When I went to the Maine caucus as a Clinton supporter this year, it became very clear how caucuses make it very hard for the candidate who is not favored.
All the papers said Sanders was going to win.
When you know ahead of time your candidate is not ahead, what happens?
If it’s a primary, you can just go ahead and cast your secret ballot. You don’t have to tell anyone else what you’re doing.
At a caucus, you have to look at the whole crowd. That can be intimidating for people.
I know Clinton supporters who didn’t want to deal with that and didn’t go to the caucuses because of it. They told me they would have voted in a primary, but the caucus was too much, both because of peer pressure and the amount of time it would take up of their precious weekends.
Long lines and the hours and hours for the caucus make it really hard for older folks to participate.
A friend had her elderly mother with her who wanted to caucus for Clinton but she couldn’t stay there that long. The same happened to another friend with mobility problems.
Many more people were for Sanders and they weren’t just enthusiastic about him but were vocal in opposing Clinton. People who spoke up for Clinton got booed. That increased the peer pressure.
Ok, there are other reasons why Sanders is winning caucus states (except for Iowa, which was a teeny tiny Clinton win, basically a tie).
They’ve been in small states so that are very white so far.
Washington state is more diverse than the other caucus states but it will have the same problems as the others.
Hawaii may turn out to be an exception.
But wherever it’s held, turnout for a caucus is always much less than primary wins.
Isn’t it time we got rid of caucuses?