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Articles on 2020 US elections

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Like the other Democratic candidates for president, Elizabeth Warren has spent months canvassing Iowa to meet voters while spending little time in other states. CJ Gunther/EPA

The US presidential primaries are arcane, complex and unrepresentative. So why do Americans still vote this way?

Americans didn’t always have primaries and caucuses to choose presidential candidates. The system was meant to be more democratic, but it places too much attention on largely white, small states.
Senator Huey Long at the Capitol in 1935. Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com

The secret origins of presidential polling

The very first scientific horse race poll, which took place 85 years ago, was shrouded in secrecy and may have changed history – even though it was faulty.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives onstage during a primary night rally at the Duggal Greenhouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, June 7, 2016. Getty/ Drew Angerer

Could a woman defeat Donald Trump? What political science research says

Predictions about how a woman presidential candidate might fare in 2020 are largely speculation, writes a political scientist, because there isn’t enough experience to base those predictions on.
On Jan. 3, 2012, voters sign in on caucus night at Point of Grace Church in Waukee, Iowa. AP/Evan Vucci

Why the race for the presidency begins with the Iowa caucus

How did a small, rural state become so influential in the presidential nominating process? A political scientist traces the development of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus.

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