Parties in an Anti-Party State: The Case of California

This paper poses the question, why do voters seek to restrain political parties and candidates through institutional devices such as changing the primary system? A generation of political scientists have demonstrated that political parties provide a valuable mechanism linking voters and government, yet parties themselves are often held in low regard. This paper examines the extent to which voter support for attempts to restrict political parties are tied to evaluations of the party system. We measure support for restricting political parties, not as support for Democrats or Republicans, but support for parties and partisanship in general--what we term 'party-ness.' Our evidence suggests voters have a generally consistent and coherent set of responses toward political institutions and political reform, and that voters’ attitudes are driven by a mix of self-interest (individual level attachment to parties) and more general evaluations of the party system. In sum, voter responses to the primary system are strongly influenced by their attitudes toward what we have termed 'party-ness', that is a response to political parties and partisanship generally understood, and not just Democrats and Republicans