Political Science

Why do so few Americans vote
Data obtained from researches indicates that when it comes to elections, very few of the qualified citizens of the United States actually cast their votes. This is surprising bearing in mind that universal adult suffrage and equal political participation is one of the key principles of democracy. Surveys have been carried out to obtain the reason behind this trend and the reason behind the reluctance of those eligible to vote but are still not registered.

In the last elections, the expectation was that there was going to be a higher tan usual voter turnout, but the participation numbers where not satisfactory. This has been the trend for a long period of time. In 1972, the movie The Candidate thematically attempted to explain this. In it, the downside of American politics was highlighted. The emphasis on the role of money on a candidates success as well as his image rather than the vision and insight puts into office individuals who do not have clear policies to implement.

More than a third of infrequent voters claim they fail to vote or register as voters because they are too busy. During the last general election, only a meager 40 percent of the eligible citizens actually voted. The final derivative is that most Americans have become hopelessly pessimistic and exhibit a chronic dissatisfaction with the government of the day, or maybe there is a deficiency of sufficiently suitable candidates.

This lack of participation in the political process should be discouraged. Voting is the core value of a democratic system. If people fail to vote, they are missing out on the privilege of determining their political representatives. Consequently, those wielding power are not the genuine representatives of the people, and therefore the policy stands they take will not reflect the opinion of the masses (Cheers.org, 2009). To avoid the scenario of citizens endlessly complaining about government decisions, people should take charge, go to the polls and express their preference of candidates. In this way, government will be fully representative.