William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

who attend national

nominating conventions.

Delegates from all states attend the

national convention, where they

vote for the party’s presidential and

vice-presidential nominees based

on the primary and caucus results.

Superdelegates—important party

leaders—also vote at the convention.

are used to select

delegates...

Democratic Party

The state’s delegates are divided

proportionally.

Republican Party

States can award all delegates to the

winning candidate

or award delegates proportionally.

Closed Primaries

Only voters registered with

party vote

Open Primaries

Open to voters from any political

party and Independents

Caucus or

Local Convention

Party members meet in groups

to select delegates

Primaries and caucuses...

How it works: in theory

Nominating Presidential Candidates

How it works: in practice

The Nomination

of Donald Trump

for President,

2016

While Donald Trump was the clear winner in the 2016 Republican

presidential nomination contest, his campaign benefited from the

rules used in some of the early contests, particularly the use of primary

elections rather than caucuses and the use of winner-take-all rules for

delegate allocation.

Note: Colorado has been omitted because its caucus did not allocate delegates.

Source: Data compiled by the authors.

Winner-take-all delegate allocation

Proportional delegate allocation

% Percentage of popular vote won

Delegates allocated

Tr u m p Rubio Cruz Kasich

Caucus/

Primary

Winner

Ta ke A l l?

Feb. 1 Iowa 24%

23%

28%

2% Caucus NO

Feb. 9 New Hampshire 35%

12% 11% 16% Primary NO

Feb. 20 South Carolina 33%

23% 23% 8% Primary YES

Feb. 23 Nevada 46%

24%

21%

4% Caucus NO

Mar. 1 Alabama 43%

19% 21%

4% Primary NO

Alaska 34%

15%

36%

4% Caucus NO

Arkansas 33%

25%

31%

4% Primary NO

Georgia 39%

24%

24%

6% Primary NO

Massachusetts 49%

18%

10% 18%

Primary NO

Minnesota 21%

37%

29%

6% Caucus NO

Oklahoma 28%^

26%

34%

4% Primary NO

Tennessee 39%

21%

24%

5% Primary NO

Te x a s 27%

19% 44%

4% Primary NO

Vermont 33%

19% 10% 30%

Primary NO

Virginia 35%

32%

17%

9% Primary NO

Total delegates 340 116 230 27

1. Which states used winner-
   take-all rules in 2016? How
   much did Trump benefit from
   this rule in the early primaries? If
   there were more winner-take-all
   states, which candidate(s) would
   have done better? Which would
   have done worse?


2. One argument about caucuses
   is that they allow lesser-known
   candidates (such as John Kasich)
   to build support. Did this rule
   hold for Kasich in 2016?

Critical Thinking

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