The Iowa caucuses on Monday and the New Hampshire primary a week later are rapidly losing their relevance because of shifting demographics and historically poor predictive results, two Northeastern experts say. By participating in the two election kick off events, Iowa and New Hampshire voters have traditionally helped provide an early picture of which Democratic and Republican nominees are performing well. But reforms to the election calendar are long overdue, one expert says. Another says change is difficult.
“People who care about democracy have wanted to revise this system for decades,” says Jeremy R. Paul, a professor of law and former dean of the Northeastern University School of Law. “Because the system as it is now has been terrible for the fact that two small, largely white states play an outsized role in selecting presidential nominees.”
