chapter 7
US presidential cycle
Like clockwork, US citizens go to the polls every four years. This is in stark contrast to the UK electoral process, where endless governments have faced the dilemma of whether to call an early election or delay the day of reckoning to the last minute.
The reason for the predictability of the US electoral process is that election day is set by law, falling on the first Tuesday following the first Monday of November. As a result, the first Tuesday will always fall between 2 and 8 November. Moreover, presidential elections are always held in years divisible by four, so the last US election took place on 4 November 2008.
That’s not the only difference between the two electoral systems. Whereas in the UK the incumbent ...
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