Presidential elections in the United States are held every four years, on the first Tuesday in November. Therefore, the next US elections will take place on November 5, 2024. Voters will go to the polls to elect the new president who will officially take office on January 20, 2025. Election Day is preceded by the primaries, where Republican and Democratic candidates compete for the White House.
These consultations are a key moment in American democracy and attract attention nationally and internationally, influencing a wide range of global issues. This is why the attention on them is always at the highest levels.
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The Democratic and Republican candidates
Before going into the details of the 2024 US elections, some clarifications are in order. The Stars and Stripes party system focuses on two major political parties: the Democratic and the Republican. Both play a central role in US politics and exert considerable influence on the political process and elections at all levels of government.
The first confirmation of participation arrived in November 2022, with Donald Trump announcing his re-nomination for a second (non-consecutive) term at the head of the Republicans.
A few months later, in the spring of 2023, it was the current President Biden who formalized his re-nomination for a second term with the Democrats. These two influential names have been joined by others, more and less known. The Dem group was immediately smaller than the Republican one.
Therefore, wanting to summarize, the candidates for the 2024 US elections for the Democrats are the following:
- Joe Biden (81 years old): incumbent President of the United States, resident of Delaware;
- Dean Phillips (54): Minnesota Representative in the House and CEO of Phillips Distilling Company;
- Marianne Williamson (71 years old): writer and founder of Project Angel Food, former candidate in the 2020 primaries, resident in California.
These, however, are the main candidates of the Republican Party:
- Donald Trump (77 years old): President of the United States from 2017 to 2021 and president of the Trump Organization until 2017;
- Ron DeSantis (45 years old): incumbent Governor of Florida and former Member of the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2018. DeSantis announced his withdrawal from the primaries on January 21st.
- Nikki Haley (51): former US ambassador to the United Nations and former governor of South Carolina;
- Asa Hutchinson (73 years old): governor of Arkansas until 2023 and former administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration;
- Vivek Ramaswamy (38 years old): Executive Chairman of Strive Asset Management and former CEO of Roivant Sciences. Ramaswamy withdrew from the Presidential race on January 16th.
But who, among these, will be chosen to head each political party? The primaries at the beginning of 2024 will decide this. Primary elections are normal elections in which voters choose presidential candidates who will represent their party in the general election.
The 2024 US primaries: who are the favorites?
The United States primary elections have started, voting for the Republicans have begun on January 15th in Iowa and will then continue in the other states in the following weeks and months.
As often happens in history, especially those in the opposition (in this case the republicans) are to be followed. Thus given that it is very rare for the outgoing president, currently Joe Biden, to lose those from his side. At the moment, polls estimate that the current president is “the choice” of almost 70% of Dem voters. Although, given his no longer young age, the Democratic Party primaries could also hold surprises.
On the Republican front, the favorite to date is still Donald Trump. The tycoon, according to recent polls on the 2024 US elections, has 47%, 45.7% and 53% of the vote. Respectively, in the three key seats of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
In second place we find Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina. Haley “controls” 14.3%, 18.7%, 22% of the electorate respectively.
Ron DeSantis, the current governor of Florida who seemed like he could be the former president’s main antagonist, lost ground in several caucuses (meetings where voters discuss and vote for candidates) apart from that of Iowa, where he still holds 17 .3% of the votes.
Read also: The challenge for the White House starts: all the stages of the 2024 electoral calendar
