Why do people act like primaries are winner take all, when they are not?

[Land Shark]

Shouldn't ideas of winning and losing be directly related to the actual rules of Delegates awarded by the votes?

People on both sides claim entire states in their column when it just isn't so. Except maybe Vermont.

[MADem]

1. It's bragging rights. What matters is the delegate count. That's where your winners/losers are. nt

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. I dunno from winner take all

But google sure is showing enormous differences in how many delegates each has in each state so far. I'm not sure if Bernie is getting skunked pretty much everywhere, or if they're folding in the superdelegates on Hillary's count.

[Land Shark]

5. Msnbc been rolling in superdelegates w/o saying. Very dishonest.

[bigtree]

3. in that analysis

...Hillary's killing it.

[Gwhittey]

4. GOP is winner take all

And since a lot people in (D) seem to be more (R) than (D) they get confused?

[Land Shark]

6. Only SC has been winner take all so far for Repubs. Gotta wait til 3/15 for more ALL states

...for republicans.

[CajunBlazer]

16. Wrong! None of the GOP primaries so far have been winner take all

By GOP rule no Republican primary or caucus can be winner by all until March 15th. Starting March 15 the states can go to a winner take all format, or go proportional, or a combination of the two.

What states can do before March 15th is to set a bar from 5% to 20% of the vote which a candidate must clear in order to get any delegates. So if a candidate or candidates do not clear the bar, they get no delegates and all the delegates are divided between those who clear the bar. Here is the bars for the Super Tuesday states.

Alabama 20%
Alaska 13%
Arkansas 15%
Georgia 20%
Massachusetts 5%
Minnesota 10%
Oklahoma 15%
Tennessee 20%
Texas 20%
Vermont 20%

There going to a lot of situationx tonight where Carson and Kasich and maybe even Rubio will get no delegates in these Super Tuesday states even if the the delegates are awarded proportionally.

[Codeine]

7. We aren't, but we can see what the margins are

and they're heavily favoring Secretary Clinton.

[Aerows]

8. Shouldn't there not be voter tampering?

But from what has been shown is that there are some fucked up things going on with regards to voting.

If you win, fine. But if you cheat continuously, you are no more legitimate than a ham sandwich.

I am sick of seeing our elections getting stolen from us by voter suppression.

My GOD, is it that damn bad that people care enough to vote in the Primary only to be cheated of being able to do so?

I support everybody's right to vote, even if they are voting against my choice of candidate.

[Agnosticsherbet]

9. Some Republican Primaries are Winner take all.

Democrats are all proportional.
A win is still a win when a candidate wins a majority.

[Land Shark]

11. A win is different and much bigger if it is winner take all.

And in proportional, the difference between winning and losing is usually nothing - zero delegates difference.

[Agnosticsherbet]

14. The differences can be small, but there is also a psychological element to winning a state.

And inmost cases tonight, the differences will not be small.

[CajunBlazer]

18. Unless you lose by 20% to 45%

Then the winner gets the lion's share of the delegates. So the in Oklahoma and Massachusetts you're right, but you are not right for states like Vermont and most of the delegate rich Southern states. According to CNN, so far Clinton has won 180 delegates and Sanders has won 80. Lots of delegates to go.

[EndElectoral]

13. Yes believe Florida is a winner take all for Repubs.

[CajunBlazer]

17. None of the GOP primaries or caucuses have been winner take all so far

By GOP rule no Republican primary or caucus can be winner by all until March 15th. Starting March 15 the states can go to a winner take all format, or go proportional, or a combination of the two.

What states can do before March 15th is to set a bar from 5% to 20% of the vote which a candidate must clear in order to get any delegates. So if a candidate or candidates do not clear the bar, they get no delegates and all the delegates are divided between those who clear the bar. Here is the bars for the Super Tuesday states.

Alabama 20%
Alaska 13%
Arkansas 15%
Georgia 20%
Massachusetts 5%
Minnesota 10%
Oklahoma 15%
Tennessee 20%
Texas 20%
Vermont 20%

There going to a lot of situationx tonight where Carson and Kasich and maybe even Rubio will get no delegates in these Super Tuesday states even if the the delegates are awarded proportionally.

[mythology]

19. I wonder what sort of logic goes into picking 13% as the threshold

That's kind of a weird number to choose. Of course they are Republicans and it's looking like their best hope of not getting Trump is to have nobody get a majority of their delegates and to have a fight at the convention.

Which would admittedly be really cool to watch and would probably result in a landslide for either Clinton or Sanders given what that would do to the Republican party.

[Land Shark]

20. Sorry SC was winner take all statewide; and a trump took all 50 delegates

Now there were also winner take all congressional districts and Trump won all those too. So it was q00% winner take all but technically there were congressional district winner take all as well. Seehttp://www.thegreenpapers.com/P16/SC-R

But I agree they now wait until 3/15 for any more winner take all contests

[CajunBlazer]

21. Go read the GOP primary and caucus rules - state wide WTA is not allowed before 3/15

It was not winner take all state wide in SC. Each congressional district in SC awarded its allotted delegates. Then the winner of the state was awarded a set of state wide delegates. Therefore the only way Trump could have taken every delegate in the state was to win each and every congressional district as well as winning the state as he did. Maybe that is what happened.

[jeff47]

10. Because there's a narrative to build.

"State that will not vote for the Democrat in November just picked ________!!!!"

[loyalsister]

12. Because our culture is sports obsessed nt.

[Maedhros]

15. Because the media tells them that they are, and they don't think critically.

We could have one national primary election held on, say, Super Tuesday, and it would result in much greater electoral integrity - every state would be in play, no state would have undue influence on the outcome, and we could give our nominee extra time to prepare for the general.

But the media would not be able to milk the campaigns for advertising cash, and the establishment would not be able to play favoritism games, so we spread the primaries out needlessly over many months.