Donald Trump,Republican Candidate, was elected the 45th President of United States of America defeating Hilary Clinton. The United States presidential election of 2016, was on November 8, 2016. This article covers US President Election, Important Dates of US President Elections 2016, US President Candidates , Money and US President Elections and How is US President Elected?
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US President Election 2016
The United States presidential election of 2016, scheduled for Tuesday, November 8, 2016, will be the 58th quadrennial(four year period) U.S. presidential election. The 2016 election will determine the 45th President and 48th Vice President of the United States. The term limit established in the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents the incumbent president, Barack Obama of the Democratic Party, from being elected to a third term.
Important Dates of US President Elections 2016
- On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, roughly 120 million Americans will go to the polls.
- Polls will close between 12am and 6am GMT, with exit polls coming out straight afterwards. Each state has a number of Electoral College votes proportionate to its size.
- Results will be announced on November 9, 2016, 4 am GMT (9:30 am IST) when the polling will close in all states aside from Alaska, which has been the case in 2008 and 2012 elections.. For the results though, US media organisations will tap into projections from bellwether states and swing states. There a number of bellwether states in US who vote for eventual winner of the election. For instance, Ohio (a major swing state), will close polls at 12:30 am GMT (6 am IST) during the early hours of Wednesday November 9, followed by Missouri at 1 am, New Mexico at 2 am and Nevada at 3 am. Swing states, such as North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Virginia, also have enough Electoral College votes to decide the outcome.
- The 2016 result will not be formally counted until January 6, 2017 when vice-president Joe Biden will announce the Electoral College vote.
- In order to become the next US president, the winning candidate must get 270 Electoral College votes.
- After another complicated process involving the Electoral College, the winner will formally announced on January 6 2017.
- The new president and commander-in-chief of the world’s largest military will be inaugurated and enter the White House on January 20,2017.
- America’s next leader will take the Oath of Office at noon local time on inauguration day.
Terms associated with US President Elections
The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses took place between February and June 2016, staggered among the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. This nominating process was also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of delegates to a political party’s nominating convention, who in turn elect their party’s presidential nominee. Terms associated with US President Elections
The Republican party, also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP), is America’s right-wing party. Some former Republicans include Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, George W Bush etc.
The Democratic party is a centre-left party, who typically favour taxation to pay for bigger government projects and welfare activities. Some Democrats who served as presidents are Barack Obama (still serving), Bill Clinton, John F Kennedy.
National Party Conventions : During US elections, the candidates from respective political parties, ie Republicans and Democrats, collected delegates who pledged to endorse them in their respective national party conventions held in July early this year. As a result, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton won more delegates, forcing other candidates to bow out of the presidential race. Both Trump and Clinton were announced as presidential nominees at their respective party national conventions in July.
Primaries :State-level contests are called primaries or caucuses. Clinton and Trump were declared presidential candidates after they won the primaries. The contest took place during mid-June 2016 and by then the picture was clear both candidates would take on each other in the coming stages.
The Electoral College :All of 50 states of The United States of America and Washington D.C. have a set number of ‘electors’ in the electoral college. This is roughly proportionate to the size of each state in the US. Now, the Electoral College is made of 538 electors who cast their votes to decide the US President and Vice-President. The number 538 is summation of nation’s 435 representatives, 3 electors (given to the state of Columbia) and 100 senators.
US President 2016 Candidates
Other than Republic and Democrats, Various third party and independent presidential candidates are also running in the election. At least 24 other third party candidates and independents will appear on the ballot in at least some states, or are running as write-in candidates. You can compare US Presidential Candidates here and major candidates are as follows
- Businessman and reality television personality Donald Trump became the Republican Party’s presidential nominee on July 19, 2016, after defeating U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Governor of Ohio John Kasich, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and other candidates in the Republican primary elections.If elected, Trump will be the oldest president to take office.
- Former Secretary of State and U.S. Senator from New York Hillary Clinton became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee on July 26, 2016, after defeating U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. If elected, Clinton will be the first female president
- Libertarian Party nominee and former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson has ballot access in all 50 states.
- Green Party nominee and former physician Jill Stein .
Money and US President Elections
The amount of donations and funds raised has skyrocketed since Kennedy and Nixon contested the 1960 presidential election. Back then, both candidates raised about $10 million with Kennedy going on to win even though he had marginally less funding. So far, Hillary Clinton’s campaign has raised considerably more money than Donald Trump’s, Is Trump going to buck the trend and become the first “budget loser” to reach the White House since Jimmy Carter in 1976? Following image from Forbes show Money Campaigns during US President Election.
Campaign money raised during US President Election
How US President is elected
Infographic from Times of India on How US President is elected
President Election
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It is ironical that the biggest democracy in the world cannot nominate two good choices. There seems to be hardly any difference in the system between theirs and ours…FBI gives a clean chit to a front runner just hours before the election and stock markets tumble if the popularity rating of a candidate who is a business man turned politician goes up…loads of money, poor quality of candidates,dishonesty, racistic and religious affiliation and so on…even the quality of debates over the years have come down.
Such a detailed write-up. I am rooting for Clinton to win, don’t want my Investments to turn into pennies!