american president essay

However in many district the black vote is the swing vote.  For example if 55% of the voters voted republican and 45% voted democrat, but 90% of black voters voted democrat then the black vote would be the swing vote but the fact that there has been an increase in the number of ethnic minorities vote it has been deluded because there are fewer congress members who rely on the black vote to be successful.

The Hispanics vote is more than blacks, which will influence the republican vote because that’s who the majority vote for. In 1996 Hispanic turnout was 26.7%.  It rose to 27.5% in 200 and by 2004 it was 28%.  Even though this is a small percentage increase the Hispanic population is the fastest growing group in the USA so the amount voting is rising dramatically. The Hispanic population eligible to vote rose from 10.4 million in 1994 to 16.1 million in 2004 and it will continue to rise.  In 2000 over 6 million Hispanics voted and in 2004 9.3 million voted.  This is an increase of 50% in four years.  Since the number of voters has in creased by 50% then they will have a great influence in the election.

However.  Despite increasing awareness of the political process by Hispanics, and increasing numbers of Hispanics being elected, they are still under represented group in the House of representative and senate.  In 2005 Hispanics were 12.5% of the population of the USA but there were only two Hispanic senators and twenty four members in the House of Representatives.  This will make the Hispanics not want to vote because they are under represented.

There was a law that was introduced to increase minority turn out which is called the motor-voter law.  This law did not have the expected effect than first thought.  In 1995 voters could register at driver license centers and public assistance offices.  This law was to increase voters of the poor and ethnic minorities.

However the republicans party made the most out of this law because its support rose in more states than the democrats .They have been in congress ever since this law was made and they are far lass interested in black issues.

Over all ethnic minorities have a big part to play in influencing voting behavior because if the majority voted then there would be a huge difference in the outcome of the result of the polls.