In a presidential election, US citizens vote to choose their preferred President and Vice-President. They also elect members of Congress – the body that passes laws. The two main political parties the Democrats and Republicans – campaign for support during the presidential race by going around the country and by participating in televised debates. The debates give voters the chance to see candidates face-to-face and compare their stance on different issues and policies against those of the other candidate.
As the presidential race draws to a close, both Harris and Trump are looking for ways to gain an advantage in key states. They are honing their message and working on turning out the vote among non-voters. Both know that voters with college degrees will be crucial to a victory, and that Trump has held a slight edge over Harris in this group.
After the Democrat and Republican primaries and caucuses – which happen in January and February of the election year – each party holds its national conventions where delegates from all over the country gather to select their presidential nominees. A candidate needs delegates to win the presidential nomination and a majority of electoral votes (a total of 538 – 2 for each U.S. Senator and 1 for each member of the House of Representatives + 3 for Washington, D.C.) to become the next President of the United States.
The candidates then go on the general election trail where they compete for votes in a number of states. They are competing for the coveted “electoral college” votes which are distributed according to each state’s population. A person must win a total of 270 electoral votes to become the President.
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