Every four years, American voters decide who should lead the nation. Here’s how it works:
People who have similar ideas about how government should work join political parties. They then campaign through a series of events called Primaries and Caucuses to win the support of their party’s members. This leads to a convention, where delegates will choose the presidential candidate for their party.
Candidates will face tough questions about their policies and stances during televised debates. They’ll also have to defend their records and accomplishments, as well as answer questions from the media. In some cases, a single televised debate can make or break a candidacy.
Ultimately, the candidate with the most electoral votes wins the election. Using the Electoral College, each state gets 538 electors, based on its representation in the House of Representatives and Senate. With the exception of Maine and Nebraska, which use a proportional system, most states award their electors in blocks—meaning the winner of a state receives all its electoral votes. A candidate must get 270 electoral votes to become president.
By June 2024, Biden’s overall national poll numbers had slipped below 50 percent, and he was vulnerable to attacks from his Republican rival, Donald Trump, who went on the offensive by attacking Biden’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and his criminal trials. As a result, Biden withdrew his candidacy and endorsed Harris, the former attorney general of California.
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