The Role of Political Parties, the News Media, and the Public’s Opinion on American Politics

The article from the New York Times, “In Florida, a Chance for Democrats to Win One Back”, explains how Gwen Graham, the Democratic candidate for Congress, is competing against the Republican candidate, Steve Southerland Ill Ms, Graham is the daughter of Bob Graham, a well-known and liked Senator and governor, who increasingly supports her at various fundraisers and rallies, saying “Washington needs more women like Gwen Graham” The district in which the challengers are trying to win, is considered a ‘tossvup’ among many Congressional analysts, even though Mr, Southerland has three strong areas of support on his side: the people‘s dislike towards President Obama, the resistance to the Affordable Health Care Law and the increasing desire to vote Republican.

The role of political parties, the news media and the public‘s opinion on American politics are revealed in depth in this article, The role of political parties is important when discussing American politics because it allows people to understand and see various ways to solve problems, most of which are at complete opposite sides of the spectrum (Kollman 2014, 173) Mr. Southerland sees job creation in a different light as Ms Graham, who is assumed to “shrug it of ” (Alvarez 1) The two also differ in views over the health care law. The Congressional elections are significant to the understanding of American politics, because without them, people would not be put in office to create legislation, or vote on ideas and the numerous other things that are done within Congress alone, Elections are essentially the starting place of politics Ms, Graham mentions in the article that she is able to remain “neutral when discussing ideas,” and understands that “you are not going to get everything you want”

I feel like this is easier said than done Being a member of a specific party does not allow for much compromise, because one tries to stay true to the party beliefs, and rarely strays from it As much as a candidate is optimistic about compromise, it is very unlikely for such situations to occur. Upholding the party’s values is what provides the candidate with the structure to rally voters and supporters. The news media is a part of every aspect of American life. The people are always plugged into the news through cell phones, television, radio and the Internet, making it easy to influence ideas and perceptions of the American political system, Candidates for elections are constantly running political ads and campaigns to gain supporters, most of which shed negative light on their opponent Mrr Southerland has used this technique to link Msr Graham with the more disliked aspects of her campaign, such as the promotion of the health care law.

He has also joined her image with President Obama and Nancy Pelosi, figures that are not well-liked within the district. Msl Graham is not new to such use of the media, because she also used it against her opponent She used an invitation sent out by Mrr Southerland for an all-male function, as a means to say he was not a supporter of women’s rights and equality, This use of the media is aggravating to most people, because they do not want to see all the negatives of the candidates Making mistakes is what humans do, but they should not be known for it. Media is a great way to get one’s message out to a mass number of people, but it should be better planned as to what goes out, If it was used primarily to promote one’s self and ideas, I believe there would be a better response among voters in elections.

People want to hear more about how a candidate is going to fix a problem, rather than how the opponent messed up in the past The public‘s opinion on American politics is displayed in many ways, but highlighted in the articles Understanding how the people view politics when running for an election can help the candidate in a number of ways. It gives the person the ability to create better campaign ideas and messages, allows them to highlight different topics and problems seen as important among the area This also ties into understanding the demographics of the area in which the candidate is running. Knowing the different questions he/she will be faced with can be helpful in preparing the speeches and counter-arguments for problems that could arise.

In order for the Democratic candidate to win the election, analysts are saying she needs to win over the ones who continuously voted for Mr. Southerland in past elections. Knowing this gives Ms. Graham an idea on how to grab these people’s attention and to draw them over. Ms, Graham has a lot of support among the district, however, with the majority of registered voters being female and/or Democratic (Alvarez 1) Understanding the American political system requires a great deal of analyzing the way things run in day to day life within the government. Noticing patterns, as with how people vote and which ways they sway on various topics, enables people to predict how elections will run and most likely the outcome The role of political parties, media and the public‘s opinion all contribute to understanding the system, and getting the most and best out of it.