On April 2, the Connecticut presidential primary elections were held. They are used to help determine the nominees for the general election, which will take place on Nov. 5.
According to the Westport Journal, voter turnout was lacking statewide.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, both of whom are widely expected to win the nominations, won the vote for their respective parties in Connecticut.
Source: Lauren Witte, AP News
Source: Rogelio V. Solis, AP News
According to the Associated Press, Biden received an estimated 84.9% of the votes – 55,697– for the Democratic party, while Trump received an estimated 77.9% of the votes – 34,726 – for the Republican party.
Dr. Gary Rose, Scholar in Residence at Sacred Heart University, said that Connecticut moved up this year’s primary by four weeks to try to give the state more of a say in the process.
“We were hoping when we moved our primary to the first week of April that it would still be a contest,” Rose said. “It’s not [a contest], and that’s unfortunate.”
Rose said that moving the primary up even further in 2028 could be an option, but it would need to be passed by the state legislature and is too far in advance to tell for sure.
“We always come in when it’s over, and it doesn’t make our primary a real powerbroker, but it would be nice if it was,” said Rose.
According to Rose, the Iowa caucus, New Hampshire primary and South Carolina primary all received more national attention than the Connecticut primary.
Marianne Williamson, an author of several books, got around 2.3% of the vote – 1,497 – in the Democratic primary. An estimated 11.4% of Democratic voters – 7,489 – voted “uncommitted.” Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina, received an estimated 14.0% of the vote – 6,230 – in the Republican primary, but Haley had previously suspended her campaign. Around 4.8% of the Republican voters – 2,164 – used the “uncommitted” option.
The CT Mirror reported that one of the biggest question marks in this primary was how many voters would vote “uncommitted” as a way of voicing their displeasure in the candidates, among other things.
Connecticut uses a closed primary system, so people can only vote for candidates within the party in which they are registered.
Sophomore John Esteves, who lives in Shelton, said he couldn’t participate in the primary as an independent.
“As an independent not registered in either political party, I never saw the point in primaries, because I feel as though the winners are pretty obvious based on other states,” said Esteves.
Rose said that Connecticut uses a closed primary to provide a representation of each party individually.
“We do believe that if we’re going to express our views about a candidate, then it should be the members of the party, not unaffiliated voters and certainly not members of another party, participating,” said Rose. “There are a lot of independents in Connecticut, as there are in many other states, but the parties have continued to keep their primaries closed.”
Junior Anna Macaulay, president of the College Democrats Club, said that the primary is still significant, as it allows people to be advocates within their respective party heading into November’s Presidential election.
“I always encourage people to vote in every election that matters to them,” said Macaulay.
According to Macaulay, the fact that Biden is the incumbent president gave him an advantage in the Democratic primary over candidates like Williamson.
“For an incumbent president, the primary is the least of his worries,” said Macaulay.
Regardless of how the primary results turned out, Macaulay said that she believes that the results of the general election are unpredictable.
“In this historical and unprecedented rematch, it’s hard to determine or predict what will occur come November,” said Macaulay.
For more information on the Connecticut Presidential primary, including voter information in every Connecticut township, visit https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/connecticut/?r=7002.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
