The American presidential election is long. The whole process takes almost two years and, especially at the end, it resembles a show with televised debates, pompous statements and mutual recriminations. There can only be one winner. However, Kim Jong-un and Megatron the D-23 were not absent among the candidates for the US presidency.
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Table of Contents
How the American President Is Elected
Presidential elections in the US are held every 4 years, and no one can run or be elected for more than two terms. This condition was only introduced in 1951, which is why Franklin Delano Roosevelt could be elected a total of four times between 1932 and 1944.
Elections are always held on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November in a leap year. The President is sworn in on January 20 of the following year. If this day falls on a Sunday, the inauguration ceremony is postponed until 21 January.
A person may become President of the United States of America if he or she was born in the United States of America and has been a resident of the United States of America for at least 14 years no later than the day on which he or she takes the oath of office. He or she may run under the banner of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party or another minor party, or as an independent candidate. In the last 100+ years, there has never been a Democrat or Republican who has not won.
🔵 Democratic Party
The Democratic Party (D) is the oldest political party in the world, operating continuously since 1828. It traditionally uses the color blue, has a donkey as its mascot, and moves between center and left of center on the political map. Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
🔴 Republican Party
The Republican Party (R) was founded in 1854, is identified by the color red, and the party mascot is an elephant. Since 1875, it has been known as the Grand Old Party (GOP). On the political map, the Republicans are considered a center-right party. Republican presidents have included George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Abraham Lincoln.
⚪ Announcement of Candidacy for the Presidency
The donkey and elephant merry-go-round gets underway about two years before the swearing-in. Candidates for the US presidency gradually announce their candidacy, assemble campaign teams and tour the country in order to win over future voters.
Anyone who has collected at least $5,000 in donations from supporters or has spent the same amount on campaigning can apply.
Often people apply just to make themselves visible and to show off to a neighbor. In 2012, 417 people filed, in 2016, as many as 1,780 people filed, and in 2020, 1,212 candidates filed. The increase is mostly due to recessionists, with Jesus Christ, Megatron The D-23, Banana for President and Kim Jong-un also on the ballot.
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Act I.: Primaries
First, an important piece of information: the US presidential election is an indirect election, with voters from across the United States deciding in November. Both the Republican and Democratic nominee are usually chosen only by registered voters of one party.
It is the beginning of an election year and both Democrats and Republicans have a number of candidates for President. The list must be whittled down to a single name in both parties for the final November battles. The primary elections (primaries), which are held continuously from January to June, are used for this purpose. They do not vote directly for the presidential candidate, but for the delegate who represents him.
Both parties organise their own primaries, the form of which varies from state to state.
🔵 Democratic Party Primary
The party uses a proportional system, delegates are divided between multiple presidential candidates according to the vote count. The primaries are fought over the number of delegates, plus the so-called superdelegates. These are party officials who can decide for any of the candidates at the national convention.
Example: in the state of New Hampshire, 24 delegates were distributed in 2016, with Bernie Sanders getting 60.4% of the vote and Hillary Clinton getting 38.0%. Thus, Sanders could claim 15 candidates, Clinton 9.
Added to that are the votes of the superdelegates, of which there are six in the state. All of them expressed support for the wife of the former president, making the final primary tally in New Hampshire 15-15.
🔴 Republican Party Primary
The Republican Party follows a winner-take-all system in some states, and a proportional system elsewhere. There are no superdelegates.
Example: in the 2016 South Carolina primary, Donald Trump received 32.5%, Marco Rubio 22.5% and Ted Cruz 22.3% of the vote. All 50 candidates were won by Donald Trump.
❓ How Primaries Work in the USA
In a primary election, the parties in each state determine whether all voters, only party members, or all voters who are not members of the other party can vote in the primary.
To keep things simple, in some states (e.g., Iowa, Minnesota, and Wyoming), primaries take the form of caucuses. Citizens, party members, and candidate staffs meet in churches, sports arenas, and other public places to debate and lobby for their candidate. Voting takes the form of caucuses, with each delegate having a dedicated corner of the room, between which voters move according to how well they can be persuaded.
The smallest group disbands after a while and its members can either join another group or go home. This continues until there are two candidates left.
The first primary is traditionally held in Iowa in January/February. New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada follow, with the runoff on Super Tuesday in March, when primaries are held simultaneously in dozens of states.
By then, several unsuccessful candidates have usually given up on their dream of The White House.
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Act II: The Conventions
In the summer after the primaries are over, national conventions of both parties are held. They are called conventions, and the opposition party traditionally holds the first one.
Delegates elected in the primaries and caucuses vote in the convention to determine the final party nominee for President and Vice President of the United States. The outcome of the election is not surprising, as delegates always represent one of the candidates. The exception is the Democratic Party’s superdelegates, who can decide at will.
- 🔵 There are 4,521 Democratic electors in 2024, and 1,886 votes must be received from pledged delegates for a successful candidacy.
- 🔴 There are only 2,550 Republican delegates in 2024, so 1,276 votes are needed to win.
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Act III: Campaign
The national party conventions are over and the names of the two people, one of whom will become the next US President, are already known.
A new round of presidential campaigning begins. It is shorter, but much more intense. The candidates are no longer fighting for support among their fellow party members, they are now trying to sway voters to their side. The biggest fights are taking place in undecided states, where the Democratic and Republican candidates are separated by the percentage of the preferential vote.
A series of three to seven closely watched presidential debates are held in September and October, and 67 million viewers missed them in 2012. They are held across the United States, usually on the campuses of high schools or universities.
In addition to the two favourites from the Republican and Democratic parties, they are open to outsiders from the other parties: the Libertarian Party USA, the Green Party USA, the State Party USA or the Alternative Justice Party. One less-watched debate is also held between the vice-presidential candidates.
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Act IV: The Presidential Election
The election of the President of the United States culminates on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. Delaware, Kentucky, New York, Hawaii and a few other states declare a national holiday on this day.
In addition, most states allow early voting by mail.
The goal of presidential candidates is to receive as many votes as possible in as many states as possible, ideally California, Texas and Florida, which have more electors. This is because the winner-take-all rule applies in presidential elections.
Example: in 2012, Florida was up for 29 electoral votes. Republican candidate Matt Romney came in second with 49.13% of the vote, and Barack Obama came in first with 50.01%. Regardless of the small margin, Obama won all 29 electoral votes.
The exceptions are the states of Maine and Nebraska, which are divided into two and three smaller districts respectively. In each, the votes are counted separately, so in theory three different electors could be elected for the state, each supporting a different candidate.
The number of electors per state varies slightly every four years. The ratio is very roughly determined by the population of the state. So, in principle, a victory in the most populous state, California, means approximately the same number of electors won as a simultaneous victory in the 15 smallest states.
Once all the votes and electors have been counted, the name of the next President is already unofficially known. Formally, there must be an election in December, but only those elected participate. Surprise is out of the question, why would Republican voters vote for a Democrat?
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Act V: The Presidential Oath of Office
The inauguration of the newly elected president takes place on January 20 in Washington D. C. in front of the United States Capitol building. If this day falls on a Sunday, the inauguration day is moved to the twenty-first.
Around noon, the incoming president will take the oath of office, the presidential oath of office and deliver the inaugural address. Similar duties also await the vice-president, who will take over the White House if the president dies in office.
The oath is sworn on the Bible, the text of the US presidential oath has been unchanged since 1884:
“I (name) do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
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Fun Facts About the U.S. Presidential Election
- The first U.S. presidential election was held from December 15, 1788 to January 10, 1789. Of the 13 member colonies, three did not participate in the election – New York failed to select an elector and North Carolina and Rhode Island failed to ratify the Constitution. The winner was George Washington, who was the only one in history to receive 100% of the electoral vote.
- Until 1804, the candidate who came second in the final election was the Vice President. Only after the adoption of the 12th Amendment to the Constitution did voting for the Vice President begin to be held separately.
- The oldest winner of a presidential election in 2021 was 78-year-old Joe Biden. The youngest US president since 1901 was Theodore Roosevelt, only 42 years old.
- The treachery of the system is evidenced by the elections of 1824, 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016. The candidate with the most votes from the electorate then came in second.
- November was once chosen as an election month because farmers had already finished their harvest and could participate in the election. Moreover, the weather was still favourable and allowed travel to distant polling stations. For a similar reason, elections were held on Tuesdays. Traditionally, there was no work on Sunday, which resulted in poorer transport links.
The second week was chosen so that the election would not fall on the first day of the month. Traders were submitting their accounts for the previous month on that day and the elections could have complicated this activity. - Voter turnout for the US presidential election has been rising again in recent periods. It peaked in 1876, when 81.8% of eligible voters voted. A minimum turnout of 48.9% was recorded in 1924. 54.9% of voters cast ballots in 2012, 60.1% in 2016, and 66.6% in 2020.
- In 2008, for the first time since 1928, no incumbent president or vice president ran for office.
- Only two candidates for President of the United States were not born in the continental United States. And both ran in 2008. Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and John McCain was born on the US military base Coco Solo in Panama.
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