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To interpret elections one must first understand what the election will say about a candidate. Interpreting elections requires one to first review the statistics of the election in question and then interpret them pertaining to the candidate in question, if there are a majority against then the candidate is not well received and vice-versa.

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Interpreting the 2019 elections: Settling a research agenda | Centre for Policy Research

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The run up to the general elections in 2019 have already generated heated political debate. As political activity gains momentum, researchers and observers of Indian politics face the formidable task of interpreting and analysing the implications of these activities both on the immediate elections as well as on democratic practice in the long term.

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The media's role during presidential campaign management is to act as the watchdog over the candidate in question, in order to ensure that the candidate is operating for the good of the people. The role of money in a presidential campaign is to ensure a means by which to to get the word of the candidate out to the people, just the same as the media, covering moments of weakness or strength. Money on the other hand just ensures that there will be free advertisement and publicity for the candidate.

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How did you use the media in the last presidential election? Did you read articles about the candidates? Did you watch live coverage of a debate? Did you receive election results through social media?

In our American democracy, almost all citizens get their news and information from the media. Media shape how we interpret and observe political information, such as election coverage and other political events. In America, the media play an important role in the campaign and election processes.

In fact, the media play many different roles. Let's first take a look at the media's most obvious role. We all use the media to inform us. Here, the media report news and information to the general public. This is the most significant role of the media in a democracy because citizens play a crucial role in the political process and must be informed in order to make educated political choices. The media, therefore, must do a thorough and impartial job when informing the public on all government activities and political events.

Elections pose a special challenge for the media in this area. The media must remain neutral and objective in order to properly educate the public. Media coverage should be unbiased rather than favoring any one candidate or point of view in order for the voters to make informed decisions.

Political journalists can be especially helpful in this role. Many cover candidates and the elections as a full-time assignment but can provide both positive and negative glimpses into the candidate's life.

These journalists often use Twitter and other forms of social media to send personal, up-to-the-second campaign updates. For example, I remember reading Twitter updates that contained journalists' reflections from President Obama's various campaign stops during his 2012 reelection bid. Much of the information contained 'behind-the-scenes' quips that didn't necessarily make a sound bite on the evening news or a quote in a newspaper article.

These political journalists also facilitate the media's watchdog function. In this role, the media function to protect the public from incompetent or corrupt political officials by exposing illegal or unethical practices to the public. As a watchdog, the media act as the public's protector or guardian. The public is then able to make informed decisions regarding the ouster of officials or changing of inept practices.

Think for a moment about the Benghazi, Libya, attacks and ensuing investigation. In September of 2012, U.S. diplomatic offices were attacked, leaving four Americans dead. The coverage regarding what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton knew and when she knew it continually overshadowed her possible presidential candidacy. This is an example of watchdog media.

Even when not exposing corruption, the media provide information on the successes and failures of candidates, officials and government practices. The media educate and inform the public on how they've performed, which helps hold the parties accountable.

Now let's examine the media's role as a platform. In this role, the media provide an outlet for political parties and candidates to communicate their messages to the public.

When acting as a platform, the media provide a forum for candidates to debate one another and present their ideas to the public. In this role, media impact our political views and opinions. We shape our opinions using the information provided to us through the platform.

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the role of media in elections & other government activities - video & lesson transcript | study.com

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The Role of Media in Elections & Other Government Activities - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com

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How did you use the media in the last presidential election? Did you read articles about the candidates? Did you watch live coverage of a debate? Did you receive election results through social media? In our American democracy, almost all citizens get their news and information from the media.

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The electoral college is the system in which the president is elected, it operates every four years and is made up of the body of Congress, in order to universally agree on the president that will operate under the presumption of doing the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people and in order to receive victory in the electoral college the candidate must receive a majority of the votes, 218 to be exact.

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transcript

The Electoral College Explained

Your vote doesn't exactly decide who becomes president. For that, we turn to the Electoral College. Here's how it works.

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Your vote doesn't exactly decide who becomes president. For that, we turn to the Electoral College. Here's how it works.

What is the Electoral College?
The Electoral College is a group of people that elects the president and the vice president of the United States. (The word "college" in this case simply refers to an organized body of people engaged in a common task.)

As voters head to the polls on Tuesday, they will not vote for the presidential candidates directly, in a popular vote. Instead, they will vote to elect specific people, known as "electors" to the college. Each state gets a certain number of electoral votes based on its population.

The electors are appointed by the political parties in each state, so if you vote for Donald J. Trump on Tuesday, and Mr. Trump ends up winning the popular vote in your state, then electors that the Republican Party has chosen will cast votes for him in their state capitals in December.

The electors are asked to cast their votes on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. This year, that's Dec. 19.

But most people don't pay attention to that because, technically, it's the election of the electors that matters. And on Election Day, we're electing the electors who elect the president. Got it?
How many electoral votes does it take to win the presidency?
It takes at least 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. There are 538 electoral votes in all.

In 2008, CNN projected Barack Obama as the winner of the presidential election after the then-senator skyrocketed from 220 electoral votes to 297 votes after results from some Western states, including California, came in.

Has an elector ever 'gone rogue' or broken his or her promise? Would that be legal?
Yes, this has happened many times. There's even an insulting name for an elector who does so: a "faithless elector."

But faithless electors have never affected the final result of any presidential election. And there haven't been many in modern times; the last time was in 2004, when an anonymous elector in Minnesota cast his vote for John Edwards instead of the Democratic candidate, John Kerry. (Other electors thought that this might have been an honest mistake.)

More than a dozen states do not have laws on the books to punish faithless electors, meaning that an elector could legally change his or her mind and defy the popular vote. But according to the federal archives: "Electors generally hold a leadership position in their party or were chosen to recognize years of loyal service to the party. Throughout our history as a nation, more than 99 percent of electors have voted as pledged."
Do electoral votes have a direct impact on Senate or congressional elections?
They do not.
How many electoral votes does each state have?
Every state gets at least three electoral votes, because a state's number of electors is identical to the total number of its senators and representatives in Congress. Seven states have the minimum three electors.

Washington, D.C., also has three electoral votes, thanks to the 23rd Amendment, which gave the nation's capital as many electors as the state with the fewest electoral votes.

California has the most electoral votes, with 55. Texas is next, with 38. New York and Florida have 29 apiece.

Here's a map with the numbers.

Do all of a state's electoral votes go to one candidate?
In every state except two, the party that wins the popular vote gets to send all of its electors to the state capital in December.

In the nonconforming Maine and Nebraska, two electoral votes are apportioned to the winner of the popular vote, and the rest of the votes are given to the winner of the popular votes in each of the states' congressional districts. (Maine has two congressional districts and Nebraska has three.)
Has anyone ever won the electoral vote while losing the popular vote?
Yes, this has happened four times. (At this point, people who were tuned in for the 2000 election are sneering at this explainer.)

In 2000, Al Gore was found to have won the popular vote by more than half a million votes, despite having lost to George W. Bush in an election that was sealed by a Supreme Court decision.

Andrew Jackson won the popular vote in 1824, but eventually lost the election to John Quincy Adams. In 1876, Samuel Tilden had more popular support than Rutherford B. Hayes, but lost the electoral vote. And Grover Cleveland lost the 1888 election to Benjamin Harrison despite winning the popular vote.

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What is the Electoral College? The Electoral College is a group of people that elects the president and the vice president of the United States. (The word "college" in this case simply refers to an organized body of people engaged in a common task.)

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Primaries, Caucuses, & National Conventions

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Primaries, Caucuses, & National Conventions

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A primary works by allowing registered voters to vote during their general election for the members of a party which agrees with their views, in hopes of seeing this candidate in office in order to pass legislation that ensures the voter's views. A caucus operates in a very long and drawn out process that makes next to no sense and has various unorthodox steps and while I will not go to in depth I will drop a link to how a caucus operates. The main purpose of a caucus is very similar to a primary in that is a form of election that ensures that someone who represents the people receives their votes.

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How states choose their delegates for the national party conventions (video content under CC-BY-SA license)

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the electoral process is competitive and forces candidates or parties to expose their records and future intentions to popular scrutiny, elections serve as forums for the discussion of public issues and facilitate the expression of public opinion. Elections thus provide political education for citizens and ensure the responsiveness of democratic governments to the will of the people. They also serve to legitimize the acts of those who wield power, a function that is performed to some extent even by elections that are noncompetitive.

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The Electoral College is a process, not a place. The Founding Fathers established it in the Constitution, in part, as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.

What is the process?

The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the electors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for President and Vice President, and the counting of the electoral votes by Congress.

How many electors are there? How are they distributed among the States?

The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your State has the same number of electors as it does Members in its Congressional delegation: one for each Member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators. Read more about the allocation of electoral votes.

The District of Columbia is allocated 3 electors and treated like a State for purposes of the Electoral College under the 23rd Amendment of the Constitution. For this reason, in the following discussion, the word "State" also refers to the District of Columbia and "Governor" to the Mayor of the District of Columbia.

How are my electors chosen? What are their qualifications? How do they decide who to vote for?

Each candidate running for President in your State has his or her own group of electors (known as a slate). The slates are generally chosen by the candidate's political party in your State, but State laws vary on how the electors are selected and what their responsibilities are. Read more about the qualifications of the electors and restrictions on who the electors may vote for.

What happens in the general election? Why should I vote?

The general election is held every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. When you vote for a Presidential candidate you are actually voting for your candidate's preferred electors. Learn more about voting for the electors.

Most States have a "winner-take-all" system that awards all electors to the Presidential candidate who wins the State's popular vote. However, Maine and Nebraska each have a variation of "proportional representation." Read more about the allocation of electors among the States.

What happens after the general election?

After the general election, your Governor prepares a Certificate of Ascertainment listing the names of all the individuals on the slates for each candidate. The Certificate of Ascertainment also lists the number of votes each individual received and shows which individuals were appointed as your State's electors. Your State's Certificate of Ascertainment is sent to NARA as part of the official records of the Presidential election.

The meeting of the electors takes place on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December after the general election. The electors meet in their respective States, where they cast their votes for President and Vice President on separate ballots. Your State's electors' votes are recorded on a Certificate of Vote, which is prepared at the meeting by the electors. Your State's Certificate of Vote is sent to Congress, where the votes are counted, and NARA, as part of the official records of the Presidential election.

Each State's electoral votes are counted in a joint session of Congress on the 6th of January in the year following the meeting of the electors. Members of the House and Senate meet in the House Chamber to conduct the official count of electoral votes. The Vice President, as President of the Senate, presides over the count and announces the results of the vote. The President of the Senate then declares which persons, if any, have been elected President and Vice President of the United States.

The President-elect takes the oath of office and is sworn in as President of the United States on January 20th in the year following the general election.

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The Electoral College website now has an easy-to-remember address. Make sure to update your bookmarks! The Electoral College is a process, not a place. The Founding Fathers established it in the Constitution, in part, as a compromise between the election of the President by a vote in Congress and election of the President by a popular vote of qualified citizens.