In the wake of the 2016 presidential nomination process, it became fashionable to talk about the declining influence of the two major U.S. political parties on their voters. That’s for pretty good reason. The Republican nomination of Donald Trump, despite his tepid support from Republican elected officials and his frequent breaks from Republican orthodoxy, defied the scholarly consensus about how “party elites” are supposed to have sway over their voters. Whether Bernie Sanders’s vigorous run against Hillary Clinton also fits the pattern is a more difficult question2 — but there was certainly plenty of conflict on display between Democratic party officials and a sizable contingent of Democratic voters.
It’s important to remember, however, that even if the parties’ power over their voters has declined to some extent, they’re still extremely powerful institutions that get their way most of the time. And in Tuesday’s primaries in California, New Jersey and six other states, the parties had a really good night. CONT.
Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight