Voting usually appears to be the most straight forward practice in the society where individuals choose the leader that will best serve them and avoid the one who will not. However, this is not always the case as evidence has come up to show that the people do not always vote to their significant interests. The recent 2016 Presidential election is a clear instance of citizens failing to make choices of leaders that will serve their best interests. There are a number of reasons that are presented that prompt voters to make choices that work against them.
The first is being overwhelmed by the choices and complexities making them focus more on the superficial qualities. In the case of the 2016 Presidential elections, it was evident that the voters are overwhelmed with the number of choices (Lee, 2016). First of all, beginning with the primaries so as to select a single candidate to represent the republican or democratic parties is a tough choice. Each leader is presented as having very important qualities but also has many more undesired aspects. Similar to speed dating where women are presented with so many options of a possible date, the myriad of choices prompts them to focus more on superficial traits like appearance and status in society which usually works against their interests of a faithful partner.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Another factor causing voters to make the wrong choices when it comes to their leaders is they seek the simplest answer for their troubles (Noden, 2016). In the problem of immigration, voters want a simple answer as to “We are going to build a wall and make Mexico to pay for it”. This is a simple answer that appeals to the ordinary citizens who will not think much about the cost of the wall, how it will be realized and how long it is going to take. As a result, after three months of the President taking power, it becomes evident that the issue is not as simple as it may appear.
Voters may also not voter to their best interests because they are not focusing on the right issues. As previously mentioned, the leaders who vie for various elected seats will focus on different issues that they think are most concerning of the current society (Tirado, 2015). However, these issues some may be more or less relevant to the daily life of the voter. For instance, the poor people may be concerned about terrorist issues rather than focusing on job opportunities and how the new President will, “Make America Great Again”. The simple answers are not always the best and they will serve as a destructive force towards making better choices.
References
Lee, B. Y. (2016, Nov 8) Why People Vote Against Their Own Interests . Forbes, Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2016/11/08/heres-why-you-may-vote-against-yourself/#76d9701a25fa
Noden, K. (2016, Nov. 17) Why Do White Working-Class People Vote Against Their Interests? They Don’t . The Nation, Retrieved from https://www.thenation.com/article/why-do-white-working-class-people-vote-against-their-interests-they-dont/
Tirado, L. (2015, September 9) Opinion: Why the poor vote ‘against their own interests’ . MSNBC, Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/opinion-why-the-poor-vote-against-their-own-interests
