USA political system

Question

HiPlease help me with the queries below. I understand my queries are not grammar related but I'm reading something which requires me to understand the basics of the US political system. Thanks for your help.I believe two legislative chambers stand for house of representatives and senate in the context of US political system. The US system is presidetial where the president is elected directly to the office by popular vote. Does presidential system always work this way? Is president always elected directly in preseidential system?At present who hold majority in house of representatives, Republican or Democrates? How does it affect the president when majority in the house of representatives is of opposition party?What is the system called where prime minister is head of government?bicameral having, consisting of, or based on two legislative chambers  a bicameral legislature[M-W's Col. Dic.]

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

What is the system called where prime minister is head of government? The parliamentary system.

Note that the Prime Minister is usually the effective 'boss' of the government, but is not the symbolic Head of State.

In Canada and Britain, for example, that is the Queen.

I believe the Russian system has both a prime minister and a powerful president.

Clive

CSnyder · Answer

The President of the United States isn't directly elected to office by the popular vote. One recent example of a President winning office but not the popular vote is George W. Bush's first term, where he won election even though Al Gore received over 500,000 more votes.

The way the President is elected in the United States is fairly complicated. We've got an electoral body called the "electoral college". A state gets the same number of electors as it has legislators in Congress - that is, the number of Representitives they have (which varies from state to state) plus the number of Senators they have (two for each state). A candidate must receive the majority of votes cast by electors (that is, a strict majority of the electors must vote for the candidate - if no candidate gets a majority of the electors, then things get even more complicated) in order to be elected President. Electors are sent by each state to Washington DC to cast their votes.

Most states assign their electors by law to the candidate who won the popular vote in that state in a "winner-take-all" system. However, a few states (Missouri is one) assign two electors (representing the Senators) to whoever wins the popular vote in the state and assign the electors representing the Representatives by district. In this way, a candidate who doesn't win the popular vote in those states might still receive the votes of some of the electors.

It's important to remember that while the electors are generally mandated by their states to cast their vote in a particular way, there is no way for the states to enforce their edicts, so occasionally electors will cast votes for someone they were not supposed to. These are called "faithless electors".

MalRey · Answer

Jackson6612The US system is presidetial where the president is elected directly to the office by popular vote.

This is not true. See CSnyder's answer.

Jackson6612At present who hold majority in house of representatives, Republican or Democrats?

Currently (since January of 2011) the House is controlled by Republicans and the Senate is controlled by Democrats. Elections are held every even numbered year so the next time this might change is in the election of November, 2012 (the newly elected members are not sworn into office until the following January).

Jackson6612How does it affect the president when majority in the house of representatives is of opposition party?

It causes him to have to work harder to get the legislation he wants passed by that body.

Jackson6612What is the system called where prime minister is head of government?

It's called a Parliamentary System.

I would recommend that you read the Wikipedia articles on the related subjects for a more complete description.

MalRey · Answer

CSnyderThe President of the United States isn't directly elected to office by the popular vote...

Yikes. Even for someone who has a pretty fair understanding of how the system works, seeing it laid out all in one place like this is a bit overwhelming.

CSnyder · Answer

That's the simplest it gets. If no candidate wins a majority of electors, all **** breaks loose. And things were even more complicated before the 12th Amendment was passed.

CSnyder · Answer

Also apparently I was wrong and the electors meet in their respective state capitols to vote, not in DC.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

The most controversial US presidential election was Rutherford B. Hayes versus Samuel Tilden.  (1876)

USA political system

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