U.S. Elections

The U.S. election determines the next president and vice president for the upcoming term every 4 years. Since 1789, winners are selected by the Electoral College, set forth by the 12th Amendment in the U.S. Consitution. The Electoral College grants states a number of electors that is equal to the state's number of Senators and number of seats in the House. Most often, the indirect electoral college achieves the same result as the direct popular vote, but its purpose is to ensure that states with a smaller population have a say.

During election season, the most important campaigns happen in the swing states. While most other states consistently win the majority-vote for 1 party, these swing states tend to be 50-50 between the democrat and republican parties and could lean either way, making or breaking the election (whichever way you see it!). There's no exact definition for swing states, but the percentage of total voters in that state tend to have a democrat and republican portion within 8% variance or the state voted for each party at least once in the past 3 years.

Starting from 1976, Jimmy Carter was an unpopular democrat president and did not win a second term. He lost to the new president Ronald Reagan in 1980 because a large percent of Democrats voted for Reagan and then George H. W. Bush in 1988. The Democrats made their platform more relevant and won back the Democrats' votes with Bill Clinton in 1992. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barrack Obama all won consecutive terms starting from 1992. Donald Trump won the 2016 election but lost to Joe Biden in 2020.