Republican lawmakers are not the only ones who have to worry about divisive primary elections.

A major reason behind hyper-partisan gridlock in Washington is the concern several congressional Republicans have over facing a more conservative challenger in the next primary election. As a result, no effort is taken to reach across the aisle to get things done. According to The Washington Post, voters are seeing the same thing from Democrats.

Primary elections have historically low voter turnout and generally the voters who participate in these elections are the most partisan within a party's base. However, as previously reported on IVN, the party bases are moving further toward their respective ideological extremes, and are even challenging traditional notions of where these extremes fall.

From The Washington Post:

"In municipal and statewide Democratic primaries all across the country, liberal candidates have emerged in strong competition against more moderate opponents at a time when the party base is increasingly longing for populist, outspoken standard-bearers. The result could be something akin to what Republicans have dealt with as tea party candidates have been battling centrist Republicans."

Read the full article here.

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