2016 Presidential Election Analysis

The percentage of African-Americans and Hispanics who voted in 2008 for the Democratic party was significantly higher than in the 2000 or 2004 election. This graph depicts how the percentage of African-Americans who voted in 2008 (Barak Obama) increased from 88% in 2004 to 95% in 2008. The percentage of Hispanics who voted for the Democratic party from 2004 to 2008 also jumped 14%. A reason for this increase in voter turnout is because Hispanic and African-American voters felt that Barak Obama, the Democratic Presidential candidate, was more capable of solving the problems these minorities felt than a Republican candidate would be.

After the American states drafted the Constitution, there were conflicting ideas concerning how the states should be governed. Some believed that a strong federal government should wield most of the governing powers, but there was another group that opposed a strong federal government. This group, known as the Republicans, believed that the majority of governing powers should reside in state legislatures. Republicans felt that the powers of the federal government should be limited, and the Republicans believed that the Constitution supported this idea.

FIRST QUESTION: “Prior to the Civil War the Republican Party was against slavery, and so after the Civil War ended most freed African Americans supported the Republican Party and were against the Democratic Party, which during the Civil War supported slavery. Over the course of more than a hundred years this would change, and most African Americans would vote for Democratic candidates.” For much of the late 1800s and early 1900s the parties experienced minor changes which eventually led to the parties becoming similar. In 1932 FDR, a Democrat, won nearly 70% of the African American vote thanks to his stance against lynching and poll tax. Southern Democrats, however, did not like these stances.

The swing toward the democrats started with the election of Franklin delonar Roosevelt in 1932 when he garnered an amazing, 71% of the black vote. While the sucess of FDR was amazing, it wasn’t until Harry Truman ran for Preesident in 1948 securing 77 percent of the black vote. Exit polling showed that for probably the first time in American politics a majority of

The Electoral College consists of elected representatives (electors) that vote for the president and vice president of the United States. Every state has a number of presidential electors that meet in their respective state capitals in December following popular presidential election. The number of presidential electors each state gets depends on the state’s population. The number of electors is exactly the same as the total number of the state’s senators, which is based on population, plus the number of its representatives in congress (Bromwich, 2016). California has the most electoral votes (55) and nine states have the minimum of three votes (Distribution, 2016).

There have been many indications that lead to conclude that African Americans vote differently than those of the Caucasian race. From past knowledge and own understanding, many black citizens have a tendency to vote democratic, especially in the recent presidential elections. On page three of a ProQuest Dissertation done by Leonard David Thomas, he states, “… that for blacks there has been a long term and consistent struggle (i.e. social movements)” (Thomas 2010). Based on self interpretation, these struggles may have a reason on the way they vote and identify as a race. In America, there have been many issues with slavery and racism, creating a “race-based” ideology platform with more democratic views, wanting the government to have less social order on their lives. Leonard David Thomas also explained, “Racial domination means that based on race, individual and group movement are controlled. For the controlled, full participation in society is restricted. Roles and activities are determined by stereotypes and norms that sort people of color into less powerful positions. In addition, dominated groups organize to oppose their domination. By interpreting the social system as radicalized, the focus must be on the social structure” (Thomas 2010). This statement explains that, since the African American race has been oppressed and made feel lesser in politics, usually creating them to be Democratic and more liberal, or even making them less likely to vote in elections

The election of 2016 was an event that brought out the worst in Americans. Joanne B. Freeman describes that the constant arguing between voters and the persistent burlesquing between candidates in the most recent election is not all that different than the 1800 election. Both elections also used forms of media of the time to gain votes. The media of 1800 were newspapers, rather than instagram posts and tweets. I agree with these notions and that the election of 1800 is not a “stepping-stone to modern party politics”. I think this way as well. The two elections are extremely different because the recent election was majority focused on the two-party system, while the 1800 election came down to two candidates of the same, democratic-republican,

Even after the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment, African Americans were “disenfranchised in the South by intimidation and electoral trickery, including whites-only primaries, rigged literacy tests, and poll taxes” (Patterson 2011, p. 180). The Freedom Riders rode through the South, enduring harassment and imprisonment to encourage other African Americans to vote. Voter turnout in African American communities is greatly encouraged. Personally, coming from an African American family, I was strongly encouraged by my parents and grandparents to vote when I was of legal age. My family instilled the importance of voting in me at a very young age. Although voter turnout among African Americans is still fairly low, in the 2008 presidential election African Americans had the second highest voter turnout, behind non-Hispanic Caucasians (African Americans, n.d.). Race can influence voter turnout because with African Americans specifically, although rates are getting better, they are still not high.

Ever since Lincoln's emancipation proclamation, African-Americans had been Republican. The GOP was the party of Lincoln, the party that had given them the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. The Republican Party supported blacks, whereas the Democrat Party was the party of the South, and the Southern, White plantation owner. To the black community, the Republican Party represented "the high-minded, idealistic, God-fearing people," whereas Democrats "dabbled in influence-peddling and vice" (Weiss 1983: 3). All blacks knew where to lay their loyalties -- with the party

However, Secretary Clinton must find ways to preserve this level of support. African American voter turnout had record highs of 65% and 66% in ’08 and ’12 respectively (Walter,1). While this turnout was a piece of a larger trend, the chance to vote for the first black President could have overinflated these numbers. Obama pulled down 95% and 93% of the black vote in the general elections, and Sec. Clinton must find a way to replicate those results. She will not have the support based on shared demographics that the president benefitted from. The secretary is a rich white woman and that demographic difference from her predecessor will require her to find different ways to connect to this voting bloc. Specifically, she will need to run a color conscious campaign, in contrast to the relatively color blind campaigns that the President ran.

(Photo from news.gallup.com ) As you can see on the chart African Americans side more with republicans in social issues than democrats, the only exception being in the subject of the death penalty. If this is the case then why do African Americans vote majority democratic one may ask. Well, the history of republicanism has changed dramatically over time. The Republican Party started with Abraham Lincoln who actually freed the slaves.

The year 1964 marked the official beginning of the realignment of the black population. The Republican party previous to this year never officially made a stance on race, so it was never considered a partisanship issue, until now. The political decisions of Goldwater, Nixon, and Reagan solidified the black democratic partisanship, as well as the Southern white republican partisanship. As the years have past the black democratic partisanship has become a racially polarized and the republicans have given up on achieving a higher black vote in elections. But maybe they should reconsider giving up and try a different approach that lets them keep their southern white vote and expand on the black vote that they are getting.

During the 2012 presidential elections, many of the vote turnout rates revealed that the minority vote was the most decisive and important vote for the election. In fact, the minority vote, in 2012, was accredited for Barrack Obama’s presidential incumbency. An example analysis of the aforementioned statement was shown in the Minority Turnout Determined the 2012 Election article by William H. Frey. In his article Frey reports that “[the] increased minority turnout was indeed responsible for Obama’s win in the 2012 election… during this period, the (typically Democratic leaning) combined Black and Hispanic electorate rose to approach nearly quarter of eligible voters” (The Brookings Institution). Frey’s research helps illustrate how crucial,

There are roles played both in race and gender played within the presidential election. The Republican party has not done well in the African American community compared the Democratic Party specifically for the Obama Presidential Candidacy. The volume number of voters, mainly colored, came to support in 2012 showing African Americans supported Republicans at 11%, and now it has shifted to Democrats at 80% after the "New Deal". African Americans did not vote for people who had the same identity as them. There was no popularity within the Latino race whatsoever. It is not about race or gender, but now as of 2016 is is. Everyone's vote should be counted the same, because we as humans are created

Since Ancient Greece, humans have strived to be truly democratic, to have an equal say in society. Although after the collapse of the Greek City-States, the oldest standing democracy title falls to the United States (Hauer). Our system is built on a representative democracy. These representatives are elected by the people and this simple election process should be a standard throughout. However, the presidential election is more complicated. Every four years it seems the reasoning behind such a system becomes less and less clear. With the election of Donald Trump, people are angrier than ever due to the nature of his victory (Park). How did he win the election? He won the electoral college but lost popular vote by two million (Wolf). He took