Calls from Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump to reform the presidential nomination system is believed my many people, according to a new poll.
Of the 1,060 adults surveyed by Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, most Americans say that they don’t believe the presidential nomination system is fair. They prefer open primaries to closed primaries and caucuses, and they oppose superdelegates, who strongly influence the nomination of the Democratic candidate.
“It’s kind of like a rigged election. It’s supposed to be one man one vote. This is the way it should be,” 66-year-old Nayef Jaber of California told The Washington Post. Jaber is a Bernie Sanders supporter.
The unfair nature of the nomination process is bipartisan.
Thirty-eight percent of people surveyed have barely any confidence in the DNC’s nomination process and 44 percent say the same about the GOP’s nomination process. Only 31 percent of Democrats and 17 percent of Republicans are confident that their party’s nomination system is fair.
Currently, the system is very complicated for both major political parties for nominating a presidential candidate. Each state uses primaries or caucuses with different rules regarding voter eligibility and delegate distribution.
The questionable nature of the presidential nomination system has become a major issue in Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign. Despite winning 20 states, Sanders trails Hillary Clinton by many votes and delegates as a result of the DNC’s nomination process and its rules. Sanders has said that closed primaries have prevented many of his supporters from voting for him and has talked about how superdelegates have put him at a disadvantage.
Most people appear to agree with Sanders regardless of their political affiliation. Fifty-three percent of those surveyed oppose the Democrats’ superdelegates, and only 17 percent support them. Of Democrats surveyed, 46 percent oppose superdelegates and 25 percent support them.
Regarding the debate between primaries and caucuses, those surveyed preferred primaries over caucuses 81 percent to 17 percent. For primaries, most Americans believe open primaries are more fair than closed primaries, with 69 percent supporting open primaries and 29 percent supporting closed primaries.
Even though Bernie Sanders thrived in states that held caucuses, it should be known that most people favor primaries over caucuses because caucuses require more of a person’s time than a primary.
Republican nominee Donald Trump has voiced his agreement that Sanders has been disadvantaged by the Democratic nomination process and has also criticized the Republican nomination process after a controversy in Colorado gave all of its delegates to Sen. Ted Cruz. Trump hasn’t commented on the issue as much since clinching the Republican nomination.
It seems likely that changes to the presidential nomination process for both the Democratic and Republican parties could be talked about in the near future. For Democrats, discussing changes to their system can’t start until next year. Republicans could discuss and debate changes to their nomination rules at the national convention in July, but it is more likely to occur after the convention.
At a time when political parties are polarized and there is little agreement between Democrats and Republicans, it appears that there is a bipartisan belief among Americans that the nomination process needs to be reformed.
