The Presidential election occurs when voters decide who will be the President and Vice President. Voters choose a candidate by casting their votes for a slate of electors in each state (except Maine and Nebraska). The person with the most electoral votes is the winner. The Electoral College system was established by the Constitution because it discourages candidates from concentrating their efforts on just a few large states. This allows for smaller states to be fairly represented.
The CPD has been organizing debates for over two decades, and they have learned a lot about how to make them more effective in terms of the candidates’ ability to communicate with each other and the voters in attendance. We also continue to learn about what formats are most valuable in increasing the public’s understanding of the candidates and their policy positions.
This year’s race is unique in that voters have already become very familiar with the candidates through their track record and across months of campaign events. For this reason, most voters expect the debates to tell them very little new about the candidates – their specific priorities and policy positions are well-established.
Voters do want to see certain topics discussed, however. For example, a majority of Trump supporters prefer questions on inflation and border security to be included. Similarly, Biden supporters favor questions on health care and abortion. These preferences reflect the polarization of the candidates’ support in the country. Historically, the most popularly-supported candidates have won the election, but five times a candidate has won the majority of popular votes yet lost the presidency: Andrew Jackson in 1824 (to John Quincy Adams); Samuel Tilden in 1876 (to Rutherford B. Hayes); Grover Cleveland in 1888 (to Benjamin Harrison); George W. Bush in 2000; and Donald J. Trump in 2016.