US Elections: The Electoral College, Primaries and Caucuses
US presidential elections run through a multi-stage process: an 'invisible primary' of fundraising, state-by-state primaries and caucuses that choose delegates, and each party's national convention, which formalises the nominee.
Before you start
No specific prerequisites - this is a good place to start.
Method
- Learn the sequence of the presidential election process in order: invisible primary, state primaries and caucuses, national conventions, general election campaign, Electoral College vote.
- Learn the difference between a primary (a state-administered election open to some or all registered voters, depending on whether it is open, closed or semi-closed) and a caucus (a party-run meeting where supporters gather and are counted directly).
- Learn the Electoral College mechanics precisely: 538 electors total, 270 needed to win, almost all states use winner-takes-all (Maine and Nebraska instead allocate some electors by congressional district), and it is possible to win the Electoral College while losing the national popular vote, as happened in 2000 and 2016.
- Learn the campaign finance framework: the Federal Election Campaign Act set contribution limits and created the Federal Election Commission; Buckley v Valeo (1976) ruled that independent political spending is protected free speech; Citizens United v FEC (2010) allowed unlimited independent spending by corporations and unions, giving rise to Super PACs, which cannot legally coordinate directly with a candidate's own campaign.
- For a question on whether the Electoral College is democratic, weigh the case against it (a candidate can win the presidency while losing the popular vote; smaller states are over-represented relative to their population; campaigns focus almost entirely on a small number of competitive 'swing states') against the case for it (it preserves a federal balance by requiring broad, cross-state support rather than concentrated support in a few large states, and it produces a clear, decisive result).
- Do not confuse a primary's delegate allocation rules with the Electoral College's elector allocation rules; they are separate systems operating at different stages of the process.
Worked example
Assess whether the Electoral College system for electing the president remains fit for purpose.
- Explain the mechanics first: 538 electors, 270 needed to win, and the winner-takes-all rule used by nearly every state means a candidate can lose the national popular vote while still winning the presidency.
- Build the case against the system: this happened in 2000 (Bush v Gore) and again in 2016, undermining the principle of 'one person, one vote' at the national level, and it concentrates campaign attention on a handful of competitive swing states while most states are effectively ignored by campaigns.
- Build the case for the system: it was designed to preserve the federal balance between large and small states, requiring a winning candidate to build genuinely broad, geographically distributed support rather than simply maximising the vote in a few dense, populous areas, and it produces a clear, quick, and rarely disputed result.
- Add a reform angle: proposals such as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (states agreeing to award their electors to the national popular vote winner) exist precisely because of these criticisms, showing that the debate remains live rather than settled.
- Conclude with a supported judgement on whether the federal-balance rationale still outweighs the democratic legitimacy concern in a modern, more nationally connected electorate.
Practice questions
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Q1What is the difference between a primary and a caucus?Show answer
Answer: A primary is a state-run election in which registered voters cast a ballot; a caucus is a party-run local meeting where supporters gather and are counted in person.
Q2How many electoral votes are there in total, and how many does a candidate need to win the presidency?Show answer
Answer: 538 in total, and 270 are needed to win.
Q3What does 'winner-takes-all' mean in the context of the Electoral College?Show answer
Answer: That the candidate who wins the most popular votes in a state receives all of that state's electoral votes (used by almost every state except Maine and Nebraska).
Q4Name one presidential election in which the winner lost the national popular vote.Show answer
Answer: 2000 or 2016.
Q5What did Citizens United v FEC (2010) allow?Show answer
Answer: Unlimited independent political spending by corporations and unions.
Q6What is a Super PAC, and what restriction applies to it?Show answer
Answer: An organisation that can raise and spend unlimited money on political campaigning, provided it does not coordinate directly with a candidate's own campaign.
Q7What is meant by a 'swing state' in a US presidential election?Show answer
Answer: A state that is not reliably won by either party, so it receives disproportionate campaign attention because it could determine the outcome.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a A Level Politics exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Explain and analyse three criticisms made of the Electoral College system.
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Assess whether the Electoral College system for electing the president remains fit for purpose.
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
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See real A Level Politics past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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