chapter 6

1.)    I do feel that news agencies do rely on polls a little too much when reporting about elections. All we hear about in the news around election time are polls on who won this debate or who is winning what state. Although these polls are informative I think that they should not be focused on as much as they are in news media today. I do think that polls are a good idea and that it is appropriate for news channels and other media to cast polls and report on them because it helps the public see where certain things in politics and elections stand.

2.)    Political party identification has never really been crucial to me. I tend to fall under more of the Democratic or Libertarian parties but have never really put a label on my political beliefs and choose to be independent in my political views. Political party identification is more important to my parents and grandparents than it is to me. They tend to associate with one or the other. The majority of my friends fall under the same category that I do, in which they do not really associate with one party or the other. My group of friends and I believe that in an election political parties do not really matter. What matters is which candidate stands for the same beliefs that we have and has the policies economically, socially, and wants equal rights for all.

3.)    My political views are influenced by both economic and social issues. One issue is no more important than the other. I worry about the state of our nation economically because I see the suffering people are enduring because I live in a community that has one of the highest unemployment and poverty rates, so I see firsthand the struggle the people in our nation are going through in today’s current economic situation. I also have strong opinions on the social issues that our government is faced with today. Issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage are just a couple of the social issues that are highly debated in this election and in government today. I tend to fall under the Democratic party again when it comes to these issues. When it comes to abortion I am pro-choice: who are we to say what a woman can or cannot do to her body? I also believe that same-sex marriage should made legal in all states not just the select few it is today, and that we should grant people of all sexual orientations equal rights because they are just as much of an American as every straight person who discriminates against them. So I would say that my political views and beliefs are influenced by both economic and social issues.

For chapter 6 I commented on the following classmates blog posts:
-Pam Smith (http://percious3355.blogspot.com)
-Cheyenne Canter (http://canterc.blogspot.com)
-Robert Cook (http://rcookclassblog.blogspot.com)