What has caused voters in the US 2016 presidential primaries to favor non establishment candidates?

Answer 1

Voters for the so-called outsider, or better said, non-establishment candidates are dissatisfied by the way their representatives in the federal government have handled public issues. The voters are attracted to Senator Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, because they believe the formulas and policies of the US for the last three or four election cycles have done nothing to improve the US or solve the nation's problems. They believe that any establishment Democrat or Republican candidate that wins the US presidency, cannot or will not effect any satisfactory ways in which the federal government operates, nor will such establishment politicians bring forth any new laws that will help the average citizen nor the nation as a whole.

With that said, it should be noted that for the last 60 years or more, less than 60% of the eligible voters in the US have voted in US presidential election years. This rate is even lower in non-presidential elections.

This lack of participation has created a wealth of answers from political scientists, yet none of the answers offer any solutions.

The conclusion among voters has been in the past that whether a Democrat or Republican wins the White House, nothing much really changes. And promises made during election years and major party platform positions are rarely carried out even if one party controls both the US congress or the presidency.

Voters have lost interest in national elections because, for the most part, the two party system favors incumbent representatives in the legislative branch.

Promises made by establishment presidential candidates are rarely even new ones. For the most part these promises simply seek to "improve" or "adjust" current policies.

Voters may ask themselves why each election cycle seems to offer the same changes that never seem to be fixed no matter who was in office previously. And the newly elected public officials promise changes that fall short of expectations.

One example are promises to "fix" the Federal income tax problems. Each political party and their representatives promises to make the income tax system a "fair" one. They promise to cut taxes on the middle class and raise taxes on the very high people in the top income brackets. And, of course help the poor.

Americans have heard that every four years and it never seems to ever be accomplished. Of course each party blames the other one for the problem to never be fixed despite the fact that very often one party controls the congress and the presidency.

Currently the "outsiders" namely Sanders and Trump have promised, among other things, to fix the income tax problems. Voters believe that these types of inequities require radical thinking and new people who are not connected to the two party system.

Sanders and Trump are radicals, and cannot be associated with the establishment. Both Sanders and Trump are not new faces, however, they have never had the power of the US presidency to "force" any real changes.

The belief among the electorate is a "why not" one. They have been forced to vote for these "outsiders" because neither party in the past has created any real changes of substance. Since the news media has by their news coverage and their commentary, pointed out why the outsiders have been doing so well, it has sparked an interest in citizens, who under normal circumstances would not vote at all, now become voters and supporters of candidates that never would have even been in contention in years past.