Every US general election carries implications for Australia. But many observers would insist that this time, it’s different, that the trajectories of the United States under a second Trump administration or a Biden administration seem quite different, as do the implications for Australia.

But what is really at stake for Australia? What policy arenas — or elements of politics, the economy, or culture and society of the United States — are likely to be impacted by either election outcome? Among these points of change or continuity, which are of relevance to Australians and Australia’s national interests? How might Australia best respond?

These are the questions addressed in this series of assessments by the researchers of the United States Studies Centre, a collection designed to help frame Australia’s relationship with the United States under either election outcome.