Half the US electorate calls nominating process rigged

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed half of US voters believe “the system US political parties use to pick their candidates for the White House is ‘rigged,’” the news agency reported.

Over two-thirds want it changed, control shifted from party bosses to voters. Republicans and Democrats have different rules. So do individual states.

Trump railed against a “system . . . rigged by party operatives with ‘double-agent’ delegates who reject the decision of voters.”

Unelected super-delegates are elitist party members, backing dirty business as usual most voters reject. Perhaps never before in US electoral history have two such widely despised candidates vied for the nation’s highest office.

Nearly half of US voters said they’ll vote against one of the two rather than for one over the other. Both have low favorability ratings.

University of Virginia’s Center for Politics director Larry Sabato calls the phenomenon “negative partisanship.” No two candidates better reflect it than Trump and Clinton, both widely despised by millions, yet one will succeed Obama in January.

Only 6% of surveyed respondents admit liking Trump, 47% saying they support him to defeat Clinton, 43% backing his political agenda.

Nearly half of Clinton supporters say it’s to defeat Trump, 40% supporting her political agenda. Only 11% admitted liking her.

Around nine out of 10 US voters dislike both candidates. What does that say about a system supporting wealth, power and privilege exclusively at their expense?

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book as editor and contributor is “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.” Visit his blog at sjlendman.blogspot.com . Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.

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