Voting Behaviour and Turnout

Question 1

independents in 2017

Answer 1

It was suggested this was taking place in 2017 when 42% of people identified as independent in a Gallup poll. However many independent voters lean towards a particular party and so we’re not truly independent.

Question 2

what % of democrats voted for Obama in 2012 and % of republicans for Romney?

Answer 2

In 2012 92% of democrats voted for Obama and 93% of republicans voted for Romney.

Question 3

Party alignment prior to 1920s

Answer 3

Between the civil war and the new deal the republican party was the party of the northern states, businessman, skilled workers and freed men whereas the Democrat party was the party of the southern states, farmers, and unskilled workers.

Question 4

1929 wall street crash impact and new coalitions

Answer 4

The 1929 Wall St crash caused the Great Depression and the main parties supported different solutions causing many voters to change. There was a new democrat coalition, that fell apart after Harry Truman established the president’s committee on civil rights and ended segregation in the military.

Question 5

In 1948 the Democratic National Convention, the party adopted a platform campaigning for what?

Answer 5

for new civil rights legislation, in which 35 southern delegates walked out.

Question 6

what new issues brought further realignment in the 60s and 70s?

Answer 6

with issues over civil rights, the Vietnam War, welfare and abortion.

Question 7

what enabled Barry Goldwater to appeal to southern voters?

Answer 7

. In the 1964 presidential election republican candidate Barry Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act., winning the Electoral College votes in Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Louisianna and Georgia.

Question 8

Nixon’s southern strategy:

Answer 8

In 1984 Nixon focused on the southern states. Break remove the party to become much more fiscally and socially conservative supporting states rights, tax cuts, wanting to cut spending, supporting prayer in school, opposing affirmative action and opposing abortion

Question 9

Republican vote spilt by race 2022 midterms

Answer 9

More than eight-in-ten Republican voters in 2022 (85%) were White, non-Hispanic, down slightly (from 88%) compared with the 2018 midterms.

Question 10

Democrat vote split 2022 midterms

Answer 10

white voters made up 65%, Black, non-Hispanic voters represented 17% of Democratic voters in 2022, while Hispanic and Asian voters accounted for 11% and 4%

Question 11

In 2020 what % of republican voters were black?

Answer 11

-In 2020 only 5% of black voters voted republican.

Question 12

the electorate was older in 2022- what % of voters were over 50?

Answer 12

with 64% of validated voters ages 50 and older

Question 13

what percentage of democrat voters were under 30 2022?

Answer 13

Just 14% of Democratic voters were under the age of 30 in 2022

Question 14

how many republican voters were over 50 in 2022?

Answer 14

Seven-in-ten Republican voters were 50 and older in 2022

Question 15

in 2022, what % of republican voters were protestants?

Answer 15

In 2022 Protestants once again accounted for a majority of Republican voters (59%), with their share of the party’s voters essentially unchanged across the past four elections.

Question 16

what % were white evangelical Christians of republican voters compared to democrat?

Answer 16

White evangelical Protestant voters made up about a third of the Republican voting coalition in 2022, while accounting for just 5% of Democratic voters.

Question 17

what % of democrats described themselves as religiously unaffiliated in 2022?

Answer 17

-In 2022 39% of democrats described themselves as religiously unaffiliated

Question 18

what percentage of evangelical christians voted for trump?

Answer 18

86

Question 19

what percentage of atheists backed Biden

Answer 19

72%

Question 20

Democrat stronghold in 2020:

Answer 20

Democratic strongholds in the northeast were New York, Biden received over 60% of the popular vote, New Jersey where Biden won 57% of the popular vote, Vermont where Biden won 66% of the popular vote

Question 21

Last time Vermont, new jersey, new Hampshire, new York and virgina were won by republicans?

Answer 21

The time Vermont and New Jersey where Republican in a Presidential election was 1988. New York 1984, New Hampshire 2000, Virginia 2004

Question 22

Iowa has changed frequently in the last 30 years:

Answer 22

-Clinton won the state twice, Bush won in 04, Obama won in 08 and 12, trump won in both 2016 and 2020 with relative ease

Question 23

Wisconsin winners 2016 and 2020?

Answer 23

Wisconsin is a major swing state, won by just 0.7% in 2020, 0.77% in Trump in 2016

Question 24

Trumps victory in Oklahoma:

Answer 24

Oklahoma, has not been democrat since 1964, Trump won Oklahoma with 65% of the vote at the last election

Question 25

Mississippi last democrat win and Trumps win in 2016:

Answer 25

Mississippi- has not been democrat since Carter in 1976, trump won by 16 percentage points in 2020, 17 points in 2016

Question 26

Florida’s leaning:

Answer 26

Swing state: Clinton won the state in 1996, Bush Jr won in 00 and 04, Obama won in 08 and 12, Trump won in 16 and 20

Question 27

Democrat urban voters

Answer 27

The share of Democratic voters who describe their communities as urban declined by 5 points since 2016 (from 32% to 27%).

Question 28

2022 republican vote split by rural, urban and suburban areas:

Answer 28

Roughly half of Republican voters in 2022 (53%) reported living in suburban communities, while 36% reported living in rural communities and 11% in urban areas.

Question 29

what percentage of republican voters in 2022 had a college degree and what percentage did not?

Answer 29

a majority of Republican voters in 2022 had no college degree (63%); a smaller share had a college degree or more (37%).

Question 30

White voters without college degrees % of Republican voters in 2022, compared with Democratic voters

Answer 30

White voters without college degrees made up a majority (54%) of Republican voters in 2022, compared with 27% of Democratic voters.

Question 31

In 2016, what percentage of democrats eligible to cast votes voted compared to republicans?

Answer 31

63% of women who were eligible to vote said they cast ballots in the presidential election, compared with 59% of men.

Question 32

In 2018 and 2019, the Democratic Party held a wide advantage with women:

Answer 32

56% of female registered voters identified as Democrats or leaned toward the Democratic Party, while 38% identified as Republicans or leaned toward the GOP.

Question 33

Effect of the TV debate 1960:

Answer 33

listeners felt Nixon had won whereas TV watchers felt that JFK had won. Before the debate Nixon was one percentage point ahead in the polls and after Kennedy was three percentage points ahead. Kennedy born with a vote of 49.7% in comparison to Nixon’s 49.6%, on one considered over 65,000,000 Americans watched the debate on TV this could have had a large impact.

Question 34

Fords mislead claim in the second TV debate:

Answer 34

Ford claimed that there was no Soviet domination over Eastern Europe and under a Ford administration then never would be. He was mocked and criticised There was a small drop after this debate, but this proved to insignificant

Question 35

Regan 1980s, soundbites

Answer 35

When Carter questioned his healthcare policy he sighed and said there you go again which highlighted the importance of catchy sound bites. he repeatedly asked are you better than you were 4 years ago

Question 36

significance of the 1992 TV debate

Answer 36

1992 was significant as Ross Perot was invited to the debate and for the first time ever there was a third party present. After the first debate Perrot jumped 5 percentage points in the polls.

Question 37

2012 critisms of Obama in the TV debate:

Answer 37

seemed tired and uninterested in the debates whilst Romney was engaged. Impose afterwards 72% of people said that Romney won the first debate. However, the bounce was insignificant.

Question 38

Why do tv debates have such little influence-when voters make up thier minds:

Answer 38

Between April and July around 18% of voters are undecided however by September and October this appears to shrink to fewer than 10%

Question 39

Why do tv debates have such little influence- swing voters to win over:

Answer 39

also normally only around 900,000 swing voters in each swing states meaning there aren’t actually that many voters to win over.

Question 40

Attack ad example 1964

Answer 40

1964 Daisy ad- attack on republican Barry Goldwater- scaring voters on the threat of nuclear war.

Question 41

2012 positivs ads

Answer 41

In the 2012 election between April and October 2012 there were over 132,000 positive ads and over 882,000 active ads.

Question 42

insignicance of tv ads- Kerry in 2004

Answer 42

However, no research has been able to prove that these ads have a lasting impact on undecided voters. Karry ran almost 200,000 more votes than Bush in 2004 and lost.

Question 43

Significance of the candidate- Mitt Romney 2012

Answer 43

• Democrats pressured Romney to release his tax returns for 2010, an 14% tax on an income of 22 million, it was then claimed he was not paying his fair share.

Question 44

October surprise- hurricane sandy

Answer 44

Hurricane Sandy-republican governor of New Jersey who gave a keynote speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention publicly praise the president’s work.

Question 45

The effect of the economy on incumbency campaigns

Answer 45

-No incumbent president since FDR has been re-elected with unemployment higher than 8%. After 43 straight months of unemployment over 8% it finally went below in October 2012. Obama was relieved with this on the fact that 53% of the population blamed the previous president for the economic crisis he inherited.

Question 46

Obama election campaign 2012

Answer 46

On Election Day the Obama campaign had 32,854 volunteers working in Ohio. As a result of this African American turn out reached record levels in 2012.

Question 47

In 2017, how many of the top 10 states with high turn out were swing states:

Answer 47

In 2017 seven of the top ten states were swing states and national turn out was dragged down by the low turn out large safe states-like California.

Question 48

why was turn out driven up in 1992 and what to:

Answer 48

In 1992 turn out was driven up with a third party candidate. Turn out was 58.3%.

Question 49

Shelby County V holder 2017

Answer 49

the Supreme Court upheld congresses power to require states to get federal approval for any election reforms. This made increasing turn out and registration harder

Question 50

Increasing youth vote in 2008

Answer 50

Since 2000 the youth vote has been increasing with it peaking at 51% in 2008. Democrats would encourage this.

Question 51

Increasing black turn out in 2012

Answer 51

In 2012 white turn out was 64%, however black turn out was 66%.

Question 52

how has the demographic of the electorate changes since the 1960s?

Answer 52

When the southern strategy was first conceived in the 1960s over 90% of the voters were white and now it is just 72%. As it stands the democrats will benefit from the changing composition of the electorate.