Political Participation

Question 1

Introduction

Answer 1

In the US citizens are given many opportunities to participate in politics. The rights of all Americans are enshrined in the constitution, especially in Amendments 1-10 which are called the Bill of Rights. Participation of citizens includes voting, protesting, joining a political party, and joining an interest group. This gives Americans a wide range of opportunities to put forward their views. This essay will argue that Americans do participate in politics, however participation can sometimes be limited.

Question 2

Protest (KNOWLEDGE 1)

Answer 2

Citizens are able to participate in US politics by protesting. This is when citizens take action to voice their objection to policies/actions taken by the government and demand change.

This is evident as the Black Lives Matter protests that began after the death of George Floyd on 25th May 2020, demanded cities to ‘defund the police’, which did occur in areas such as Portland, Philadelphia and Seattle where funds were diverted to schools and housing, according to the Guardian in 2021.

Question 3

Protest (KNOWLEDGE 2)

Answer 3

However, the ability to participate in politics through protesting is limited due to the public risk and bad press received. This can be seen because protests can potentially result in damage to public property and this affects the opinions of potential supporters.

This is evident as the public support for the BLM movement dropped from 67% in June 2020 to 55% in September 2020 according to the Pew Research Report, published September 27th 2021, along with the $1-2 billion dollars in damage due to looting and rioting reported by Axios (2021).

Question 4

Protest (evaluation)

Answer 4

In evaluation, citizens are able to participate in politics in the US through protesting to an extent. On one hand many Americans can use protest as a valid method of making political change as can be seen from the positive change caused by the BLM protests in America. Nevertheless, these protests can often result in violence which leads to a loss in support which prevents many Americans from using protests as a way of effectively participating in politics.

Question 5

Interest groups (KNOWLEDGE 1)

Answer 5

Citizens in the US are able to participate in politics by joining an interest group. This can be seen by citizens who join interest groups as they share the same interests and seek to influence politics.

This is evident as according to the National Rifle Association (NRA) website in 2021, the National Rifle Association had 5.5 million members.

Question 6

Interest groups (KNOWLEDGE 2)

Answer 6

However, US citizens are only able to participate by joining an interest group to an extent as corruption can compromise the strength of pressure group participation. This can be seen as an issue as interest groups can lose credibility when involved in, or suspected of being involved in, ill-reputed activity.

This is evident as in 2021 the NRA were ‘on borrowed time’ (as argued by CNN in 2021) after a year of lawsuits, investigations, and personal embarrassments stemming from allegations of huge mismanagement of the organisation.

Question 7

Interest groups (evaluation)

Answer 7

In evaluation, citizens are able to participate in politics by joining an interest group, but only to a limited extent. While many interest groups, like the NRA, lever significant participation and influence through very high membership levels, nevertheless they can become corrupt, meaning US citizens have less of an impact on politics due to the loss of confidence in their intentions as pressure groups.

Question 8

Joining a political party (KNOWLEDGE 1)

Answer 8

Citizens in the US can participate in politics by joining a political party or voicing their support for a political party. This can be seen as by joining or voicing support of a political party, US citizens are able to participate in politics by having a political voice.

This is evident as Statista cites that 46% of US citizens identified they were leaning towards the Democrats in 2021, compared to 43% for the Republicans.

Question 9

Joining a political party (KNOWLEDGE 2)

Answer 9

However, evidence shows that participation through supporting political parties in the US has dipped in recent years. This can be seen by looking at recent opinion polls in the USA which shows a reduction in political support, albeit marginal, for Democrats.

This is evident in a report by Statista in 2022 which showed the Democrats fell from 48% to 46% between 2020-22.

Question 10

Joint a political party (evaluation)

Answer 10

In evaluation, US citizens can participate in politics by joining a political party or voicing their support for a political party, to an extent. While a significant 9/10 US citizens have positively voiced a political affiliation to a party in 2022, nevertheless this level of participation has been somewhat compromised in the last year as we have seen a reduction by 2% in political affiliation amongst those supporting the Democrats over the last 2 years.

Question 11

Voting in elections (KNOWLEDGE 1)

Answer 11

Another way US citizens can participate in politics in the US can be through voting in elections. This can be seen in elections where people are able to use mail-in ballots to send in their vote.

This is evident as according to census.org, 40% of votes from the 2020 presidential election were cast by mail-in ballots, compared to 23% of mail-in ballots cast in 2016.

Question 12

Voting in elections (KNOWLEDGE 2)

Answer 12

However, American citizens are only able to participate in voting to an extent due to the closure of polling stations. This can be seen as an issue as many citizens rely on polling stations across the US to cast their vote.

This is evident as over 220 polling stations closed in Georgia since 2012, according to the Guardian in 2018.

Question 13

Voting in elections (evaluation)

Answer 13

In evaluation, US citizens can participate in politics in the US through voting in elections only to an extent. Although there have been greater levels of participation through voting via mail-in ballots which has enhanced democracy, nevertheless, significant closures of polling stations across many US states such as Georgia has fundamentally compromised US citizens ability to full access the right to participate in voting.

Question 14

Standing for election (KNOWLEDGE 1)

Answer 14

Citizens are able to participate in politics by standing for election at a federal, state or local level. This can be seen by examining the variety of political backgrounds previous US presidents have come from.

This is evident when comparing Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign in 2020 with no previous political experience to Joe Biden’s win in 2020 backed by 51 years of political experience.

Question 15

Standing for election (KNOWLEDGE 2)

Answer 15

However, it could be perceived that some US citizens’ participation by standing elections is limited by their ethnic background. This is shown by the disproportionately large number of White elected officials in the Senate compared to the ethnic diversity of the population.

This is evident as 68% of Senate members are White Americans compared to 64% of the population.

Question 16

Standing for election (evaluation)

Answer 16

In evaluation, US citizens can influence and participate in politics through standing for election to a certain extent. While on one hand there is evidence to support that any eligible citizen can become president regardless of political experience, this does not mitigate the clear racial disparity evident at different levels of government office, highlighting the limitation some citizens face due to their ethnicity when attempting to influence politics through standing in election.

Question 17

Conclusion

Answer 17

In conclusion, US citizens are able to participate in US politics, however only to an extent. This can be seen in many aspects of politics. While US citizens can actively protest as a valid method of making political change, especially in protests after the death of Mr Floyd which sparked Black Lives Matter protests nationally, nevertheless, these protests can often result in violence and vandalism which compromises protest as a type of participation. Likewise, while there is greater participation in US politics through voting though the use of postal ballots, especially with 4:10 ratio in the 2020 election, this does not take away from the fact that the closure of polling stations has limited US citizens right to vote.

Most strikingly however, while political participation through standing for election has seen opportunities for US citizens with or without political experience (Trump being a case in point), nevertheless, despite a more ethnically diverse Congress than ever before, we still see disparity in there being marginally more White Senators (4%) than White American population representation as of 2021. Therefore, it is clear that while there is much creditable participation in US politics by its citizens, it is nonetheless limited overall.