U.S. level of democracy and democratic institutions

U.S. level of Democracy

Democracy in America can be measured by considering various factors that determine the level of democracy or authoritarianism in the U.S.

First and foremost, in 2004, the number of people that could vote, thus over 18 years old, was, according to the U.S. Census Bureau was of 215,694,000 out of almost 300 million. This means that the right to vote is indeed given to every person eligible under the Constitution. The voter turnout for the 2004 elections was almost 60% which represents a slight increase in comparison to other years (Statistics of the Presidential Campaign, 2005). This may suggest the fact that voters have more trust in their democratic possibility of determining their future.

In terms of the political participation in the U.S., this has also increased in terms of the variety of the candidates present in the electoral races. In this sense, there are no longer only Republicans and Democrats; there are also independent candidates who are becoming important voices to be taken into account in the political race.

In terms of the financing or the contribution of and to political campaigns, there are records pointing out the actual figures regarding individual contributions. In this sense, for the 2004 elections, G. Bush received $254,817,068.06, while John Kerry $214,898,595.63 (Presidential Pre-nomination campaign receipts, n.d.). Individual contributions were also made to other candidates as well, and taking into account the fact that the figures were public, it can be said that it does not show any irregularities.