Elections in a Democracy Research Paper Example

America is a democratic form of government, and this ultimately means that the people decide who gets elected into offices. There are many factors that can determine whom the citizens will cast their vote towards, but it typically comes down to three major factors: partisan loyalty, issues and policy preferences, and candidate characteristics. This has been evident in past elections, and often these are the elements which political scientists use to predict the outcome of elections.

Partisan loyalty has proven to be the main factor in predicting which candidates the people will support and vote towards. Many voters identify themselves with a certain party and tend to stay loyal in their support. During an election this doesn’t get much attention (especially in the media) compared to the other two major elements, yet they do not come close to impacting voter’s decisions compared to partisan loyalty. During the 2020 presidential election, both the republican and democratic nominees received 94% of the votes from citizens registered within each party. In order for there to be a notable change in partisan loyalty, a significant event must occur. These events must be relevant enough for citizens to seriously question where their loyalty should stand.

Issues and policy preferences is the second leading factor in determining whom voters will support. There are many issues brought up during an election, this often includes health care, military conflicts, economic issues, and much more. When voters have strong feelings to a particular issue, this can heavily influence which candidate they will support. We have seen in the past that candidates with unique policy ideas are much easier for voters to identify with. During the 2016 election, Donald Trump focused heavily on reducing immigration and building a wall on the US-Mexican border. This was the major issue he focused on, making citizens against immigration supportive of his campaign. Political scientists refer to this as prospective voting, meaning that voters are supportive due to the future image that is being perceived. The opposite of this is retrospective voting, and this is when voters show support due to the performance in the past of the candidate and/or party.

The last element which can influence voting is personal characteristics. This mainly consists of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and more. No surprise, voters enjoy seeing people of their same background elected into office. Often this is due to voters assuming these leaders share many of the same views and ideas as themselves. Politicians often seek to “balance the ticket” so that they can reach out and influence as many significant groups as possible. Of course, these characteristics can also lead to voters being opposed to candidates. There are many voters who can be prejudiced towards opposing races, genders, ethnicities, and more. However, in past elections we have seen an African-American president, a woman presidential candidate, and an African-American woman vice president. This shows that the diversity is beginning to increase within offices.

These factors have all had major influences in the past, and will continue to do so in the future. Realistically, a nominee must possess all three to have a good chance of being elected. Money can only carry candidates so far, as it is the people who determine whom will be elected into an office.