How is the Executive elected in us?

Answer 1

The "National Executive" of the United States is called a President, and he "is" elected by the Electoral College, which is loosely based upon the will of the people. An alternate means of election has took place before, wherein the Supreme Court determined the President.

As to how he "should" be elected (The Constitution makes no provision for female Presidents), that is a matter of opinion.

Some have said that it should be by the popular vote. This has had some unusual objections raised to it, as in some sense it makes some votes valueless. The nation has many time zones, and if it were purely a popular vote, then by the time the 500,000 people of Alaska could vote, it would - with all but the rarest of exceptions - be over.

Others have advocated a Parliamentary system, in which the Majority Party of Congress would simply appoint the President. It is said that when Congress is of one party and the President is of another, that nothing gets done. The chief objection to that change is people saying, "We know nothing gets done, we like it that way."

Still others have advocated a return to the monarchical system. It is claimed that the President doesn't truly set policy, but merely stands as a figurehead for the "advisors" and powers-that-be. Acknowledging this would be more honest, and we could save money on elections. The chief objection is history, and that the rival Kennedy and Bush families would likely plunge us into civil war.

The biggest problem with any "how should" is that it would take a Constitutional amendment. And it is unlikely that 3/4ths of the states would go along with any meaningful restructuring of the system.

Answer 2

The U.S. President is the head of the executive branch of the U.S. federal government. A U.S. president is elected every four years in December of every leap year and every century year by a group of electors appointed by the U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Each state and D.C. appoints electors who support the most popular candidates for president and vice president as determined in statewide/districtwide elections the previous month. The number of electors each state may appoint is equal to the total number of U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives the state may elect. The number of electors D.C. may appoint is the lesser of the number of electors it would be allowed to appoint if it were a state or the number of electors that the least populous state may appoint. No one may be elected U.S. President more than twice, and no one who has served more than half of a presidential term to which someone else was elected may be elected U.S. President more than once.

Each state and territorial Governor is the head of the executive branch of his/her state/territorial government. A governor is elected every two years in New Hampshire and Vermont and every four years in every other U.S. state and territory. Each state and territory makes its own schedule of when gubernatorial elections occur and makes its own rules regarding term limits.