Voting is an amazing privilege that all of us are elliable for at the age of 18. We can vote for our mayor at the state level to congressmen at the national level. Choices can be difficult to make, especially when it comes to electing a leader. Essentially, the person you select has a huge part in your life. From raising taxes to deducting public funding, there is a lot of pressure to selecting the “right” candidate. After looking at numerous polls, I discovered some of the most popular qualities people look to before making their final decision.
Party Affiliation
Are you democrat, republican or independent? Either way, most people find themselves choosing a political party and voting for who ever is on their “team”. By knowing the party, the public is able to assume what their positions are on certain issues and quickly make their decisions. For example, since republicans tend to favor policies that state run and favor corporations, a businessman might associate themselves with this party because it carters this preferences. As a result, that same person will vote for all republicans most likely in elections because he know the benefits he will receive. This person would not have to listen to the republican candidate speak because of their preconceived ideas. This affiliation applies to our lazy side simply because we are deciding to go with the team’s ideas (i.e.:our political party).
Physical Appearance
As much as we hate to admit it, looks do matter. This does not mean that the candidates must look like models in order to win, but instead must contain physical qualities exuding leadership. This can include looking slightly middle aged with grey hair to symbolize experience. This is why congressman and other electives tend to be old because voters feel as though they can trust them. Unfortunately, age can also be a double-edge sword. For example, one of the reasons why John McCain lost the 2008 election, was because he looked too old to the publics’ eye. His selection of Sarah Palin also did not reassure the audience because in their eyes, they saw Palin as the new president, which very few could truly grasp.
Ideals
Psychological stances are key for some people when voting. These positions range from the importance of family to religious affiliations. Many feel that if the candidate is close to their personal family, they can trust them and even like them as a person. Religion affiliations are crucial for others when making a decision. In fact, President Kennedy is the only American president to be catholic. This distinction raised controversy, as some questioned his loyalty to their country. Since he was Catholic, would the Pope become the leader because he is their savior? These were questions that constantly circulated, but President Kenndey will managed to win by a landslide.
First Impressions
As cliche as it sounds, everyone judges a book by it cover, but it is best to not let your first judgements dictate your decision completely. Give candidates a chance to defend themselves. This way of choice is the laziest out of all reasons to vote. We don’t even use party affiliation, we ,instead just follow our “gut” feeling. Personally I disagree with this method because emotions are illogical. At least with other techniques, it is possible to make some what of an accurate decision because there is concrete proof.
Media
The media is the most influential over the public. Based on how the media portrays certain candidates, people can easily form an opinion and decide to like them or not. There are also news channels that tend to cater to certain political parties. This also enhances and encourages party affiliation. For example, Fox News is a conservative network that panders to republican ideals.On the contrary, MSNBC is more liberal in how they report stories causing them to be favored by democrats. Either or, it is still enforcing you to always agree your political party. Since the channels are favor a side of the political spectrum, the viewers rarely receive a chance to hear the other side of the argument.
The best way to make your choice is by self diligence. Choose a candidate because you did your research and support him completely. The less effort you put into voting, the less weight your reasons are behind you complaints about the government.
I agree completely with everything you are saying; there really are many different criteria for voting. I liked the part where you mentioned age being a double edged sword as I have never seen it that way. Personally, I believe that party affiliation and ideals are the most important because that is what they believe in. The rest is almost skin deep. However, I am not one to judge because I am not that into politics and I would probably judge on the media and appearance. I liked reading your blog!
Hey, Camille! I definitely loved your article because not only did you lay out reasoning behind your analysis, but it was so in – depth. Every point you had came across as something with substance and could definitely hold up during a cross examination, haha! Especially age! When you gave the example of Mccain losing because the voters thought that maybe Sarah Palin had the chance of becoming the president, you absolutely pulled in on a factual example. There had been many polling done on that exact scenario! Great job!
You bring in some good points Camille. Next time bring in an article or another blog post that made you think about this; think about inserting yourself into an ongoing conversation and then inviting others into that as well.
I think it’s really interesting that you noted appearance as a deciding factor in politics. One of my favorite documentaries is called Miss Representation (it’s on Netflix) and it talks about how many people have a hard time seeing women and people who aren’t white in leadership positions. Appearance biases are too often left out of reasons why people choose to vote the way they do.
You bring up some very good points! What you said about the media is spot on. My father who is constantly watching FoxNews and nothing else, doesn’t truly realize that he is only seeing one side of an issue there (and when he does, he doesn’t care). In my 9th grade Civics & Government class my professor really tried to drill into us to DO OUR RESEARCH when we reached voting age. So much so, that I think I would feel guilty if I voted for candidates for their party affiliation only.
You literally described everything perfectly, I like how you told the reader the facts, and your perspective on things, a perspective I totally agree with. Personally, I’m not allowed to vote given I’m not a citizen of the United States, but If I were allowed to vote, i believe I’d vote judging the candidate the same way you said so on your post. Great!