Political analysis
1
Political socialization refers to the process in which people develop political identities. Personal values and behaviour that influence the decisions they make and how they interact with others for the rest of their lives. Concerning politics, Americans greatly rely on the information they pick up from their families, schools and society in general.
During the early stages of development, learning occurs through observation and imitation of people who are closely involved in the child’s upbringing. Children therefore adopt the political disposition of their family members, teachers and other peers that they interact with on a regular basis (Neundorf & Smets, 2017). In the United States for instance, there only exists two dominant political parties and this greatly influences what party people are likely to side with. At a young age, majority of citizens follow the political party supported by family members and friends. Although the number of parties to choose from is low, the decision is greatly influenced by other people’s opinions and beliefs.
Although people’s core predispositions regarding politics are influenced by peers and society especially in the early stages of human development, people form their own opinions and attitudes later on in life. The influence that society, friends and schools have in determining people’s predisposition is revisited later in life as people develop their own understanding of the political environment; they live in (Pew Research, 2014). The experiences that people have combined with existing information about political parties therefore influence what political predispositions people have.
2
The complicated relationship that exists between public opinion formation and public policy outcomes is mainly because public opinion is often manipulated to affect the attitudes that people in society have on new policies before they are enacted. When used accordingly, public opinion should serve the purpose of introducing topics that should be discussed further and assist in enacting new policies (Hobley, 2012). In most communities however, elect leaders introduce new policies as public opinion to determine the kind of reception the policies will have when used to govern society.
When new policies are introduced to citizens as public opinion, it makes it difficult for representatives to identify which policies originate from the public and which were introduced by elites or influential people in society. The misrepresentation of possible policies for public opinion also limits society’s ability to share ideas and give input policies that could benefit society in general.
The complications involved when forming policies has created a system where society is governed by the elite rather than ordinary members of the community. The founders would be displeased with the approach as it denies equal opportunities to its citizens. The misrepresentation of policies as public opinion helps the elite to introduce policies that protect their interests, even at the expense of the ordinary people (Dur, 2019). Since public opinion was meant to give the ordinary people a platform to give their input, giving control to the elite defeats its purpose and is therefore goes against what the founders intended.
3
Political parties are made up of a group of individuals who share similar ideas about the scope of the government working together to meet the shared policy goals set by the parties. Members are selected to fill specific positions in the party and their responsibilities involve creating and implementing policies; furthering the party’s agenda; and managing government operations and policy making processes (Lumen, 2016). Candidates are selected to represent the party during national elections and the candidate who wins the presidential seat determines which party will control the government until the next elections.
The major function for political parties is to nominate candidates for public office and fill government positions that are responsible for running the country. Although the overall goal is to maintain the well-being of the country and all its citizens, parties rely on their own legislations and programs when governing over a country (US Embassy, 2020). Parties are also responsible for enacting policies that are passed into law and dictate how people interact with one another. The policies are influenced by public opinion, trends in society and the party’s opinion regarding the best approach to serve the public and protect their interests.
Although a lot of challenges in the government arise from the existence of parties, they are an important part of society and the situation would be worse if there were no parties. Parties hold their members accountable for the decisions they make and also limit the amount of power an individual could have (Lumen, 2016). A country with no parties would therefore be exposed to corruption, dictatorship and other vices that arise when poor leaders are placed in leadership positions.
4
The major reason why the United States has fewer political parties than most of the rest of the nations is as a result of the electoral system of congress used. In order to present a candidate for elections, candidates must first be elected by the first-past-the-post principle and only the candidate with the most votes get to represent the party during elections (Sifry, 2018). Once the general elections have been conducted, the party that nominated the candidate governs the country while the losing party gets no representation at all. The first-past-the-post approach discourages smaller parties from coming up especially because they have a lesser chance of winning and nothing as compensation for loosing.
In other countries however, elections are rather flexible and voters can vote any candidate from any party provided they follow the right procedures. Unlike in the United States where presidential elections are usually between two candidates, elections in other countries allow for multiple candidates from different parties and this encourages the emergence of more parties (Drutman, 2018). Furthermore, politicians in other countries are more willing to start new political parties or form alliances and in so doing, increase the number of political parties. In the US however, there is little input from politicians to form a new political party and this contributes to the lower number of political parties in the United States.
5
Media has a significant impact in society as it helps to shape up public opinion. Part of the media’s roles in society is to inform people about events that transpire around them. The information shared helps people develop opinions and attitudes about events and policies that exist in society (Happer & Philo, 2013). The media is however required to present unbiased information by only sharing facts. While the media does not tell people what to do, the nature in which information is covered could influence the attitudes that people have towards specific topics in society.
The media also influences the enactment of new policies that govern society. Take the Black Lives Matter movement as an example. Coverage by the media has created a platform where people can share their experiences and bring an end to discrimination and oppression on the basis of colour (Holbert et al, 2011). Coverage by the media ensures that the general public is aware of such vices in society and sparks conversations that seek to remedy such occurrences. Since policies are a product of public opinion, the media’s influence in shaping public opinion therefore contributes to the development and implementation of new policies, both direct and indirectly.
6
Spin bias
Spin bias in reporting occurs when the media or reporter favours one interpretation of a story or event and fails to give full information to allow the target audience to make unbiased conclusions. The media reporting is usually subjective and facts are presented in a way to favour one side of the story over another (Baker, 2020). In politics, bias by spin could gather support for candidates who are represented more while placing those underrepresented at a disadvantage.
Omission Bias
Omission bias on the other hand refers to occurrences where the media leaves out sensitive information that could disprove or alter people’s stand on a topic or event. The media could opt to leave out undesirable information about a politician because exposing it to the public could jeopardise their chances of being elected (Boomgaarden et al, 2017). Omission bias has far reaching consequences as it could mislead voters to side with candidates that are not worthy of being elected.
Selection of sources Bias
Bias by selection of sources occurs when the media uses more sources on one view than the other and this misleads the audience into favouring one side of the story. When one view is backed with more sources than the other, the audience is misled into thinking that the side backed by sources is more credible (Leonhardt, 2019). In politics, voters may be swayed to support one party by presenting sources to validate one party over another, placing the less covered view at a disadvantage.
7
The tripartite nature of political parties in the United States is made up of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial parts that make up the federal government. The executive branch of the United States government is administered by the president and bears the responsibility of enforcing the laws and policies made by the legislative branch. Different parties rely on their influence and ability to sway the public opinion when trying to ensure that their candidates are elected as president as this gives the party more control over processes such as enactment of policies.
The second part that makes up the tripartite is the legislative or congress and is responsible for making laws that govern the country and all its citizens. Congress is further divided into two sections, one of which is the Senate and comprises of 100 senators, two of each selected from each state in the country (Johnstone, 2005). The second section is the House of Representatives whose responsibilities include discussing ideas and opinions to determine whether they should be passed into law (Truman, 2016). The House of Representatives is made up of 435 representatives where the number of people selected to represent each state is determined by the population in each state.
The judicial part of the government comprises of the nine justices and the Supreme Court. It is made up of special judges whose responsibility involves interpreting laws to determine whether they are in line with the constitution. The justices exclusively hear cases that involve issues that relate to the constitution and are regarded as the highest court in the United States (Truman, 2016). They federal judicial systems however have smaller courts that are present in every state and hear cases regarding federal issues in their respective states.
Different parties try to have the most control over the parts that make up the tripartite as this gives the party more power and influence. The influence that each part of the tripartite has in determining election outcomes helps parties to identify regions where support is strong and regions that can easily be swayed to gain more votes. Democrats and Republicans have alternated power at a national level in the United States for the better part of the 20th century (Primo & Snyder, 2016). There are however specific states that pledge loyalty to a single party and their votes greatly influenced the candidate’s success during electoral campaigns. The south for instance has supported candidates from the Democratic Party from as early as the 1870s to the 1960 during the period governed by Jim Crow policies.
In the period between 1970 and 1980 however, the conservative Republican Party gained popularity in the region and support shifted from the democrats in the south (Mollers, 2003). Democrats however retained their influence in the region because the republicans would often vote in generational democrats. Control and influence tend to shift between the democrat and republican parties even in recent elections. In the 2010 gubernatorial elections for example, republicans were the majority leader with 53 percent of the votes while the democrats managed to get 47 percent of the total votes (Truman, 2016). Power is therefore likely to shift between the two parties until a new powerful party comes up to contest their control.
References
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