Indiana was very good to Bernie Sanders (and Donald Trump), but it wasn’t a total surprise. Like some of the other states Sanders has won, Indiana has an open primary–Independents can vote in the Republican or Democratic primary.
For candidates like Sanders and Trump, who appeal to voters who may not identify with the political party the candidate is running under, the open primary gives their supporters a say in who the party nominee is.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla), chair of the Democratic National Committee sees that as an issue.
“I believe that the party’s nominee should be chosen — this is Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s opinion — that the party’s nominee should be chosen by members of the party,” the Florida lawmaker said during an interview with “MSNBC Live” on Monday.
Sanders votes come from a substantially large group of people who are not members of the Democratic party, according to analysis provided by Vox.
But as Real Clear Politics points out, while Sanders does better in states with open primaries, it isn’t the sure-fire path to the White House it would seem to be:
“There have been 40 state contests so far, 27 primaries and 13 caucuses. Nineteen of those primaries were accessible to independent voters. Yet Sanders only won six of them, and two were his home state of Vermont and neighboring New Hampshire.”
They note that in a majority of the closed primaries, the margin by which Sec. Hillary Clinton won, was so large the Independent vote would not have helped Sanders.
Still, Sanders is a proponent of open primaries in all 50 states. He is pushing for it as part of a push for a more progressive platform.
“Clearly the final decisions will be made by the states, but … I think clearly the convention and the Democratic National Committee can change the rules and can create a scenario that makes it clear that we want open primaries in 50 states in this country,” says Sanders.
Featured Image by DonkeyHotey (Flickr, CC-BY-SA-2.0)
