… Advocates of reform … argue that replacing closed party primaries with a more open nominating process will reduce polarization and its offspring—gridlock and a noxious political atmosphere—by helping moderate candidates.
Are these claims about the consequences of reform valid? To shed further light on the consequences of this reform, we conducted a statewide experiment before California’s June 2012 primaries. [cont.]
Doug Ahler, Jack Citrin & Gabriel Lenz, Monkey Cage