Only 20% of Americans vote in primaries
While there are national “get out the vote” campaigns for general elections in the U.S., primary elections don’t see any of that same energy. In fact, only about 20% of the American electorate votes in primaries.
“From the perspective of political parties, there is a belief that competition in primaries is bad. Parties tend to want to choose their nominees without the fuss of having a primary at all, so you’ll see parties trying to clear the field before the primary happens, or parties taking other steps to try to ensure that there’s a lack of competition,” says Political Science Professor Robert Boatright. “In a way, you can’t blame people for not voting, because they’re often not encouraged to vote at all in their primaries.”
Primaries are the subject of Boatright’s latest book, “The Problem with Primary Voters,” co-authored with Caroline Tolbert and Nathan K. Micatka. On this episode of Challenge. Change., Boatright explains primary trends and offers a case for establishing a national primary day.
Challenge. Change. is produced by Melissa Hanson for Clark University. Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Find other episodes wherever you listen to podcasts.
