McGhee, E., Masket, S., Shor, B., Rogers, S., & McCarty, N. (2013). A Primary Cause of Partisanship? Nomination Systems and Legislator Ideology. American Journal of Political Science, n/a–n/a. http://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12070
ABSTRACT
Many theoretical and empirical accounts of representation argue that primary elections are a polarizing influence. Likewise, many reformers advocate opening party nominations to nonmembers as a way of increasing the number of moderate elected officials. Data and measurement constraints, however, have limited the range of empirical tests of this argument. We marry a unique new data set of state legislator ideal points to a detailed accounting of primary systems in the United States to gauge the effect of primary systems on polarization. We find that the openness of a primary election has little, if any, effect on the extremism of the politicians it produces.
