Primary voters disagree about who should pick nominees

Primary voters are more willing to accept influence from party insiders and elites than one might think, according to new research.

In a paper in Party Politics, coauthor Zachary Albert, an assistant professor of politics at Brandeis University, and colleagues analyzed survey responses from 2,000 citizens in late 2018.

Respondents rated how much influence they thought certain actors should have in the primary process, including party voters, independent voters, party leaders, and non-party experts.

Based on the responses, voters were divided into three categories: elitists, those who think party leadership and experts should hold most of the power in deciding general election candidates; pluralists, those who think that primary elections should involve a combination of voter, leadership, and expert influence; and populists, who think voters should hold the majority of power in deciding the party’s nominee.

Here, Albert explains the research and the findings:

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