The presidential race is a campaign in which the candidates for the office of president of the United States are pitted against each other. After the political parties choose their nominees, the candidates go head-to-head by delivering speeches and participating in televised debates.

The winner of the presidency is determined by the Electoral College. The 538 electoral votes are divided among the states based on their population (except Maine and Nebraska which allocate their electoral votes proportionally). The candidate who receives a majority of the votes becomes the president. If no candidate has a majority, a run-off is held between the top two.

Candidates officially enter the presidential race by filing a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission. This usually occurs in the spring of the previous calendar year, although potential candidates form exploratory committees even earlier to assess their feasibility of running for the office.

While some candidates drop out of the race before the nomination process ends, others do so after losing a key primary or caucus. In 2024, Biden was criticized for his poor performance in a nationally televised debate against Trump, where he appeared to be physically and mentally weaker than the more seasoned of the two candidates.

In general, however, debates don’t tend to shift voters from one camp to another. Most viewers are tuning in to root for their favored candidate and don’t want to be persuaded by a strong argument from the other side. And though some debates may result in a brief bump in poll numbers for a candidate, those gains don’t tend to last.