No. Article 2 and the 12th Amendment of the Constitution say the VP and president are elected independently, in the same manner.

No. Nothing in the Constitution requires that both candidates be from the same party. It’s only custom, not law, that has led to both regularly being on the same “ticket”.

Yes. There’s no constitutional definition or federal law that require a vice president be part of a political party, or even have a running mate.

Because over the past 40 years, the power of the vice president has grown considerably. They have a substantial influence on foreign policy and domestic affairs in the White House. And in the Senate, the number of tie-breaking votes they have cast continues to rise; Mike Pence has already cast 13 tiebreakers in first two years of his term.

The American people deserve to have greater control over such an important position.

Mostly because of the power of the political parties. Party bylaws and state regulations have merged the two offices onto a single ballot item (a single “ticket”) since 1804.

Three things determine the VP’s role and duties: the Constitution, federal statutes (laws passed by Congress), and custom. All three of these things can be changed, though obviously on different time scales and with different levels of effort. Thus it is up to the American people to decide the role of the vice president in American politics.

In the future we could see citizens running for vice president separately from presidential candidates. And state ballots would list candidates for president and VP separately. (Currently the norm is that voters select both on one ballot item.)

The candidate would need to get added to the ballot state by state (called “ballot access”). State rules vary, but generally a candidate would need a petition signed by some number or percentage of voters. The numbers range from under 500 to over 100,000.

Presidential candidates need to win a majority of Electoral College votes (currently 270). So they need to appeal to a large number of voters in may states, especially states with a large number of Electoral College votes. If an unaffiliated VP candidate would help the presidential candidate win those votes, they could be compelled to pick them as a running mate.

Yes. But it’s generally been the presidential candidate making the decision. It’s conceivable that a popular VP candidate could actually pick which presidential candidate they would want to join forces with.

The two-party system is very entrenched. It’s extremely difficult for an independent candidate win the Presidency. Running as vice president is an innovative way to bring issues and ideas to the White House and national politics.

No. The vice president is elected by the people and doesn’t report to the president. However, the president does have significant influence on the VP’s role in the Executive Branch.

Yes and no. To some extent, the president does choose how the two work together. And if the vice president is willing, then they act as the president’s advisor and right-hand person. However, the vice president also has roles and duties independent from the president, especially those in the Senate.

No. The Constitution doesn’t even mention political parties. But since 1804, political parties have chosen their candidates, and the vice president has run with the president on a “party ticket”. In 1940, Franklin Roosevelt took the decision from the party leadership and made it his own. Since then, presidential candidates have been basically free to pick their own running mate.

This shows the power of the political parties, especially given that Amendment 12 of the Constitution says that votes for president and vice president should be on “distinct ballots” and tallied on “distinct lists.”

In 1967, the 25^th Amendment clarified that if the president can’t serve, the vice president officially becomes the president (rather than just assuming the president’s duties).

Nine vice presidents have unexpectedly become president. That’s roughly a 1-in-5 chance.
The most-recent was Gerald Ford, who took over when Richard Nixon resigned in 1974.

In the past 40 years, the vice president has cast roughly five tie-breaking votes (about two per term). However, Vice President Mike Pence has already cast 13 tie-breaking votes in the first half of his term, a number not matched since 1873. With the increased partisanship of the Senate, tie-breaking could become a more significant role for the vice president.

Vice presidents had virtually no role in the White House for almost two centuries (aside from replacing presidents, which is immensely significant and not that rare). In 1976, Walter Mondale convinced Jimmy Carter that the executive duties of the VP should be greatly expanded as a “general advisor” to the president and a key member of the White House staff. Dick Cheney was perhaps the most influential VP; the amount of power he wielded “behind the scenes” was quite controversial. Since then, Joe Biden and Mike Pence have played a support role more similar to Mondale.