Replication Data for: On the Representativeness of Primary Electorates

Abstract

Primary voters are frequently characterized as an ideologically extreme subset of their party, and thus partially responsible for increasing party polarization in government. We use a combination of administrative records on primary turnout and five recent surveys from 2008-2014 to show that primary voters are similar to rank and file voters in their party in terms of demographic attributes and policy attitudes. These similarities do not vary depending on the openness of the primary. Our results suggest that the composition of primary electorates does not exert a polarizing effect above what might arise from voters in the party as a whole