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Outline the strengths and weaknesses of the primary and caucus process
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Outline the strengths and weaknesses of the primary and caucus process
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Jessica lachlanOutline the strengths and weaknesses of the primary and caucus process (15)
Primaries and caucuses show the popularity of presidential candidates and choose
delegates to go to the National Party Conventions. A key strength of the primary and
caucus process is that they let the electorate decide which candidate they want to run for
president instead of the party choosing like in the 1950s and 1960s where candidate
selection was controlled by the State Party Conventions. The new primary and caucues
process therefore gives more power to the people and has made the whole nomination
process a lot more democratic.
Another strength is that in the small states where caucuses are held people are able to
deliberate over candidates like this instead of just voting for a candidate shows direct
democracy, which is the most effective form of democracy. Each member of the state is
able to directly influence the overall decision made in the caucus making it a very
effective at getting everyone’s views across.
Also, they also help to produce candidates that have a national appeal and who have the
ability to win in different regions of the country. This is shown with Clinton in 1992
where a Southern Democrat appealed in the northern liberal states. This showed that
primaries help to produce well rounded candidates who have the opportunity to be
successful in the future.
another strength is that there is a concept of political Darwinism. The weaker candidates
who have little chance of winning fail to gain momentum in the primaries and this means
that primaries can effectively get rid of the candidates who would not be fit to run
America.
Finally, the process has allowed outsiders who previously would not have had the chance
to compete. Barack Obama in 2008 that would have not had a chance without the
publicity that he got within the primaries.
A key weakness to the primary and caucus process is that caucuses are not democratic as
the voters are much more likely to be extreme activists attending the meetings. This
shows a clear disadvantage of the US election process with it leading to more extreme
views being represented, when not everyone in America holds these views. Caucuses
make it very hard for parents, those that are disabled and people who work late to
participate due to the fact you do not just vote you have to attend and debate in person.
Another weakness is that the primary process goes on for far too long with invisible
primaries creating a situation of permanent campaigning which means that voters lose
interest.
Also, it is said that there are two primaries before the actual vote, the money primary and
the media primary. This makes the process very long, expensive and means that the
media has large amounts of influence over the process. The amount of money that it costs
presents large amounts of problems for independent candidates or minor party
candidates who may have to drop out due to the fact that they do not have enough
money.
Another problem is that there is often widespread voter apathy with turnout in primary
elections only ever being around 17%. This can question the effectiveness of primaries
with the turnout being low meaning that people’s views aren’t really getting effectively
represented. They also lack peer review which means that there is not an effective test of
presidential qualities previosuly presidential candidates were chosen by professional
politicians who were able to use peer review as they were colleagues and had a good idea
of the qualities needed as a president. With the US electorate not knowing the qualities
needed for a president the best man or woman may not win.
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