If you were hiring someone for a vitally important job, would you begin by interviewing 10 applicants at a time, hoping that the ones with the snappiest sound bites might also be most qualified for the job? Of course not. And yet that’s the bizarre logic behind this week’s Democratic presidential debates.
That abundance of candidates may seem like a good thing — democracy! — but it isn’t. … Research on primary voting demonstrates that voters make better-informed and more coherent choices when the race involves just two or three major contenders. That’s why political elites and political institutions have a crucial role to play in shaping the options presented to primary voters. CONT.
Larry M. Bartels (Vanderbilt), New York Times