The 2012 Presidential Election is Beginning to Take Shape.

The election of 2012 is significant because it is an executive presidential election as well as a major congressional election. The United States will hold an election on November 6th, 2012 to determine the office of the President of the United States as well as 435 individuals of the U.S. House of Representatives and  33 of the 100 U.S. Senators. What will be determined in this election is how the House and Senate fall into place in relation to the President of the United States. The questions that many political pundits are posing for the 2012 election are: Will President Obama retain his office and does he have enough influence to take the U.S. House of Representatives away from the Republicans and give the Democrats a majority in the House?  Or will President Obama maintain his seat and keep a Republican majority in the House but lose the Senate majority thereby causing more gridlock in government?  Or will Romney become the new President and will he keep the House majority and gain a Senate majority, which would allow the Republican party to dictate all terms for the country for the following four years?  The current structure of the two parties in the United States has created a polarizing effect on the government, which unfortunately does not appear to be slowing down. As this election heats up, the two major political parties are - no surprise here - on opposite sides of the spectrum as far as how the government budget should be spent, as well as other issues facing the United States. The power to neutralize this unfortunate situation will be in the hands of the American voters this fall as they become the ultimate tie breaking authority and determine how they want the United States government to 'look' for the next two plus years.

How the American public decides to vote appears to be based partly on how much money is being spent by whom in this election cycle. Funding of the individual candidates seems to have a greater impact on how individual voters respond to that candidate's positives and negatives. More importantly, it seems if a candidate has the money to spend on making the other candidate less likeable, the greater their chance is of winning the election. Money will definitely be a big factor in the 2012 elections, and with just the presidential candidates alone planning to spend over a billion dollars, it will be one of the most expensive elections in U.S. history. This estimate is based on the fact that in the 2008 presidential election, there was a grand total of $1,550,254,306 spent on the election, according to the FEC (See http://www.fec.gov/press/press2009/20090608PresStat.shtml). This amount took into count all of the individual candidates running for office, but it was a larger amount than what was previously spent in past years. For the year 2012, in the first quarter, the candidates have already spent $290,246,726, which includes the current sitting president at $94,817,974 and 195,428,752 for the following Republican candidates: Bachmann, Gingrich, Huntsman, Paul, Perry, Romney, and Santorum. This amount does not include the PAC money that is being spent or other related costs. Therefore, we will see another billion dollar presidential race unfold this year, which might just tie or surpass the 2008 presidential year.    

Another factor that will contribute to this election year as being so monumental is the fact that several countries are having their executive elections this year. The four largest countries with elections this year are China, France, Russia, and the United States. Other smaller countries will be having elections, as well (See http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/30/zakaria-2012-the-year-of-elections/ and http://www.electionguide.org/calendar.php).

To view the results of the caucuses and primaries for the presidential candidates, please Click Here. To view the status of the current legislative branch of the United States and the political breakdown, as well as the 2010 United States election results for the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, please review the charts below: 

The Election of 2012

 

	The Presidential Election: The primary candidates for the 2012 election will be the incumbent President Barack Obama, representing the Democratic party, and Mitt Romney, representing the Republican party.   *Images of candidates are courtesy of CNN & candidate websites.
	The Current Makeup of the U.S. House Floor: There are 435 seats in the U.S. House.  242 of those seats are held by Republicans and 193 are held by Democrats.  There aren't any Independent seats currently.  (See the chart to the left for current party standings in this branch.)
..	.....
	The Current Makeup of the Senate Floor: There are 100 seats in the U.S. Senate. In the 2010 election, there was a change of 6 seats between the two political parties in office, which resulted in 46 seats held by Republicans and 51 seats held by Democrats.  There is one candidate who ran as a political Independent and won, which technically means there are 3 Independents serving in the U.S. Senate.  (See the chart to the left for current party standings in this branch.)

Resources for Information:

American National Election Studies
http://www.electionstudies.org
Federal Election Commission
http://www.fec.gov
U.S. Census Bureau
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/index.html
Pew Research Center
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1207/republican-party-identification-slips-nationwide-pennsylvania-specter-switch
Create a Graph
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx
Do it Yourself Map
http://monarch.tamu.edu
U.S. House of Representatives
http://www.house.gov
U.S. Senate
http://www.senate.gov
United States Election Project
http://elections.gmu.edu/voter_turnout.htm
U.S. Census Data
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data
Global Public Square
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/30/zakaria-2012-the-year-of-elections
Election Guide
http://www.electionguide.org/calendar.php