There are various factors that influence how a voter will express their choice in US elections. Party identification is the most important factor in a person's vote choice. Some voters are members of the two main political parties; the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. These party affiliations are usually determined by a person's influences from family, colleagues, the media, and evaluation of candidates and issues. Independents who are not affiliated with either party have no particular loyalty to any party. They vote primarily on issues (Schmidt, Shelley, Bardes, 2011, p.193). People in large cities with populations over 50,000 tend to vote for the Democratic Party. Rural areas and small towns with populations under 50,000 tend to vote for the Republican party (Schmidt, Shelley, Bardes, 2011, p.194). Why? Again this goes back to family. In the past, a college-educated person was affiliated with Republicans. This is no longer the case. Those with more than a college degree tend to vote Democratic. Those with only a high school education tend to vote Republican (Schmidt, Shelley, Bardes, 2011, p.195). But the higher a person's income, the more likely the person is to vote Republican. Manual workers, blue collar workers, and union members are more likely to vote Democratic. In recent years, it seems, there has been a realignment in which professionals such as doctors, lawyers and college teachers vote Democratic. While small business owners, managers, and corporate executives vote Republican (Schmidt, Shelley, Bardes, 2011, p.195), those who are religious regardless of their religious affiliation tend to be Republican. Those who aren't tend to be Democrats. An exception to the rule is... in the center of the card... there is something different. They wanted a change in the direction the country was going. Apparently, they thought McCain was a bad choice. For this reason they supported Obama. The New York Post seemed to support McCain because it was happy with the direction the country was taking. They were satisfied with the campaign promises that McCain said he would make. They thought McCain would be the ideal choice. Works Cited New York Post. (September 8, 2008) Post supports John McCain. Retrieved June 9, 2011, from http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/item_S6iXH45stH6gujTk5rptKP/0Schmidt, S., Shelley, M., Bardes, B. (2011). American Government Policy Today 2010-2011, short edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning Publishers. (2008, October 13). The choice. The New Yorker. Retrieved June 9, 2001, from http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/10/13/081013taco_talk_editors