Edexcel and AQA A-level Politics: Past Exam Questions on Congressional Elections in the USA
All published Edexcel (9PL0) and AQA (7152) question papers and mark schemes (not including 2026) In this page we bring together every Edexcel (specification 9PL0) and AQA (specification 7152) A-level Politics exam question that has asked about congressional elections in the USA (elections to the House of Representatives and the Senate). It should help you […]
Congressional Midterm Elections
Edexcel A-level Politics, Paper 3: Comparative Politics (USA) | also relevant to AQA Paper 2: Government and Politics of the USA “If we do it, we will never lose the midterms, and we will never lose the general election, because we will have produced so many different things for our people, for the people, for […]
Congressional elections in the USA – Overview
The United States Congress is the national legislature (law-making body) established under Article I of the Constitution. Congress is bicameral, meaning it is divided into two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. This structure was the outcome of the Great Compromise (also called the Connecticut Compromise) of 1787, which reconciled the competing demands […]
Presidential Elections in the USA
“The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.” Donald Trump wrote this on Twitter on 6 November 2012, the day after Barack Obama’s re-election. Four years later, having lost the popular vote but won the presidency himself, he took the opposite view. “The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, […]
US Presidential Election Campaign Finance
“Money, like water, will always find an outlet” In 2003, the Supreme Court heard the case of McConnell v Federal Election Commission, a challenge to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002, a law that had tightened the rules on political donations and campaign advertising. In the joint opinion of Justices John Paul Stevens […]
Incumbency in US Presidential Elections
KEY TERM Incumbency: the fact of currently holding a political office; in this context, being the sitting president, or the sitting vice president standing to succeed them, at the time of an election. Defining Incumbency and Its Advantage Advantages and Disadvantages of Incumbency Advantages Disadvantages Name recognition and media attention: voters already know the incumbent, […]
The Electoral College in the USA
Constitutional Origins The electoral college was devised at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 as a compromise between two rejected alternatives: direct popular election, distrusted by many delegates as vulnerable to ‘demagogues’, and selection of the president by Congress, which risked making the executive dependent on the legislature. Under Article II, each state was given a […]
National Nominating Conventions in the USA
Origins and Historical Development National nominating conventions emerged in the 1830s as a replacement for the discredited congressional caucus system, known pejoratively as “King Caucus”, whereby party members of Congress had quietly chosen presidential candidates among themselves. The Anti-Masonic Party held the first national convention in 1831; the Democrats followed in 1832, nominating Andrew Jackson […]
The Primary System in United States Elections
1. Introduction The presidential nomination process in the United States relies on primary elections and caucuses, with no direct equivalent in parliamentary systems such as the United Kingdom. Rather than a party leader being chosen by parliamentarians or members, the two main parties invite millions of voters, over several months, to choose who contests the […]
2020 and 2024 US Presidential Elections
The 2020 election: timeline Date Event November 2016 Trump defeats Clinton to win the presidency November 2018 Midterm elections; Democrats retake the House of Representatives 2019–early 2020 Extensive Democratic primary field forms and contests early states March 2020 Biden emerges as frontrunner after South Carolina; COVID-19 declared a national emergency April 2020 Sanders withdraws; Biden […]