Closed Partisan Primaries Breed Extremism; It's Time for Change

image
Published: 13 Mar, 2017
Updated: 17 Oct, 2022
2 min read

Closed party primaries have shifted political power from mainstream Americans to the lunatic fringes of both major political parties. Each party has a large, though not necessarily majority, percentage of activists that demand extreme responses to public policy issues.

When closed primaries are held, even relatively small groups have dramatically enhanced influence over the outcomes. This is true even when gerrymandering is not an issue.

For example, when the electorate is evenly divided between the major parties, the candidates must pay attention to a relatively small number of activists. A candidate receiving less than 26% of the total electorate can win the nomination of each party.

In this example, both candidates would be expected to rush to the middle in the general election. But this, too, creates problems. The overt hypocrisy is not lost on any element of the electorate. Mainstream voters react with increased cynicism toward politics, and radicals from both sides become more radical and more aggressive.

The truth is, most elections are held in an area where the candidates only have to appeal to one side of the political divide. In that case, the winning candidate will have to garner more than 26% of the total electorate, but will not have to move to the middle for the general election. The results are about the same. Radicals are elected. Radicals become more radical. And mainstream voters are disenfranchised and excoriated.

The nationwide result is even more catastrophic. Large segments of the electorate withdraw, and the remaining voters become hyper-polarized. Instead of the centrist nation that has existed from the earliest days, we now have a bimodal electorate with a missing middle. That missing middle has been the source of America’s greatness for more than two centuries. Its loss is devastating to our political future.

The level of discourse envisioned by James Madison in Federalist Paper #10 is destroyed. The essence of democracy is eroded. Our collective future is placed in jeopardy.

Restoring the positive promise of American democracy demands that we end the travesty and the tragedy of closed partisan primaries.

Photo Credit: Delpixel / shutterstock.com

IVP Donate

Latest articles

Elon Musk
Musk vs The Duopoly: Will the America Party Succeed Where Others Have Failed?
Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and X, and former Director of the Department of Government Efficiency, has officially launched the America Party, framing it as a challenge to what he calls a “one-party system” dominated by wasteful government spending....
07 Jul, 2025
-
5 min read
CA capitol building dome with flags.
Why is CA Senator Mike McGuire Trying to Kill the Legal Cannabis Industry?
California’s legal cannabis industry is under mounting pressure, and in early June, state lawmakers and the governor appeared poised to help. A bill to freeze the state’s cannabis excise tax at 15% sailed through the State Assembly with a unanimous 74-0 vote. The governor’s office backed the plan. And legal cannabis businesses, still struggling to compete with unregulated sellers and mounting operating costs, saw a glimmer of hope....
03 Jul, 2025
-
7 min read
I voted buttons
After First RCV Election, Charlottesville Voters Back the Reform: 'They Get It, They Like It, They Want to Do It Again'
A new survey out of Charlottesville, Virginia, shows overwhelming support for ranked choice voting (RCV) following the city’s first use of the system in its June Democratic primary for City Council. Conducted one week after the election, the results found that nearly 90% of respondents support continued use of RCV....
03 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read