Factors Influencing Voter Participation

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Politics is the methods and tactics intended to influence government policy, policy-related attributes and activities (Ferris & Stein, pg. 287). During my life I never took into consideration the importance of politics until taking this sociology course. As shocking as this may seem, it is true. In fact, I always viewed voting as a way for people to choose the most popular candidate, as in the case with the current candidates running for president. I always felt a need to not participate or even bother registering to vote, since it did not matter who my vote would go to. Additionally, there was a chance that the other candidate could reign victorious in the presidential election. Moreover, candidates almost always promise things such as reformed healthcare, affordable housing, education, and elimination of disputes in various countries.
Often at times I would wonder what the excitement was in watching presidential debates on television when there was indeed a possibility that all of the promises the candidates made on television
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What is more, I also learned that religion, social class, education, and geographic location are demographic factors that can influence voter participation as well as how people vote. I also did not understand why the wealthy were taxed less than those who were poor, working class, or middle class. Prior to discussions in the lecture I did not understand what No Child Left Behind actually entailed. To be quite honest I had not heard about this until we covered it in lecture, and, once I did, it had me wondering about the types of education many people are receiving. I found myself also wondering about what type of education I was receiving after hearing of the schools who would not let students take books home with

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