Primaries
Political Studies: Edexcel A Level, topic 16.1.2
Primaries and caucuses
States use primaries and caucuses to choose presidential nominees.
Primaries vs caucuses
- A primary is an election to choose each party's candidate to run in the presidential election.
- People voting can just cast a ballot then leave.
- A caucus is a meeting to choose a party's candidate for the presidential election.
- There is a discussion, then the group decides on the nomination.
- Caucuses tend to be held in smaller states with more activist party membership.
Primary functions
- Primary elections choose delegates to go to the national party conventions.
- Primary elections show how popular presidential candidates are.
Primary process
- Each state controls how its own primary or caucus is run.
- States decide when primaries are held between January and June.
- Super Tuesday is a day in February or March when many states hold their primary or caucus.
- The Iowa caucus has traditionally been the first nominating contest, though the Democratic Party moved it down its primary calendar from 2024.
Type of primary
- States decide the type of primary election that takes place.
- In closed primaries only registered Republicans can vote in the Republican primary and registered Democrats can vote in the Democratic primary.
- In open primaries all registered voters can vote for a candidate.
Delegates
- States decide how delegates are allocated to the candidates.
- The primary vote awards the successful candidates with state delegates who go to the National Party Convention and vote for them to be the party's candidate.
- In proportional primaries candidates are awarded delegates in proportion to their votes won.
- In 'winner takes all' primaries the candidate with the most votes wins all the state delegates.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Primaries
Primaries offer both advantages and disadvantages to the American population.
Large choice of candidates
- Primaries offer a large choice of candidates to vote for.
- In 2016 the Republican primary had 17 candidates.
- Primaries give individuals outside of politics or major political positions the chance to run for election.
- In 2016 Donald Trump was able to enter the Republican primary despite having no political experience.
Length of process
- The primary is a long and difficult contest which is appropriate for choosing a potential president, which is a highly demanding job.
- However, suitable candidates can be put off from running in a primary because it is a long process, with some candidates entering months before the election, and very expensive.
- Hillary Clinton raised $275 million in the 2016 Democrat primary.
Unrepresentative process
- Voters are unrepresentative of the American population, meaning that candidates can perform well at primaries despite not being representative of most Americans.
- Primary voters are more ideological in their political views, older, wealthier and better educated than most of the US population.
Personal Battle
- Primaries can become a personal battle rather than about candidate’s policies and suitability for president.
- In the primary for the 2016 election Donald Trump insulted other candidates including Jeb Bush who he called an “embarrassment to his family”.
Voter turnout
- Voter turnout at primaries is often low, particularly when a president is running for re-election, as only one party has a serious primary contest.
Test yourself on Primaries
Which of the following is NOT controlled by states?
Which is NOT an advantage of primaries?
How many Republican primary candidates were there in 2016?