Modern American Government Example

Modern American Government Example Modern American Government â€" Essay Example > Question: What Factors Best Explain Why Americans Vote as They Do? ReplyJust like other democratic societies, election results in the United States often change dramatically. A landslide victory for one party may be followed by a lopsided victory for another party in the following election. Election changes in the United States can be categorized into two classes: short-term and long-term changes. Short-term election changes are related to fluctuations in factors that are related to an election such as the condition of the economy or the qualities of the candidates. Short-term factors can be strongly favorable to the Democrats in one election, moderately favorable to the Republicans in another election and evenly divided in the subsequent election. Long-term shifts in election results are related to shifts in basic loyalties which last beyond a particular election period. The most critical long-term election changes occur when there are realignments in party systems. Realignments of American party systems occur infrequently and are substantial enough to cause fundamental changes in voting patterns. For instance, the New Deal Realignment of the 1930s fundamentally reshaped the country’s political system and today, some of the ideological differences between parties can be traced to the New Deal Realignment. The most interesting issue in the United States elections is not who wins but how the people voted and what the implications of the election results are. Voters in the United States have developed a complex voting trend incorporating a number of social and attitudinal factors. The main attitudinal factors that have over the years influenced voting patterns include evaluation of government performance, personal characteristics of candidates, party identification, orientation of policy issues and ideologies. On the social perspective, religion, race, social class, gender and marital status are among the most important factors that have influenced voting patterns over the years. Ideally, evaluation of candidate characteristics and government policies are short-term forces capable of effecting substantial shifts from one election period to another. On the other hand, ideology and party identification are stable in the short terms. In fact, many American voters have shown the tendency to shift party identifications during elections. While some critical issues in presidential elections change over time, a number of important basic policy issues such as social welfare programs and defense spending remain pertinent and stretch over several election periods and have far reaching ramifications on voting patterns. The issue of race is an important social factor that has traditionally shaped voting patterns in the United States. The Democratic Party has historically been associated with efforts to advance the civil rights cause, especially under the leadership of Lyndon Johnson. Naturally, the Democrats have had a wide following among Afric an Americans and other minority groups in the United States. The presidency of Johnson is credited with successfully sponsoring three civil rights acts in the Congress. The bills granted various rights to the minority groups especially the Blacks which were hitherto prohibited. In 2008, Barrack Obama became the first Black American to win presidency in the history of the United States. Obama received a huge support from the Blacks partly because racial background. Although the number of Blacks who vote is small compared to the numerically larger white population, a large proportion of the Blacks live in regions that are election targets for both Republicans and Democrats such as California and Florida. Historical results show that majority of blacks vote for the Democrats regardless of the party’s success or candidate’s qualities. In contrast, the White voters in Southern states are historically more inclined to vote for the Republican Party because the party is not associated with the civil rights movement.