I had a political science professor in college, and this was the mid-1970s, that had very specific views.  Sometimes I agreed with him, sometimes I did not.  What he always succeeded in doing was forcing one to challenge long-held views.

One assertion he often made was comparing how the United States elects a president to how the United Kingdom elects a prime minister through their parliamentary system.  It is well understood that our systems of democracy are quite different, but he always argued the Brits do it better than us.

The length of a presidential campaign in America is long, very long.  Sometimes the positioning of candidates for president of the United States begins when the last election ends.  There are straw polls, all kinds of gatherings, the endless primary elections, then the political parties have their conventions, nominating their respective presidential candidates.  Labor Day normally denotes the start of the presidential campaign.

How is it done in Britain?  There is a deadline for an election to be held, but normally the prime minister calls the election before that date.  The UK parliamentary election campaign has  begun in 2024.  It will last for 5 weeks, with the election to be held July 4.  I find it interesting that the balloting will happen on a day not necessarily a date to remember in Britain, July 4th, the day commemorating the American Declaration of Independence from King George.

My professor always thought a brief, lively election campaign of 5 weeks in Britain is much better than the long, drawn-out campaigns for American president.

My former professor may have a point.