To What Extent Is the Presidential Nomination Process Too Long, Hugely Expensive and Lacking in Substance?

To what extent is the presidential nomination process too long, hugely expensive and lacking in substance?

Many people believe that the presidential nomination process is too long, hugely expensive and lacking in substance. The current process for the 2016 election began in March 2015, when Ted Cruz announced he would be running for the Republicans. Although this is a slower start than previous years such as 2008, it is still much longer before the election than in the 60’s for example. In the 2016 presidential campaign as of July 31st, Hilary Clinton has raised $692.7M. $351.2M of this on the campaign itself, $221.8m on party and joint fundraising committees and a further $119.7M on super PACs, which are independent political committees that support a candidate with unlimited, often anonymous, donations from companies, unions or individuals. Trump on the other hand has raised $346.3M, with most of this coming from party and joint fundraising committees.

One argument that supports the question is that the presidential nomination process causes divisions among candidates trying to get the nomination. In 2008, Obama and Clinton’s fight for the Democrat presidential nomination was very divisive and involved many personal insults. The problem is that it makes the party seem divided and not cohesive enough.  On top of this, the negative comments made about one another undermined the ability for that candidate to become president as those rows could have easily been used by Republicans to undermine Obamas ability. This is an argument that agrees with the question as the US presidential nomination process pits candidates against each other instead of a united front. In the UK, there is no primary election, making the party seem united behind one candidate.

Another argument could be that there is too much emphasis by the media on the primaries and caucuses. In 2011, Michelle Bachmann won the Iowa straw poll yet in 2012, she dropped out of the race to become the nominee. The heavy media emphasis on meaningless polls such as this one really detracted from the actual politics of the race ot become President. Instead of emphasis on key issues, the media’s coverage of the nomination process is on polls such as this as well as biased attack ads sponsored by the Super PACs. This evidence supports the question as the heavy media emphasis makes the presidential nomination process too expensive and more based on style rather than the substance of the nominees and parties.

Finally, the US presidential nomination process attracts very low turnout. In 2012, more people attended the Super Bowl American football event that voted in 3 Mid-West Caucuses. The low turnout suggests that the electorate does not care enough about having a say in who the actual candidates are. Maybe a reason for this is that they are too long winded, meaning that the voters lose interest in the process. This could be improved by putting a limit on the amount of time a party/candidate can spend campaigning or even a spending limit in order to try and naturally shorten the campaign length.