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Republicans should have adopted Democrats’ rules — and vice versa

By Michael Barone
Published May 1, 2016 9:00pm ET
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Republicans should have adopted Democrats’ rules — and vice versa
The lower classes have seen significantly slower income growth than the rich and the upper-middle class, a dynamic that a scholar suggested could cause resentment and might be behind the strong support for outsider political candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. (AP Photos)

The unexpected success, forecast by almost no one 12 months ago, of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders in winning 40 percent and 42 percent in Republican and Democratic primaries and caucuses is widely taken as evidence of raging discontent among American voters.

There’s something to that. But Trump’s better-than-even chance of winning the Republican nomination and Sanders’ success in pushing Hillary Clinton to the left owe something to another factor: Each party’s nominating process has proven better suited this year to the other party.

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2016 Elections Bernie Sanders Commentary Donald Trump Email Hillary Clinton Michael Barone Minusextra OpinionDigest