Memes!

The Tea Party, Activism and the Road to Trump and Current Republican Politics

In the Williamson et al paper about the Tea Party and its effects on the Republican Party and Conservatism in the United States, they discuss how the Tea Party arose after the demoralizing defeat of the Republican party in the elections in 2008. It emerged as an activist movement in favor of conservative policies and values. Even though the Tea Party was not an actual political party with representation in congress, the party influenced conservative voters all across the country to vote for candidates on the Republican side that embodied more of their values than previous Republicans. The values of the Tea Party mostly attracted white middle-class conservatives that did not wish to see expansion of government and wanted current programs or less programs that would ultimately benefit those who they believed earned their economic and political places in society rather than to the undeserving who were  perceived as freeloaders that received handouts from the government. Although many conservatives across the nation did not rally under the banner of the Tea Party nor did they necessarily agree with every policy that the Tea Party represented, the politics and ideals of the Tea Party were influential enough to slowly but surely push the Republican party more to the right edge of the ideological scale. The grassroot network of the Tea Party inspired other conservatives to push for more conservative values in their candidates and in 2010 the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives for the next six years under President Obama. Eventually the Republicans were able to take control of the Senate as well and held the House and the Senate for the last two years of Obama’s tenure as President. Although the Tea Party did not completely reshape Republican values and take over the countries politics in a dramatic way it did push Republicans politics more to the right and gave the Republican party the jump start it needed after the Republicans seemed widely discredited in the politics after the 2008 election.

              

The results of the 2016 election came as a big surprise to many around the country. Many voters and political scholars believed that Hillary Clinton was sure to win the election against Donald Trump. Surveys showed that Hillary Clinton was leading Donald Trump in almost every poll and many news sources across the country showed favorable predictions for her. Yet, as we know today Donald Trump was elected as the president instead of Hillary Clinton. Many scholars have given myriad of reasons why Trump beat Clinton in the election. These have ranged from the silent Trump vote, name recognition, populist movements against immigration and trade and a politically divided America. What I focus on is that the Tea Party ultimately paved the way for a Donald Trump like candidate.

              

Donald Trump is a candidate that leans further to the right than other Republican candidates before him or even in the primaries before becoming the candidate for the Republican party. When looking at a comparison of the Tea Party Platform and the platform that Trump ran on in 2016, we can see the following comparison. Both the Tea Party and Trump want to get rid of Obamacare and replace it with a system that allows more freedom for the consumers. Both want strong immigration policies that will be enforced. Both are perceived as anti-big government or as Trump puts it “draining the swamp.” Both have strong positions on the first and second amendment rights and both have made a series of statements on voter integrity. Essentially all of the big goals that the Tea Party has are in line with the values that Trump proposes to have. Even though Trump has never said he is a Tea Party candidate, although he certainly has never turned down support from them, he represents many of the concerns that stem from this political grass-root network. The Tea Party helped start a movement that ultimately pushed the Republican party more to the right and inspired a wave of conservatism that created a almost perfect environment for Donald Trump to be elected in 2016. Looking back at the politics in congress as the Republicans over the years slowly took over the House and the Senate and many voters across the nation, in particular white middle class and even the white uneducated demographic of society, found their candidate in Donald Trump who in a way reflects the shift change in conservative mentality and the Republican party in general.  

Alex Call meme assignement

Covid 19 Memes

Black Democrats and Motivated Reasoning

In 2012 the American National Election Survey did a study on Black voters. They found that when a Black citizen was asked if they were a democrat by a Black interviewer they were 12.6% more likely to answer yes than if they were asked by a Non-Black interviewer. This ANES study demonstrates the loyalty Black citizens feel to the Black community they are apart of. There exists solidarity amongst the Black population, it runs rich and deep and I argue that the solidarity felt amongst the Black population plays as a type of motivated reasoning for their partisanship. 

Motivated reasoning, as reviewed and presented by Thomas J. Leeper and Rune Slothuus in the Journal of Advances in Political Psychology, is the theory that all reasoning is motivated, that when someone processes new information, that processing is done through filters driven by certain goals. In the case of Black citizens choosing to be democrats, the goal is to be accepted by their Black community. Motivated reasoning is what one uses to take a conflicting idea and fit it into an existing world view, to remain in a place of comfort and is used to escape sitting in cognitive dissonance. 

Ismail White the author of Steadfast Democrats: How Social Forces Shape Black Political Behavior says that “90% of black Americans support the democratic party is because they have been empowered through that support.” Black voters have primarily voted with the Democratic Party since the Civil Rights Movement because the Democratic Party helped them achieve the political rights they were seeking after. They have felt empowered through the party and motivated by the possibility of change that they felt in the party during the 60’s. Black Americans see the solidarity in their community as both empowering and a path to creating a large enough group to have a voice within policymaking. If the “Black Vote” was divided between the two parties like the “White Vote,” is it wouldn’t hold the same power that it has when it’s one unified group. 

Motivated reasoning exists among black voters, as they use race as a motive in determining their partisanship. The graph below, from the Pew Research Institute, demonstrates that of White, Hispanic and Black Democrats, Black Democrats are the least likely to call align themselves with the “liberal,” ideology. This is somewhat surprising considering to the layman being a “liberal,” can be synonymous to be being a Democrat. It is safe to assume that there must be some other type of pull for Black voters, besides idealogy, to the Democratic party. I theorize that the pull is for acceptance in their Black community, and identity group that makes up a majority of their social network. In 2000, Ismail White and Chyd Laird did found from the 2000 Census that out of 100 people that Black Americans interact with, 72 of them will also by Black American. Acceptance into one’s own social network seems an obvious motivation to declare oneself as a Democrat, even if it means giving up idealogy. As an aside: the idea of changing ideology, and staying with party, rather than changing partisanship, is said to exist amongst those who show interest and have some knowledge of politics and amongst those who just have knowledge of politics. Either way, it’s more common to give into motivated reasoning and adjust idealogy rather than partisanship. This is likely for the same reasons that Black Americans adapt their ideology, or rather, not give in to their ideology because they feel the pull of their group identity and social pressure. Or, in defending Leeper and Slohuus, they give in to their motivated reasoning rather than their ideology. 

There have been studies done by FiveThirtyEight demonstrating the strong social pressure that exists among Black democrats.  One study in particular, related to the 2012 presidential election represented the social pressure Black Americans face. A study was performed on a group of Black students and their tendencies to donate to a presidential campaign alone versus when they were with another Black student. With the social pressure of another Black student in the room, who verbally announced their support for Obama, the student, on average, donated $3 more than when they were alone. This same study was done by The Atlantic, accept instead of being with another Black student, they were told their donation amounts would be printed in the school paper. The same results were found, higher numbers amongst those who were told that their donations would be publicized. 

These two studies highlight the profound strength that is found within the Black community. However, they also demonstrate the social pressure Black voters feel to deny ideology and stick to partisanship, to the party that has made differences for them in the post. The power of group identity is very strong, however, it can be an obstacle to people making reasoned decisions in terms of their partisanship and voting behavior. 

What we've learned about US Political Parties so far...

Here's a link to my "so what presentation" if anyone is interested in seeing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNfIhYgTTPc

Four Memes, Lots of Mems

Three memes

The three memes

3 Memes for class

  

Blog Post 3:
Meme Post

Political Memes!!!

Here are the memes I made. Enjoy!

Anna Heaton

I really love memes about the upcoming election, and I feel like they relate to this class a lot. Here they are:

meme time babey

This is perhaps a sentiment I would have agreed with before I took this class. It is very interesting how many functions political parties have- coalition forming, interest aggregation, issue structuring, candidate nomination, electoral mobilization, and more.

Bawn et al.

Murray, Krook, and Opello

Plus a bonus meme

Dolezal et al

 Corporations be like:

(Discussion about Gershetenser 2003)

Political parties be like:

(Hinojosa, Funk, Piscopo 2019)

Members of Congress be like:

(Discussion about Aldrich 1947)