As President Macron and President Trump stood side by side during the Bastille Day ceremonies in Paris, it was not difficult for commentators to point out the differences between the two men. Neither in personal style nor substantive policies do they have much in common. Indeed, Macron’s victory in early May was seen by most as a firm and critical rejection of Trump-style politics by a major Western country. But Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron do in fact share one very important characteristic: They were both candidates who came seemingly out of nowhere and who owe their victories in no small measure to a selection system that has reduced the sway of traditional party structures and allowed them to take advantage of fractures within the parties.
While the French have been intrigued by the drama of American presidential primaries for decades, the use of an open primary to choose a candidate is relatively new there. Its ultimate adoption was tied to the example of Barack Obama’s 2008 run for the Oval Office and his successful primary campaign waged against favored Hillary Clinton. Taking note of the Obama team’s grassroots efforts and digital strategy to expand partisan recruitment, the newly formed French think tank Terra Nova dreamed of creating similar conditions, to produce “un Barack Obama français.”
