The People Are Ready for Open Primaries. The Parties Are the Problem.

New polling reveals overwhelming public support for primary reform, and a clear view of what stands in the way

America's primary system is broken. Most voters know it. And now we have the numbers to show just how wide and deep the hunger for reform really is.

The Independent Center commissioned a national survey of 1,141 registered voters on open primaries: what Americans know about them, how they feel about them and whether they'd fight for them. Across party lines, demographics and income levels, Americans are saying the current system doesn't work for them, and they want something better.

72.5% support opening the primaries

Asked whether they support a system where all candidates, regardless of party, appear on one primary ballot and any registered voter can vote for any candidate, 72.5% of respondents said yes, either somewhat or strongly. Only 13.5% opposed the idea.

That's not a narrow majority. That's a supermajority spanning Democrats, Republicans and independents alike.

The enthusiasm goes beyond passive approval. Asked how they'd respond if open primary reform appeared as a ballot proposition or legislation in their state, nearly half (46.9%) said they'd be supportive, with more than a quarter saying they'd actively take action to register that support.

A hunger to participate, if the system would let them

One of the most revealing findings isn't about policy preferences. It's about participation.

Asked why they didn't participate in a recent primary election, respondents painted a portrait of a closed system:

• 28.3% said they were registered with a different party than the primary being held
• 16.0% said their state's primary was closed to unaffiliated voters, and they were unaffiliated

That's nearly 44% of nonparticipants who were effectively locked out by the rules themselves. They didn't stay home because they didn't care. They stayed home because they weren't allowed in.

Meanwhile, 89.7% of respondents said primary participation is important or very important to our democracy.

Open the door, and they'll walk through it. Asked how open primaries would affect their likelihood of voting in primaries, 50.8% said they'd be more likely to vote, with nearly a third saying much more likely. Less than 5% said they'd be less likely.

Voters reject party loyalty as the organizing principle

52.3% of respondents said that if they participated in a primary, they'd vote for the candidate from any party who best represents their views, not the candidate of their registered party. Only 35.4% said they'd vote for their party's candidate every time.

A majority of Americans don't think in party-first terms when choosing their representatives. Yet our primary system is built entirely around that logic: you pick a team, and you vote within that team. Everyone else sits on the sidelines.

The system is misaligned with the voters it's supposed to serve. Open primaries would fix that.

Many Americans haven't heard the term, and it doesn't matter

Skeptics of primary reform often argue that voters don't know enough about open primaries to want them. Awareness is incomplete: 18.7% of respondents said they'd never heard the term "open primary," and another 21.6% said they may have heard it but weren't sure.

But when voters hear what an open primary actually means, they support it by a margin of more than 5 to 1.

Awareness isn't destiny. It's an opportunity. The Independent Center's job, and the job of every reformer reading this, is to build that awareness. The underlying values are already there.

Who's blocking reform? Voters already know.

Perhaps the most politically significant finding is what respondents believe about why open primary reform hasn't spread more widely.

The top answer, cited by 23.8% of respondents, was: "The two major parties actively block these reforms to protect their power."

Only 9.9% said reforms had been tried and failed to deliver. Voters were far more likely to point to the parties themselves, or to a lack of public awareness, which they also attributed in part to media that doesn't cover the issue enough.

This is a sophisticated electorate. Voters understand that primary reform challenges the parties' hold on power, and they see that as the main reason change has stalled. Moving past it will take a public that asks for reform loudly enough to make inaction more costly than change.

The big picture

• The demand is there. 72.5% support open primaries. That's the will of the public.
• The barriers are structural. Millions of voters were excluded from recent primaries not because they didn't care, but because closed systems keep them out.
• Voters see the obstacle. Respondents point to party establishments as the main barrier, not public opinion or policy performance.
• The awareness gap can be closed. Nearly a quarter of respondents said they'd need more information and examples before making up their minds. That's not a wall. That's a door.

The Independent Center was founded to serve the voters the two-party system has left behind. This poll confirms that there are more of those voters than the parties want to admit, and they're growing more willing to act.

Open primaries aren't a partisan issue. They're a democracy issue. The data makes that plain.