Politics in the United States

This article discusses the issues and challenges affecting voter turnout, delegated, denied, and concurrent powers, and interest groups and their impact on politics in the United States.

Running head: POLITICS IN THE UNITED STATES
Politics in the United States
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1POLITICS IN THE UNITED STATES
Outline the issues and challenges that affect voter turnout
Voting is one of the major events that occur in the United States of America. The
Presidential election is the event that decides the entire course of action of the country and all the
legal adults, that is people who have attained the age of eighteen, are allowed to vote in this
significant voting event (Hill, 2018). However, there are several challenges and issues that affect
the turnout of the voters.
First is the issue of the type of election. It is noticed that in the cases of primary elections
or local elections, the turnout of the voters is relatively low. However, during the General
Elections during the month of November, the turnout of the voters is comparatively high
(Cancela & Geys, 2016). This is so because of the psychological aspect of the people. They are
of the belief that voting on important issues is worth their time, while the voting of local
elections is not that important.
Second is the issue of the socio-economic conditions of the voters (Dye & Macmanus,
1969, pp 89-92). It is noticed that in the Northern states of the United States, the white
population resides, while the Southern states are inhabited by the black population who are much
poorer and less educated. This ‘black’ population is interested to vote as their standard of living
depends upon the character of the leader and his or her interest towards the ‘black’ population
(Thurber, 2018).
Distinguish between delegated, denied, and concurrent powers
The main function of the legislative organ of any government of a nation state is to
formulate policies (Hershey, 2017). The ultimate objective of any state in the globe is to provide
for a quality standard of living for its citizens. As a result of this, the responsibility of the

2POLITICS IN THE UNITED STATES
legislature increases to a considerable extent whereby they feel burdened with such immense
pressure. They try to delegate some of their work to the other organs of the government such as
the executive who formulate the policies with regard to the framework provided by the
legislature (McFarland, 2018). This is known as delegated powers.
Although the legislature of the government is seen to be the repository of all the powers
of the nation, there are certain powers which are denied to the legislative members (Dye &
Macmanus, 1969). For instance, the members of the US Congress do not have the power to label
a person as guilty unless sufficient evidence is provided which proves the guilt of the individual.
This is known as denied powers of the legislature (Wrong, 2017).
Concurrent powers are the areas of different powers which are shared by the government
at the center along with the governments of the constituent governments at the individual state
level. Such a mechanism has been provided with the intention to keep a vigilant look out on the
life of a person at the grass root level. Since it is not possible for the central government to look
at all the individual people, the government of the states have been provided with such power
and authority.
Define interest groups and discuss the impact and methods of interest groups. How can a
group use protests as a tool?
The field is politics is quite interesting to analyze as the influences of other people work
to a significant level in this sphere. Such groups which play an important role in the politics of
the various nation states of the world are known as interest groups (Bush, 2016). Politics work
effectively when the different political leaders have the backing of the influential organizations
of the society or of the majority group of people as their supporters. This is so because a

3POLITICS IN THE UNITED STATES
political leader has the hope of coming to power when he or she has the requisite number of
votes from the citizens and the finances to run their political campaigns. This in turn, results in
the form of lobbying which can be observed to a significant level within the region of the United
States of America. This signifies the impact of such interest groups.
There are several methods of protests such as civil disobedience (Dye & Macmanus,
1969, pp 112). In this case, the citizens of the country refuses to undertake any activity which
might be enforced by the agency of the state. Such type of protest is mainly non-violent in
nature. Another kind of protest is that of violence (Dye & Macmanus, 1969, pp 113). In this case,
the concerned people take recourse to violent activities in order to achieve their objectives.
The interest groups uses the mechanism of protest in an effective manner in order to
pressurize the political leaders to succumb to their demands. The tool of protest is effective only
when the influence of the interest group is predominant on the society (Dye & Macmanus, 1969,
pp 121). There are several important conditions to make a protest effective. For instance, there
must be a clear objective of the protest which it tries to achieve. Moreover, the protestors must
ensure that are able to receive certain concessions from the government. For instance, the interest
group formed by the Jewish community members is quite powerful as it is the Jews in the United
States who control the functioning of most of the private organizations within the country. As a
result, any protest movement which is organized by this interest group is bond to have a
significant impact on the thought process of the common masses. This in turn, has the ability to
sway the public opinion in the favor or against a particular political party.

4POLITICS IN THE UNITED STATES
References:
Bush, S. S. (2016). When and why is civil society support “made-in-America”? Delegation to
non-state actors in American democracy promotion. The Review of International
Organizations, 11(3), 361-385.
Cancela, J., & Geys, B. (2016). Explaining voter turnout: A meta-analysis of national and
subnational elections. Electoral Studies, 42, 264-275.
Dye, T., & Macmanus, S. (1969) Politics in State and Communities
Hershey, M. R. (2017). Party politics in America. Routledge.
Hill, D. (2018). American voter turnout: An institutional perspective. Routledge.
McFarland, A. S. (2018). Interest groups and the policymaking process: Sources of
countervailing power in America. In The politics of interests (pp. 58-79). Routledge.
Thurber, J. A. (2018). Campaigns and elections American style. Routledge.
Wrong, D. (2017). Power: Its forms, bases and uses. Routledge.