Some thoughts on American election

1. Low participation rate. I came to the States with the idea that nearly everyone vote. However it is not true. First，many people do take their voting rights for granted and are indifferent or do not feel well？鄄informed① enough to cast their votes. Anti？鄄government and government disability also contributed to the low participation rate. In addition，my friend who worked at a polling station② in San Francisco told me that because polling is on Tuesday in general，many working people cannot vote simply because they have to work. Before nine o’clock， there were a few young working people who came in and voted. Throughout the day，however，there were only old people who came and voted. The participation rate there was actually about 25% in her area. Compared to German which has an average 80% participation rate， 25% is daunting③.

2. It is hard to say whether individuals actually matter or not in presidential election. American election is not direct election；instead，it is the electors from each state that actually vote for the president. Virtually，they always vote with the majority of the population in their region. Therefore，for very“blue”（democratic）state like New York and California，the majority is nearly always pro？鄄democratic④ and the electors will cast their vote for democratic candidates⑤（historically）. Because of this，many of my friends （in New York state），whether they are pro？鄄democratic or pro？鄄republican⑥， became indifferent about voting because they believe that whoever they vote for，New York state will always be voting for democratic party presidential candidate. Thus in presidential election，it is very difficult to tell whether individuals matter，especially in the states that are historically“blue”or “red”.

Admittedly，individuals were given much more attention in swing states⑦ like Ohio and Florida. Moreover，on Election Day，people not only select the president，they also cast their votes on members of the federal legislature⑧， namely，congress. Different from presidential election，the election of congress members are through direct election.

3. Besides Obama's being black， support for gay⑨ rights，and support for abortion⑩ right，people（around me in Cornell University）actually do not divide that much on economic policies，or they are not well？鄄informed enough to be divided on the economic issues. Also many do not think that Obama did a wonderful job in economic perspective during his first four years as president. Unfortunately，the first three factors（racial，homosexual rights， and abortion rights）dominated political talks in Cornell University and is basically the reason why Cornell is extremely pro？鄄Obama. According to an on？鄄campus survey conducted by Cornell Daily Sun（Cornell’s largest student？鄄run newspaper independent from school），the pro？鄄Obama to pro？鄄Mitt Romney ratio is about twenty to one.

During the past month， presidential election excited the school. Students gather around TVs and laptops to watch presidential debates，election news，and of course，final polling. Professors also frequently refer to presidential election or Obama’s policies during classes，while trying not to show their own stance on the election. There are election parties everywhere on campus on Election Day. However，there are many layers of American presidential elections. What I noted above are still from a very narrowed and limited perspective. The event“election”means very differently for each person， each family，and each group. Thus what I observed in people’s reactions towards presidential election was very different from what I expected.

（By Kaiwen Zhong on Nov.10，2012 in Ithaca，NY）

① well？鄄informed adj. 消息靈通的，見多識廣的，熟悉的，博識的（反義詞ill？鄄informed）

② polling station n. 投票站，投票所

③ daunting adj.使人氣餒的，令人怯步的，令人畏懼的

④ pro？鄄democratic adj. 支持民主黨的（pro？鄄為前綴，表”支持，贊成”之意）

⑤ candidate n. 候選人， 報考者，申請求職者， 攻讀學位者

⑥ pro？鄄republican adj. 支持共和黨的

⑦ swing states n. 搖擺州（這個表達是美國大選中的一個特有說法，即無論民主黨候選人還是共和黨候選人，在這些州都沒有絕對優勢，是雙方要進行爭取的州，也叫purple state。支持民主黨的叫“藍色陣營”，支持共和黨的叫“紅色陣營”。）

⑧ federal legislature聯邦議會

⑨ gay n. 同性戀者（尤指男性）adj. 同性戀的，快樂的，愉快的

⑩ abortion n. 墮胎，流產，流產的胎兒，畸形，夭折

homosexual n. 同性戀者 adj. 同性戀的

ratio n. 比，比率，比例，系數