What Do You Mean I Can Only Vote for One Party?
Elite Views, Media Coverage, and Public Discourse Surrounding Washington State Primary
Reform
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By Janet Donavan
Introduction
In this paper, I explore elite views, media coverage and public discourse surrounding Washington
State primary reform in 2004. From the political parties literature and from preliminary research into the
issue in Washington, I identified seven major arguments about the structuring of primary election
systems; during the course of the research, I located five additional major arguments, for a total of twelve
major arguments. I also identified six major elites active in shaping the public discussion of the issue. In
this paper, I address the degree to which each of these positions is presented by political elites; the degree
to which each of these ideas are presented in news explanations of the change in the primary system; and
finally, the degree to which these views are held by the public, looking at public opinion polls, statements
by citizens in complaints to the state or counties, and statements by citizens published in news accounts. I
hypothesize that the views favored by political leaders of the state will receive more news coverage, and
receive more support from citizens than views not expressed by political leaders of the state. I then assess
the extent to which the findings support the idea of elite framing of the issue, and the extent to which the
findings support the idea that the more prominent frames are those that resonate more with the people of
Washington. This paper is important because it examines public discourse surrounding an issue on which
citizens have little prior knowledge, and therefore will likely be ignorant of frames not presented in the
mass media, giving the media a powerful role in presenting the available frames, and elites a distinctive
ability to shape public opinion.
Synopsis of Events
On November 2, 2004, Washington state voters approved Initiative 872, putting into place a “top-
two” primary election system, modeled in part after the primary system in Louisiana, but unique in the
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Prepared for presentation at the Western Political Science Association annual meeting, March 19, 2004, Oakland,
CA.
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