Are Americans Growing More or Less Tolerant of Political Diversity?
It could be argued that the recent political changes in the U.S. have affected mostly the degree to which political diversity is represented at different levels of power in the U.S., the tolerance rates, which mainly depend on people’s opinions as opposed to changes in the political system, are likely to remain the same. However, further efforts must be taken to make the tolerance levels rise consistently, as well as launch the process of introducing political diversity to every facet of life in the contemporary American culture.
Distinguish Between Liberalism and Conservatism. Do More Americans Consider Themselves Liberal, Conservative, or Moderate?
Liberalism and Conservatism are typically viewed as the polar opposites. While Liberalism implies that its proponents want the active promotion of the regulations that will allow introducing the principles of equality into the contemporary society, the supporters of Conservatism are typically in favor of smaller government and stricter laws. The degree to which the government controls the economic issues is also a point of discord between Liberals, who require a drop in control levels, and Conservatives, who want to reinforce the state’s power over the subject matter. Currently, there is a divide between Americans, which makes them see themselves as either Liberal or Conservative. Most of the U.S. population deem themselves as Conservative (Saad, 2017).
Compare and Contrast the Democratic and Republican Parties of Today in Terms of Voting Patterns and Issue Positions
When considering party affiliations among American voters, one must mention that there is a tendency among more educated ones to choose the Democratic ideas and philosophies, whereas the less educated ones seem to be moving toward the Republican one (Reeve, 2015). The specified tendency indicates that the Democratic Party is bound to lose a significant amount of supporters. As far as the issue positions are concerned, Democrats tend to focus on the need to promote social responsibility, whereas Republicans are geared toward advocating for the rights of an individual.
What is the Relationship Between Religion and Voting Behavior?
While it would be wrong to claim that there is a direct correlation between the two concepts, religion does affect the choices made by voters because it defines people’s attitude toward certain controversial issues such as abortion, gay marriages, etc., and, thus, compels them to choose the political force that supports their convictions regarding the identified problems. A recent research shows that even the legislative behavior concerning environmental policies is influenced by religious convictions significantly (Newman, Guth, Cole, Doran, & Larson, 2015).
What is gerrymandering? How much of an Impact Can It Have on Legislative Outcomes?
The concept of gerrymandering can be defined as the manipulations with district boundaries as the means of creating a competitive advantage for a particular party during the election process (Waltman, 2016). The specified approach is usually viewed as an attempt to alter the outcomes of elections by designing artificial conditions; therefore, even though it is rather hard to prove legally, gerrymandering may lead to significant changes in the outcomes of elections.
How Does the Electoral College work? What Are the Chief Criticisms of the electoral college? What is the Main Defense of the Electoral College?
The term “Electoral College” (EC) is used to explain the mechanism of elections in the U.S. EC is an organization that technically elects the president in the U.S. In each state, every political party provides their approval of the EC chosen to represent people’s opinions during the election. In other words, EC includes the people that provide the final votes for the President in the.U.S. It could be argued, though, that EC may lead to the distortion of the message of the presidential campaign (Bugh, 2016). The EL, however, argues that it allows maintaining stability in the democratic environment (Bugh, 2016).
What Role Do Debates Play in the Presidential Election Process?
The significance of debates is often questioned as the tool for altering people’s opinions about the candidates. For instance, a recent analysis points to the fact that debates do not contribute to changing voters’ opinions significantly (Chinni, 2016). Nevertheless, debates must be viewed as an essential element of the presidential campaign since they allow exploring extensively the opportunities that each candidate promises.
References
Bugh, G. (2016). Electoral College reform: Challenges and possibilities. New York, NY: Routledge.
Chinni, D. (2016).. Do presidential debates impact election outcomes? NBC News. Web.
Newman, B., Guth, J. L., Cole, W., Doran, C., & Larson, E. J. (2016). Religion and environmental politics in the US House of Representatives. Environmental Politics, 25(2), 289-314.
Reeve, P. (2015). Religion of a different color: Race and the Mormon struggle for whiteness. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Saad, L. (2017). U.S. Conservatives outnumber Liberals by narrowing margin. Gallup News. Web.
Waltman, M. (2016). The fight to vote. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.