Candidate Religiosity

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In the Electoral Impact of Candidate Religiosity, the study shows that when you mention to a voter their social characteristics, they assume the candidates political orientation and that greatly affects their voting choice. The surveyors tested this out by showing the respondents descriptions of candidates that were identical except for candidate’s religion. Once the surveyors established the baseline, they then told the respondent the candidates religious affiliation. When the surveyors told the respondents that the candidate was moderately or strongly religious, support decreased among the Democrats and increased among the Republicans. When the surveyors told the respondents that the candidate was secular, support increased among the Democrats …show more content…
While younger generations tend to be more liberal and vote for the Democratic Party. Gender is another social characteristic that influence how voters categorize each other. The gender gap is a distinctive pattern of voting behavior between women and men. It shows that women, today, are more likely to support the Democratic Party, and men are more likely to support the Republican Party. In the 1920s, the roles were switched. Women favored the prohibition more than men therefore supporting the Republican party, while men were against it and favored the Democratic Party. The next social characteristics is race and ethnicity. Trends, since the 1930s, have shown that minority groups, especially Black Americans, tend to identify with the Democratic Party more than the Republican Party. Another important factor is region. Between the Civil War and the 1960s, the South was considered to support the Democratic Party. Today, the South has strongly favored the Republican Party. Different from the South, the Northeast and the states along the Pacific Coast are considered to be the areas with the greatest Democratic Party strength. Lastly, class is a factor …show more content…
Advantages of a two party political system includes stability, simplicity and the ability of the ruling party to govern from a majority position. Disadvantages would be the lack of dissenting opinions and apathy of voters due to lack of alternative and the inability of third parties to gain traction in government. In a two-party system, each party needs to appeal to a wide base of supporters. They would need to shape their platforms to accommodate the views and the desires of a significant portion of voters. As you can see in the seven-point scale, there is a handful of voters who classify as Independent because they don’t necessarily affiliate with any of the two parties, having another party alternative can be the solution to