Campaigns and Elections Study Pack

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Last updated May 21, 2026

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Campaigns and Elections Study Guide

Trace the full arc of American campaigns and elections, from primary contests and general election strategy to the Electoral College's role in deciding the presidency. Examine how Citizens United reshaped campaign finance, why voter turnout lags behind other democracies, and what drives voting behavior — including incumbency advantages, party identification, and short-term forces like economic conditions.

Key Takeaways

  • •American elections are structured around two major types of campaigns — primary elections, which narrow the field within a party, and general elections, which determine who holds office.
  • •Campaign finance is governed primarily by federal law, including rules established by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and shaped by landmark court decisions such as Citizens United v. FEC (2010), which allowed unlimited independent expenditures by corporations and unions.
  • •Voter turnout in the United States is persistently lower than in many other democracies, influenced by factors such as voter registration requirements, the timing of elections on weekdays, and levels of political efficacy.
  • •Candidates rely on a mix of earned media (news coverage), paid advertising, ground game operations, and digital outreach to persuade voters and mobilize their base.
  • •The Electoral College — not a direct national popular vote — determines the winner of presidential elections, requiring a candidate to secure 270 of 538 electoral votes.
  • •Voting behavior is shaped by party identification, candidate image, policy positions, and short-term forces such as economic conditions or major political events.
  • •Incumbency provides a significant structural advantage in most American elections, giving sitting officeholders greater name recognition, fundraising capacity, and access to constituent services.

How American Elections Are Structured

The United States uses a decentralized, multi-stage election system in which different types of elections serve distinct functions in the path from candidacy to office.

Primary Elections: Selecting Party Nominees

  • •A primary election is a preliminary contest held before the general election in which voters — or in some states, party members only — choose who will represent a political party on the ballot.
  • •Closed primaries restrict participation to registered members of the party, while open primaries allow voters of any registration to participate in either party's contest.
  • •Presidential primaries allocate delegates to candidates, and those delegates formally nominate the candidate at the party's national convention.

Caucuses as an Alternative to Primaries

  • •A caucus is a local gathering where participants publicly deliberate and group together to express candidate support, rather than casting a secret ballot.
  • •Caucuses require a higher time commitment than primaries and tend to produce lower and more ideologically intense participation.

General Elections and Special Elections

  • •The general election is the decisive contest between nominees of different parties — and sometimes independent candidates — held on a uniform date set by federal or state law.
  • •Special elections are called outside the regular election calendar to fill a seat that becomes vacant due to death, resignation, or removal from office.

Runoff Elections

  • •Some states require a runoff election when no candidate clears a specified threshold — typically 50% — of the vote in the primary, pitting the top two finishers against each other.

The Electoral College and Presidential Selection

Presidential elections in the United States are not decided by a direct national popular vote but through the Electoral College, a constitutional mechanism that translates state-level results into a winner.

How Electoral Votes Are Allocated

  • •Each state receives a number of electoral votes equal to its total congressional representation — its House seats plus its two Senate seats — giving every state a minimum of three electoral votes.
  • •The District of Columbia receives three electoral votes under the 23rd Amendment, bringing the total Electoral College size to 538.
  • •A candidate must win an outright majority of 270 electoral votes to become president; if no candidate reaches that threshold, the House of Representatives selects the president.

Winner-Take-All vs. Proportional Allocation

  • •Forty-eight states use a winner-take-all rule: the candidate who wins the state's popular vote receives all of that state's electoral votes.
  • •Maine and Nebraska use a congressional district method, awarding two electoral votes to the statewide popular vote winner and one electoral vote per congressional district winner.

Strategic Consequences of the Electoral College

  • •The winner-take-all system creates battleground states — competitive states where neither party dominates — that receive disproportionate campaign attention and resources.
  • •Safe states, which reliably vote for one party, are largely bypassed by major-party campaigns focused on maximizing their electoral vote total.

About this Study Pack

Created by Kibin to help students review key concepts, prepare for exams, and study more effectively. This Study Pack was checked for accuracy and curriculum alignment using authoritative educational sources. See sources below.

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