Direct Primary During The Progressive Era

The direct primary during the Progressive reform impacted competition in American elections. The American electoral system is the primary mechanism of democratic control, and democracy requires choice that requires competition. During the Progressive era, single parties prioritized the wealthy elite over the needs and wants of the people, therefore creating a system called Party Boss. To eliminate this system, the progressives wanted to enhance competition and popular choice by emphasizing selecting a party nominee for federal and state through a direct primary. Therefore, direct primaries impacted party competition and strengthen democracy through the extension of two party competition and the rise of incumbency.

One important actor in party

With two parties you are polarizing the electorate. In terms of the party system, America is currently in the sixth party system which is focused on the candidate. During the 2016 primary elections, voters seemed to focus more on the candidate than the party. For example, republican voters hated Hillary Clintons email scandal and hence many voters turned towards Donald Trump. Primary elections have influenced voters to focus on the candidate’s personality rather than policy base. However, a two-party system declines democracy with having only two choices for the people. During primary elections, the voter is handed two choices, Democratic or Republican. Therefore, if the voter is affiliated with a third party, they are unable to express their views in the primary election. Thus, with only two choices in direct primaries, democracy can be

Direct Primaries would give the people a choice and would end the boss rule. The bosses from both parties chose nominees that satisfied economic elites specifically but they would not take in consideration with the other part of the electorate. Anoslabehere and colleagues (2005) agree that primary elections would end the boss rule stating, “Direct primary addressed corruption of party bosses by cutting them out of nomination process”. With the elimination of the party boss, the parties would become more democratic by forcing parties to observe democratic forms of elections. However, the barrier of the absence of two-party competition in parts of the country created a problem in popular control. Depending of area, parties did not have to compete for voters favor therefore creating a monopolistic view. The direct primary addresses the concern of party loyalty by taking voters as they were. Therefore, the primaries fixed voter’s partisan loyalties by taking voters as they are, and removed partisan identification to allow local electorate to come forward for contesting. The direct primary for contestation declined in election and the competition declined as