New Poll: Voters Say Primaries Reward Partisan Bases, Sideline Ordinary Voters

Following a primary season in which a small fraction of voters effectively elected most of Congress, a new national poll (memo, crosstabs) finds that voters are dissatisfied with the choices the current system produces—and a majority supports replacing party primaries with open, all-candidate elections.

The RealClear Opinion Research (RCOR) poll, conducted by Emerson College Polling (ECP) and sponsored by the Unite America Institute, found:

• 43% of respondents said the primary process encouraged candidates to appeal to the most partisan or ideological voters, while only 18% said it encouraged appeals to a broad majority.
• 62% said wealthy donors, special interests and Super PACs had too much influence over which candidates were nominated, while just 7% said they had too little. By contrast, 35% said ordinary voters had too little influence, compared with 13% who said they had too much.
• 56% support open, all-candidate primaries, compared with 29% who oppose them.

“Voters are experiencing the ‘Primary Problem’ in real time,” said Nick Troiano, executive director of Unite America. “Most congressional races were effectively decided before November by a small and unrepresentative share of voters. Candidates were rewarded for appealing to partisan bases, millions of voters lacked meaningful choices and Congress remains unable to address the problems affecting people’s lives.”

The poll comes a week after the end of a primary season where, according to Unite America Institute, a whopping 88% of U.S. House seats were effectively determined in primaries by just 9.4% of eligible voters.

The RCOR/ECP survey builds on a January poll conducted by the same pollsters, which examined whether voters saw a connection between party primaries and congressional dysfunction. That survey found that 59% believed party primaries contribute to political division and 72% believed open primaries would produce a Congress that better represents voters and can address major problems.

Other findings from the September poll include:

• Most voters did not participate. Only 25% reported voting in a 2026 primary. Among independents, that figure fell to 17%. More than one-quarter of independent nonvoters said they were ineligible to participate under their state’s primary rules.
• Voters see a failure of governing. 74%—including 82% of Democrats, 75% of independents and 65% of Republicans—said Congress is not effectively addressing the country’s biggest problems, including the cost of living, health care, immigration and artificial intelligence.
• Voters believe primaries should be open to everyone. More than 70% said all voters—including independents—should be able to participate in either party’s primary, compared with 29% who said participation should be limited to voters registered with that party.

“Voters are not simply frustrated with individual candidates or election outcomes—they’re questioning whether the process gives them a meaningful voice,” Troiano said. “All-candidate primaries are built around a straightforward principle: every voter has the freedom to vote in every taxpayer-funded election. This poll shows that a majority of voters like that approach.”

Methodology

The national survey of 1,500 registered voters was conducted September 12–15, 2026, by Emerson College Polling on behalf of RealClear Opinion Research and Unite America. Respondents were reached through a combination of a probability-based panel, text-to-web outreach and an online panel. Results were weighted by gender, education, race, age and region. The poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION: Ross Sherman, Unite America Press Director, 207-749-2660, ross@uniteamerica.org

Unite America is a philanthropic venture fund that invests in nonpartisan election reform to foster a more representative and functional government.

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