Channel Button

There are 89 articles on this title. You are reading the article ranked and rated #2 by Helium's members.

Debate_icon

Politics, News & Issues   >

Politics, News & Issues (Other)

Get a Widget for this title

Do people tend to base election votes more on emotion or reason?

Results so far:

Emotion
79% 584 votes Total: 742 votes
Reason
21% 158 votes

Common sense seems to dictate that people vote with their hearts. Common sense, however, is wrong. People do not, in fact, vote with their hearts, but with reason and logic. One of the factors determining a vote is invariably emotion, but it is not the governing factor. Instead, the information revolution and the Internet have placed reason at the fore.

The public today is saturated with information. Every democratic nation has access to the Internet, which provides instant communication and accessibility to a vast array of knowledge. Within seconds of discovery, every major news story is on the Internet; within minutes, thousands are reading about it and responding. Add blogs to the equation, and every news story or political action is analyzed ad nauseam. TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines bring even more information to the citizen's eye. The world is very much in the midst of an information revolution.

This revolution has practical effects for voting in democratic nations. Many government publications or records are on the Internet, providing more bureaucratic transparency to better observe currently elected officials. The statements made by candidates on the election trail can be easily investigated (and often refuted) through a search engine by the average citizen, and thousands of op-ed pieces exist critiquing any particular candidate. The information is there, and the citizens of democratic nations are accessing it. Even more importantly, the youth are accessing it. The Pew Internet Project's survey indicates that "young broadband users are replacing [their] time with online news outlets for political information." Young people are without the wisdom brought by age, so they are normally much more likely to vote according to their emotions. However, the Internet is providing these voting youth with the information they will use to vote with reason.

Those who ostensibly base their vote on emotion are still using reason to determine their candidate of choice. Most voters realize the gravity of their choices, and the consequences of placing "the wrong person" into office. As a result, there is at least some premeditated reasoning that goes into any voter's selection.

In today's information-filled world (al la Internet), everyone uses their minds, at least to process the flow of information. When Joe Voter walks into a booth, he will be subconsciously sifting through information if he did not mindfully do so previously. Now, although some of that information may be tainted or untruthful, most voters have proven good at recognizing bias, and conflicting reports are even easier to resolve with information from the Internet. Now, more than any other time in history, voters in democracies are using reason over emotion to determine our national leaders.

Learn more about this author, Iowaprodigal.
Contact this writer Click here to send this author comments or questions.


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Do people tend to base election votes more on emotion or reason?

Reason
  • by Michael Patrick

    In times of relative comfort and security, many of us might lean toward emotion to vote for a candidate. But when we face

    read more

  • 2 of 20

    by Iowaprodigal

    Common sense seems to dictate that people vote with their hearts. Common sense, however, is wrong. People do not, in fact,

    read more

Emotion
  • 1 of 69

    by Richard Sprigg

    Individual voters will be influenced by emotion, yet is this a bad thing? There are many examples in history where emotional

    read more

  • 2 of 69

    by Ronald Correia

    The idealist in me would love to argue that the electorate is fundamentally well informed and therefore chooses a candidate

    read more

Add your voice

Know something about Do people tend to base election votes more on emotion or reason??
We want to hear your view. Write_penWrite now!

91914

Featured Partner

Northwoods Wildlife Center

Northwoods Wildlife Center has partnered with Helium, giving you the chance to write for a cause. Browse Northwo...more

What is Helium? | Buy Web Content | Contact Us | Privacy | User agreement | DMCA | User Tools | Help | Community | Helium’s Official Blog | Link to Helium

Helium, Inc.
200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA