The United States has a constitutional federal republic form of government. It features a system in which power is divided between a national (federal) government and individual state governments. The federal government is composed of three distinct branches—the legislative (Congress), the executive (headed by the President), and the judicial (the Supreme Court and lower courts)—each with its own powers and responsibilities to ensure a balance of power and prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful. State governments also have their own constitutions and three branches of government. Officials at federal, state, and local levels are mostly elected by citizens, although the President is elected indirectly through the Electoral College. This system includes a separation of powers and a two-party political landscape dominated by the Democratic and Republican parties.
