logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2024
14m 22s

How do the US Presidential elections act...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

This is our simple(ish) guide to how America picks its president.

In November 2024, America will go to the polls to pick the next President of the United States. At the moment it looks like we’ll see a 2020 rematch, Republican Donald Trump vs Democrat Joe Biden. But how do US elections actually work? They can be quite complicated, the candidate with the most votes doesn’t always win. In this episode, we explain things like the electoral college, Super PACs and find out just how much running a campaign ad for the most powerful job on earth can cost.

BBC reporter Sam Cabral joins us from Washington and takes us through the process. And business reporter Erin Delmore checks in from New York to talk about the money.

Email: whatintheworld@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: Alex Rhodes Producers: Emily Horler and Adam Chowdhury Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks

Up next
Yesterday
Why your plane’s GPS might be sabotaged (but don’t be scared)
<p>GPS interference or GPS ‘jamming’ is getting more common. It’s when radio signals on the same frequencies as GPS satellites are used to overwhelm and block legitimate navigation signals. It’s led to pilots having to make emergency landings or switch to older non-GPS systems. T ... Show More
8m 57s
Nov 24
COP30 made some progress, but not on fossil fuels
<p>COP30, the big meeting where countries discuss climate change annually, has finished. This year it was hosted in the city of Belem in Brazil, in the Amazon forest, which is directly affected by it. The role of the two biggest emitters has also made headlines. The United States ... Show More
14m 27s
Nov 21
The ancient origins of kissing
<p>Scientists at Oxford University in the UK now think that kissing evolved more than 21 million years ago, and it wasn’t humans that started it.</p><p>As a behaviour, it has no obvious survival or reproductive benefits but it’s seen across the world, in humans and animals alike. ... Show More
11m 34s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2023
Trump’s Poll Position
<p>As votes from Election Day 2023 were tallied up this week, wins for Democrats may have given a preview into next year’s presidential election. But new polls seem to point towards a rocky road to re-election for President Joe Biden. </p><p>It’s not all good news for Trump, thou ... Show More
34m 9s
Apr 2024
Americanswers: How vulnerable is Trump, does Biden have an image problem and will Russia interfere in the election?
The Americast team have left the safety of the podcast studio for an old fashioned radio phone-in! 5 Live listeners were given the opportunity on Wednesday to quiz all of our hosts on the issues that matter going into the 2024 presidential election. Nothing was off the table as w ... Show More
37m 52s
Oct 2022
Running an Election in the Heart of Election Denialism
<p><i>This episode contains strong language. </i></p><p>Hundreds of candidates on the ballot in November still deny that President Biden won in 2020 — a level of denialism that is fueling harassment and threats toward election workers. </p><p>Few have experienced those attacks as ... Show More
49m 14s
Oct 2022
The US election deniers running for office
<p>The Americast team look at the threat that election deniers could pose to democracy if they are elected to office in the upcoming US midterms. </p><p>The team chat to Alabama Secretary of State and Republican John Merrill and the BBC’s Disinformation and Social Media correspon ... Show More
40m 52s
Jan 2024
The Election Trail: From Iowa to New Hampshire
Hot on the heels of the Iowa caucus, Republican candidates Donald Trump, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis prepare for the next primary showdown in New Hampshire. Sarah and Justin unpack if it could prove to be a tougher test for Trump and a way back into the race for the other candid ... Show More
34m 17s
Mar 2024
Super Tuesday: Everything Points to Trump vs Biden
Fifteen states voted on super Tuesday to decide who the nominees for the Democratic and Republican parties will be. Donald Trump didn’t quite get the clean sweep he hoped for, but will Nikki Haley’s Vermont win be enough to keep her in the race?The Americast team discuss the issu ... Show More
28m 11s
Feb 2024
American Elections: 1800
In the first episode of our new series on the Ideas Behind American Elections, David and historian Gary Gerstle explore the presidential contest of 1800: scurrilous, complicated, game changing. How did it help create the American party system? Was it really democratic? What would ... Show More
57m 37s
Jan 2024
The 2024 US election: the starting gun is fired
<p>The US 2024 election calendar kicks off in earnest this week as the wannabee Republican nominees head to Iowa. </p><p>Trump is making a quick pit stop via the courts - to tell them to grant him immunity from prosecution. </p><p>And Nikki Haley is trying a novel tactic of pissi ... Show More
31m 51s