“Political and Social Factors that Impact AmericanAmericans' Voting Behavior”
What factors have had an impact on AmericanAmericans' voting behavior in presidential elections in the last 30 years? American presidential elections have changed significantly in the last 30 years, as increased technology has widened candidate exposure through social media, television interviews, and debates. As the elections have changed, political and social factors have emerged as indicators of Americanthe Americans' voting behavior.
The first part of this paper focuses on the political factors that impact AmericanAmericans' voting behavior, and is split into two sections: social policies and economic policies. Social policies include education and social exclusion policies. Economic policies include taxes, Social Security, and disability benefits. Evidence from polling on American values shows that these policies are important to American voters.
The second part of this paper focuses on the social factors that impact AmericanAmericans' voting behavior. The second part of this paper is also split into three sections: wealth, demographics, and region of residence. Demographics includes race, age, level of education, and gender. RegionThe region of residence section will discuss states that can generally can be guaranteed to vote along party lines.
Salient issues and election context are important control variables to consider. In addition to constituentsconstituents' voting behavior being impacted by candidate poolpools and current issues, the candidate’scandidates' behavior can be impacted as well. This paper will show that both political factors and social factors are strong indicators of AmericanAmericans' voting behavior in the last 30 years.