United States presidential election, 2016

United States presidential election, 2016
United States
November 8, 2016

The electoral map for the 2016 election, based on populations from the 2010 census
Incumbent President

Barack Obama
Democratic

The United States presidential election of 2016 will be the 58th quadrennial U.S. presidential election and is to be held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Voters in the election will select presidential electors, who in turn will elect a new President and Vice President of the United States. The incumbent president, Barack Obama, is ineligible to be elected to a third term due to term limits in the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Background

Article Two of the United States Constitution provides that for a person to be elected and serve as President of the United States, the individual must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, at least 35 years old, and a resident of the United States for a period of no less than 14 years. Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the various political parties of the United States, in which case each party devises a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf.

Major party candidates

Individuals included in this section have taken one or more of the following actions: formally announced their candidacy for the presidential nomination of a major party; filed as a major party candidate with Federal Election Commission (FEC) (for other than exploratory purposes). Parties are listed alphabetically. Candidates are listed alphabetically by surname.

Democratic Party

Candidates featured in major polls

The candidates included in this section have been listed in five or more major independent nationwide polls.

Other candidates

Republican Party

Candidates featured in major polls

Candidates included in this section have been listed in five or more major independent nationwide polls.

Other candidates

Independent and third party candidates

Individuals included in this section have taken one or more of the following actions: formally announced their candidacy for the presidential nomination of a minor party, or as an independent candidate; filed as a minor party or non-affiliated candidate with FEC (for other than exploratory purposes). Candidates are listed alphabetically by surname.

Potential candidates

The individuals listed below have been identified by reliable media sources as potential candidates for president in 2016. Those listed under "Formally exploring a candidacy" have taken formal action(s) – such as the formation of an exploratory committee, political action committee (PAC), or a 527 organization – to build the groundwork for a possible presidential campaign. As of May 2015, all others have been the focus of media speculation in reliable secondary sources within the past three months. They are listed alphabetically by surname.

Democratic Party

Formally exploring a candidacy

Publicly expressed interest

Other potential candidates

Republican Party

Announcements impending

The following potential candidates have scheduled events in which they are expected to announce their decision regarding a possible presidential candidacy.

Formally exploring a candidacy

Publicly expressed interest

Third party and independent candidates

Constitution Party

Ballot Access: Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming – (115 Electoral Votes)[91]

Green Party

Ballot Access: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Washington D.C., Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin – (286 Electoral Votes)[91][94]

Formally exploring a candidacy

Libertarian Party

Ballot Access: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming – (366 Electoral Votes)[91]

Publicly expressed interest

Potential battleground states

Further information: Swing state

In every state except Maine and Nebraska, the winner of the popular vote in the state wins all of the electoral votes of the state (although state legislatures can, by law, change how votes are allocated).[100] Recent presidential campaigns have generally focused their resources on a relatively small number of competitive states.[101][102] Potential battleground states include Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida.[103] Democrats have discussed targeting Arizona, Georgia, and Texas as potentially competitive states.[103] Meanwhile, Republicans may also target Minnesota and New Jersey.[104] Other states may also become competitive if the close races of 2016 differ from the close races of the 2012 election, or if 2016 becomes a landslide election. Both major parties might decide to target the home states of their nominees or that of their running mates if they are from a swing state or have high favorability in the state or region.

Party conventions

Philadelphia
Cleveland
Orlando
Sites of the 2016 national party conventions.
Democratic Party
Republican Party
Libertarian Party
Prohibition Party

Debates

On April 1, 2015, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) announced that each of the following 16 locations are under consideration to host one of the three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate:[111]

The three locations which will host the presidential debates, and the one location selected to host the vice presidential debate, are to be announced by the CPD in the fall of 2015.[111][112]

Polling

General election polling
Democratic primary polling
Republican primary polling

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chozick, Amy. "Hillary Clinton Announces 2016 Presidential Bid". The New York Times. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  2. ↑ Karni, Annie (April 12, 2015). "Hillary Clinton formally announces 2016 run". Politico. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Hillary Rodham Clinton FEC filing" (PDF). FEC. April 13, 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  4. ↑ Rappeport, Alan (April 30, 2015). "Bernie Sanders Announces He Is Running for President". The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
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  6. ↑ "Jeff Boss FEC filing" (PDF). FEC. August 25, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
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  9. ↑ "Robert Carr Wells Jr. FEC filing" (PDF). FEC. November 11, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  10. ↑ Mascaro, Lisa and David Lauter (March 22, 2015). "Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz Launches Presidential Bid". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  11. ↑ Zezima, Katie (March 23, 2015). "Ted Cruz Announces He’s Running for President". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Ted Cruz FEC filing" (PDF). FEC. March 23, 2015. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  13. ↑ Lambert, Lisa (April 7, 2015). "Republican Rand Paul announces 2016 presidential run on website". Reuters. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  14. ↑ Killough, Ashley (April 7, 2015). "Rand Paul: 'I am running for president'". CNN. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  15. ↑ "Rand Paul FEC filing" (PDF). FEC. April 8, 2015. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  16. ↑ Parker, Ashley (April 13, 2015). "Marco Rubio Announces 2016 Presidential Bid". The New York Times. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
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  28. ↑ Waka Flocka Flame is ineligible to be inaugurated as President, as he does not meet the constitutional age requirement of 35 years, as he will only be 30 at the beginning of the term.
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  111. ↑ 111.0 111.1 "CPD Announces 2016 Debate Host Applicants". Commission on Presidential Debates. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
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External links