Now the battle for the White House begins: everything you need to know about Trump, Biden and the elections

Donald Trump. Current polls have the Republican ahead of Joe Biden in seven of eight of the all-important swing voter states. The legal proceedings against him do not appear to have affected his popularity – on the contrary: a majority of Republicans believe that Trump is being prosecuted completely unjustly and for political reasons.

In the primaries, the fifty US states and five territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands) will decide which candidates will compete in the final round on November 5. The first Republican primaries will take place in Iowa on Monday. Joe Biden will have to triumph for the first time in South Carolina on February 3 over his Democratic challengers Marianne Williamson (71) and Dean Phillips (54). The primary season ends on June 8 with the elections in the Virgin Islands.

Not much for now. Trump will likely win the Republican nomination even without the two states’ votes. But: The basis for the decision is the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which states that no person may hold public office if he has taken an oath to the Constitution and subsequently participated in an insurrection. Now the Supreme Court must determine whether the ruling in Colorado and Maine should apply nationwide. If the nine judges in Washington agree with their colleagues in Maine and Colorado, Trump will be excluded from the entire election. The decision is expected at the end of June.

On the Republican side, Trump is far ahead. And on the Democratic side, Biden is effectively set. The two candidates will be finally decided on Super Tuesday (March 5), when fifteen states will hold their primaries.

California Governor Gavin Newsom (56) is seen on gambling forums as a candidate for explosives. But he has ruled out joining the race for the White House in 2024. At the Democratic Party convention in August, the assembled “Democrats” could choose him as their candidate, even if he did not participate in the primaries. To do this, Biden would have to encounter health problems or take himself out of the race for other reasons before the summer.

No. There are even more candidates: Jill Stein (73) wants to run for the White House for the American Greens, the anti-vaccination activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (69) and the philosopher Cornel West (70) are running as independents. And the organization No Labels also wants to send a candidate into the race in the spring. They don’t have a chance, but they do have the potential to sway the election in one direction or the other.

Yes. Trump himself could be sworn in behind bars. In many cases, convicted criminals in the United States lose their right to vote, but not the right to be elected.

The US Constitution stipulates that anyone who wants to become president must be at least 35 years old (because he or she lacks the “necessary maturity”). However, there is no maximum age limit. At 81 years old, Biden is already the oldest president in American history. According to a poll by Reuters news agency, 77 percent of Americans think Biden is too old for office. Donald Trump will turn 78 in June and would therefore be exactly the same age at his inauguration as Biden was at the start of his presidency.

Joe Biden is back to work with the extremely unpopular Kamala Harris (59). Donald Trump has a falling out with his former deputy Mike Pence (64). It is still unclear who he will bring on board as number two. Former TV host Kari Lake (54) from Arizona, Kristi Noem (52), the head of government from South Dakota, or his former spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders (41) can imagine opportunities.

The question of whether America should continue to support Ukraine with billions in military aid divides the country. Many Republicans are against it, many Democrats are for it. The Republican presidential candidates are also divided: while Nikki Haley (51) is in favor of further aid packages for Ukraine, Ron DeSantis (45) is against it. The war in the Middle East could have a direct impact on Joe Biden’s election chances. Many Arab Americans are disappointed with Biden’s continued support for Israel’s war on Gaza. In contested states like Michigan, where a particularly large number of Arab Americans live, this could determine the outcome of the election.