What is the difference between a primary and a general election?

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1. 1

   Primary election (Wikipedia)

   WikipediaPublished Oct 10, 2026Checked Oct 11, 2026

   “Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state or party, there may be an "open primary", in which all voters are eligible to participate, or a "closed primary", in which only members of a political party can vote. Less common are nonpartisan primaries in which all candidates run regardless of party. The origins of primary elections can be traced to the progressive movement in the United States, which aimed to take the power of candidate nomination from party leaders to the people. However, political parties control the method of nomination of candidates for office in the name of the party. Other methods of selecting candidates include caucuses, internal selection by a party body such as a convention or party congress, direct nomination by the party leader, and nomination meetings.”

2. 2

   Treating a friend to voter registration in a Divided America.

   PloS one (Hood et al.)Published Dec 16, 2025Checked Oct 11, 2026

   “North Carolina holds semi-closed primaries that allow those not registered with a political party (i.e., unaffiliated registrants) to vote in party primary elections. The results of our experiment demonstrate that institutional context matters. Specifically, informing respondents of primary participation rules shapes voter registration recommendations. Among registrants who identify as independents, exposure to Florida's closed primary rule causes them to be more likely to recommend party registration, whereas awareness of the semi-closed North Carolina primary rule makes independents and partisans more likely to advise unaffiliated registration. However, in the absence of information explaining rules for primary participation, respondents are more likely to suggest that their friend register in alignment with their own political identity. In summary, our study provides valuable insights into how registration choices are conditioned by political identities and exposure to treatments that emphasize political conditions and primary participation rules.”

3. 3

   Can nonpartisan primaries boost turnout and lessen demographic disparities?

   PloS one (Donovan et al.)Published Dec 8, 2025Checked Oct 11, 2026

   “U.S. congressional general elections are largely uncompetitive, featuring candidates who emerge from low-turnout primaries. Voters in these primaries are unrepresentative of the broader electorate; primary voters tend to be older and wealthier. Previous research has focused on how open and nonpartisan primaries may affect the turnout of unaffiliated voters in primaries. We are interested in the downstream effects of opening primaries, including their estimated effects on turnout of younger voters and those with lower socioeconomic status. This study uses large samples of administrative voter file data to investigate whether nonpartisan and open primaries were associated with higher turnout across multiple elections (2018 and 2022). Results find open primaries were not associated with higher individual-level turnout. We found that nonpartisan primaries were associated with higher turnout across all age groups, including both low- and high-income groups, as well as low- and high-education groups. The results find the greatest proportionate increases for younger voters.”