Texas Politics & Government: Ideas and Institutions

The second decision in voting involves a choice of a candidate to support with your vote or a decision on an issue of public policy. We’ll consider a decision about candidates first. You’ve already made a plan to vote. However, you have to decide which candidates to support for all of the offices on the ballot. Political scientists note that there are three bases for the vote choice: (1) Party affiliation; (2) Issue positions of the candidates; and (3) candidate characteristics.  If you’re affiliated with a political party (either party), then vote for the party with which you’re affiliated. The percentage of Texas registered voters that affiliate with the Republican Party of Texas is, according to the UT/Texas Tribune Poll of February 2024), approximately 37 percent (That does not consider Republican Leaning Independents [RLI] as partisans). According to the same poll, approximately 37 percent of Texas registered voters identify with the Democratic Party (same caveat about De...

I remember reading Jonathan Haidt's " The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion" in 2012. I thought at the time that the idea of moral foundations was an interesting explanation of the reason that people adopted a political view on moral issues. More recently, I have discovered a debate over whether the differences between liberals and conservatives on moral foundations are correct. In 2009, Jesse Graham, Jonathan Haidt, and B.A. Nosek identified differences between liberals and conservatives on the five moral foundations that are innate in all humans. These five moral foundations are the following pairs of moral positions: The Care/Harm Foundation makes humans sensitive to suffering and needs. The result is that humans attempt to protect the vulnerable through laws that punish those who harm other humans and provide care for those who are less fortunate.  The Fairness/Cheating Foundation causes humans to seek others who want fairness in soc...

  So, you’re questioning whether you want to vote or not. What’s involved in the decision? There are actually two questions: Will I vote? For whom or what will I vote? I’ll consider the “Will I vote?” question first: ·     If you decide not to vote, you have given others the authority to make a decision that will affect you and the people you love. Your single vote will probably not determine the result of an election that involves a large number of voters; however, by not voting, you have made the votes of those who do participate more significant in determining the outcome of the election. ·     If you decide to vote, there are several questions to be answered: o    Am I eligible to vote? What are the qualifications for voting in the election in which you are voting? o    What type of election is it? There are several types of elections depending on your election jurisdiction. Each election may have different qualifications a...