ELECTIONS
The American public participates less in politics than the supposed democratic ideal. The recent 2020 Presidential elections do not explain this because many Americans turned out to vote on the election day, and millions of voters voted by mail. In the 2020 elections, compared to any other elections in more than 100 years, many Americans turned out to vote. Over 65% of the eligible voters voted, a figure that is believed to have never happened before. This figure supposed the record set in 2008 when John McCain was defeated by Barack Obama and in 1960 when John F. Kennedy defeated Richard Nixon. In over 40 states, this record surpassed compared to the previous elections. This simply means that in the 2020 elections, the American public participated more in politics as they are supposed by the democratic ideal. Besides, in the battleground states, the turnout was very high where the expectations of a close contest appeared to encourage and boost the voter’s participation. For example, in Texas, the record set in 1992 was broken by more than 5% points, even though the restriction of access to mail-in ballots was majorly encouraged. In the state of Minnesota, the turnout nearly reached a percentage of 80. It is projected that the turnout of the 2020 elections will be the highest to have ever happened since the elections of 1900, where more than 73.7% of eligible American voters cast their ballots.
Nonetheless, over a century ago, the United States of America had a much smaller voting pool. The Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Women were not able to vote because they did not have the right to vote. Back then, voters being eligible to cast their ballot didn’t necessarily translate to voting. This was when the American public participated less in politics than the supposed democratic ideal. Also, another cause of the fall of the turnout was the expansion of the American electorate. But in the 2020 elections, this changed because the turnout was very high. The reason for this was that, nationally, more than a third of the American voters said the most important issue that was the deciding factor on who they were chosen as their president between Joe Biden and President Donald Trump was the economy. Others said that what motivated them to turn out in large numbers was the coronavirus pandemic. Others said racial inequality encouraged them to turn out and cast their ballot.
Lastly, the American public participates less in politics than the supposed democratic ideal. This explains the most recent 2020 Presidential elections. In elections, there are always many ways in which the honesty of the elections is always affected. And this facilitates many Americans participating less in politics. Always, there are numerous ways in which the voters are prevented from casting their votes. The voters can be deterred, for example, through intimidation and physically barred from accessing the voting sites. Other threats experienced by the American voters in several states include gerrymandering and campaign disinformation, which always affects the election’s integrity and fairness. Another example is that remote voters are always discouraged from participating in politics by disrupting internet or mail service that adversely affects them (James at al., 2020).