Interpreting the Mass Media from 2016 election

The chart above represents the percent of people and the different news sources they used to get information regarding the 2016 election. It is rated by the most viewed news outlets as a "main source."

A major trend in the data is that Fox news is the most used media outlet for Trump Voters as well as All voters. The reason for this being that Fox News leans more on the conservative side and Trump believes in more conservatives policies, which is why a Trump voter would use Fox News more than any other news source. For example, 40% of Trump voters used Fox News compared to 3% of Clinton Voters who used Fox News. However, Fox News is slightly towards the middle of the political spectrum for News sources which is why most American voters used Fox too. On the other hand, 18% of Clinton Voters use CNN as their primary news source. On the contrary, only 8% of Trump Voters use CNN. This is because CNN draws as a more Liberal news source. This representation can be viewed in the chart below as well.

Based on a chart from Pew Research Center, Most Consistent Conservatives use Fox News their news source. This chart shares a common trend with the bar graph above in that they both show that Conservatives favor Fox News. Most of Trump supporters have more conservatives views which is why it is presented in the chart above that Fox News places as a Conservative news source.

Political Parties and Tax Cut Legislation

To begin, a political party is a collective group of people with similar viewpoints and ideas, as well as how power should be used in a country or society.

Based on the graph, there are a few trends that can be identified. One of those being that legislation favors wealthier Americans with $200k a year or more regarding tax policies. It is distinguishable that the wealthiest gain the most from tax cuts of which they receive thousands of dollars more than the bracket of people who receive less than $200k. This is very unsurprising because the wealthy pay more money on taxes, but in the end, they receive a much higher percentage of the money back.

The middle class is much more different from the upper class regarding tax cuts. The middle-class bracket which makes around 50k-75k a year, only receive $870 back in tax cuts. This is nothing compared to the $69,660 that upper-class citizens make from tax cuts that make more than $1M. 

The defining issue of the matter revolves around the lower-class which make around $10k-$20k a year. These people only receive $50 back from tax cuts which are where the polemic regarding tax cuts come from. It is arguable that the upper-class make much more money in return whereas someone with hardly any money gets nothing in return. 

Interest Groups & What I Know About Them

Today I am going to be focusing on the idea of Interest Groups. Interest Groups are an organization or "group" that reaches out to elected officials to pass legislation related to their cause. For instance, a Single-Issue interest group like AARP which focuses on as stated "to empower people to choose how they live as they age." Furthermore, Single-Issue interest groups focus around a single defining issue and are known for the intensity of their lobbying. Most commonly, these groups focus on a diverse amount of issues including taxation and abortion.

One specific interest group I decided to learn about is NARAL Pro-Choice. This group seeks that the right to choose abortion is essential to ensuring a woman can decide for herself if, when and with whom to start or grow a family. They are one influential interest groups in America today that advocates pro-choice for women, with an annual budget, "nearly $8.611 million in 2017" according to this Wikipedia page.

I took a screenshot of one page on the NARAL Pro-Choice website to analyze their point of view and purpose.

By observing this page, you can see that NARAL has a socially liberal position on abortions. Liberals typically favor equal rights and a limited government, particularly around the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. The line "Anti-choice extremists... have opened thousands of fake health-care “clinics” that lie to and mislead women to prevent them from considering abortion as an option" paints a picture for the comparison between this group's views and the Republicans, who lean more conservative.  

The purpose of this excerpt appears to reveal that they will help elect members to Congress who will support reproductive freedom. The line in the last paragraph that they will "help elect candidates who will be champions for reproductive freedom" appears to support this reading.

The author of this passage uses an emotional appeal, to develop a sense of unity between people. This included phrases like "reproductive freedom" and "protect and expand the fundamental right of all people to make their own decisions about their life." These phrases have a positive connotation which appeals towards people that are pro-choice to join the Interest group.

One limitation to the point of view is that the author is 100% against the opposing side (pro-life). This creates a bias in their argument for the author does not provide the audience with a fair contrast between both sides. They state "Anti-choice extremists will stop at nothing." While this can be true for some Anti-choice extremists, implying that all Anti-choice extremists will stop at nothing to open fake health-care clinics comes across that they themselves are a pro-choice extremist. 

After my own research, I am curious to learn more about other Interest Groups who focus on abortion and see what they have to say regarding the issue.

-AB

My Political Typology

After taking the 23 Question Political Typology Quiz from the Pew Research Center, I found that I am a Disaffected Democrat. Through this, I learned that a Dissafected Democrat strongly believes that the economic system unfairly favors powerful interests, as well as that business corporations make too much profit. Most Disaffected Democrats say that "the government should do more to help the needy and that poor people have hard lives." After reading this, I found that these statements are very true for myself which has helped me to better understand how to categorize my beliefs.

Disaffected Democrats are different from First Conservatives in that, most of Dissafected Democrats favor Liberal views such as equal opportunity and equality for all. In the table, 92% of Dissafected Democrats agree that "our country needs to continue making changes to give blacks equal rights with whites." It makes sense for why 92% of Democrats have these liberal views because liberals believe in equality for all. However, this is different from the general public views in that only 61% of the general public agree with the same statement. On the contrary, 66% of First Conservatives agree that "our country has made the changes needed to give blacks equal rights with whites" (This table can be viewed Here). This is different from the 35% of the general public who agree with the same statement.

Another issue that is viewed differently between Disaffected Democrats and First Conservatives are their views on immigrants in the United States. Based on the chart, 83% of Disaffected Democrats believe that "Immigrants today strengthen our country because of their hard work and talents." However, only 65% of the general public agree with the same statement. On the contrary, 76% of First Conservatives believe that "Immigrants today are a burden on our country because they take our jobs, housing, and health care." Despite this statement, this makes up 26% of the general public. The main polemic that is noticeable from this statement comes from that America was built on the backbones of Immigrants. (Article can be viewed Here). The idea expressed by First Conservatives come from how Conservatives want traditional American values. With Immigrants coming into the country, First Conservatives believe that this disrupts the traditional American standards as they were in the 1800s.

My beliefs as being a Disaffected Democrat have come from everyone around me growing up. This includes my family, friends, and school. I have grown up most with my family so until I was able to figure out what beliefs I identified most with, everything my parents had told me growing up had created the basis for my beliefs. School is a big one too. Schools generally focus on teaching more of a liberal than conservative approach when it comes to school because they want to teach kids to be hardworking and respectable people.

-AB