Why is the US election important?

Every four years, the US get to vote for their next president. The current president, Joe Biden, isn’t standing again despite only serving one four-year term.

Since 1951, the US Constitution (a set of rules that the country is run by) has said that a person can only be elected as president twice. The only president to have ever served more than two terms is Franklin D Roosevelt, who won four elections in a row from 1932, although he died just a few months after winning the 1944 election.

With Joe Biden out of the race the choice is between the current vice president, the Democratic Party’s Kamala Harris, or the Republican Party’s Donald Trump, who’s been president once before.

There are also some independent candidates, but they are very unlikely to win as they normally get only a small percentage of the vote. The US has only ever had one president who didn’t belong to a political party: George Washington, who was the first ever president, back in 1789!

• Influence in global politics: Although there are countries around the world that are very negative towards the US, the country has a lot of power and money, which give it a huge influence in global politics. That’s especially relevant to the Middle East conflict right now, as the US has been the main supporter of Israel for many years, which has allowed Israel to build up its military and defend itself from attacks.
• Trading Partners: The US and UK trade a lot of things, from clothes to tech to food. The president’s decisions can impact the price and availability of things we buy and sell.
• Strong Allies: Our two countries are close allies, helping each other in defense and security. The election can change how we work together to keep both countries safe.

The US election is complicated, but each of the 50 states have their own elections. People’s votes technically go towards choosing ‘electors’, and there are 538 in total across the country. That means a candidate needs to get the votes of 270 electors to become president.

Most of the states lean towards Democrat or Republican and are unlikely to change. So, the result is only really in doubt in a handful of ‘battleground’ or ‘swing’ states. These are states that in the past had moved between support for the Democrats and the Republicans. The seven states that could decide the result this year are Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.