Americas Evolving Electorate by Nate Cohn - Essay Example

Introduction This book is about the examining of angle of the election and the effects of its development and outcome.Larry Sebato,the chief editor of the book, who is also a leading expert in American politics, brought together academics and respected journalists to analyze the election. The book has talked in detail pertaining the election and analysis of the outcome. The book has analysed debatable roles of individuals or groups in the election, the costs of the election process. It has also gone and extra mile in analyzing the role of media in the elective season. Election process from the nomination, the conventions and elections has been discussed in this book. The Article of Americas Evolving Electorate by Nate Cohn This article talks of the demographic system in an electorate. This article analyses on the population target of a given candidate. The article starts by analyzing the Clinton and Bush election season. This election time the candidates targeted a given population in their campaigns trail. According to the article George W Bush targeted the Populist population, who were compassionate conservatives. Whereas Bill Clinton targeted college women, the graduates and the less religious voters. This according to the article was insufficient for Bill Clinton to conquer George Bush in the 2 election seasons. Over time the demographic targets of the Republican Party has changed, it is on an estimate of eight years basing on the article. This change has then lead to the majority win of votes by the democrats, hence the Obama Administration. The change in voter’s numbers was as a result of the shift of the new diverse young voters who joined the democrats. An Estimated increase from 23% to 25% of votes in favor of the democrats. The article also establishes the Current Presidents camp had a larger share of Non American voters this were: The African American, Hispanians and The Asian voters.The republicans were also into gaining of voters from the democrats strong holds. They shifted inwards south of the believed Democrats strong holds. But their efforts were not fruitful as the couldn’t counter the democrats gain of voters. The Author Nate Cohn goes on explaining of the Democrats gains of voters who were the white Americans from the South.The democrats targeted a given voter population of which included the young white and those that occupied the well educated sub-urbans.These shifts of demographic interests were not for a short period as it was thought to be. The shifts was a reflection of shifts of votes which was for the advantage of the democrats. They were establishing a base of votes which they could use to gain on the republican votes. The Article also focused on the turnout of voters, this was specifically the Republican Party. The focus was during the congressional and local elections. Basing on the article there was a notable reduction in the turnout of the republican voters. A critical analysis if the democratic analysis is inevitable is given in the article and how the Republican Party can adjust in a mind of compensation of the generational and demographic changes. There is an Emerging Democratic Majority, the effect of a majority democratic camp and it is predestined to be for some decades to come. The democratic majority is as a result of the gaining of Denver, Washington and Raleigh which are well educated suburbs. On analyzing of the article, for the republicans to counter the demographical gain by the democrats is by: instituting durable and ideological coalitions before a new social moderate generation is built. The article has been criticized on the share of white voters by the democrats; this is because the article has not pointed out the states of the survey. It has also been criticized of partisan comments. Though with the critics the article has proved to be very insightful and indeed helpful in the geographical analysis of voters in a voting season. Are we in An Electrol Realignment? By Sean Trende An electoral realignment refers to a shift in the political system in a country. In relation to elections realignment is the drastic change of dominance of a given party by a new party. Party dominance does not necessarily mean the party won the elections but can also by the maintaining control of the Congress and The White House. For an electoral alignment it means voters change their parties in a given election period. Of which in this elections there is a notable change on party leaders, issues, regional and demographic control of parties. The Electoral realignment results to the formation of a new political power and an introduction of a new status quo. The article has described on what happens where there is a political party realignment. For a noticeable party realignment is with the disruption of the current political culture. The disruption of a political party order is majorly as a result of divisive issues (Sabato. 177). The issues create a rift between the political party and its voters hence leading to a party realignment. Actions of political parties result to a major party realignment. Voters tend to take favor of the other party depending on actions of their supporting parties hence the realignment. A change in strong coalitions results to party realignment. The popular the coalition the more control it has to the state. Basing on the article of An Electoral Alighnment, it is notable that political parties in the USA have existed in eras’. In the Period of control the parties have managed policy agenda and policy making processes. Eras of Political Alignment in the USA, Begun in 1796 with the formation of the Federalist Party. The party got disorganized and became unpopular leading to the win by The Democratic Republican Party in 1800.Its domination was until 1860 with the coming of Republican error. The Republican Party gained support from farmers, former slaves, business men and industrialists. Their large support led to the 60 years dominance in the political scene. This is despite the election of a democrat president in 1884 and 1892.The republicans still maintained control of policy making. In 1932 marked the begging of a new era with the election of a democrat president Roosevelt. His election was as a result of unpopular policies by Republican Hoover. There was an interruption in the years 1952 and 1956 in democrat’s presidents but they re-structured and won in 1960 by John Kennedy. The history depicts political realignment in the Election history in America. On analysis there is a change in the voting patterns. This is as result of the shifting electorate with reasons of which policies is one? In this article one can establish that a demographic strategy can assure you a political victory. The article provides history of a coalition and the impact it suffers depicted from politics. I find the article readable and has logic in it as it explains on the implications of an election and a good idea of how the USA has been voting. The authors analysis of the data to explain on the details was based on what the data says and not what he intended it to be. Voting in time of polarization: why Obama won and what it means The 2012 presidential elections were recorded as the most expensive elections ever in the political history of the Americans. It is an estimated of more than $2 billion was spent by each candidate in the campaign period. Even with the much spending on the campaign period according to the article the presidential elections had been predetermined by factors that existed before the elections. The article examines on those underlying factors that influenced the political outcome in the 2012 elections. The 2012 elections marked history with the overwhelming popular votes President Obama had. The president had received a larger popular vote margin in two of the previous elections. This was a new record as it is back in1984 when such a tremendous win was recorded. According to the article the writer states that there are number of states which are strong hold republican voters or strong democrats. Basing on the easily identifiable popular party in given states one can easily predict of the outcome of a given election. The level of voting consistency for a given party in a given state one can predict the support before the vote. Identifiable states of Indiana and North Carolina shifted camps from the Democrats to the Republicans. A comparision of the 2008 and the 2012 results show that the American voters have been divided along party lines. The static according to the article shows that 93 percent Republicans voted for Mitt Romney and 92 percent for Barack Obama.Political party loyalty is evident among the electorate with the level of straight ticket voting. Most democratic party members in the house voted for Obama and the Republicans for Romney,showing loyalty to their political parties.Party loyalties and straight ticket voting is traced back in the 1970’s and 1980’s The cultural divide among Americans with the new set of issues was a reflection of election results in 2012.There was emergence of new political issues different from the old ones which included spending, taxation and regulation. The new issues on the political scene were abortion and gay marriage, this which reflected the moral base of the society of the American Electorate. The Republican Party tends to be conservative; they initiated an alliance with religious groups who are conservatives and Christian societies. The Republican Party was in support of the moral preservation of the society by putting restrictions on immoral issues which included abortion and same sex marriages. The democrats had shifted on the other end in the issues as the supported gay marriages. The current office holders from the Democrats party as a result of the elections had supported the woman’s fundamental right of choice to end the pregnancy and access of contraceptives basing on the Health Care Law. They also supported the same sex marriage and have them a job protection, away from discrimination and other fundamental rights. The President allowed gays and lesbians to serve in the forces with no discrimination. The decision was opposed by the Republican Party members in both the 2008 and 2012 elections. Jobs and The Economy were the most critical issues in the thoughts of the electorate in the 2012 election. Though cultural issues were considered witnessed in Missouri and Indiana states where candidates were knocked out on their take on moral issues. Some states notably gave a green light to same sex marriages which were Maine, Maryland and Washington through a referendum. The cultural divide was clearly a reflection of the 2012 election results. It also contributed to the generation of another voting pattern of the generation and marriage group (Sabato. 45). The married group had a less willing to accept the idea on cultural issues. For the young and unmarried had more views on cultural issues hence the shift in voting. The article analyses why Obama won in relation to the few fundamental factors which are believed to have influenced the outcome of the elections. The Democrat camp of intensive campaign on swing states as a voter targeting mechanism. The performance on the swing states was expected following the campaign trail in those states. The article is clearly helpful in coming up a reason of the outcome of the 2012 elections and the voter margin that was witness. The author explains how a candidate takes issues or rather the opinion on issues affecting the electorate can work in your favour or against you. The article has explained on how the electorate prioritizes issues put into key considerations on the issues that affect them the most. The Obama Encore that Broke some rules Encore refers to a repetition, a recurrent of events. According to the article a repeat of the Obamas performance from the previous elections. There was a repeat of the Obamas majority win from the 2008 elections, which were repeated in the 2012 elections. Critic had questioned Obamas victory and were eager to see a repetition of the win. The article focuses on the breaking of tradition that existed in the voting trend in the USA.It analyses the voting manner of the 2012 presidential elections. The article analyses on the Obama strategy on the campaigns. It is noted that the democrats had a more of concentration on the swing states. The swing states were very competitive as each of the political camp was interested in vote hunt in those states (Sabato. 23). The Obama campaign strategy bore fruits as he received the needed popular vote from those states. The Democrat’s camp won by a 5 percent margin win in the swing states leaving out three states which were Ohio, Virginia and Florida whereas his competitor won the North Carolina state which was also a swing state. The article deeply analyses the Obama 2008 win and the 2012 victory, by comparing the voter’s gap of the two candidates. In 2012 according to the article the President had a land slide win on democrats strong hold states of The Northeast and Pacific West. It was recorded a 59% voter win in those states. A comparison of the previous elections of the regional divisions in voter hunting is shown by the data in the article. The Obama re-election is considered impressive basing on the performance in the harsh economic times of the voting period. Comparisons of the previous elections where the candidates have failed to maintain presidential power due to issues of his previous tenure have been illustrated in the article. The change in the face of the American electorate has been analyzed in the article. The gender wars and racial opinions among the candidates clearly depict the outcome of the poles In Conclusion The Book “Barack Obama and The New America’ is useful in that it enlightens us on the contemporary issues in the American politics. The different writers provide diverged views of the elections hence analysis from different angles. The articles by the different writers have quoted various historical events of the political American History. The book has also elaborated on the different political processes in the USA. Work Cited Sabato Larry J: Barack Obama and the New America: The 2012 Election and the Changing Face of Politics: New York. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2013. Print     “ Read More