Are Early Primary States Distorting National Ed. Policy?
Early primary voters—in New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, and South Carolina—have up to five times the influence of Super Tuesday voters on picking candidates who will run for president, according to new research from economists Brian Knight and Nathan Schiff. The New York Times covered this study in David Leonhardt's "One Person, One Vote? Not Exactly."
In an NPR interview, Michele Norris asks, "How do these early states influence or distort political debate and even national policy? Do these relatively rural states drown out issues important to urban voters?" (Listen to the whole interview.)
Education is one of the big issues that often gets neglected in presidential campaigns (and in national policy in general), and this may be due to the enormous influence of New Hampshire and Iowa—relatively rural states with older