Democratic primaries

The U.S. is pretty much the only country in the world that holds primary elections before the general one, and this system is a major reason American politics has become so dysfunctional, according to NBCLX political editor Noah Pransky. He breaks down why primaries disenfranchise voters and create more extreme candidates, and possible solutions to fix them.

There’s little debate that America’s polarized politics are producing a more dysfunctional Congress, but there’s little agreement between the country’s political factions on how to fix it. One place to start may be our political primaries, a uniquely American mechanism, which often push candidates to take extreme positions that are far more popular among their party’s base than their...