Primaries and Caucuses: Advantages and Disadvantages

Created by: evienyln
Created on: 26-04-22 14:45


	Primaries and Caucuses: Advantages and Disadvantages
	Advantages Present a large choice of candidates. In the Republican Primary in 2016, 16 candidates ran. Primaries give people outside of politics a chance to run for election, for example, Donald Trump in 2016, who ran without any previous political experience While the process is long and difficult, it is arguably necessary for electing such an important role	Disadvantages Suitable candidates can be put off from running as the process is long and expensive. Hillary Clinton raised $275m in the 2016 Democratic primary (many candidates simply do not have access to this level of funding) Candidates can perform well at primaries despite being unpopular with many Americans. Primary voters tend to be more ideological in their political views, older, wealthier and better educated (maybe why Joe Biden did poorly in the 2020 primaries) Primaries can often become a personal battle rather than about a candidate's policies and suitability for president. In the 2016 primaries, Donald Trump made personal attacks towards fellow candidate Jeb Bush, calling him "an embarrassment to his family" Voter turnout is often low, particularly when a president is running for re-election as only one party has a serious primary contest. In 2012, when Obama was running, turnout was only 14.5%.
	Evaluation Here are some potential improvements: 1. Rotating which states get to go first, as many argue New Hampshire and Iowa are not representative of the whole nation. They are both incredibly white and quite rural. Their influence is too large over the Presidency. 2. Having a national primary. By allowing everyone to vote at the same time it cannot be argued that the candidate is decided by two states. However, it would likely advantage those with name recognition and money as many cannot afford a large national campaign.

Primaries and Caucuses: Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

Present a large choice of candidates. In the Republican Primary in 2016, 16 candidates ran.
Primaries give people outside of politics a chance to run for election, for example, Donald Trump in 2016, who ran without any previous political experience
While the process is long and difficult, it is arguably necessary for electing such an important role

Disadvantages

Suitable candidates can be put off from running as the process is long and expensive. Hillary Clinton raised $275m in the 2016 Democratic primary (many candidates simply do not have access to this level of funding)
Candidates can perform well at primaries despite being unpopular with many Americans. Primary voters tend to be more ideological in their political views, older, wealthier and better educated (maybe why Joe Biden did poorly in the 2020 primaries)
Primaries can often become a personal battle rather than about a candidate's policies and suitability for president. In the 2016 primaries, Donald Trump made personal attacks towards fellow candidate Jeb Bush, calling him "an embarrassment to his family"
Voter turnout is often low, particularly when a president is running for re-election as only one party has a serious primary contest. In 2012, when Obama was running, turnout was only 14.5%.

Evaluation

Here are some potential improvements: 1. Rotating which states get to go first, as many argue New Hampshire and Iowa are not representative of the whole nation. They are both incredibly white and quite rural. Their influence is too large over the Presidency. 2. Having a national primary. By allowing everyone to vote at the same time it cannot be argued that the candidate is decided by two states. However, it would likely advantage those with name recognition and money as many cannot afford a large national campaign.

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Primaries and Caucuses: Advantages and Disadvantages