Analysis: The fractured Democratic field strongly benefits the leading candidates for one very big reason
Former vice president Joe Biden speaks in Washington on April 5. By Philip Bump Philip Bump National correspondent focused largely on the numbers behind politics Email Bio Follow April 11 at 4:36 PM Donald Trump’s path to victory in the 2016 Republican primary was clearer than it seemed at the time.
Or they would be, if the party’s delegate rules weren’t so weighted to front-running candidates. To explain, let’s mirror the party and start in Iowa. It sounds complex, but the main point is fairly simple. To get any delegates at a caucus, a candidate needs to get 15 percent of the support in the room. So if former vice president Joe Biden gets 27 percent of the vote at a caucus, Sen. Bernie Sanders gets 16 percent and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg gets 9 percent , Buttigieg would be out of the running. Everyone who supported another candidate, including those Buttigieg backers, would have to pick either Biden or Sanders.
This is a system that works well for a field of two or three candidates. It works less well for a field of 20 candidates.
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