The US Presidential Elections - Essay Example

US Presidential Elections Elections are official decision-making processes through which a populace chooses an individual to hold public office. In modern representative democracies, holding election has been the norm for which leaders are chosen to fill the places in all the arms of government and regional government positions. The cornerstone to any democracy lies in the facilitation of a free and fair election; a process that is acceptable to all the parties involved in the election process. Essentially, this creates a medium for peaceful transfer of power (Holder and Peter 27). Often, elections involve the candidates, the electoral body, and the voters. The aim of voters in any election process is to appoint leaders who will model the future of their society and country at large. In view of this fact, the participation by the people in an election processes empowers them by allowing citizens to create an influence in the future policies of and by their governments. This essay focuses on the United States Presidential Election of November, 6th 2012 and sheds light on the events that surrounded the win for Democrats and loss to the Republicans. It is worth noting that the United States has since the ratification of US Constitution in 1788 been an exemplary representative democracy. The United States depends upon a more complex federal system of government in which the national government remains supreme while state and local governments stamp authority on matters not reserved for the federal government. Basically, there are two types of elections in the US namely: primary and general. In primary elections, party candidates for the general election are determined. Subsequently, the winning candidates proceed to the general election as representatives of their political parties. Specifically, in the 2012 US Election the Democrats won the election due to the campaign strategy employed by their candidate, President Obama. The strategy was one of progressivism aimed at supporting an activist government agenda with a view of expanding economic opportunities and individual freedoms to all people (Perry 112). The strategy involved the inclusion of a multiethnic, multiracial, cross-class coalition consisting of African Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, the young, professionals and economically populist blue collar whites. Arguably, Democrats won this presidential election due to the shift in the demographic composition of the US electorate. The electorate shifted in a manner as to include more people of color, the unmarried and working women, and increase in the number of educated whites living in urbanized states. Furthermore, it is amazing that the white working populace support for Democrats increased in the so-called battle ground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio, and this worked out well for the Democrats (Balz 72). Similarly, the new emerging battleground states of Colorado and Virginia also offered a large percentage votes for the Democrats especially by through the white college educated population. On the other hand, their opponents (Republicans) were unable to secure the presidential seat because their party was a coalition of older, more rural, whiter and evangelical voters. Unfortunately, this group of voters was already becoming less influential and were geographically concentrated thereby becoming less significant to the wider political landscape of the country. Moreover, the policies and manifesto campaigned for by the Republicans were so people unfriendly. Their party was generally about self-deportation of illegal aliens, tight borders, and restrictions on voting rights among other things that were not deemed appealing by minority voters. In some instances, it is the influence by the minority voting block that can cause a difference in the outcome of an election (Holder and Peter 31). Therefore, this section of the voting block is as equally important as the states from which a candidate is assured of majority votes. In my opinion, as much as Mitt Romney comes from a rich background, he should not have downplayed the efforts of the minority population and put stringent policies upon the people of the United States. Consequently, the major problem that Americans were facing at the time was economic meltdown that they largely attributed to President’s Bush Policies and administration. Interestingly, during President Obama’s election for the second term in 2012, the American people appeared to trust Obama more than Romney. They did not believe Romney would do any better than Obama, who was already appealing to the people from his first term in office. Outstandingly, this election was affected by various structural elements which essentially affected the outcome. First, the election was faced by an arguably low voter turnout, and this meant that the popular majority votes would be affected in the result. Second, various legislatures at the state level passed new voting laws that influenced the manner by which registered voters would identify themselves at polling centers (Maisel 92). Nevertheless, this turned out to be a fruitful effort as it was aimed at curbing voter fraud. According to the Democrats, these laws appeared to favor their opponents. In the end, each state came up with independent regulations on how the voting would be carried out within the state boundaries. Furthermore, the US elections like any other democratic one was based on the turnout by the supporters of the candidates. The candidate who has more supporters wins the election. In the USA, for instance, there is a general pattern by voters to register low turnouts. Worse of all, this happens during non-presidential elections affecting the composition of the legislatures. Rarely does phenomenon of below average voter turnout for legislative seats across the world occur. Despite the level of democracy achieved by the US, this practice of low voter turnout continues to manifest itself in almost every election (Perry 122). Virtually sixty percent of registered voting age population fails to vote in the US creating a potential for game-changing in the ballot results. The differences in rules and systems by various states can be associated with this continued declining voter turnout. There are various legal, structural and procedural elements that contribute either directly or indirectly to the low voter turnouts in the US. First, the idea of holding elections on Tuesday unlike many world democracies that hold elections on weekends or set aside two voting days to ensure that more people are available to vote. Secondly, the practice of voluntary voting may not necessarily compel voters to participate in elections unlike in countries where voting is mandatory. In such states, there is a higher participation rate by the voting population. Some of these states include Belgium, Greece, Australia and Italy (Maisel 94). Lastly, the US requires the voters to register before they can participate in a voting process and the responsibility lies with the citizens. The US acts unique in this way as most democracies do the registration as a government initiative. Notably, this practice affects a significant number of potential voter populations who fail to take the first step of registration. The above reasons contributed to one way or another results of the 2012 presidential election. Arguably, the greatest beneficiaries of the election results are the states affiliated to the Democrats. However, after elections the government that comes into power is supposed to serve all people in an equitable and fair approach. Perhaps, the whole of the US citizenry were beneficiaries in the sense that they were able to continue enjoying the services of continued Obama Administration. The result was a great benefit to the general public as they attributed Romney’s way of leadership as one which serves only the elite and had policies aimed at protecting the white generation. In this election, there was no real surprise since it was more of a re-election. Usually, the incumbency has higher chances of retaining a seat as compared to a new opponent, but it is not always the case. Therefore, it can be assumed that there was no major surprise in this situation despite the efforts by Romney to campaign against President Obama’s first Administration (Perry 123). The decision for the choice of the president lies solely in the choice of the American people. Perhaps, the politics of inclusivity adopted by the Democrats ensured that President Obama captured the seat for the second term in office. Practically, the notion among the Republican supporters was that President Obama was facing administration challenges already and would not capture seat again in 2012 failed to work. The race was tightly contested with the opposition winning some crucial seats as well. The Obama Administration on its side provided a clear mandate for governing the country. Their main focus was in the improvement of the economy, protection of key social programs, widening available job opportunities and addressing the increasing unfairness and inequality among American people (Maisel 101). Importantly, this worked well for the coalition and enhanced their recapture of the seat. In fact, Democracy Corps identified that President Obama was much more capable of restoring the middle class than was his counterpart Mitt Romney. Democrats were able to revive progressive values and principles among their supporters. In general, this election process outlines the fact it is not always the single idea of having the majority that helps a candidate ascend into power. As much as this may be a contributor, the policies and strategies set out by a party or individual candidate, or coalition can sometimes be the major contributor to success. In developed democracies, policies and manifestos sell more to the public than the ideology of the political majority. Countries with advanced democracies have specific and complex issues that they expect their governments to solve and do not just vote in the basis affiliation but by focusing on the political ideologies that candidates are presenting to them. Election processes are integral parts of any nation’s development and stability agenda (Balz 75). The most important role of any democratic government is to ensure that her borders are secure, economies are growing, health and production levels remain high among other duties. Therefore, political parties should always strive to conform to the demands of the citizens rather than focus on their individual aims of power control. In my opinion, the election was very fair since there were no real complaints lodged by the opponents or the public concerning the whole election process. In fact, the opponent Mitt Romney conceded defeat and congratulated President Obama wishing him well in his second term in office. In mature democracies, as long as the election is free and fair the candidates are bound by law and by self-instinct to acknowledge the results as announced and concede defeat. Therefore, world democracies offer a platform for free and fair elections that represent the will of the people (Holder and Peter 37). In the case of the US 2012 Presidential Election, the results were representative of the will of the people in that it replicated the voting patterns among the citizenry. However, there still, need to be improvements in the voting habits of the US citizens especially concerning their willingness to vote which leads to low voter turnout. In sum, the essay has recognized the importance of elections in world democracies today. They are a platform for choosing leaders that are tasked with the responsibility of leading the nation by the people of the United States. The founding fathers of the United States thought it wise to incorporate a system through which the people of America would choose their leader as opposed the monarchical tradition that was brought in by the British. The democracy of the country has grown since 1789 when only white men with property were allowed to vote. The US holds her presidential elections every four years some of which are won by landslide victories while others just by mere margins. All in all elections and politics have been significant in shaping the historical and developmental roadmap of the United States. Works Cited Balz, Daniel J. Collision 2012: Obama Vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America. New York: Viking/Penguin Group (USA, 2013. Internet resource. Holder, R W, and Peter Josephson. The American Election 2012: Contexts and Consequences. , 2014. Internet resource. Maisel, L S. Parties and Elections in America: The Electoral Process. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Group, 2011. Internet resource. Perry, Luke. Mitt Romney, Mormonism, and the 2012 Election. , 2014. Internet resource. Read More