The American President and the British Prime Minister are two of the most powerful leaders in the world. The Prime Minister is the head of the  Buckingham PalacePresidentBritish GovernmentRepublicansMember of ParliamentHouses of Parliament and the President is the head of the American Government. Both leaders make lots of important decisions that affect people in each country.

Whilst the Prime Minister is the head of the government, it is the ruling monarch from  RepublicansBuckingham PalaceHouses of ParliamentBritish GovernmentPresidentMember of Parliament who is the head of state. The head of state is the person who has the final say about what happens in the country.

In the US, the President is the head of the government and the head of state. It is two jobs in one, which is why it is particularly important. People in the UK do not vote for the Prime Minister. Instead, they vote for a local  PresidentBuckingham PalaceRepublicansHouses of ParliamentMember of ParliamentBritish Government – an MP that represents their hometown. There are hundreds of MPs all across the country and they meet in London to discuss how they can make things better for everyone. Each MP is also a member of a political party. A party is a group of people who believe in the same things. In a general election, people vote for the party they most agree with. Then the party which has the most MPs is the one that gets to choose the Prime Minister.

In the US, there are two main political parties – the Democrats and the  Houses of ParliamentMember of ParliamentBritish GovernmentBuckingham PalacePresidentRepublicans . Both parties decide who they want to run for President. Then it is up to the American public to pick their favourite. Americans are voting for people called electors in each state. The candidate with the most electors wins the whole state. Then, the first person to win enough states to reach 270 electoral votes becomes the  PresidentRepublicansBuckingham PalaceHouses of ParliamentMember of ParliamentBritish Government . So, whereas in the UK it is the party that picks the leader, in the US it is the people. That is why the President can make most decisions on their own whereas almost everything the Prime Minister does has to go through the  Member of ParliamentRepublicansBritish GovernmentPresidentHouses of ParliamentBuckingham Palace .