Running Head: The Effects of the Presidential Elections towards the Nation

The Effects of the Presidential Elections towards the

Nation: A Review of Literature
Ariadne Ruiz
University of Texas at El Paso
Dr. Martin

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Abstract
This paper will be about the presidential elections and why during the resent
years they had been taken less seriously every year, by the citizens of the United States

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and on the media. In order to answer this primary question there were used four
questions that are related to the topic, the first one is the importance of the presidential
election, the second question is about how does the media encourage the citizens to
make fun of the candidates running for office, the third one was about how does taking
the election less seriously affect the wellbeing of the nation, and the last question deals
with ways to improve the low-performance on voting.
Introduction
During all of the Presidential elections, or any elections in that matter, does not matter if
it is for senators, mayors, or any other type of voting, there has always been the factor
of bad publicity for the people who are running as well as for the parties that they are
running for. However, during the last few decades some may said that this problem has
becoming much worst as technology and new forms of communication are improving.
Now it is much simpler to know much more about the candidates, and their previous life,
before they decided to run. And since the information is out there, the media principally
has been in charge of miss leading all the information available to the voter. Leaving the
voter to believe the lies and bad reputations that the media has presented about the
candidate, rather than the voter doing their own research and trying to figure out which
candidate would be the one fitted to become the new president. The purpose of this
essay is to make awareness about how the presidential elections had been taken for,
had they been given the importance that they deserve, have the citizens show respect
for this event, and have they treated this issue with seriousness, if it was need it. In
order to explain this purpose there will be used 4 questions that will lead explanations

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on how society has reacted to the elections during the last few decades. The questions
are;

How important are the presidential elections?

Does the media encourage making fun of the candidates?

How can taking the elections less seriously affect our nation?

What can be done to increase interest in presidential elections?

Like it is mention before this four questions will help answer the main question which is
if whether or not have the presidential election been taken less seriously? This topic is
relevant to all of the American society since the person that will be chosen to be their new
president would always have a significant impact on their current lifestyle, doesnt
matter if they agree with it or not, whether they change things or not, or if they are
helping build our country toward a better future, the president is the one that represents
all Americans to all the other countries in the world, and the decisions that he has taken or
will take will defined the way of the country for at least the next four years.

How important are the presidential elections?

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In order to answer the first question on how important are the presidential
elections, think first about what choosing a representative means. Imagine that that one
person along has the whole power of that nation, he or she will be taking all of the
decisions from now on, the citizens must have a full trust towards that person since in
the event of something bad happening, they need to trust that their president they
choose is going to take them into the right path again, and that he or she will be looking
after them. The president is in charge of managing crisis, the president symbolizes the
country (2015, p.3).However, the question also says, How important giving a small
window for when it is not necessary to vote. According to The Examiner By holding
your vote you require candidates to prove themselves if they wish to gain it. On the
other hand, by continuing to cast your vote for the lesser of two evils you endorse,
assist, and contribute to politicians criminal activity. (Woodruff, 2010, p.5) To
understand this think first about the candidates, and how much it is known about them.
Think on how honest they are, how moral full, are they corrupt or not? Do they have a
clear back ground? There may be different opinions about different candidates, but
most of the American society agrees on the fact that the candidates are dishonest,
corrupt, and full of lies, since they tend not to fulfill their promises, so when The
Examiner talks about the lesser of two evils it is referring to the fact that the two sides
are bad choices and that no matter which one the citizens pick it will still be a bad
choice. So The Examiner said that if the citizens hold their votes, the citizens are forcing
the candidates to understand that they are not willing to trust them, that the candidates
need to make an even bigger effort in order for the citizens to trust them again. But
there is something more that needs to be thought about first before you decide not to

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vote for anyone. If someone does not vote their issues or priorities of public budgets will
not heard in an article form Mass Vote its said if your community if truing out well
below other neighborhoods, elected officials will pay less attention, make fewer appeals
to your neighborhoods. (Crawford, 2010, p. 6) Which means that the community will not
have any improvements, since the candidates usually only care for those who actually
vote.
Does the media encourage making fun of the candidates?
During the past presidential elections media used to make fun of Obama and the now
during this campaign season and the elections that are going to be held next year they
are making fun of Thrum who is a potential candidate for the Republican Party. Is the
media only making fun of the ones that have no way of winning the elections? However,
Obama did end up winning the presidency even though many people mock his ears
such as in this example Ears. We all have them. But chances are that your ears arent
nearly as famous, or as widely discussed, as those of President Barack Obama.
(Admira, 2010, P.1Is society just plain tire of the campaign season since they all know
that no matter whom they pick nothing is going to be change for good. Are they so
disappointed of the work that the last president had made, that they have lost all hopes
that someone could change Americas problems. What had cause society to mock and
at some point hate their candidates in the way that they do?
During this campaign media has constantly presented Donald Trump as the
biggest icon for mocking. While candidates debated the economy, defunding Planned
Parenthood, deploying boots on the ground in Syria, internet-goers brought the real
issues to light, the emoji-like qualities of Donald Trump's face. (Carissimo, 2015, p.3).

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Are people even listening to what the candidates on the debate are saying, or are they
just wetting for the right time to public humiliate Trump. Why has society attract trump so
much. Is it because of what he says, his wealth, or his despite for Mexicans? In the end
it all comes down to, how he looks. The media hasnt quote anything that he has said to
mock him, they take really serious what he has said. The media hasnt complain about
his wealth ether, many other candidates have money, and they are not being mock at
the way that he is. Trump may be the only person on Twitter that it is allowed to swear
at. He is proof of the fact that the world, as it is currently constructed, is a wonderful
place for obliviously shallow narcissists. Donald didn't make that world. He just inhabits
it. But he is its perfect icon, and that is definitely a good enough reason for hate.
(Marche, 2015, 5)
How can taking the elections less seriously affect our nation?
As said at the beginning of this paper, the president is the one person who is
going to be taking all of the decisions for the country from now on, if the people within
that country start to not care about the elections, and about who is going to be
representing them, then what is going to happen to the nation wellbeing. Or may be the
ones that do care, however not the majority, make the right decisions and it ends up
beneficiating the nation.

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How much do you agree of what is being said on the media about the new presidential candidates?
Table 1
Agrees with it

Neither agrees nor disagree

32

Don't agree with it

15
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

The table above shows the results from a survey done online (A. Ruiz. Survey.
October, 25, 2015) about voting, this survey asked 54 people older than 18 their
opinion how much did they agree about what is being said on the media about the new
presidential candidates. This chart shows the different opinions that people have, for
example 7 people do agree with everything that the media has too said about the
candidates, 15 people answer that they are in complete disagreement with what the
media has too said about the candidates, however, why did almost a 60% answered
that they neither agree nor disagree with it, this they simple picked this answered
because they dont know what the media has to say, or because they simply dont care
or dont pay attention to what is being said about them. If people didnt know about how
the media expresses about the candidates because they dont use phones, they dont
watch TV, or listen to the radio, this could be and untestable answer, however, this
survey was preform on line, which means that the 100% of the people whom took this
survey had access to the internet, from there we can assume that they have access to
some kind of media, such as Facebook; (this can also be inferred because the survey

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was share on Facebook.) Whit this said, we can conclude that the people who took the
survey, are in contact and know what the media has to say about the candidates. Then
why do they dont have an opinion, about this topic, why did the 32 of the 54 people
dont bother to think about the candidates, in a way that will benefit the voter. Is it
because they show no interest in the elections. However, there is another table form the
same survey that could give us a different perspective.

Do you research the candidates before voting for them?

Table 2
No

Very Little

11

Don't Care 1
Somewhat

22

Yes

18
0

10

15

20

25

In the table above there are the results of another question asked in the some
survey about voting. This question was Do you research the candidates before voting
for them, on this question it is shown a completely different pattern about voting for
example only 2 people dont research their candidates, 11 people do very little research,
only 1 person didnt care to research their candidates, then 22 people out of 54, which is
almost half of the people that did the survey who do a somewhat research about the
candidates, this is a very large number compare to the 32 people who didnt care about
what the media has to said. So could it be that people older than 18 do their research

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about their candidates outside form the media. And even if they did, this shows that they
do care about the decisions that they are going to take, may be not much, but they do
care a little bit to do a somewhat research. And lastly there are the 18 people who do a
really good research before voting for someone, they are well prepare to give their vote
to someone, and more than that they are giving them their trust, and they trust that that
one candidate will do that is right to benefit the nation.

What can be done to increase interest in presidential elections?

It is not a mystery that in the U.S the voting participation is very low, as said in
HNN the decline includes sharp drops in primary and general elections
turnout and even steeper drops in attention to televised debates and other forms
of election communication. (Patterson, 2005, p.1) Now a days, people just dont
go out to vote any more, they simply just not pay attention to what is happening
on the campaigns. One of the reasons for not going out to vote is that United
States' voting system is rare among world democracies in that it requires voters
to register to vote. Some e may find it hard to register, or they are lazy to do so,
so when elections come they are not ready registered and they would not be
able to vote. One way to improve this would be to not have the citizens register,
just allowed them to vote if they can show that they are American citizens, if they
are that would be enough to allowed them their right to vote. Another factor that
infuse the low turnout of voters is that the elections are hold on a Tuesday, many
people have schools , work, families that they need to take care of, and even if

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they make the early voting, it is still hold on a week day, not all people have the
benefit of being able to get out of their agenda in order to go to vote, so one way
to solve this issue would be to move the elections day to a weekend day, like a
Sunday, almost nobody works on Sunday, and if they do they can attend the
early voting places, that way everybody will have an opportunity to go.
Another way to look at this is that, voting is a right, voting is a moral
obligation to the wellbeing of the nation. Voting should not be optional, everyone
who is older than 18 and lives in the U.S. should go out to vote, voting should be
mandatory for everyone, no matter if they agree with the candidates or not, each
citizen should, choose a representative, and if they dont there should be fine to
be payed, the U.S needs to realized that voting, and making decisions for
ourselves will benefit us greatly.
Conclusion
This paper was about the presidential elections and how the media has
such an impact on the viewer to mock the candidates, even though the presidential
elections are the most important elections there are, since the president is the one who
is going to represent the nation to the other countries in the world. However, the citizen
of the United States still find a way to not take serious the elections an if they do that it
can greatly affect our nation in a way that, it will only the minoritys decision and what is
going to benefit them, and not what the country needs as a whole. There are some way
to avoid not the loss of interest on the elections, and make the citizens participate, such
as making it easier for the voter to vote, and holding the elections on a Sunday,

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however voting is a right that must be not be optional to the citizens since not all
countries are allowed to make this choice, and if we are lucky enough to have it, then
we should take advantage and make the right decisions.

References

Admira, D (2010, June 12) Barack Obamas Ears: A History. New York News and
Politics. Retrieve from
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2009/06/obamas_ears.html#
Black, E. (2014, October 01). Why is turnout so low in U.S. elections? We make it more
difficult to vote
Than other democracies. MINNPOST. Retrieved from
https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black- ink/2014/10/why-turnout-so-low-uselections-we-make-it-more-difficult-vote-other-democrac
Carissimo, J. (2015, September 16) GOP Debate: People are making fun of Donald
Trumps face. Independent. Retrieved from
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/gop-debate-people-aremaking-fun-of-donald-trumps-face-10504883.html
Crawford, C. C. (2010). The Importance of Voting. Mass Vote. Retrieved from

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http://massvote.org/the-importance-of-voting/
Dickerson, J. (2012, September 26). How To Measure for a President. Slate. Retrieve
from
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/features/2012/how_to_m
easure_a_
president_/what_qualities_should_we_look_for_in_our_presidents_.html
Friedersdorf, C. (2015, August 17). What Do Donald Trump Voters Actually Want? The
Atlantic.
Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/08/donald-trumpvoters/401408/
Marche, S. (2015, July 21) Why Do We Hate Trump So Much. Esquire. Retrieve from
http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a20131/donald-trump-hate-15159126/
Martin, D. (2015, September 16). Canada lament: Our candidates are as goofy as
yours. Chicago Tribune.
Retrieved from http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ctcanadadutaud-trump-bance-palin-perspec-09-20150916-story.html
Patterson, T. E. (2005, August 19). Can Anything Be Done to Increase Voter
Participation? History News
Network. Retrieved from http://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/1161
Woodruff, T. (April 20, 2010). What does it mean to vote? Examiner. Retrieved from
http://www.examiner.com/article/what-does-it-mean-to-vote

(2015). The Presidents Job. American Government online Textbook. Retrieved from
http://www.ushistory.org/gov/7d.asp

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Appendix

Survey
1. Do you think voting is important for the nation wellbeing?
Dont think it is important

Do think that it is important

1
2
3
2. Do you go out to vote?
Yes
3.

No

Do you research the candidates before voting for them?

Yes

somewhat

dont care

Very little

No

4. How mucho do you agree of what is being said on the media about the new presidential
candidates?
Dont agree with it

dont care

agree with it

5. Do you believe this information?

Yes

dont care

No