Voting Behavior - Essay Example

Voting Behavior Introduction The voting behavior of Americans in the presidential elections seemed to be quite different in a number of ways. Donald and Weingast suggest that it was indicated to be the first time ever that the Americans voted for an African American who received most votes that were recorded in the American history (46). The voting behavior normally focuses on the two candidates; Obama and McCain with the other candidates having less significance in the way that people voted. Voters exhibited various behaviors in terms of demographics, the economic conditions and various social welfare items that were of concern to them. The choice of a certain candidate therefore seemed to reflect the people’s behavior, the state of the country and the specific concerns that the candidates had for the citizens. The paper will use various tables in order to describe the voting behavior among various people. Demographic and social characteristic items Attitude towards abortion Demographics affects how people vote because it has a direct reflection on what attitudes people hold to various issues, abortion being one of them. This has been supported by the election’s literature that suggests that thing like abortion and gayness receive attention when choosing a leader. Table six communicates largely on the voting behavior of voters to various candidates based on their attitudes towards abortion. From the table, it is clear that those people who supported abortion voted in large numbers for Obama as compared to McCain which was 78% and 20% respectively. On the other hand, the people who opposed abortion voted largely for McCain, 54% as compared to Obama who had 45%. Obama still received higher votes in those people who supported abortion for reasons such as rape and clear need but the difference was not much. The other candidates received minor votes ranging from 1-2%. This voting behavior has a clear suggestion on the candidate, their position on the variable and also the demographics of those people that voted. There is a clear suggestion from the table that Obama was also in support of abortion while McCain s against the whole issue of abortion. There is no way the people who supported abortion could support Obama or vice versa if he was not of the idea himself. In terms of demographics, there is a clear indication that those who supported Obama most in this variable are women as compared to men. This is because the issues of abortion are of concern to women because they directly affect them in reference to men. Another clear suggestion is that the population in support consists of younger people who are in the reproductive stage because they are affected by abortion and not those who are past the child-bearing age. The social characteristic indicates that people did not value much the life of the unborn child. These suggestions have been supported by various evidences that show that Obama was in support of the abortion rights that each woman has. He supported the fact it was the responsibility of a pregnant woman to decide whether to give birth or not and there needed to be no intimidation on the same (Weingast and Donald 75). His intentions or the support was to find a common ground between those who supported life and those who supported abortion. He has even been shown to state that he does not know when life begins. Presidential vote by the US security From the table four based on security, it clearly shows that Obama received highest votes from the people who were less secure by around 81% whereas McCain received a smaller amount by 18%. There is uniformity in other candidates in that they received 1% support from all the categories. Obama still received higher votes from those with no change but lesser votes compared to McCain from those people who were more secure. There is a clear suggestion from the table that candidate Obama was more concerned with the security of the people of the United States. The less secure people voted for him because they believed that he was the right candidate who could offer them effective security. It also indicates that McCain was not concerned more on security and that is why people who were more secure voted for him. This is because such people had other concerns different from security. This shows that people were more concerned with social and moral issues which were met by Obama. Donald shows that Obama was opposed to the Iraq war while McCain was not (121). Foreign policy and national security items Table five on the attitudes that voters had towards abortion based on issues of foreign policy and national security items also has various indications. In the table too, those who supported abortion voted highly for Obama followed by McCain and other candidates received minor votes. Those who opposed abortion voted for McCain, followed by Obama and then other candidates who had minimum votes. This is a clear indication that the foreign policy was in support of the whole issue of abortion whereby there is an indication that abortion was legalized. It also suggested that Obama supported and came up with a good foreign policy. Weingast states that in terms of national security, democrats stood a better chance of providing national security because they opposed war which was reflected in Obama himself (220). It indicates that people were assured of security even if they aborted because they believed that they could not be found in the wrong arm of the government. There is also a clear indication that the foreign policy was concerned with managing the reproduction of the people and ensuring that the population was one that was manageable. By the foreign policy being in support for abortion, it allows women to do away with those pregnancies that they don’t want hence being able to manage the populations. It also shows that the national security was stable. Presidential vote by better or worse off financially Table one gives a clear indication on those who voted for various candidates based on their economic situation. It is clear from the table that those who voted for Obama were more and they cut across regardless of their situation. McCain came second while other candidates received minimum votes. Those who voted highly for Obama were the much worse financially, followed by worse, then much better, same and finally better. This conversely shows that McCain was voted least by those who were worse financially. The table suggests that the economic condition was a great concern in voting and that it affected the people on how they voted. This suggests that Obama was considered to be the best candidate who was to turn the economy from the downfall. It indicates that the economy was in a poor condition and it was a proof that the manifesto of Obama probably offered better economy as compared to that of McCain and even other candidates. This is also confirmed from other research that say that few people voted for McCain because of his political comments about the economy and his uncertainty of how many houses he owned with his wife which shows he was less concerned about the economy Taxation and budget items Based on taxation and budget items, the table is compared in terms of the financial situations of various people which are more or less similar to the first table in terms of statistics. Those who were much worse financially had greater support for Obama then those who were worse, then much better, same and finally better. McCain came second and other candidates had minimal votes that did not exceed 3% of the American population. From the figures it suggested that Obama and McCain who were the major competitors had opposing views when it came to taxation. It indicates that Obama’s manifesto and agenda was to reduce taxation rates especially among the low income people and let the middle class and the upper class pay for the taxes. This explains the democratic stand and the reason why the much worse people voted for Obama. On the other hand, it shows that taxation was not one of the major concerns of McCain yet it was an important item in the lives of the Americans. It also shows that people were taxed highly and this affected the situations of various classes of individuals. Economic and social welfare items In terms of economic and social welfare items, a behavior was exhibited in terms of the government services and spending. The table clearly shows that Obama received many votes from those people who were supporting the provision of many more services and government spending. He received lesser votes as compared to McCain from those who were in support for providing many few services and spending too. Other candidates received very few votes that were less significant. This suggests that Obama’s manifesto was based more on increasing government spending as well as increasing the services that were provided by the government. This shows that his agenda was to raise the economy and provide social welfare to the citizens. This has been proved by other documents that show that Obama’s interest was to provide employment to various groups and offer better healthcare services. From his campaign, health issues were deemed to be at the heart of his campaign. McCain’s policies were not focused on increasing government spending from the way the table suggests. It is clear that he was determined to reduce government spending because he was focused on increasing taxes. Conclusion From the discussion above, it is clear that there existed various issues that affected the choice of the American president in the year 2008. Obama proved to be the most preferred candidate in many areas. These factors mainly were; the economic situation of the state at the time, the social welfare of citizens, moral issues that affected the attitudes of various individual as well as taxation. How each candidate related to various variables also affected their preference in the eyes of the population. Works cited Weingast, Barry R., and Donald A. Wittman. The Oxford handbook of political economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print. Read More