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Two political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, have dominated American politics since the American Civil War, although other parties have existed. There are major differences between the political system of the United States and that of many other developed countries, including:
A primary election is an election in which registered voters in a jurisdiction (nominating primary) select a political party's candidate for a later election. There are various types of primary: either the whole electorate is eligible, and voters choose one party's primary at the polling booth (an open primary); or only independent voters can ...
This process is designed to choose the candidates that will represent their political parties in the general election. The United States Constitution has never specified this process; political parties have developed their own procedures over time. Some states hold only primary elections, some hold only caucuses, and others use a combination of ...
American electoral politics have been dominated by successive pairs of major political parties since shortly after the founding of the republic of the United States. Since the 1850s, the two largest political parties have been the Democratic Party and the Republican Party—which together have won every United States presidential election since 1852 and controlled the United States Congress ...
Since the emergence of the American two-party system, and the election of Washington's successor, John Adams, in 1796, all winners of U.S. presidential elections have represented one of two major parties. [24] [25] Third parties have taken second place only twice, in 1860 and 1912.
By 1854, the Civil War further divided the political factions. The Democrats split into the Northern Democrats and the Southern Democrats formed by pro-slavery pro-states' rights members.
If a vacancy on a presidential ticket occurs before Election Day—as in 1912 when Republican nominee for Vice President James S. Sherman died less than a week before the election and was replaced by Nicholas Murray Butler at the Electoral College meetings, and in 1972 when Democratic nominee for Vice President Thomas Eagleton withdrew his ...