The Routledge Handbook of Primary Elections is an important research tool for scholars, a resource guide for students, and a source of ideas for those who seek to modify the electoral process.

Robert G. Boatright is a Professor of Political Science at Clark University and the Director of Research at the National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD) at the University of Arizona. His research focuses on the effects of campaign and election laws on the behavior of politicians and interest groups, with a particular focus on primary elections and campaign finance laws and practices.

Introduction [Robert G. Boatright] Part 1: The Origins of Primary Elections 1. What is, and what is not, a Primary Election? [Alan Ware] 2. The Origins of the Direct Primary [John F. Reynolds] 3. Candidate Emergence in the Era of Direct Primaries [Jamie L. Carson and Ryan D. Williamson] 4. Should we Expect Primary Elections to Create Polarization? A Robust Median Voter Theorem with Rational Parties [Gilles Serra] Part 2: Primary Voters and Primary Voting Laws 5. Sorting Dixie: The Changing Profile of Southern Presidential Primary Electorates [Seth C. McKee] 6. The Nature of Crossover Voters [Barbara Norrander] 7. The Effect of Open and Closed Primaries on Voter Turnout [Matthew J. Geras and Michael H. Crespin] 8. Strategic Candidate Entry: Primary Type and Candidate Divergence [Kristin Kanthak and Eric Loepp] Part 3: Candidates and Parties in Primary Elections 9. The Direct Primary and Voting Behavior in U.S. General Elections [Shigeo Hirano and James M. Snyder, Jr.] 10. Divisive Primaries: When do They Hurt in the General Election? [Jeffrey Lazarus] 11. Is there a Link Between Primary Competition and General Election Results? [Robert G. Boatright and Vincent G. Moscardelli] 12. Ideological Primaries and their Influence in Congress [Caitlin E. Jewitt and Sarah A. Treul] 13. When Might Moderates Win the Primary? [Danielle M. Thomsen] 14. Primary Elections and Group Dynamics: Examining the Makeup of the Party Coalitions [Casey B. K. Dominguez] Part 4: U. S. Presidential Primaries 15. 2016: One Party Decided [Marty Cohen] 16. Citizen Choice in Presidential Primaries [Wayne Steger] 17. The Fuzzy Frontrunner: Donald Trump and the Role of Ideology in Presidential Nomination Politics [Dante J. Scala] 18. Televised Debates in Presidential Primaries [David A. Hopkins] Part 5: Primaries Outside of the United States 19. Mind the Gap: The Effects of Intra- and Inter-Party Competition on Party Unity in Parliamentary Democracies [Reuven Y. Hazan and Reut Itzkovitch-Malka] 20. Primaries and Legislative Behavior [Indriði H. Indriðason and Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson] 21. Party Primaries as a Strategic Choice: The Costs and Benefits of Democratic Candidate Selection [Kathleen Bruhn] 22. Primary Elections in New Democracies: The Evolution of Candidate Selection Methods in Ghana [Nahomi Ichino and Noah L. Nathan] 23. Party Primaries in Canada [Scott Pruysers and Anthony Sayers] 24. The Italian Style of Intra-Party Democracy: A Twenty-Year Long Journey [Marino De Luca] Part 6: Primary Election Reform 25. Beyond Open and Closed: Complexity in American Primary Election Reform [J. Andrew Sinclair and Ian O'Grady] 26. Sore Loser Laws in Presidential and Congressional Elections [Michael S. Kang and Barry C. Burden]