Political Parties Mobilize Voters To Win Elections ✓ Solved
Political Parties Mobilize Voters To Win Elections And Implement Polic
Political parties mobilize voters to win elections and implement policy goals. Parties use their stated policy goals (i.e., their platforms) as a way to mobilize voter support. Generally, in order to be successful in a two-party system, parties must have policy goals across a broad range of issue areas to appeal to a broad range of voters. Before writing your initial post, review the assigned resources. To easily access the resources from the Ashford University Library, please see the table located in the Course Materials section.
For this discussion, you will identify one issue area that you want to investigate. Use the assigned resources required for this discussion to gather information about the goals and proposals, in that issue area, of three political parties – the Democratic and Republican parties and a third party. In your initial post of at least words, summarize each of the three parties’ policy goals in your issue area. Compare and contrast the parties' goals in that area. Evaluate each party's goals from two perspectives: Your own political philosophy, values or ideology.
How effective each party's goals are likely to be in mobilizing voters to support the party's candidates on the national level. In making your assessment from this perspective, consider what influence the factors which underlie the two-party system have on each party's ability to use its policy proposals to generate voter support. Justify your conclusions with facts and persuasive reasoning. Fully respond to all parts of the question. Write in your own words.
Support your position with APA citations to two or more of the assigned resources required for this discussion. Please be sure that you demonstrate understanding of these resources, integrate them into your argument, and cite them properly.
Sample Paper For Above instruction
The dynamic nature of American political parties fundamentally influences how they mobilize voters, especially through their policy proposals within specific issue areas. For this analysis, the issue of healthcare policy serves as a critical example to compare and contrast the goals of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the Green Party, and to evaluate their effectiveness in voter mobilization based on their policy stances and the two-party system's influence.
The Democratic Party's Healthcare Goals
The Democratic Party generally advocates for expanded government involvement in healthcare, emphasizing initiatives such as the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which aims to increase access to affordable health insurance and regulate insurance providers more strictly (Manza & Cook, 2020). Democrats support policies that extend Medicaid, introduce public option plans, and prioritize universal coverage. Their overarching goal is to reduce the number of uninsured Americans and address healthcare disparities rooted in socioeconomic inequities (Smith, 2019). This approach appeals to voters who value social justice, universal access, and government intervention as solutions to healthcare inequality.
The Republican Party's Healthcare Goals
In contrast, the Republican Party emphasizes reducing federal involvement in healthcare, advocating for market-based solutions that promote competition and choice (Kernell, 2018). Republicans typically support repealing or scaling back Obamacare, favoring measures such as extending Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and promoting private insurance options (Gaffney, 2021). Their goal is to foster a free-market healthcare system that improves quality and reduces costs through deregulation. This aligns with the values of individual liberty, personal responsibility, and limited government, which resonate with conservative voter bases.
The Green Party’s Healthcare Goals
The Green Party takes a more radical stance, advocating for a single-payer healthcare system modeled after systems in Canada and Europe. Their platform emphasizes universal coverage as a human right, with significant investments in public health infrastructure and environmental health policies that connect environmental sustainability with healthcare (Green Party Platform, 2023). The Green Party's goals appeal to progressive voters who prioritize social justice, environmental health, and the reduction of corporate influence in healthcare policymaking.
Comparison and Contrast of Goals
While all three parties aim to improve healthcare, their methodologies and ideological foundations differ significantly. The Democrats focus on expanding government programs to cover more Americans, aligning with centrist or liberal values of social safety nets. The Republicans prioritize free-market reforms, emphasizing individual choice and minimal government intervention, reflecting conservative principles. The Green Party advocates for a systemic overhaul towards publicly funded healthcare, emphasizing social justice and environmental health, which appeals to progressive voters seeking fundamental change beyond incremental reforms.
Evaluation of Effectiveness in Voter Mobilization
The effectiveness of each party in mobilizing voters largely depends on the resonance of their policies with their base and the structural factors inherent in the two-party system. The Democratic proposal of expanding access and addressing health disparities appeals to liberal-leaning voters, including minorities and low-income groups, potentially mobilizing them to support Democratic candidates (Jenkins & Kuo, 2020). Conversely, Republican policies emphasizing deregulation and personal responsibility foster strong support among conservative and rural voters who prioritize free-market solutions (Kernell, 2018).
The Green Party’s radical reform stance attracts a niche but passionate segment of progressive voters who feel the existing two-party framework does not address systemic inequalities. However, its limited presence in national elections hampers its capacity to mobilize a broader electorate, constrained by the two-party system's structural dominance and the "spoiler" effect that discourages votes for third parties (Rosenblatt, 2022).
The two-party system, rooted in historical and institutional factors such as the Electoral College and single-member districts, constrains third-party influence and favors parties with established infrastructures. Consequently, while each party’s policy goals can energize its base, the two-party structure limits the Green Party's capacity for nationwide mobilization compared to the Democratic and Republican parties, which benefit from established networks, funding, and ballot access (Levitt & Mowrey, 2017).
In conclusion, policy proposals tailored to core values and socio-political identities significantly influence voter mobilization. The Democratic and Republican parties effectively mobilize their respective bases through issues aligned with their ideological principles, reinforced by the structural advantages of the two-party system. Third parties like the Green Party face notable challenges but remain vital for representing alternative visions, highlighting ongoing debates about reforming electoral structures to increase political diversity and voter engagement.
References
- Gaffney, M. (2021). The politics of health care reform. Journal of Contemporary Health Policy, 3(1), 45-52.
- Green Party Platform. (2023). Green Party of the United States. https://www.gp.org/platform
- Jenkins, S., & Kuo, S. (2020). Voter mobilization and health policy issues. American Political Science Review, 114(2), 567-580.
- Kernell, S. (2018). The evolution of health policy in America. Oxford University Press.
- Levitt, J. L., & Mowrey, T. D. (2017). Third-party challenges in American politics. Journal of Political Science, 61(4), 842-855.
- Manza, J., & Cook, F. L. (2020). The politics of policymaking in health care. Cambridge University Press.
- Rosenblatt, T. (2022). The electoral prospects of third parties. Electoral Studies, 75, 102481.
- Smith, J. (2019). American health policy: The politics of reform. Routledge.