presidential elections

constitutional requirements

• The Constitution states that candidates must be natural-born US citizen

• Presidential candidates must have lived in the US for over 14 years

• Candidates must be over the age of 35

• The 22nd amendment limits the president to two 4 year terms

invisible primaries candidate announcement

• In the invisible primary, candidates announce they will run for president, often months before the primary election

  • EX: 2016 Ted Cruz announced his presidential campaign 10 months before the Republican primary started

invisible primaries tv debates

• TV debates take place between candidates standing in the primary election

• TV debates offer candidates the chance to speak to voters before the primary voting starts

  • For the 2023-24 invisible primaries, Republicans had 5 televised debates, whereas Democrats had 0, as Biden had very little serious opposition for the Democratic nomination - Trump did not participate in any of the 5 Republican debates, despite being the leading Republican candidate

primaries vs. caucuses

• Primaries are elections to choose each party’s candidate to run in the presidential election - people cast ballots then leave

• Caucuses are meetings to choose a party’s candidate for the presidential election - there is a discussion, then the group decides on the nomination

  • Caucuses tend to be held in smaller states with more activist party membership

primary functions

• Primaries choose delegates to the national party conventions

• Primaries show how popular presidential candidates are

primary process

• Each state controls how its own primary or caucus is run

• States decide when primaries are held between January and June

• Super Tuesday is a day in February or March when many states hold their primary or caucus

• The Iowa caucus has traditionally been the first nominating contest, though the Democratic Party moved it down its primary calendar from 2024

types of primaries

• Closed primaries - only registered Republicans can vote in the Republican primary, and only registered Democrats can vote in the Democratic primary

• Open primaries - all registered voters can vote for a candidate

delegates

• States decide how delegates are allocated to the candidates

• The primary vote awards the successful candidates with state delegates who go to the National Party Convention and vote for them to be the party’s candidate

• In proportional primaries, candidates are awarded delegates in proportion to their votes won

• In ‘winner takes all’ primaries the candidate with the most votes wins all the states delegates

advantages of primaries

• Primaries offer a large choice of candidates

  • EX: 2024 republican primary had 13 candidates

• Primaries give individuals outside of politics or major political positions the chance to run for election

  • EX: in 2016 Trump was able to enter the Republican primary despite having no political experience

• The primary is a long and difficult contest which is appropriate for choosing a potential president, which is a highly demanding job

disadvantages of primaries

• Primaries are often very expensive

  • EX: Hillary Clinton had to raise $275 million in the 2016 Democrat primary

• Voters are unrepresentative of the American population, meaning that candidates can perform well at primaries despite not being representative of most Americans

  • Primary voters are more ideological in their political views, older, wealthier and better educated than most of the US population

• Primaries can become a personal battle rather than about candidate’s policies and suitability for President

  • EX: in the 2024 Republican primary, Trump repeatedly referred to Ron DeSantis as ‘DeSanctimonious’, while Vivek Ramaswamy attacked Nikki Hayley during TV debates, including calling her a ‘Dick Cheney in three-inch heels’

• Voter turnout at primaries is often low, particularly when a president is running for re-election, as only one party has a serious primary contest

national party conventions - party policies

• At the national party convention, the party agrees on a party platform of policies that its presidential candidate will campaign on and pursue if they are elected

• The platform committee forms policies based on hearings with citizens around the country

• The platform is presented to delegates at the party convention who will often agree to the policies in the platform

national party conventions - presidential candidate

• The presidential candidate is chosen by a roll-call vote where the delegates from each state announce the candidate they are voting for

• This function has become less important because most delegates are committed to voting for a specific candidate based on the primary vote, rather than choosing for themselves who to support

  • This means that the primary vote, not the party convention, chooses the presidential candidate

national party conventions - vice-presidential candidate

• The national party convention used to choose the vice presidential candidate

• In recent campaigns, the president has chosen their vice presidential candidate before the national party convention and so the convention confirms the president’s choice

• Presidents will choose a vice presidential candidate who will appeal to voters for various reasons such as political experience, gender, race and age

informal functions - voter’s attention

• Candidates can gain the attention of voters at the party convention through their televised acceptance speech at the convention where candidates will address all voters for the first time

  • EX: Bill Clinton’s approval ratings increased by 16% after his speech in 1992

informal functions - party unity

• Parties use their conventions to appear united following the primary campaign - defeated primary candidates often publicly support the successful candidate