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The electoral system in the United States is different from most other countries. The president is elected here in two stages.
"RBK-Ukraine" explains what the specifics of the elections in the USA are and what you need to pay attention to, informs UAINFO.org.
The rules by which Americans choose the head of state are very specific. Unlike most other countries, elections are held in two stages.
First, voting takes place in each individual state. But formally, Americans will not vote personally for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, but for the so-called "voters" - special party delegates. And only then voters will vote for the appropriate candidate.
In the modern USA, the role of voters has become formal. But in practice, this system means that separate elections are actually held in each of the states.
How many voters do you need to win?
To win the presidential elections, you need to win the votes of 270 out of 538 voters. Their number in each specific state is different, depending on the population. The largest number of voters is in California - 54. And in states with a small population such as Vermont, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, their number is minimal - 3 voters each.
Most states operate on a winner-takes-all basis. The only exceptions are Nebraska and Maine. That is, to get all the voters of the state, a candidate needs to get more votes than the opponent.
In practice, this means that a person who was voted for by a minority of Americans nationwide can become the president of the United States. Such cases, in particular, have already happened twice in the modern history of the USA - in the 2000 and 2016 elections (when Trump won in this way).
What are "shaky" states
Most states have consistently supported either Republicans or Democrats for years or even decades. For example, California has been considered Democratic since the 90s, although this state previously voted for Republicans. Conversely, Texas used to support Democrats, but now mostly votes Republican. In such states, it does not make much sense to campaign, because it is difficult to convince a large number of voters to change their preferences.
However, there are a number of states in which support for Democrats and Republicans is roughly equal, so the chances of swinging voters to one side or the other are higher. Such states are called "swing states". They are different every election, because voters can change their position due to many factors: a change in the composition of the state's population due to migration, the rise or fall of certain sectors of the economy, etc.
There are seven swing states in the 2024 election: Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Arizona. In each of them, the ratings of the two main candidates are equal, the gap is much smaller than the statistical error. In practice, this means that both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump during the campaign devote the lion's share of attention and advertising budgets to these states, depriving the rest.
The state of Pennsylvania has the most weight for candidates with 19 electoral votes. Michigan and Georgia followed with 16 each, North Carolina with 15, Arizona with 11, Wisconsin with 10 and Nevada with six.
