What sociological factors affect voting - Research Paper Example

Abstract Political orientation of individuals is determined by several factors. Moreover, there are factors that influence the political decisions made by individual from a given diversity group. There is existing evidence that certain sociological factors influence the voting tendencies in different regions of the world. United States is often viewed as a beacon of democracy. In a democracy, people determine the decisions within the nation through actions such as voting. Although U.S. is considered a democracy, certain sociological factors greatly influence voting processes hence election outcomes. Elections are quite complicated and different factors influence the outcome. Sociological factors such as race, income levels, religion, and gender are among the major influencers of voting outcomes in United States. The 2008 U.S. elections drew attention from the entire globe. Campaigns demonstrated great competitiveness between the Democratic presidential Candidate, Barack Obama and his opponent McCain, the republican candidate. The voter turnout was alarming especially amongst the minority races such as Asians, Black Americans, and Hispanics. Even before the 2008 elections, forecasting models had projected a win for the democratic presidential candidate. The predictions were grounded on different indicators such as the effect of sociological factors. Therefore, there is an existing notion that U.S. presidential elections are influenced by the manner in which people from different races, religious groups, gender, and level of income vote. This paper will make use of literature review and 2008 elections outcome results to establish if sociological factors such as race, religion, and gender and income levels played a role in determining the 2008 U.S. presidential voting outcome. Introduction Political affiliations are greatly influenced by political socialization. People have different reasons for belonging to certain political parties. Additionally, people opt to vote for different people based on different reasons. The reasons could be personal or out of influence from family, peers, and other individuals a person relates with. Political socialization is a process by which people attain certain political opinions through associating with different groups or individuals. United States has a common political culture. However, this does not mean all people act the same or make similar decisions. However, there is evidence from existing literature that people in a similar diversity group are likely to make similar choices. Some people will argue that they are democrats or republicans but might not always vote for these parties. This means that there are other forces influencing an individual decision. Several factors are alleged to determine the participation of Americans in the voting process and the voting behaviors. Voters mainly vote when they believe that they have a reason or obligation to vote. Additionally, some voters will turn out to vote if an election is highly contested and they believe that their vote can make a difference. Additionally, the choices of candidates determine the willingness of voters to participate in the voting process. Sociological factors have been shown to affect the way people vote. Sociological factors include race, gender, religion, and income and affect voting results. As it will be established through literature review, sociological factors such as race gender, religion, and income have some effect on the outcome of an election including the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Literature Review In the recent past, several political science researchers have done several researches to assess how behaviors and sociological factors affect political activities such as voting in elections. In United States, most of the research has been triggered by increasing depiction of opinionated election outcomes. Certain regions and states are associated with specific political affiliation. Such affiliations can hardly be attributed to rationality since human have varying opinions. Therefore, it would be unexpected for individual in a given race, religious group, social class, or gender to make similar choices if they have no influence on each other (Alexander 12-15). Some theories of elections suggest that voters are reasonable in their decisions. Although this is true in some cases, it is not always the case. Other factors such as race, religious affiliations, gender, and income levels determine the choices that voters make. This is the reason why block voting occurs. This is characterized by widespread preference of certain candidate in some regions, races, gender, or religions. In the 2008 U.S presidential elections, the voting trend was characterized by preferences based on sociological factors. Minority races voted for the Democratic presidential candidate Obama while his opponent, McCain got most of his votes from white voters. Additionally, statistics show that most women voted in favor of Obama. Religions that show conservativeness toward social issues preferred the republican candidate who supported conventional views. Moreover, people from the different classes had differing preferences. The rich have always been great supporter of Republican Party while the poor support democrat. As expected, those in the middle social class tend to be divided between Democratic and Republican parties. Furthermore, the voting outcomes from different geographical regions displayed certain patterns that have been observed in previous elections (Alexander 23-26; (Logan, Darrah and Oh Web). After the U.S. presidential results for the 2008 elections had been released, it was clear that different sociological factors had affected the outcome. Some regions voted enormously for the Democratic presidential candidate while others supported the Republican candidate. Additionally, the vote distribution across different religious groups differed. Males and females voted differently in terms of their preferred candidate. According to Frey (3-5), Regions considered residents for the wealthy showed similar voting outcome while regions characterized by high poverty levels demonstrated similar voting preference. This resulted into the idea that the voting outcome could have been influenced by sociological factor such as religion, social class, gender, and race (Frey 1-6). In terms of race Frey had already predicted that the blacks were likely to vote for Obama while Hispanics were had previously voted for Hillary Clinton and were likely to vote in Obama’s favor. He had also predicted that the so-called purple states such as Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada were likely to vote for Obama. The above predictions suggest that sociological factors have always played a role in determining the election outcomes in United States. That is why it is possible for analysts to make predictions. Additionally, the presidential candidates used different strategies to campaign in different states, which depicts that they understood the sociological needs of different groups. They thus strategized their campaign to ensure that they got the assurance of the voters (Frey 2-5).The 2008 U.S. elections was characterized by higher minority turnout. However, the voter turnout for the whites declined considerably. The turnout for the Hispanics also increased considerably (Alexander 12-18). The block voting in the different regions or states also characterized the 2008 elections. In 2008, 29 States voted for Obama. This comprised of 19 states that a predominantly occupied by whites. In the other 10 states, Obama garnered most of the votes from the minority races. The 10 States where the great minorities supported Obama included New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Indiana, and Ohio. Therefore, mountain West and Southeast regions showed great minority support for Obama with regions such as Pennsylvania and Indiana declining their support for Republican candidate in favor of the Democrat contender (Frey 3). Gender is another factor assumed to influence election outcomes. In U.S., women comprise majority of the electorate. Additionally, women always turn out to vote in large numbers as compared to men. In 2008, the women choice in voting was greatly determined by issues that have been associated with women. Such issues include education, health matters, concern for peace, and support for social welfare in addition to backing for children related programs. Therefore, any candidate whose policies addressed these issues adequately was likely to win the votes of women. In 2008, Democrats used issues such a healthcare, education, and employment to persuade voters. This somehow resulted in the high support of Democratic candidate by female voters (Alexander 15-18). On the other hand, different issues interest men. Men are assumed to be influenced less by fellow men. However, other sociological factors such as religion are supposed to play a role in influencing men’s decisions. While men tend to be split between republican and Democratic Party, women tend to be sure of the party of their choice and the choice is greatly determined by the policies of the vying candidate. Additionally, women tend to be attracted to parties that have a greater share of women representatives. This is believed to have affected the Republican attempts to woo female voters. This is because republican has quite few female representatives (Medvic 266-271). In Florida and Virginia, which are considered the southern regions with fast growing purple states, more support for the Democrat was evident. This was a change from the 2004 election when these states had voted in support of Republican candidate. Although the minority races comprise a small percentage of the population in Virginia, they demonstrated high voter turnout, especially for the black Americans. In the total vote count, the minority comprised 26% of Virginia’s votes. In Florida, the voter turnout for the minority increased from 24% to 29% with the higher percentage being of Hispanic. The Hispanic voted in favor of Democrat in 2008, which was a shift from 2004 when Hispanic support for Republican was quite strong (Alexander 23-27). Ohio and Pennsylvania are considered the slow growing purple states. Ohio increased their support for democrat in 2008 while Pennsylvania still supported Republican candidate strongly. White voters predominantly occupy the two states. This depicts that other than race, there were other factors influencing the voting. That is why some whites chose not to vote for the white republican and opted for the Black American Democrat (Alexander 24-28). Hirschl, Booth and Glenna, (Politics, Religion, and Society: Is the United States Experiencing a Period of Religious-Political Polarization? 95-98) argue that religious identity acts as a fundamental political driver in United States. This is not a new phenomenon but has been so for the elections conducted after world war II. They argue that it remains unclear why individuals’ political ideologies would be shaped by their religious afflitiations. Hirschl, Booth and Glenna, (Politics, Religion, and Society: Is the United States Experiencing a Period of Religious-Political Polarization?) acknowledge the great religious diversity in United States. They suggest that increasing secularization in most of these groups could be responsible for increasing religious influence on political decisions. That is why certain religious groups seek to know the opinion of political leaders on social issues they uphold (Wald, Calhoun-Brown 361-363). Methodology To establish if sociological factors influenced the voting outcome for the 2008 U.S. presidential elections outcome, the election results based on races, religion, social classes, and gender will be assessed. In the 2008 US elections, race was one of the factors that played a major role in determining the opinion of the voters. During the election, Obama is said to have inspired a very high turnout of black Americans. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies reports indicated that the percentage of African American increased from 11% to 13% on the 2008 election as compared to the 2004 elections. Additionally, the voter turnout for the Hispanics was 7.4 of all the votes, which was an increase from the 6% turn out in the 2004 elections. The win by Obama, who is a democrat and a black American, is partially attributed to his race (Espinosa 12-18; Burnham 3-5). He was the first African American to become a president in U.S. There had been speculation that 2008 would mark the end of black politics, a prediction that was nullified by the voting outcomes. Obama managed to attain 95% of the Black American votes, 62 % of Asian vote, 43% of whites vote, and 67% of the Hispanic vote. These results signal the relevance of race in determining voting outcome. However, there has been a change in the willingness of whites to vote for black candidates (Bobo and Dawson 4-8). (Hugo Web). In relation to race and voting behaviors in U.S., stereotypes play a great role in choice determination. There are stereotypes such as whites are more intelligent than black or whites work hard as compared to blacks, which play a role in determining the voting process. United States political arena is characterized by prejudice towards different groups such as other races worked their way up but blacks wait for favors to do the same (Bobo and Dawson 2-4). In 2008, the turnout of women voters was considerably high. It is considered to have been the third highest since 1920 when women attained the right to vote (Huddy and Carey 83-87). In the 2008 election,most women voted for the republican candidate. 70% of unmarried women voted in favor of Obama. 65% of educated women voted for obama. Overall, 49% of all women voted for Obama while 45% voted in favor of the republican candidate Mcain. On the other hand, 50% of men voted for Mcain while 45% voted for Obama (Teixeira 6-11). (Jeffrey Web). There has been much focus on how religion influences political behavior in United States. This has arisen due to increased correlation between political affiliations and religious identity characterized by denominational adherence towards certain political parties. Religion is considered an important source of Political partisan within United States. This is characterized by increased alignment of voters based on religious propensity. Additionally, there has been rise in Christian right and conservative evangelical movements based on political inclinations. Evangelical Protestants have established a trend as Republican supporters over the past three decades (Hirschl, Booth and Glenna 933-936). According to Hirschl, Booth and Glenna (928) “Social scientists investigating U.S. voting patterns generally find that religious identity and political behavior are strongly linked, that is, belonging to a particular religious denomination influences the odds of voting for a Republican versus a Democrat.” This depicts the effect of religion on elections.” This can be explained by tendency of some candidates to use religious symbol and concepts during the 2008 elections to woo voters. The republicans greatly relied support fromm christians who were opposed to ideologies such as legalization of gayism and legalization of embryonic stem cell research, which are opposed by religious groups such as Catholics (Hirschl, Booth and Glenna 930-935). (Religion in the 2008 Presidential Election Web). According to Gelman, Kenworthy and Su (1203), the income inequlity has been on an increase in United States which has resulted in increased partisan in voting. Democratic party is considered a parrty of groups such as teacher and most government employees. On the other hand, Republican has esatablished itself as a party of business persons. Therefore, Republican tends to attract persons with higher income as compared to Democrats. There sare differences in partisan voting with wealthy individuals more likely to vote in favor of Republican (Gelman, Kenworthy and Su 1204). However, over the recent past, the voting trend based on income levels has been changing. In the states considered to be mainly inhabited by the wealthy (Gelman, Kenworthy and Su 1204) argue that the rich are more likely to vote for democrats as compared to low income earners. In the 2008 elections, 60% union memebers, who mainly fall in middle and lower social classes voted in favor of Obama. High percentage of high school drop outs, who often tend to await government assistance voted for obama. However, most college graduates, who tend to be liberal in many aspects voted for republican candidate. Analysis and Discussion Race is one major factor that characterizes the U.S. society. 2008 U.S. presidential elections results were exceedingly analyzed. In a long time, a black American man won the elections. The major races include Caucasians, African-Americans, Hispanic, and Whites. However, only the Hispanic, African-Americans, and Caucasians will be analyzed. Over the last half century, the number of African Americans supporting the Democrats has increased (Hugo Web). Gender affects political decisions such as voting. Over the recent past, research by political scientists have shown great shift in gender influence over U.S. elections. In the 1950’s, most women tended to vote for republican candidates. Although most women voted for Franklin Roosevelt, who was a Democrat as compared to the republican contestant, the ratio of women, supporting the republican was considerably higher than that of men. However, dramatic shift occurred from 1960 and most women became loyal to democrats. In the 2008, elections results showed that most women tend to be democrats while male tend to be republicans. This is attributable to the great support to women issues shown by democrats. Democratic Party policies tend to address issues such as education and health, which are valued by women Religion is another sociological factor affecting voting. In the 1940s, Jewish voters were mainly democrats as compared to Catholics and Protestants who are mostly republicans. Although Catholics tend to be liberal in economic issues, they are quite conservative when it comes to social matters. They thus oppose moves by democrats to validate abortion and other social aspects such as divorce Most people in lower classes tend to participate less in voting as compared to the wealthy. This could be attributed to low education levels that often characterize people in lower class. Research show that there is a direct relationship between income levels and participation in voting as well as the choice of candidates to vote for. Some researchers attribute the reduced voting tendency amongst the lower classes to the notion that most elected candidates favor the interests of the rich (Hugo Web). Income levels are another sociological factor affecting voting. Most wealth people, also referred to as the upper class are mostly republicans. People in the middle class tend to be evenly dived between republican and democratic parties while those with lower income tend to be democrats. Conclusion From the literature review, it is clear that race, religion, income level, and gender have always played a major role in shaping the voting outcome especially in the presidential elections of United States. The role of the above sociological factors was more eminent in the 2008 presidential elections. Racism is still rampant in U.S. with existing stereotypes towards certain races, which determines the voter preference towards candidates of certain races. The stereotypes as well as racial prejudice played a major role in the 2008 election where Obama attain most of his votes from the minority groups. The wealthy people are more likely to vote for a republican candidate, the middle class be quite divided while the poor who fall in the lower class are likely to vote for a democrat. In terms of religion, Catholics and some Protestants are likely to vote for a republican since republicans are conservative on social issues and oppose issues such as gayism. Racially, most minority groups such as Hispanic, Asians, and black Americans voted for Obama in the 2008. Gender wise, most women are democrats as compared to men who tend to be divided between democrat and republican. Women prefer Democratic Party since it addresses issues such as education and health. The rich who are mainly businesspersons tend to be republican while working class are more of democrats. For campaign purposes, it is recommendable that candidates be aware of the different needs from the different groups. It is thus important for candidates to be conversant with the distribution of different groups in different regions when designing their campaign proposals. Works Cited "Religion in the 2008 Presidential Election." PewResearchCenter Publications (2010): Web. . Alexander, Jeffrey. The Performance of Politics:Obama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power: Obama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power. London: Oxford Bobo, Lawrence and Michael Dawson. "A Change Has Come: Race, Politics, and the Path to the Obama Pressidency." Du Bois Review: Social Science Research On Race, Vol 6 (1) (2009): 1-14. Burnham, Linda. "Changing The Race: Racial Politics and the Election of Barack Obama." Applied Research Center (2009): 1-86. Espinosa, Gaston. Religion, Race, and Barack Obama's New Democratic Pluralism. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print. Frey, William. How Did Race Affect the 2008 Presidential Election? Michigan: Population Studies Center Research Report 09-688, 2009. Gelman, Andrew, Lane Kenworthy and Yu-Sung Su. "Income Inequality and Partisan Voting in the Unite States." Social Science Quarterly, Vol 91, No. 5 (2010): 1203-1219. Hirschl, Thomas, et al. "Politics, Religion, and Society: Is the United States Experiencing a Period of Religious-Political Polarization?" Review of European Studies; Vol. 4, No. 4 (2012): 95-109. Hirschl, Thomas, James Booth and Leland Glenna. "The Link Between Voter Choice and Religious Identity in ContemporarySociety: Bringing Classical Theory Back In." Social Science Quarterly, Volume 90, Number 4, (2009): 927-944. Huddy, Leonie and Tony Carey. "Group Politics Redux: Race and Gender in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primaries." Politics & Gender, Vol 5(1) (2009): 81-96. Hugo, Mark. "Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History." Pew Research Center (2009): Online: Web. . Jeffrey, Jones. "The Gender Gap and Other Divides in the 2008 Election." Gallup Politics (2009): Web. . Logan, John, Jennifer Darrah and Sookhee Oh. "The Impact of Race and Ethnicity, Immigration and Political Context on Participation in American Electoral Politics." Social Forces (2012): doi: 10.1093/sf/sor024. Web. . Medvic, Stephen. Campaigns and Elections: Players and Processes. New York: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Teixeira, Ruy. "Demographic Change and the Future of the Parties." Center for American Progress Action Fund (2010): 1-45. Wald, Kenneth, Calhoun-B and Allison rown. Religion & Politics in U S 5ed. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Print. Read More