the party strengthened and boosted the mobilization process through campaigns in United States hence leading to a greater impact. It is with this argument that a candidate’s wealth or income play a significant role in mobilizing electoral participation in the contemporary elections of United States.

Factors that Influence Voting

During elections periods, various factors, including personal characteristics of voters (such as the social background), political socialization, electoral laws, and electoral practices, influences the likelihood of voting. For instance, an electorate's background has the most substantial impact on his decision. In explanation, voter's social background refers to the social identity such as gender, ethnicity, economic class, religious preference and race. Ginsberg et al. (2019) substantiates that American citizens with the highest socioeconomic status take part in electoral activities much more that people with lower income and less education. In clarification, during campaign contributions, income level is considered an essential factor; hence people with high-income level take part more in political activities. Additionally, based on these social identities, voters typically vote for candidates that they significantly relate with. In consideration of the American election in 2008, 95% of African-Americans voted in Barrack Obama due to the same background that they share. Additionally, in the same election, more women than men voted for aspirant Hillary Clinton due to similarity in the gender.

On the other hand, political socialization also influences the likelihood of an election. This is based on the fact that; political socialization promotes awareness on political issues to citizens; hence lack of knowledge leads to low turn out of people during voting (Ginsberg et al., 2019). To be driven to participate, people must be concerned with politics and be well-informed about the aspirants. Furthermore, electoral laws influence the likelihood of voting within a country. Various regulations always have an impact on turnout, for instance, since young people changes their residences more often, the requirement of casting your vote in the state that you acquired it places a greater burden on them. Additionally, electorate ID laws might unreasonably reduce voter turnout of particular groups of people, hence influencing the likelihood of an election (Ginsberg et al., 2019). Finally, various electoral practices also influence the likelihood of an election in United States. For instance, in United States, the country usually requires a two-step process. These registration requirements certainly reduce voting by young people, those with low educational and income level since registration requires high political planning, involvement, and effort than the act of voting itself (Ginsberg et al., 2019).

Conclusion

In conclusion, this paper has described the roles that political parties and candidate characteristics play in mobilizing electoral participation in contemporary elections in the United States. In a brief explanation, political parties mobilizing and engaging individuals in the political process. One of the most imperative party activities also includes recruiting candidates to run in office. Additionally, the article analyzes how personal characteristics of voters, political socialization, electoral laws, and electoral practices influence voting likelihood. These factors generally determine the turnout of people during electoral activities.