A report on United States presidential election, Swing state, United States Electoral College and Political parties in the United States

A 2016 general election ballot, listing the presidential and vice presidential candidates
State races by 2020 United States presidential election margin.
Electoral votes, out of 538, allocated to each state and the District of Columbia for presidential elections to be held in 2024 and 2028, based on representation, which depends on population data from the 2020 census. Every jurisdiction is entitled to at least 3.
Popular votes to political parties during presidential elections.
Comparison of the popular vote totals since 1900.
In the 2020 presidential election (held using 2010 census data) Joe Biden received 306 and Donald Trump 232 of the total 538 electoral votes. In Maine (upper-right) and Nebraska (center), the small circled numbers indicate congressional districts. These are the only two states to use a district method for some of their allocated electors, instead of a complete winner-takes-all.
Political parties derivation. Dotted line means unofficially.
The hand-written copy of the natural-born-citizen clause as it appeared in 1787
Cases of certificates of the electoral college votes confirming the results of the 2020 US election, after they had been removed from the House Chambers by congressional staff during the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack.
A 2008 Democratic caucus meeting in Iowa City, Iowa. The Iowa caucuses are traditionally the first major electoral event of presidential primaries and caucuses.
After the popular election in November, a state's Certificate of Ascertainment officially announces the state's electors for the Electoral College. The appointed Electoral College members later meet in the state capital in December to cast their votes.
Madison Square Garden in New York City, the site of the 1976, 1980, and 1992 Democratic National Conventions; and the 2004 Republican National Convention.
Population per electoral vote for each state and Washington, D.C. (2010 census). By 2020 estimates, a single elector could represent more than 700,000 people or under 200,000.
The floor of the 2008 Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
When the state's electors meet in December, they cast their ballots and record their vote on a Certificate of Vote, which is then sent to the U.S. Congress. (From the election of 1876)
A Texas voter about to mark a selection for president on a ballot, 2008 Election Day
This cartogram shows the number of electors from each state for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Following the 2010 Census, New York and Ohio lost two electoral votes, 8 states lost one, 6 states gained one, Florida gained two, and Texas gained four.
2020 Election
This graphic demonstrates how the winner of the popular vote can still lose in an electoral college system similar to the U.S. Electoral College.
John Adams was the first of 26 presidents who have been lawyers.
Bar graph of popular votes in presidential elections (through 2020). Black stars mark the five cases where the winner did not have the plurality of the popular vote. Black squares mark the two cases where the electoral vote resulted in a tie, or the winner did not have the majority of electoral votes. An H marks each of two cases where the election was decided by the House; an S marks the one case where the election was finalized by the Supreme Court.
Popular vote percentage
These maps show the amount of attention given to each state by the Bush and Kerry campaigns (combined) during the final five weeks of the 2004 election: each waving hand (purple map) represents a visit from a presidential or vice presidential candidate; each dollar sign (green map) represents one million dollars spent on TV advertising.
1789 Election
Half the U.S. population lives in 143 urban / suburban counties out of 3,143 counties or county equivalents (2019 American Community Survey)
1792 Election
1796 Election
1800 Election
1804 Election
1808 Election
1812 Election
1816 Election
1820 Election
1824 Election
1828 Election
1832 Election
1836 Election
1840 Election
1844 Election
1848 Election
1852 Election
1856 Election
1860 Election
1864 Election
1868 Election
1872 Election
1876 Election
1880 Election
1884 Election
1888 Election
1892 Election
1896 Election
1900 Election
1904 Election
1908 Election
1912 Election
1916 Election
1920 Election
1924 Election
1928 Election
1932 Election
1936 Election
1940 Election
1944 Election
1948 Election
1952 Election
1956 Election
1960 Election
1964 Election
1968 Election
1972 Election
1976 Election
1980 Election
1984 Election
1988 Election
1992 Election
1996 Election
2000 Election
2004 Election
2008 Election
2012 Election
2016 Election

The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not directly for those offices, but instead for members of the Electoral College.

- United States presidential election

In American politics, the term swing state (or battleground state) refers to any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often referring to presidential elections, by a swing in votes.

- Swing state

Due to the winner-take-all method most states use to determine their presidential electors, candidates often campaign only in competitive states, which is why a select group of states frequently receives a majority of the advertisements and candidate visits.

- Swing state

As almost all states mandate the winner of the plurality of its constituent statewide popular vote ('one person, one vote') shall receive all of that state's electors ("winner-takes-all'), instances such as the presidential elections of 1876, 1888, 2000, and 2016 produced an Electoral College winner who did not receive the most votes in the general election; these were presidential elections in which the winner lost the popular vote due to the outsized effects of close and narrow pluralities in numerous swing states.

- United States presidential election

In recent U.S. political history, political behavior correlates with the urban–rural political divide; whereby more voters living in urban areas gravitate towards the Democratic Party, voters living in more rural areas gravitate towards the Republican Party, whilst suburban electoral districts are battleground marginal seats which also influence the outcomes of battleground swing states in the Electoral College system of United States presidential elections.

- Political parties in the United States

Almost 10% of presidential elections under the system have not elected the winners of the nationwide popular vote.

- United States Electoral College

Further objection is that instead of spending equally on each voter in the nation, candidates focus their campaigns on just a few swing states.

- United States Electoral College

The nomination process, consisting of the primary elections and caucuses and the nominating conventions, was not specified in the Constitution, but was developed over time by the states and political parties.

- United States presidential election

However, this projection was not specific to any particular election cycle, and assumed similar levels of support for both parties.

- Swing state

The custom of allowing recognized political parties to select a slate of prospective electors developed early.

- United States Electoral College
A 2016 general election ballot, listing the presidential and vice presidential candidates

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