This is a class discussion post that needs to be approximately 2-5 paragraphs in length. 

***Discussion Post should be followed accordingly each question asked needs to be answered.

********I will post the students response below.  With the Student response it should be 1-2 paragraphs in length reply to the students disccusion.

********************Discussion Post*****************

Issue ownership is the notion that parties strategically focus on and represent certain issues in order to do well with voters. 

http://themonkeycage.org/2009/06/issue_ownership_rethinking_som/

-What is your reaction to this week’s reading on issue ownership and the information contained in the link above? 

-What issues do the Democratic and Republican Parties “own” today? 

-In what ways have they lost ground or experienced recent “trespassing” of these issues? 

-Speculate on which issues Democrats and Republicans will attempt to own and trespass on in the 2020 General Election.

                   ***************Student’s Response*****************

“The basic idea of issue ownership is that voters associate certain issues with certain parties.” I definitely agree with this and can really see this in today’s political parties. The issues that I think the Democratic Party “owns” today that are mentioned in the article are; medicaid expansion, criminal justice/drug policy, gun laws, anti-immigration, medical marijuana, and public transportation, etc. The issues that I think the Republican Party “owns” include; taxes, opposition to gun laws, pro-immigration, religious liberty and tighter abortion restrictions, etc. I think that both sides “own” certain issues but they definitely agree/disagree if the restrictions should be more rigid or more loose. 

As far as “trespassing” issues, I feel that both parties have their own opinions on certain issues but not all issues have polar opposite opinions. For example, I feel like in the upcoming 2020 general election, issues like medical marijuana or even recreational marijuana, both parties will come to an agreement or at least be on the same side about reducing restrictions. In today’s world, there are so many things that are coming about, like marijuana, that the founding fathers didn’t think about or know when writing the Constitution. The parties have to choose one side or the other and there aren’t many options for them.