The Role of Political Parties in Mobilizing Electoral Participation in the U.S - Essay Example

The Role of Political Parties in Mobilizing Electoral Participation in the U.S. The two most important political parties in the United State are the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. There are several other parties such as the American Independent Party, the Green Party, the Communist Party and the Libertarian Party. These parties provide a great range of services to the masses in addition to their main role that is creating and maintaining a functioning government (Ginsberg et al., p. 99). Though the morality of political parties has been questioned by certain quarters of the society such as the church, political parties have managed to perform a number of roles towards mobilizing electoral participation in modern United States (Ginsberg et al., p. 101). First, political parties provide funding and support of candidates that run for political positions. This is the most important support role of a political party is provision of a candidate with the party nomination. Other kinds of support also come in the form of money that goes into conducting political campaigns. in cases where the money does not come directly from political parties, parties still provide important strategy, logistic and organization information that make additional funding and smooth running of the whole operation possible (Ginsberg et al., p. 123). In the period leading to elections, parties help organize fundraisers to help meet budget deficits, they also provide workers for the campaign team of the candidate and monitors the opposition for any election irregularities. The last but most important support role of any political party to its candidate is to instill confidence in him or her of a fair election process. The other role of political parties is to act as political educators. In this role, they provide the necessary literary materials to enlighten voters on the issues that they need to know (Ginsberg et al., p. 223). These issues may range from civic rights to duties and responsibilities of voters towards their country. Part of this role involves instilling on the electorates the importance of casting their vote on the election date. As political educators, mobilizing candidates and educate them on the electoral process and possible outcomes, like their likelihood of being elected. Further, political parties provide information to the public concerning their stand on issues of the day. As part of their role as educators, parties have to periodically reminding members and voters on the importance of casting their vote, since if members do not go out and vote their candidates will lose the elections (Ginsberg et al., p. 177). Lastly, parties such as the American Communist Party organize language classes for recent immigrants as a first step towards integrating them into the party and for easy flow of information later on. Lastly, political parties in America provide employment services. They directly provide their candidate with a job position in case he/she wins the election and further indirectly provide jobs for the political appointees that get jobs following an election victory. The number of political appointees that a political party will give jobs to varies depending on the level of politics that the party plays in (Ginsberg et al., p. 123). A party will fill the city council directly without any consultations but has to consult with other parties when it comes to filling the rest of the positions within the city government. A higher political position office such as the presidency of the United States comes with a lot more positions to fill even though the approval of the congress is required. In summary, political parties provide employment opportunities for candidates and party members either as a reward or to secure loyalty of party new party members. The Role of Interest Groups in Mobilizing Electoral Participation in the US An interest group refers to any voluntary association that seeks to create and promote its cause publicly. These organizations can be political, charitable, civil rights groups or trade unions. Research indicates that there are a number of interest groups in the United States with interest in mobilizing electoral participation. The effectiveness of these groups in making the views of their members hared varies greatly depending on how well they make use of political resources at their disposal (Ginsberg et al., p. 182). The first of these resources is number and unity of members. Interest groups with the largest base of supporters are never the most successful at pushing for policies and winning elections. Most voters belong to large interest groups that rally behind specific parties or coalitions during elections and it is only in cohesion and unity behind one party that these numbers will turn into winning votes (Ginsberg et al., p. 123). The second important resource at the disposal of interest groups is money. The most influential interest groups in national politics usually contribute generously (totaling to hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars) to political candidates. Any group without a consistent presence in Washington cannot influence the process of legislation, which is the most important objective of any interest group (Ginsberg et al., p. 123). To maintain this kind of behind-the-scene presence in Washington, interest groups need a considerable amount of finance. Another factor that influences an interest group’s effectiveness is information. It is indeed true that groups have important technical knowledge that lawmakers lack but require in policy formulation. It is also true that the information that these groups pass on to lawmakers is biased and mostly to the benefit of these groups, a fact that lawmakers are fully aware of. The last factor that affect an interest group’s effectiveness in mobilizing electoral participation is whether its constituted if individual members or several smaller organizations. Most elite interest groups are in fact made of smaller organizations such as trade unions or professional organizations (Ginsberg et al., p. 123). An advantage of this arrangement is ease in mobilization of constituent entities while still representing interests of all the members of all the children organizations. Another advantage is that members do not have personal resources to push for political agenda, as the organization resources involved are always huge. How Individual Characteristics of Voters Influence Voting Likelihood Several individual factors influence the likelihood of voters to cast their vote. First of these is voter education and political information. Research indicates that the more educated voters are more likely to vote than the less educated ones partly because they understand the democratic process better than the less educated ones. Access to information either through social media platforms such as Facebook, televised political campaigns or word of mouth from friends also plays a vital role in shaping the decisions of voters to vote or not. Second, the age of a voter is will determine his/her likelihood to vote. Research indicates that voting likelihood is lower among youth but increases with age (Ginsberg et al., p. 253). The main reason for this is that younger people are not settled in one geographical due to job mobility and care less for politics, as they are more concerned about career advancement. Political interests also grow with age as the effects of government policies on daily life become apparent. Third, an individual’s religion will also influence their likelihood to vote. In modern America, the frequency of attendance of religion services and sermons has been directly linked to the probability of voting. This is because most religions instill in their followers the importance of voting as a sense of duty. In cases where parties have religious affiliations, the deeply religious voters will automatically feel the need to vote for such parties. Lastly, research indicates that wealthier American families are more likely to vote than less wealthy families. This is because voters that are insecure about their basic needs are less likely to be interested in politics since they give priority to more pressing concerns i.e. fending for their families. How Electoral Laws and Rules Influence Voting Likelihood Electoral laws greatly influence the voter turnout. Rules that that guarantee systems with proportional representation, low legal thresholds and large districts normally attract large number of voters. On the other hand, systems with higher thresholds have smaller districts and plurality rules normally create lack of proportionality in representation and as such arte likely to attract low voter turnouts. Compulsory voting laws to some extent also have an effect on overall voter turnout, though these are not enforced in all American states (Ginsberg et al., p. 123). The effectiveness of these rules will also depend on how well they are enforced. Lastly, electoral laws determine voter registration and identification laws, verification laws, early voting and accessibility of polling places. These in turn influence the likelihood of voters to turn out and vote. Conclusion A strong voter turnout is essential for any healthy democracy like the United States since it is a clear indication of the level of confidence that the electorate has in the electoral process and general governance of the country. In the US, voter turnout fluctuates but has never risen to the levels observe d in most well- established democracies such as Australia and Belgium which have a compulsory voting system. In summary, the factors that affect voter turnout may range from individual to those dictated by electoral laws. It is therefore the responsibility of political parties and interest groups to play their roles to help raise these numbers. In contemporary United States, voter turnout can be increased by enforcing a system that advocates fair representation, instant runoff voting and a universal non-discriminatory voter registration. Work Cited Ginsberg, B., Lowi, T. J., Weir, m., Tolbert, C. J., and Spitzer, R. J. We the People: An Introduction to American Politics, Ninth Essentials Edition. 2012). W. W. Norton & Company. Read More