In the presidential race, Americans choose a President and a Vice President. People in every state choose the presidential candidate of their choice by voting in a national general election. In addition, they choose the member of Congress who represents their district and plays a key role in passing laws that can have a profound impact on their lives.
The election is based on a complex system where delegates from each state, called electors, vote for a candidate and, if they win the majority of votes in their states, become that candidates’ “pledged” supporters. Each state’s rules decide how many electors to appoint and their voting procedures.
At the beginning of the 2024 campaign, Vice President Biden led his Democratic challengers by a wide margin. But after a poor performance in a nationally televised debate, Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed Harris as his replacement.
Compared to voters who participated in the 2020 elections, those eligible but not voting in 2024 were more likely to support Trump than Harris. Trump also had a bigger lead among voters without four-year college degrees.
This election, Republicans have a clear path to securing all of the nation’s 435 seats in the House of Representatives (the lower chamber of Congress) and its 34 seats in the Senate, the upper chamber. But they need a majority of the 270 electoral college votes to win the presidency. This is a big risk for the Republican party and their nominee.
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