While all these other factors do play a role in shaping voters’ choices, long term studies have revealed that, overall, an individual’s party identification ultimately holds the most sway. Party allegiance provides an easy framework from which voters can view the complex political world and the often difficult choices differing policies present. Both parties typically keep steady positions on core issues over the years, so voters are often able to use candidates’ party affiliations as a shortcut of sorts to see where each nominee stands. Voters usually cling very tightly to their party identifications, rarely changing over the course of their lifetime, often because they see their party alignment as part of their wider social identity.

The mass media’s focus on the “horse race” in campaigns is actually rather unhelpful to policy voters. By overlooking the policies and platforms of each candidate, mass media coverage fails to provide voters with enough in-depth information to enable true policy voting. Overall, however, since the 1960s policy voting has become a much easier prospect for voters to engage in. Despite the continued evasiveness of some politicians in uncertain situations (a tendency that may be impossible to fully eliminate), the electoral process does provide ample incentive for candidates to be clearer about their policy stances, especially when there is sharp disagreement between one or more opponents.

One must not identify with a political party in order to be eligible to vote. Many voters choose not to affiliate themselves with any political party, and instead just vote based on the candidates running in each election.

After the Civil War and the passage of the 15th Amendment which guaranteed the right to vote for former black slaves, thanks to Jim Crow laws and racisms, the white majority attempted to disenfranchise black voters with biased and often doctored literacy tests (which were never given to lower-class or undereducated white voters).

Voter turnout is the number of voters who are eligible to vote and actually turn out to vote.

Gathering a number of statistics on voter turnout, political scientists have found that voter turnout is lowest for the least educated Americans.

In the early history of the American republic, the Founders believed that white male property owners had the proper stake in society to vote. The structure and content of the early voting laws in the United States reflect this view.

Most candidates for office can count on their base of supporters that got them into the forefront in the first place. Therefore, their mission is to get them excited enough to get out and vote.

Negative campaigning is often the norm in political campaign ads. Candidates can score points with voters by pointing out weaknesses and mistakes of their opponent.