The long slog is one reason why we have such abyssmal participation, you do realize. People get fed up of it being a constant focus of the news cycle and inevitably just stop caring as much as they would otherwise. Just look at Canada.
Looking at Canada I see a substantial difference in the lack of primaries to select the party nominees. That alone makes for a much shorter campaign. However, I don't think the US public wants a return to nomination by party elites - just look at the debate over Dem superdelegates.
This.
I don't realize that at all, Buckeye. In fact I quite disagree.
Also, we didn't seem to have abysmal participation in 08 on the Dems side, and participation has held fairly steady in the backfield this cycle.
Frankly, without Super Tuesday and March 15, I think participation would have been enhanced (at least on Sanders' side).
Correlation may not equal causation, but the data isn't on your side.
The US has an inordinately long election process that people hate. Our neighbors to the north, and our chums across the pond, both have far shorter election processes and greater turnout overall.
There's a study I'm looking for that further corroborates this idea, but I cannot find ATM. Hopefully, I can post it sometime in the near future.
Also, nowhere did I advocate for more involvement from party elites in choosing the nominee.
