The United States has operated under a two-party system for most of its history.[242] For elective offices at most levels, state-administered primary elections choose the major party nominees for subsequent general elections. Since the general election of 1856, the major parties have been the Democratic Party, founded in 1824, and the Republican Party, founded in 1854. Since the Civil War, only one third-party presidential candidate—former president Theodore Roosevelt, running as a Progressive in 1912—has won as much as 20% of the popular vote, though the self-financed Reform party campaign of Ross Perot took 18.9% in 1992.[243] The president and vice president are elected by the Electoral College.[244]
In American political culture, the center-right Republican Party is considered "conservative" and the center-left Democratic Party is considered "liberal".[245][246] The states of the Northeast and West Coast and some of the Great Lakes states, known as "blue states", are relatively liberal. The "red states" of the South and parts of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains are relatively conservative.
Democrat Joe Biden, the winner of the 2020 presidential election and former vice president, is serving as the 46th president of the United States. Leadership in the Senate includes Vice President Kamala Harris, President pro tempore Patrick Leahy, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.[247] Leadership in the House includes Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.[248]