Becoming Informed Voter

Texas Politics. The University of Texas at Austin, Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services, 2009. Retrieved from http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/6_printable.html

From the District Election Report (HOUSE DISTRICT 115-PLANH358 2016 General Election), data showed except the position of “President”, which 51.5% voted for Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton, won over Republican candidate Donald Trump, with all other positions including U.S. Rep, Sup Ct, CCA, and State Rep 115, Republican candidates won over Democratic candidates in this district.

DeLauro ran for the open seat and defeated Republican State Senator Thomas Scott 52% to 48%. She has never faced another election so close, and has been reelected twelve times, never going below 63% of the vote. This past election in 2016, DeLauro was up against Republican candidate Angel Cadena, but DeLauro was re-elected with 69% of the vote.

In 2012, President Obama secured his 2nd term in the oval against his opponent Mitt Romney. The voter turnout was not as high as it was in 2008 but minority voters turned out in voted in such high numbers again. According to pew research, minority votes determined the 2012 election.

Should Campbell focus on his stance on healthcare and women’s rights, he could lose a large portion of republicans willing to cross party lines. Women’s access to family planning and abortions is a very divisive issue between the parties and could easily be an issue that defines a voter’s party ID. Within this topic he also difficulty ahead in the large portion of Texans that remain uninsured. Since this will be Kling’s first elected office it will be difficult to directly connect him to the Affordable Care Act but his support of it could also injure his republican sway votes. As a democrat, support of a woman’s right to choose is something he will have to stand up for should Campbell attack him for his stance, Supporting this right may be divisive but framing it as an issue of equality and rights may decrease the backlash from pro-lifers on Kling’s swing

The 1920 presidential was a significant piece of history for many reasons. The roaring 1920 election had many rising issues in concurrence. There were many controversial topics such as a recent prohibition of alcohol, the fear of communism, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. In these very difficult times, America encounters one of the most revealing elections in United States. This election comes post-WWI and one of the most liberal ideological presidents in the United States history, President Woodrow Wilson.

By the mid-1990s, the Republican Party has become the dominant party of Texas. “Republicans continued to erode – if unevenly – the Democratic Party's dominance of state politics over succeeding years, as this chapter's feature on The Rise of the Republican South illustrates. The Republican Party reached a summit of sorts in 1998, when it won all 27 state-wide offices. Just two years earlier in 1996, Republicans won control of the Texas Senate with a slim majority (17 of 31 seats) and have held control in subsequent elections.” (n, d) Gov. Rick Perry (Rick Perry) was held a special session of the legislature in the summer of 2003, which led the final democratic unity broke. As well as a new map passed, and seemed to give Republican candidates an opportunity to get up to seven more seats. Thus, it was the last step for the rise of the Republican Party in Texas

DeLauro ran for the open seat and defeated Republican State Senator Thomas Scott 52% to 48%. She has never faced another election so close, and has been reelected twelve times, never going below 63% of the vote. This past election in 2016, DeLauro was up against Republican candidate Angel Cadena, but DeLauro was re-elected with 69% of the vote.

The main competitor to Huffman was the Republican, Dan Roberts. However, due to the recent redistricting, the district lines were drawn in a way that made it almost impossible for a Republican to win the nomination. Because most of the population in California’s 2nd District were in the Southern region, which is staunchly Democrat, Huffman would easily win the election. In a landslide election, Huffman won 71.24% of the votes, a huge margin of 42.49% of the vote. Similarly, in 2014 and 2016, Huffman, up against Dale Mensing, would win the election by an ever-larger percentage of votes. Notably, the 2016 election, which saw a record turnout of 330,766 for the district, Huffman won 76.75% of the vote, wiping the floor with his Republican

The final thing to look at in terms of party competition in Texas is straight-ticket voting. Between 1978 and 1996 the main two-party competition between straight-ticket voters was in the Big 6 counties, although some of the suburbs were towards a one-party direction (Thornburn 208). On the other hand, since 1998, the Republican's one-party dominance has led them to gain most of the straight-ticket voters across the state. The biggest fluctuations have happened in the state’s Big 6 counties between 1998 and 2012, going back and forth between Republican and Democrat, but El Paso and Travis county have stayed mostly Democratic while Tarrant county has stayed mostly Republican. However, in 2012, only one of the counties, Caldwell, “gave more

After completing this project, I learned how hard it is to be an active voter. Finding the information and understanding it is hard for an average citizen, so I believe creating a source for citizens of a particular county or state to find all of the information regarding the election would be very helpful. I am already a mass communications major, so I can use the skills I acquire in school to create the source.

Senator John Cornyn has been in public office for 28 years. Cornyn is described as a “powerful voice for conservative values in Washington” (Biography:John Cornyn , n.d.). Cornyn’s liberal and conservative voting scores seem to prove this statement to be

Voting is very essential and one of the easiest methods to influence public policy. You just need to be registered, and go to a polling station. It is simple because the government encourages people to vote, to hear a broad range of opinions. It is a form of direct democracy because when you vote, it directly affects the side or issue you support. Your vote is one more supporting opinion for a candidate or issue that is counted. Some people may think that their vote won’t make a big difference, but if you look at it from another perspective it can impact smaller and local issues. Although voting is imperative because you are given this privilege at the age of 18, it is not the end of one’s ability to influence government, but rather the beginning.

One of the most influential powers of a citizen is exercising he or she’s right to vote. It is important for he or she to become an informed voter, because the countries next leader, who can make huge decisions, is in their hands. In order to become an informed voter, citizens should research the candidates, watch the debates, and keep an open mind.

Many political science researchers study the forces that drive the vote. One of the earliest, and most well known, books about election studies is The American Voter. Written in 1960, the book tries to explain a model that describes what drives Americans to vote the way they do. The model suggests that social factors determine ones party identification, which determines one's issue positions and evaluation of candidate's characteristics. These forces all work together to determine how one will vote. This model may or may not still hold true today, as political researchers are not in agreement as to what exactly drives the vote. One thing that does remain true, however, is that factors such as social groups, party identification, issues,