While exercising your right to vote matters regardless of what state you live in, there are some that you may have heard the media talk about repeatedly when it comes to deciding the 2024 presidential election.
Specifically, swing states.
The United States of America uses the Electoral College to determine how the next president and vice president are chosen and the popular vote plays a hand in how each state’s electors are selected.
Due to this, certain states can be classified as battleground states or swing states, meaning that they can be won by either presidential candidate. A presidential candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the election.
Here’s a breakdown of what a swing state is, why they’re important and which states are swing states.
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What is a swing state?
A swing state or battleground state is one where the U.S. presidential election can be won by either of the candidates typically in the two major political parties: Republicans and Democrats.
That’s because those candidates have similar levels of support among voters within the state.
Why are swing states important?
Swing states have been a key topic throughout the 2024 presidential race. Here’s why they’re so important.
Swing states matter because a presidential candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the election.
Swing states, also known as battleground states, typically have small voter-differential margins and different political parties can win them over time.
For example, in the 2020 presidential election, Arizona played a crucial role in Democrat Joe Biden’s win over Republican Donald Trump. Biden won Arizona — and its 11 Electoral College votes — by about 0.4%, or about 10,500 votes. Trump had previously claimed victory in Arizona during the 2016 election.
What are the swing states?
Presidential candidates often focus their energy and resources on campaigning in swing states. That is because they can be crucial to getting the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election.
Here are the 2024 swing states as identified by political analysts and politicians in the U.S.:
Arizona, 11 electoral college votes.Georgia, 16 electoral college votes.Michigan, 15 electoral college votes.North Carolina, 16 electoral college votes.Pennsylvania, 19 electoral college votes.Wisconsin, 10 electoral college votes.Nevada, 6 electoral college votes.
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Reach the reporter at dina.kaur@arizonarepublic.com. Follow @dina_kaur on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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Publish date : 2024-11-05 10:17:00
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Author : theamericannews
Publish date : 2024-11-07 01:14:38
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