This American primary season has been unlike any other election in recent memory, if not United States history. Between the Donald Trump phenomenon, Democrats claiming voter fraud after what seems like every single state election and candidates on rivaling parties both publicly stating that the system is rigged, one thing is clear, there is something very strange happening.
We all understand that on some level, of course the system is rigged to a degree. I mean we have all known that Hillary Clinton was going to be ‘the next President’ for over six years now. It is no surprise she is running for election in 2016, we have known this all along. Do you actually think you have a choice then when voting for Hillary Clinton? How could you possibly claim a choice when you knew she was going to be running all this time? The same could be said about John McCain in 2008. I remember as a freshmen in college writing a paper about ‘the next Republican President’ – John McCain in 2004. This is the illusion of having a choice in American politics. The reality is that you are presented with a choice to make, the illusion of actually having a choice at all.
People forget that in 2012 Donald Trump was in the mix to become the next President, however he was told he could not participate in the Republican debates. The same exact thing happened to Rand Paul this year. He did not want to stop campaigning for President, the GOP literally told him they would no longer allow him on the debate stage. Like it or not, on some level the entire system is rigged to a degree and apparently the majority of American citizens now agree. According a new study conducted by Rueters News, “more than half of American voters believe the U.S. system is rigged.”
The study was conducted via an online poll between the dates of April 21 – 26 and consisted of approximately 2,215 people – 1,582 of which were Americans. According to the results, when presented with the question “Agree or disagree: The current system of presidential primaries and caucuses are ‘rigged’ against some candidates?” 47.5% of people agreed. 23.6% disagreed with the statement and 28.9% were undecided or did not have an opinion for or against. Overall 51% of perspective American voters in the upcoming election believe that the system as a whole is rigged in general.
The study also went on to reveal that 71% or respondents said they would favor a direct vote for individual candidates on a single day rather than the current prolonged state delegate based system we see today. People point to the fact that when the primary season first began the Republicans had a field of 17 candidates. Today we are still in the process, some states haven’t even had a vote and yet the field of candidates available to vote for has shrunk down 3 – hardly fair or equal for every state.
Further numbers reveal that 27% of respondents admit that they have no idea how the political process actually works, something we refer to as low-information voters. Another 44% of voters have no idea what delegates actually are or why they are involved in the voting process at all.
Source: Reuters
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