2016 United States presidential election

United States presidential election, 2016

November 8, 2016
All 538 members of the Electoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win
Nominee Hillary Clinton (presumptive) Donald Trump (presumptive) Party Democratic Republican Home state New York New York Running mate TBD Mike Pence   Nominee Gary Johnson Jill Stein (presumptive) Party Libertarian Green Home state New Mexico Massachusetts Running mate William Weld TBD
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, constitutionally prescribed to occur on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, will be the 58th quadrennial U.S. presidential election. Voters will select presidential electors who in turn will elect a new president and vice president through the Electoral College. The term limit established in the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents the incumbent president, Barack Obama of the Democratic Party, from being elected to a third term. Assuming President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden serve out the remainder of their respective terms, the 2016 election will determine the 45th President and 48th Vice President of the United States.

The series of presidential primary elections and caucuses took place between February 1 and June 14, 2016, staggered among the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. This nominating process is also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of delegates to a political party's nominating convention, who then in turn elect their party's presidential nominee. The 2016 Republican National Convention will take place from July 18-21, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio, while the 2016 Democratic National Convention will take place from July 25-28, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Businessman and reality television personality Donald Trump became the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party on May 3, 2016, after his win in the Indiana primary and the subsequent suspensions of Ted Cruz and John Kasich's campaigns. Former Secretary of State and New York Senator Hillary Clinton became the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the general election on June 6, 2016. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign has stated he will assist in efforts to defeat Trump. Although he has not withdrawn from the race, Sanders has stated that he will endorse Clinton and vote for her in the general election.

Various third party and independent presidential candidates will also contest the election, of which two have currently obtained enough ballot access to mathematically have a chance of winning the presidency and have been featured in major national polls: the Libertarian Party nominee, former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson; and the Green Party presumptive nominee Jill Stein.

Background

Further information: United States presidential election § Procedure

Barack Obama, current President of the United States of whom the 2016 United States presidential election will replace

Article Two of the United States Constitution provides that the President and Vice President of the United States must be natural-born citizens of the United States at least 35 years old, and a resident of the United States for a period of at least 14 years. Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the 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 primary elections are usually indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf. The general election in November is also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the Electoral College; these electors in turn directly elect the President and Vice President.

Obama, a Democrat and former U.S. Senator from Illinois, is ineligible to seek reelection to a third term due to restrictions of the Twenty-second Amendment; in accordance with Section I of the Twentieth Amendment, his term expires at 12:00 noon on January 20, 2017.

2008 presidential election

Further information: United States presidential election, 2008

In the 2008 election, Obama was elected president, defeating the Republican nominee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, with 52.9% of the popular vote and 68% of the electoral vote, succeeding two-term Republican President George W. Bush, the former Governor of Texas. Since the end of 2009, Obama's first year in office, polling companies such as Gallup have found Obama's approval ratings to be between 40-50%. Analysts such as Larry Sabato have noted that Obama's approval ratings could impact the 2016 campaign, either helping or hurting Clinton.

2010 midterm elections

Further information: United States elections, 2010

In the 2010 midterm elections, the Democratic Party suffered significant losses in Congress; the Republicans gained 63 seats in the House of Representatives – taking back control of the chamber in the process – and six seats in the Senate, though short of achieving a majority. As a result of the Republicans' recapture of the House after losing it to the Democrats in the 2006 midterm elections, John Boehner became the 53rd Speaker of the House of Representatives, making Obama the first President in 16 years to lose the House of Representatives in the first half of his first term in an election that was characterized by the economy's slow recovery, and the rise of the Tea Party movement.

2012 presidential election

Further information: United States presidential election, 2012

In the 2012 presidential election, Obama defeated former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney with 51.1% of the popular vote and 61.7% of the electoral vote, extending his already historic presidency in the process. Meanwhile, despite minor losses, Republicans retained their majority of seats in the House of Representatives while Democrats increased their majority in the Senate.

Speculation about the 2016 campaign began almost immediately following the 2012 campaign, with New York magazine declaring the race had begun in an article published on November 8, two days after the 2012 election. On the same day, Politico released an article predicting the 2016 general election may be between Clinton and former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush, while a New York Times article named Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker as potential candidates.

2014 midterm elections

Further information: United States elections, 2014

In the 2014 midterm elections, voter turnout was the lowest since 1942 with only 36.4% of eligible voters voting. As a result, not only had the Republicans retained control of the House of Representatives, increasing their majority to its largest level since March 4, 1929, but also gained a majority in the Senate.

Democratic Party

Main article: Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who also served in the U.S. Senate and was the First Lady of the United States, became the first Democrat to announce a major candidacy for the presidency. Clinton made the announcement on April 12, 2015 via a video message. While Nationwide opinion polls in 2015 indicated that Clinton is the front-runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, she faces challenges from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who became the second candidate when he made a formal announcement on April 30, 2015 that he was running for the Democratic nomination. September 2015 polling numbers indicated a narrowing gap between Clinton and Sanders. On May 30, 2015, former Governor of Maryland Martin O'Malley was the third candidate to enter the race. Four days later, on June 3, 2015, Lincoln Chafee, former Independent Governor and Republican Senator of Rhode Island, became the fourth Democrat to announce his candidacy. On July 2, 2015, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb became the fifth Democrat to announce his candidacy. On September 6, 2015, former Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig became the sixth and final Democrat to announce his candidacy.

On October 20, 2015, Webb announced his withdrawal from the Democratic primaries, and explored a potential Independent run. The next day, Biden, the incumbent Vice President and former U.S. Senator from Delaware, opted not to run, ending months of speculation, stating, "While I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent." Two days later, on October 23, 2015, Chafee withdrew, stating that he hoped for "an end to the endless wars and the beginning of a new era for the United States and humanity." On November 2, 2015, after failing to qualify for the second officially-sanctioned DNC debate after adoption of a rule change negated polls which before might have necessitated his inclusion in said debate, Lessig withdrew as well, narrowing the field to Clinton, O'Malley, and Sanders heading into the Iowa Caucus.

On February 1, 2016, in an extremely close contest, Clinton won the Iowa caucuses by a margin of 0.2% over Sanders. Winning no delegates in the contest, O'Malley withdrew from the presidential race that day. On February 9, 2016, Sanders bounced back to win the New Hampshire primary with 60% of the vote. In the remaining two February contests, Clinton won the Nevada caucuses with 53% of the vote and scored a decisive victory in the South Carolina primary with 73% of the vote.

On March 1, 2016, 11 states participated in the first of four "Super Tuesday" primaries, with Clinton winning Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia for a total of 504 pledged delegates, while Sanders won Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and his home state of Vermont to garner a total of 340 delegates by the end of the night. On the weekend of March 5, 2016, Sanders racked up victories in Kansas, Nebraska and Maine with 15- to 30-point margins, while Clinton won the Louisiana primary with 71% of the vote. On March 8, 2016, despite never having a lead in the Michigan primary, Sanders scored a stunning upset, winning by a small margin of 1.5% and outperforming polls by over 19 points, while, as expected, Clinton won 83% of the vote in Mississippi. On March 15, 2016, the second of four "Super Tuesday" primaries, Clinton won Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Between March 22 and April 9, 2016, Sanders won six caucuses in Idaho, Utah, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington and Wyoming, as well as the Wisconsin primary, while Clinton won the Arizona primary. By this stage, Clinton had won 1,305 pledged delegates to Sanders' 1,099.

On April 19, 2016, Clinton won the New York primary with 58% of the vote. On April 26, 2016, in the third of four "Super Tuesday" primaries dubbed the "Acela primary," she won contests in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania while Sanders won Rhode Island. On May 3, 2016, Sanders pulled off another surprise win in the Indiana primary with a 5-point margin of victory and he proceeded to claim West Virginia on May 10, 2016 with a 15-point lead, while Clinton won the Guam caucus on May 7, 2016.

As of May 10, 2016, of the 78% of pledged delegates allocated in primaries and caucuses so far, Clinton has won 54% to Sanders' 46%. Out of the 714 unpledged delegates or "superdelegates" who will vote in the convention in July, Clinton has received endorsements from 505 (71%), while Sanders has received 41 (6%).

On June 6, 2016, the Associated Press and NBC News stated that Clinton had become the presumptive nominee after reaching the required number of delegates, including both pledged and unpledged delegates (superdelegates), to secure the nomination, becoming the first woman to ever clinch the nomination of any major political party in the United States in the process. On June 7, 2016, Clinton officially secured a majority of pledged delegates after winning in the California and New Jersey primaries. She won the final primary in Washington, D.C. on June 14, 2016. Sanders has not officially dropped out of the race, but announced on June 16, 2016 that his main goal in the coming months would be to work with Clinton to defeat Trump in the general election. On July 12, 2016 Sanders formally endorsed Clinton at a rally in New Hampshire in which he appeared with Clinton.

Presumptive nominee

Democratic Party (United States)
Hillary Clinton
67th United States Secretary of State (2009–2013)
Campaign

Withdrawn candidates

Main article: Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2016

• Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator from Vermont (2007–present). Suspended campaign on July 12, 2016 and endorsed Hillary Clinton.
• Martin O'Malley, 61st Governor of Maryland (2007–2015). Suspended campaign on February 1, 2016 and endorsed Hillary Clinton.
• Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law Professor (2009-2016). Suspended campaign on November 2, 2015.
• Lincoln Chafee, 74th Governor of Rhode Island (2011–2015) and former U.S. Senator (1999–2007). Suspended campaign on October 23, 2015.
• Jim Webb, former U.S. Senator (2007–2013). Suspended campaign on October 20, 2015.

• 
  U.S. Senator
  Bernie Sanders
  of Vermont
  (campaign)
• 
  Former Governor
  Martin O'Malley
  of Maryland
  (campaign)
• 
  Harvard Law Professor
  Lawrence Lessig
  from Massachusetts
  (campaign)
• 
  Former Governor
  Lincoln Chafee
  of Rhode Island
  (campaign)
• 
  Former U.S. Senator
  Jim Webb
  from Virginia
  (campaign)

Vice presidential possibilities

Main article: Democratic Party vice presidential candidate selection, 2016

The following people have been cited as possible running mates for Hillary Clinton:

• Tim Kaine, United States Senator from Virginia
• Cory Booker, United States Senator from New Jersey
• Julian Castro, United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
• Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States
• Amy Klobuchar, United States Senator from Minnesota
• Mark Warner, United States Senator from Virginia
• Elizabeth Warren, United States Senator from Massachusetts
• John Hickenlooper, Governor of Colorado

Republican Party

Main article: Republican Party presidential primaries, 2016

A total of 17 major candidates entered the race starting March 23, 2015, when Senator Ted Cruz of Texas was the first to formally announce his candidacy: former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson of Maryland, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, businesswoman Carly Fiorina of California, former Governor Jim Gilmore of Virginia, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, former Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, former Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Governor John Kasich of Ohio, former Governor George Pataki of New York, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, former Governor Rick Perry of Texas, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, businessman Donald Trump of New York and Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin. This was the largest presidential primary field for any political party in American history.

Prior to the Iowa caucuses on February 1, 2016, Perry, Walker, Jindal, Graham and Pataki withdrew due to low polling numbers. Despite leading many polls in Iowa, Trump came in second to Cruz, after which Huckabee, Paul and Santorum withdrew due to poor performances at the ballot box. Following a sizable victory for Trump in the New Hampshire primary, Christie, Fiorina and Gilmore abandoned the race. Bush followed suit after scoring fourth place to Trump, Rubio and Cruz in South Carolina. On March 1, 2016, the first of four "Super Tuesday" primaries, Rubio won his first contest in Minnesota, Cruz won Alaska, Oklahoma and his home of Texas and Trump won the other seven states that voted. Failing to gain traction, Carson suspended his campaign a few days later. On March 15, 2016, the second of four "Super Tuesday" primaries, Kasich won his only contest in his home state of Ohio and Trump won five primaries including Florida. Rubio suspended his campaign after losing his home state, but retained a large share of his delegates for the national convention, which he plans to release to Trump.

Between March 16 and May 3, 2016, only three candidates remained in the race: Trump, Cruz and Kasich. Cruz won most delegates in four Western contests and in Wisconsin, keeping a credible path to denying Trump the nomination on first ballot with 1,237 delegates. However, Trump scored landslide victories in New York and five Northeastern states in April and he grabbed all 57 delegates in the Indiana primary of May 3, 2016. Without any further chances of forcing a contested convention, both Cruz and Kasich suspended their campaigns. Trump remained the only active candidate and was declared the presumptive Republican nominee by Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus on the evening of May 3, 2016.

Presumptive nominee

Republican Party (United States)
Donald Trump
Chairman of The Trump Organization (1971–present)
Campaign

Withdrawn candidates

Main article: Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016

• John Kasich, 69th Governor of Ohio (2011-present). Suspended campaign on May 4, 2016.
• Ted Cruz, U.S senator from Texas (2013–present). Suspended campaign on May 3, 2016.
• Marco Rubio, U.S senator from Florida (2011-present). Suspended campaign on March 15, 2016 and endorsed Donald Trump on May 26, 2016, stating that he will release his 173 delegates to support Trump at the convention and his efforts to defeat Hillary Clinton.
• Ben Carson, retired neurosurgeon. Suspended campaign on March 4, 2016 and endorsed Donald Trump on March 10, 2016.
• Jeb Bush, 43rd Governor of Florida (1999-2007). Suspended campaign on February 20, 2016 and endorsed Ted Cruz on March 23, 2016.
• Jim Gilmore, 68th Governor of Virginia (1998-2002). Suspended campaign on February 12, 2016 and endorsed Donald Trump on May 6, 2016.
• Chris Christie, 55th Governor of New Jersey (2010-present). Suspended campaign on February 10, 2016, and endorsed Donald Trump on February 26, 2016.
• Carly Fiorina, Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Suspended campaign on February 10, 2016 and endorsed Ted Cruz on March 9, 2016.
• Rick Santorum, Former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (1995-2007); US Representative from Pennsylvania (1991–1995). Presidential candidate in 2012. Suspended campaign on February 3, 2016 and endorsed Marco Rubio before endorsing Donald Trump on May 24, 2016.
• Rand Paul, U.S. Senator from Kentucky (2011-present). Suspended campaign on February 3, 2016 and endorsed Donald Trump on May 6, 2016.
• Mike Huckabee, 44th Governor of Arkansas (1996-2007). Presidential candidate in 2008. Suspended campaign on February 1, 2016 and later endorsed Donald Trump.
• George Pataki, 53rd Governor of New York (1995-2006). Suspended campaign on December 29, 2015, and initially endorsed Marco Rubio on January 26, 2016 before endorsing John Kasich on April 14, 2016.
• Lindsey Graham, senior U.S. Senator from South Carolina (2003-present). Suspended campaign on December 21, 2015 and initially endorsed Jeb Bush on January 15, 2016 before endorsing Ted Cruz on March 17, 2016.
• Bobby Jindal, 55th Governor of Louisiana (2008–2016). Suspended campaign on November 17, 2015, and endorsed Marco Rubio, then later endorsed Donald Trump.
• Scott Walker, 45th Governor of Wisconsin (2011-present). Suspended campaign on September 21, 2015 and initially endorsed Ted Cruz on March 29, 2016 before endorsing Donald Trump on June 2, 2016.
• Rick Perry, 47th Governor of Texas (2000-2015). Suspended campaign on September 11, 2015 and initially endorsed Ted Cruz on January 25, 2016 then later endorsed Donald Trump.

• 
  Governor
  John Kasich
  of Ohio
  (campaign)
• 
  U.S. Senator
  Ted Cruz
  from Texas
  (campaign)
• 
  U.S. Senator
  Marco Rubio
  from Florida
  (campaign)
• 
  Retired Neurosurgeon
  Ben Carson
  from Maryland
  (campaign)
• 
  Former Governor
  Jeb Bush
  of Florida
  (campaign)
• 
  Former Governor
  Jim Gilmore
  of Virginia
  (campaign)
• 
  Businesswoman
  Carly Fiorina
  from Virginia
  (campaign)
• 
  Governor
  Chris Christie
  of New Jersey
  (campaign)
• 
  U.S. Senator
  Rand Paul
  from Kentucky
  (campaign)
• 
  Former U.S. Senator
  Rick Santorum
  from Pennsylvania
  (campaign)
• 
  Former Governor
  Mike Huckabee
  of Arkansas
  (campaign)
• 
  Former Governor
  George Pataki
  of New York
  (campaign)
• 
  U.S. Senator
  Lindsey Graham
  from South Carolina
  (campaign)
• 
  Former Governor
  Bobby Jindal
  of Louisiana
  (campaign)
• 
  Governor
  Scott Walker
  of Wisconsin
  (campaign)
• 
  Former Governor
  Rick Perry
  of Texas
  (campaign)

Vice presidential possibilities

Main article: Republican Party vice presidential candidate selection, 2016

The following people have been cited as possible running mates for Donald Trump:

• Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey
• John Kasich, Governor of Ohio
• Ben Carson, neurosurgeon from Maryland
• Marco Rubio, United States Senator from Florida
• Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska
• Ted Cruz, United States Senator from Texas
• Carly Fiorina, businesswoman from California
• Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana
• Jeff Sessions, United States Senator from Alabama
• Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House from Georgia
• Tom Cotton, United States Senator from Arkansas
• Mary Fallin, Governor of Oklahoma
• Scott Brown, former United States Senator from Massachusetts
• Michael T. Flynn, retired United States Army lieutenant general from Rhode Island

Shortlist

It was reported that Trump had narrowed his list of possible running mates down to the following three individuals. The selection is to be announced in Manhattan on July 15, 2016.

• Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey,[122][123] a 2016 presidential candidate
  Governor
  Chris Christie
  of New Jersey, a 2016 presidential candidate
• 
  Former Speaker of the House
  Newt Gingrich
  of Georgia, a 2012 presidential candidate
• 
  Governor
  Mike Pence
  of Indiana

Major third parties

Main article: United States third party and independent presidential candidates, 2016

Parties in this section have obtained ballot access in enough states to theoretically obtain the minimum number of electoral votes needed to win the election. Individuals included in this section have completed one or more of the following actions: received, or formally announced their candidacy for, the presidential nomination of a third party; formally announced intention to run as an independent candidate and obtained enough ballot access to win the election; filed as a third party or non-affiliated candidate with the FEC (for other than exploratory purposes). Within each party, candidates are listed alphabetically by surname.

Libertarian Party

Further information: Libertarian Party (United States) and Libertarian Party presidential primaries, 2016

Ballot access for the Libertarian Party

  On ballot

  Not on ballot

Ballot access to 359 electoral votes: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

Nominee

Libertarian Party (United States) Libertarian Party (United States)
Gary Johnson
29th Governor of New Mexico (1995–2003)
Campaign

On May 29, 2016, Johnson won the Libertarian nomination on the second ballot with 55.8% of the delegates. The convention selected former Republican Governor of Massachusetts William Weld as his running mate.

Green Party

Further information: Green Party of the United States and Green Party presidential primaries, 2016

Ballot access for the Green Party

  On ballot

  Not on ballot, write-in access

  Not on ballot

Ballot access to 339 electoral votes: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Washington D.C., Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana(via write-in), Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

Green Party (United States) Candidates included in this section have been formally recognized by the party and have received at least one delegate.
William Kreml	Jill Stein
	Presumptive nominee
Professor Emeritus, University of South Carolina	Physician from Lexington, Massachusetts
	Campaign

Other third parties and independents

Main article: United States third party and independent presidential candidates, 2016

Parties and candidates in this section have attained ballot access in one or more states but have yet to obtain access to the minimum number of electoral votes needed to theoretically win the election. Unless otherwise specified, 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; formally announced intention to run as an independent candidate; filed as a minor party or non-affiliated candidate with the FEC (for other than exploratory purposes). Candidates are listed by party and then alphabetically by surname.

American Delta Party

Ballot access to 5 electoral votes: New Mexico.

• Rocky De La Fuente, businessman from California. Vice Presidential nominee: Vacant

America's Party

Further information: America's Party (political party)

Further information: American Independent Party

Ballot access to 84 electoral votes: California, Florida.

• Tom Hoefling, activist from Iowa.

Better for America Party

Further information: Better for America

Ballot access to 5 electoral votes: New Mexico.

Constitution Party

Further information: Constitution Party (United States)

Ballot access to 150 electoral votes: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming.

• Darrell Castle, 2008 Constitution Party Vice Presidential nominee from Tennessee. Vice Presidential Nominee: Scott Bradley from Utah.

Independent American Party

Further information: Independent American Party

Ballot access to 18 electoral votes: New Mexico, Oregon, Utah.

• Farley Anderson, activist from Utah. Vice Presidential nominee: Vacant

Nutrition Party

Further information: Rod Silva (businessman) § Presidential campaign

Ballot access to 9 electoral votes: Colorado.

• Rod Silva, restaurateur from New Jersey. Vice-presidential nominee: Vacant.

Party for Socialism and Liberation

Further information: Party for Socialism and Liberation and Liberty Union Party

Ballot access to 37 electoral votes: Florida, Vermont, New Mexico

• Gloria La Riva, newspaper printer and activist from New Mexico; 2008 presidential nominee. Vice-presidential nominee: Eugene Puryear from the District of Columbia.

Prohibition Party

Further information: Prohibition Party

Ballot access to 21 electoral votes: Arkansas, Colorado, Mississippi.

• James Hedges, Tax Assessor for Thompson Township, Fulton County, Pennsylvania 2002–2007. Vice-presidential nominee: Bill Bayes of Mississippi.

Veterans Party of America

Further information: Veterans Party of America

Ballot access to 6 electoral votes: Mississippi.

• Chris Keniston, reliability engineer from Texas. Vice-presidential nominee: Deacon Taylor of Nevada.

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 electors are elected). Maine and Nebraska use the "congressional district method", in which the winner of the state receives two electoral votes and candidates receive additional electoral votes for each congressional district that they win. Recent presidential campaigns have generally focused their resources on a relatively small number of competitive states.

Potential battleground states include Nevada, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Minnesota and Florida. Other potential Democratic targets include Nebraska's second congressional district, Missouri, Indiana, Montana, Arizona, and Georgia. Meanwhile, Republicans may also target Maine's second congressional district, Oregon, and New Mexico. 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.

Several sites and individuals publish predictions of competitive states. The predictions assign ratings to each state, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that state. Most election predictors use "tossup" to indicate that neither party has an advantage, "lean" to indicate that one party has a slight advantage, "likely" or "favored" to indicate that one party has a significant but not insurmountable advantage, and "safe" or "solid" to indicate that one party has a near-certain chance of victory. Some predictions also include a "tilt" rating that indicates that one party has an advantage that is not quite as strong as the "lean" rating would indicate. All states classified with at least one rating of anything other than "safe" or "solid" are listed below. The state's Cook PVI and the last year that the state "swung" (i.e. voted for the party that did not win the state in 2012) are also included in the table. Maine and Nebraska's competitive districts are also included in the table.

State	Electoral votes	PVI	2012 Result	Cook May 27 2016	Sabato June 23 2016	Roth. July 1 2016	RCP July 13 2016	Last swing
Arizona	11	R+7	53.7 R	Lean R	Lean R	R Favored	Tossup	1996
Colorado	9	D+1	51.5 D	Lean D	Lean D	Tilt D	Lean D	2004
Florida	29	R+2	50 D	Lean D	Lean D	Tilt D	Tossup	2004
Georgia	16	R+6	53.3 R	Lean R	Lean R	R Favored	Tossup	1992
Indiana	11	R+5	54.1 R	Likely R	Likely R	R Favored	Lean R	2008
Iowa	6	D+1	52 D	Tossup	Lean D	Lean D	Tossup	2004
Maine CD-2	1	D+2	52.9 D	Likely D	Likely D	No rating	Tossup	1988
Michigan	16	D+4	54.2 D	Lean D	Likely D	D Favored	Tossup	1988
Minnesota	10	D+2	52.7 D	Likely D	Likely D	D Favored	Lean D	1972
Missouri	10	R+5	53.8 R	Likely R	Likely R	R Favored	Lean R	1996
Nebraska CD-2	1	R+4	53 R	Tossup	Lean R	No rating	Lean R	2008
Nevada	6	D+2	52.4 D	Lean D	Lean D	D Favored	Tossup	2004
New Hampshire	4	D+1	52 D	Tossup	Lean D	Tilt D	Tossup	2000
New Mexico	5	D+4	53 D	Safe D	Safe D	D Favored	Lean D	2004
North Carolina	15	R+3	50.4 R	Tossup	Lean D	Tossup	Tossup	2008
Ohio	18	R+1	50.7 D	Tossup	Lean D	Tilt D	Tossup	2004
Oregon	7	D+5	54.2 D	Safe D	Safe D	D Favored	Lean D	1984
Pennsylvania	20	D+1	52 D	Lean D	Lean D	Lean D	Tossup	1988
Utah	6	R+22	72.8 R	Safe R	Likely R	R Favored	Lean R	1964
Virginia	13	Even	51.2 D	Lean D	Lean D	Tilt D	Tossup	2004
Wisconsin	10	D+2	52.8 D	Lean D	Likely D	Tilt D	Tossup	1984

Party conventions

Philadelphia

Cleveland

Salt Lake City

Orlando

Houston

class=notpageimage|

Sites of the 2016 national party conventions.

Constitution Party

Main article: Constitution Party National Convention

• April 13–16, 2016: Constitution Party National Convention was held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Libertarian Party

Main article: 2016 Libertarian National Convention

• May 26–30, 2016: Libertarian National Convention was held in Orlando, Florida.

Republican Party

Main article: 2016 Republican National Convention

• July 18–21, 2016: Republican National Convention to be held in Cleveland, Ohio.

Democratic Party

Main article: 2016 Democratic National Convention

• July 25–28, 2016: Democratic National Convention to be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Green Party

Main article: 2016 Green National Convention

• August 4–7, 2016: Green National Convention to be held in Houston, Texas.

Campaign finance

This is an overview of the money used in the campaign as it is reported to Federal Election Commission (FEC) and released in June 2016. Outside groups are independent expenditure only committees - also called PACs and SuperPACs. Several such groups normally support each candidate, but the numbers in the table are a total of all of them. This means that a group of committees can be shown as technically insolvent (shown in red) even though it is not the case of all of them. The Campaign Committee's debt are shown in red if the campaign is technically insolvent. The source of all the numbers is Center for Responsive Politics. Some spending totals are not available, due to withdrawals before the FEC deadline.

	Campaign committee (as of May 31)				Outside groups (as of June 27)			Total spent
	Money raised	Money spent	Cash on hand	Debt	Money raised	Money spent	Cash on hand
Hillary Clinton	$229,303,008	$186,841,222	$42,461,786	$1,228,228	$84,815,067	$38,332,454	$46,482,614	$225,173,676
Donald Trump	$63,055,659	$61,766,152	$1,289,508	$45,703,185	$3,294,908	$2,963,523	$331,385	$64,729,675
Gary Johnson	$699,232	$523,657	$175,574	$0	$0	$0	$0	$523,657
Jill Stein	$649,182	$453,419	$195,763	$40,000	$0	$0	$0	$453,419

Debates

Primary election debates

Main articles: Democratic Party presidential debates and forums, 2016; Libertarian Party presidential debates and forums, 2016; and Republican Party presidential debates and forums, 2016

General election debates

Wright State University
Dayton, OH

Longwood University
Farmville, VA

Washington University
St. Louis, MO

University of Nevada
Las Vegas

University of Colorado Boulder

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Sites of the 2016 general election debates

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a non-profit bipartisan organization controlled by the Republican and Democratic parties, is slated to host debates between presidential nominees in addition to their vice presidential candidates who qualify for and agree to participate in the debates. According to the commission's website, to be eligible to opt to participate in the anticipated debates, "... in addition to being Constitutionally eligible, candidates must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to have a mathematical chance of winning a majority vote in the Electoral College, and have a level of support of at least 15 percent of the national electorate as determined by five selected national public opinion polling organizations, using the average of those organizations' most recently publicly-reported results at the time of the determination." The three locations chosen to host the presidential debates, and the one location selected to host the vice presidential debate, were announced on September 23, 2015. However, as the time nears the party conventions, the campaign of the presumptive Republican nominee has not yet committed to participate in the debates, which have become a staple of presidential election cycles for over a half-century.

Debates among candidates for the 2016 U.S. presidential election

No.	Date	Time	Host	City	Moderator	Participants
P1	September 26, 2016	TBA	Wright State University	Dayton, Ohio	TBA	TBD
VP	October 4, 2016	TBA	Longwood University	Farmville, Virginia	TBA	TBD
P2	October 9, 2016	TBA	Washington University in St. Louis	St. Louis, Missouri	TBA	TBD
P3	October 19, 2016	TBA	University of Nevada, Las Vegas	Las Vegas, Nevada	TBA	TBD
	October 25, 2016	4 pm MT	University of Colorado Boulder	Boulder, Colorado	TBA	TBD
= Sponsored by the CPD;        = Sponsored by Free & Equal
Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, will serve as the CPD backup debate location.

The Free & Equal Elections Foundation plan to host an open debate among all presidential candidates who have ballot access sufficient to represent a majority of electoral votes. It is to be held at the University of Colorado Boulder's Macky Auditorium on October 25, 2016. As of May 2016, the nominees of the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Green parties qualify for this debate.

Opinion polling

General election polling

• Nationwide opinion polling for the United States presidential election, 2016
• Statewide opinion polling for the United States presidential election, 2016

Democratic primary polling

• Nationwide opinion polling for the Democratic Party 2016 presidential primaries
• Statewide opinion polling for the Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016

Republican primary polling

• Nationwide opinion polling for the Republican Party 2016 presidential primaries
• Statewide opinion polling for the Republican Party presidential primaries, 2016

See also

• United States Senate elections, 2016
• United States House of Representatives elections, 2016
• United States gubernatorial elections, 2016
• United States presidential election, 2016 timeline
• Fundraising for the 2016 United States presidential election
• Social media in the 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign

External links

• 2016 United States presidential election at Curlie
• 2016 Presidential Form 2 Filers at the Federal Election Commission (FEC)