Overview of the U.S.

Presidential Elections
Political Parties
The two major political parties are the Democrats and the Republicans (aka GOP, the Grand Old Party). The
Democrats are a left of center or left-wing party. The Republicans are a right of center or right-wing party. There
are also some minor parties (e.g. the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the Socialist Party, the Communist Party,
the Constitution Party, the American Nazi Party, etc.) who nominate candidates for the presidency and vice
presidency. In addition, there is always the possibility of one or more independent candidates. Added together,
the minor parties typically receive less than 5% of the vote.

The US presidential election system is quite complicated. First of all, during the spring and summer
before the presidential election, each party decides who their candidate is going to be. People in the same party
compete against each other in these elections. These elections are called primaries and caucuses (similar to town
meetings, with a vote at the end). After the primaries and caucuses, each party chooses their presidential and
vice-presidential candidates at 3-day party conventions in July or August of an election year.

Top Political Issues

• Social issues (abortion and reproductive rights, racial justice issues including Black Lives Matter and similar
movements, police treatment of minorities, same-sex marriage, LGBT rights, anti-“woke” measures, affirmative
action)
• Economy and jobs (inflation, unemployment, taxes, federal deficit, income inequality, minimum wage, equal
pay for women, paid sick leave, paid vacation, paid parental leave)
• Domestic policies (supreme court nominations, voting rights, student loan forgiveness, climate change,
childcare, gun control, “the war on drugs”, state and federal cannabis policy)
• Healthcare (“Obamacare”, Medicaid expansion)
• Foreign relations (Ukraine/Russia, China, US allies, “the war on terror”)
• Immigration (undocumented immigrants, border security, DREAM Act and the path to citizenship, refugees)

The electoral college

The popular vote does not decide the winner, instead the president and VP are elected by the electors in the
electoral college. In 48 states plus DC, all the electoral votes allotted to the state are pledged to the candidate
who wins the largest percentage of the popular vote in that state. It is a “winner-take-all” system. In two states
(Maine and Nebraska), the electoral votes are proportional by congressional district. The number of electoral
votes allotted to a state is based on its representation in Congress (2 electoral votes for the state’s two senators
plus one electoral vote each for each representative). There are 538 electors (equivalent of 435 representatives,
100 senators, +3 for DC). A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win.

Blue, red and swing states

Blue states typically vote for the Democratic presidential candidate. Red states typically vote for the Republican
presidential candidate. States where the election's outcome is unpredictable are called purple states, battleground
states or swing states. There are around 10 swing states. Democrats can usually count on 220 or so electoral
votes, while Republicans can typically count on around 170 electoral votes. There are usually around 140
electoral votes up for grabs in 10 or so swing states.

Based on polling, the predictive electoral map for the 2016 election predicted Hilary Clinton leading in many of
the swing states. Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan were considered safe states for Clinton, and no
Republican candidate had won any of those states since the 1980s. However, the actual result was quite different.
While Clinton received about 2.9 million more votes nationwide, a margin of 2.1%, Trump won 30 states with a
total of 306 electoral votes. He won the four perennial swing states of Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Iowa,
as well as the three "blue wall" stronghold states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Leading up to the
election, a Trump victory was considered unlikely by almost all media forecasts.
The 2020 results were just the opposite, with Biden winning 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 electoral votes.
However, this time, the popular vote matched the results in the electoral college, with Biden winning over 81
million votes nationwide to Trump’s 74 million votes (a margin of 4.4%).

In 2020, there were several states which were won by Biden by very small margins – Georgia (about 12,000
votes out of almost 5 million), Arizona (about 11,000 votes out of around 3.9 million), Wisconsin (about 20,000
votes out of around 3.9 million), Pennsylvania (80,000 votes out of almost 7 million) and Michigan (about
80,000 votes out of around 5.5 million). All these states were won by Trump in 2016, many by even smaller
margins.

2016 Results of the U.S. Presidential Election 2020 Results of the U.S. Presidential Election

Election Day
Every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, the people of the USA
choose a president and vice president. However, most states allow early voting in the weeks before Election Day,
as well as mail-in voting. The most recent U.S. presidential election took place on Tuesday, 3 November 2020.
Election Day is not a public holiday, so people have to go to work, however, the schools are closed. The voter
turnout in 2020 was 66.2%, the highest in over a century. In 2012 and 2016, voter turnout was 58.9% and 60.2%,
respectively. In comparison, voter turnout in Germany's federal election in 2021 was 76.6%.

Someone must be a US citizen to be able to vote, they must be at least 18 years old and they must not live in one
of the territories. Each state has certain rules of their own for their voters (e.g. voter ID laws, opening hours for
the polls), so it is not the same set of rules in every state. Usually, people go into a voting booth and use
electronic voting machines or paper ballots. Some states also offer early voting possibilities and in three states,
all elections are conducted by mail. In addition to president, every representative in the House of Reps. and one-
third of the Senate is up for re-election, as well as state and local offices like governor, mayor, state rep., state
senator, state/county judge, county sheriff, coroner/medical examiner, county clerk, etc.

After Election Day

In the weeks after the election, the states certify the results of their election. Voters do not vote for the president
directly. Electors (chosen by the winning candidate/party in each state) cast their votes for president and VP in
mid-December, formally electing the president and vice president. Although Trump claimed that voter fraud
occurred and filed over 63 lawsuits to try to stop this process, his team lost every lawsuit and Biden was elected,

After Election Day, the winning candidate puts together a transition team to facilitate a smooth transition into
office for the president-elect. However, in 2020, Trump’s refusal to concede delayed the beginning of the
transition by over three weeks. On 6 January 2021, the electors’ votes were officially counted by the US
Congress, despite the pro-Trump insurrection at the US Capitol in which five people died and 140 police officers
were injured. As is customary, Pres. Biden was inaugurated on 20 Jan. 2020 to begin his 4-year term.