Candidates, Surveys, Forecasts – Current News and Information

On November 5, 2024, Americans will elect their president for the 60th time. Until recently, the duel between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was central to the election campaign. But with the withdrawal of the 81-year-old incumbent president, a few weeks before the election date, there is new momentum in the question of who will move into the White House in January 2025 as Biden’s successor.

We will keep you informed of all developments via our live ticker.

News and background information: The 2024 US elections in the live blog

US Elections 2024: Information Coming Soon

• On Election Day, traditionally always the Tuesday after the first Monday in November (this time November 5), voters in all fifty states choose the head of state and the head of government by indirect elections. They determine the electors, the so-called Electoral College. There are 538 electors assigned to it. To win the presidency, a candidate needs the votes of at least 270 electors.
• In almost all states, the winner-take-all rule applies. If a candidate wins a majority of the popular vote in one of the fifty states, he or she gets all the electors from that state in the Electoral College. There are exceptions in Maine and Nebraska, where electors are allocated proportionally to the votes cast. The number of electors per state depends on population—but each state has at least three electors, so the distribution is not proportional to population. California has the most electors with 55, the District of Columbia (with its capital Washington, DC), Delaware, Montana, Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Alaska each have the fewest with three electors. The Electoral College is the decisive factor in the election of a president. Even if a candidate wins a majority of the pure number of votes, known as the popular vote, he or she still does not become president.
• In addition to the election of the American president, parts of the American Congress (Senate and House of Representatives) are re-elected. In both chambers, the majority is at stake. While the Republicans currently have a wafer-thin majority in the House of Representatives, the Democrats have a majority of one vote in the Senate (51:49).

• Forty-one days after Election Day, voters will meet (in 2024 on December 14) and ultimately choose the new president. The result will be certified in Congress on January 6. Four years ago, on this day, deadly clashes broke out between police and Trump supporters as they stormed the Capitol. The presidential inauguration will take place on January 20, 2025.

RND/axl