Primary elections in the US have some of the lowest voter turnout in any election, but the people who vote in these primaries tend to be the most loyal voters. The Republican and democrats vary on what rules they follow for how many delegates they win.
The Republicans use a plurality rule the “Only the leading candidate will emerge with delegates; the other candidates win nothing” (Hershey 32). This rule is the fastest way to get to the candidate who will represent Republican Party, but it also encourages candidates who are not the frontrunner to drop out of the race. This in a way hurts the Republican parties to be represented by the best candidate because the frontrunner may not always be the best candidate.
While the Democratic Party uses the rule of proportional representation. In proportional representation candidates need to win 15% of the vote to win a delegate. “Candidates win delegates in rough proportion to their popular support. So in a typical Democratic primary, the less successful candidates are encouraged to stay in the race longer” (Hershey 32).Proportional representation rules force candidates to win by a large margin in order to pull far ahead. This creates a more competitive environment for candidates to win the nomination.
Proportional representation seems the best and most democratic way of candidates competing to win delegates because candidates have to campaign effectively in a competitive election. An example is Obama and Clinton in the 2008 campaign. Obama and his staff had to “Put enormous effort into states where Democratic candidates didn’t usually campaign, and thus Clinton’s advantages were barely perceptible” (Hershey 183). This rule is maybe the best way to determines who should be a party’s nominee. While the plurality rules just seems to reward those who can win early on.
But these two rules have a down side, the matter of minor parties. These parties don’t have a chance of getting one of its parties nominated for the presidency. In Republican primaries it is nearly impossible for this to happen and in Democratic primaries the odds are more in their favor but it is still unlikely. The Democrats and Republicans are using to their advantage the rules and people from the far right or far left are the ones who tend to vote in primaries. These two dominant parties are not allowing for minor parties to invade the two party- system.
Works Cited
Hershey, Marjorie Randon. Party Politics in America. New York: Pearson Longman, 2011. Print.
22 comments:
nice job.
Here's another idea. It is for after the state primaries, which would be used to determine six or seven finalists to compete in an early November "open primary" that would determine which three candidates go to the Electoral College, which would then choose the next president by voting until one candidate gets a majority.
dlw
It really is quite disappointing that the US system forces such a vast population with so many differences (culturally, economically, historically, etc.) into a Democrat or Republican party in order to take part in politics. The rule usually stands that the more people there are, the greater number of distinctions will exist between the furthest opposites. With that in mind, no two people are fit exactly on the same line of political beliefs. It is for that reason that a multi-party system seems to be the better choice to represent the overwhelmingly diverse population.
The US has always had a melting or melding pot effect at work. The use of winner-take-all elections, which is inevitable for part of an electoral system, and the strength of our president is why there are two major parties.
But there have historically been more regional variations and they have been more dynamic in the past. The use of multi-seated state legislative elections, which was common in the US until the sixties, go a long ways towards handicapping the rivalry between the two major parties and thereby making them less cut-throat competitive and more open to learning from each other or other voices.
And there really is no feasible path in the US right now to a PR election system, given the fact that we have a two-party dominated political system. The right evolutionary step is to push for multi-seated elections in more "more local"(state/municipal) elections and trust that the effects will trickle up to improve other elections that remain winner-take-all.
dlw
I agree that both of these rules have their downsides and neither are a truly effective way of distributing delegates; however, out of the two rules presented, "plurality" for the Republicans and "proportional representation" for the Democrats, I believe the proportional representation is the better practice. It allows for the less successful candidates to stay in the race longer, and in effect creates more of a competitive atmosphere for the individuals involved. Competition is not only healthy in this area of society, but also helps to keep public interest.
I agree completely that the use of prop representation in state primaries/caucuses is much better. However, I think the frame was set more in terms of general elections, rather than party presidential primaries.
dlw
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