Rakib Khan 

Sec DO3 
May 2, 2019 
Maxwell Fuerderer

Participation and Election

What makes people vote in an election depends on how they think and what can they

benefit from this. Usually, people vote thinking whether their vote makes a difference or not and

if the voting would increase the chance for the favored candidate to win. Some may think that if

they don’t go to vote, others might think the same and then, no one would go to vote. However,

no matter what happens, votes or no votes-would not crash an election, since the states end up

picking whatever its influential people want the final decision to be for. People continue to vote

thinking that they might affect the election and if they can get their voices out there. Voting tends

to be your “voice” for the choice in leadership for the country.

Relatively low levels of electoral participation are associated with low levels of

education, occupational status, and income. Those groups in society that have been most recently

enfranchised also tend to vote at lower rates. For a significant period of time in the 20th century,

women voted less frequently than men, though the difference had been erased by the end of the

century in most countries. The rates of participation of racial minorities are generally lower than

those of majority groups, and members of the working class vote less frequently than members

of the middle class. In many countries, participation by young people is significantly lower than

that of older people.

 The failure of certain types of people to vote in elections has important implications.

Most analyses have found that if all eligible voters cast ballots, the balance of electoral power

would favor the recently enfranchised and less-privileged members of society.

A number of random factors influence individual participation in specific elections.

Election campaigns vary in their intensity. A crisis atmosphere may induce a large number of

people to vote on one occasion, whereas on another the chance to vote for an extremist candidate

may increase the participation of the normally uninterested. Even the weather can affect election

turnout.
Rakib Khan 
Sec DO3 
May 2, 2019 
Maxwell Fuerderer

Political Parties

Polarization is abysmal for the growing economy because without a decision between the

two major parties: Democratic (Liberals) and Republican (Conservatives), there isn’t much

change left in the country to function with, repeating what occurred in history. Polarization is

spreading with the gap between these two parties and it obstructs in solving national issues, when

needed in time. Since the 1890s, political polarization has risen far more than what once was and

not seen since slavery. Additionally, many issues that need a solution in unity may be, legal

immigration, deterioration of roads, bridges, and other transportation, which press against any

solutions in the future. If such two parties cannot compromise to address the issues at hand, then

they will gradually grow to a point of crisis.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties have undergone significant ideological

transformations throughout their histories. The modern Democratic Party traditionally supports

organized labor, minorities, and progressive reforms. Nationally, it generally espouses a liberal

political philosophy, supporting greater governmental intervention in the economy and less

governmental regulation of the private lives of citizens. It also generally supports higher taxes to

finance social welfare benefits that provide assistance to the elderly, the poor, the unemployed,
and children. By contrast, the national Republican Party supports limited government regulation

of the economy, lower taxes, and more conservative social policies. In 2009 the Tea Party

movement, a conservative populist social and political movement, emerged and attracted mostly

disaffected Republicans.

Geologically party’s popularity or dominance could be determined. By the early 21st

century, political pundits were routinely dividing the United States into red and blue states,

whose assigned colors not only indicated which political party was locally dominant but also

signified the supposed prevalence of a set of social and cultural values. The red states generally

located in the South, West, and Lower Midwest were Republican, conservative, God-fearing,

“pro-life” (on the issue of abortion), small-town and suburban, opposed to big government and

same-sex marriage, and enamored of NASCAR. The blue states found mostly on the coasts, in

the Northeast, and in the Upper Midwest were similarly reductively characterized as Democratic,

liberal, secular, politically correct, “pro-choice” (on abortion), urban, and connoisseurs of wine,

cheese, and latte.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties select their candidates for office through

primary elections. Traditionally, individuals worked their way up through the party organization,

belonging to a neighborhood party club, helping to raise funds, getting out the vote, watching the

polls, and gradually rising to become a candidate for local, state, and depending on chance,

talent, political expediency, and a host of other factors higher office. Because American elections

are now more heavily candidate-centered rather than party-centered and are less susceptible to

control by party bosses, wealthy candidates have often been able to circumvent the traditional

party organization to win their party’s nomination.