Skip to content
Search
Human content, AI powered search.

Latest Stories

Hard Numbers

Hard Numbers, (US election edition): Old enough to cast a ballot, Losing the popular vote, Electoral college daze, Historic landslides, and why is Election Day on Election Day?

Hard Numbers, (US election edition): Old enough to cast a ballot, Losing the popular vote, Electoral college daze, Historic landslides, and why is Election Day on Election Day?

People cast their early ballots on the last day of early voting in Michigan at a polling station in Lansing, Michigan, U.S. November 3, 2024.

REUTERS/Carlos Osorio/File photo
Alex Kliment
By Alex KlimentNovember 04, 2024
Alex Kliment
Alex wears a few different caps and tips them all regularly. He writes for the GZERO Daily, works as a field correspondent for GZERO's nationally syndicated TV show GZERO WORLD WITH IAN BREMMER, and writes/directs/voices GZERO's award-winning puppet satire show PUPPET REGIME. Prior to joining GZERO, Alex worked as an analyst covering Russia and broader Emerging Markets for Eurasia Group. He has also written for the Financial Times from Washington, DC, and Sao Paulo Brazil. In his spare time, he makes short films and composes scores for long ones. He studied history and Slavic literature at Columbia and has a Master's from Johns Hopkins SAIS. He's a native New Yorker, a long-suffering Mets fan, and owns too many bicycles.
See Full Bio


8 million: There are 8 million people who are old enough to vote for the first time in this US election. Nearly half of them, 47%, are non-White voters. Latinos alone account for nearly a quarter of the total.

5: Uniquely among the world’s large democracies, the US presidential election is determined not by a straight-up popular vote but by an electoral college system, in which each state apportions votes to the candidates based on state-level results. This means a candidate can become president without actually winning the nationwide popular vote. This has happened five times in US history – most recently when Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016.

270: The golden number in the US presidential election is 270. The candidate that secures 270 electoral college votes – a simple majority of the 538 total electoral college votes up for grabs – is the winner. States are apportioned electoral college votes based on population and congressional representation. California has the most, with 54. Alaska, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming are all tied with the fewest, at three each. This year, a huge focus is on Pennsylvania, a key swing state with 19 electoral college votes.

523: The largest electoral college landslide ever came in 1936, when incumbent Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt trounced GOP challenger Alf Landon 523 to 8 (at the time, there were just 531 votes on offer, because there were only 48 states.)

0: How many days are Americans given off to vote? Zero. Election Day is, by tradition, the second Tuesday in November – tracing back to 19th-century considerations about voting after the harvest was done and allowing ample time for people to make it to faraway polling stations after Sunday church. But the government does not recognize it as a day off, so people must either vote early or duck out of the office for a long lunch.

Latest Videos

Is regime change in Iran even possible?play icon
ask ian

Is regime change in Iran even possible?

The Pentagon’s growing grip on AI
GZERO World Clips

The Pentagon’s growing grip on AI

Regime invades streamers with Special Military Operation
Puppet Regime

Regime invades streamers with Special Military Operation

War in Iran disrupts global shipping
Quick Take

War in Iran disrupts global shipping

Endgame in Iran?
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

Endgame in Iran?

Trump’s gamble in Iran
Ian Explains

Trump’s gamble in Iran

More For You

Pakistan hits drug rehab center in Kabul, Five female Iranian soccer players withdraw asylum claims, Meningitis outbreak in southeast England, Chinese national tries to smuggle ants out of Kenya

The site of a destroyed drug rehabilitation hospital following a Pakistani air strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 17, 2026.

Afghan men stand at the site of a destroyed drug rehabilitation hospital following a Pakistani air strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 17, 2026.

REUTERS/Sayed Hassib
408: The number of people killed in the Afghan capital of Kabul, after a Pakistani strike hit a drug rehabilitation center there, according to Taliban officials. Another 250 were reported injured. Islamabad claimed the facility was being used as an ammunition depot, as the conflict between the two neighbors, which started as border clashes last [...]

US service members killed in crash over Iraq, Michigan synagogue attacked, Polish president rejects EU defense funds, North Korea tests missile

​A Boeing C-135 Stratotanker / Stratolifter military aircraft known as KC-135 of the United States Air Force USAF configured as Air Tanker Transport for aerial refueling, powered by 4x CFMI jet engines and tail number 63-8003. The military plane spotted flying over the Netherlands in the blue sky from Mainland USA to Tel Aviv TLV to support the Israel USA - Iran war known as Operation Epic Fury by the US Department of Defense. Venlo, the Netherlands on March 2, 2026

A Boeing C-135 Stratotanker / Stratolifter military aircraft known as KC-135 of the United States Air Force USAF configured as Air Tanker Transport for aerial refueling, powered by 4x CFMI jet engines and tail number 63-8003. The military plane spotted flying over the Netherlands in the blue sky from Mainland USA to Tel Aviv TLV to support the Israel USA - Iran war known as Operation Epic Fury by the US Department of Defense. Venlo, the Netherlands on March 2, 2026

Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto
4: The number of crew members aboard a US refuelling plane – out of six total – who died after the aircraft crashed in neighboring Iraq on Thursday, US Central Command said this morning. CENTCOM said the cause of the crash is still under investigation, but noted it was neither due to friendly nor hostile fire. The plane was part of Operation Epic [...]

US reportedly to blame for strike at Iran girls’ school, Senegal cracks down on same-sex acts, Mexico wealth inequality, Verdict for mass shooting in Moscow

​Participants hold placards during a protest to condemn the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and commemorate students killed in a strike on a girls' primary school in Minab in southern Iran on February 28, in front of the U.S. embassy in Seoul, South Korea, March 12, 2026.

Participants hold placards during a protest to condemn the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and commemorate students killed in a strike on a girls' primary school in Minab in southern Iran on February 28, in front of the U.S. embassy in Seoul, South Korea, March 12, 2026.

REUTERS/Kim Soo-hyeon
175: The number of people killed at an Iranian girls’ school in a strike on Feb. 28. Initial intelligence reports suggest that the US was to blame for the strike, per the New York Times, after the military used a now-defunct set of coordinates to deploy the hit. The White House hasn’t claimed responsibility and said the investigation is ongoing. [...]

Members of Iranian women’s soccer team granted asylum, Another Canadian MP defects to Liberals, Strike planned at world’s largest meat producer, Drone strikes in the DRC

​Iran player Fatemeh Pasandideh (right) reacts during the national anthem of Iran prior to the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Group A match between Iran and Philippines at Gold Coast Stadium on the Gold Coast, Sunday, March 8, 2026.

Iran player Fatemeh Pasandideh (right) reacts during the national anthem of Iran prior to the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Group A match between Iran and Philippines at Gold Coast Stadium on the Gold Coast, Sunday, March 8, 2026.

AAP
7: The number of members of the Iranian women’s soccer team who were granted asylum in Australia on Wednesday – including six players and one of the team’s support staff – after they refused to sing the national anthem during the Asian Cup soccer tournament there. However, one of the seven women withdrew her request on Wednesday and is set to [...]