Why swing states are important

One thing remains consistent, though: Candidates will spend a large portion of their time, effort and advertising dollars in these key battleground states in an attempt to persuade voters to support them.

During the election, for example, Trump won Michigan for the Republicans by just over 10, votes or 0. This, and almost every election year Florida, which has 29 electoral votes, is of particular interest. Former U. Obama won the midwestern state, which has 18 electoral college votes, in both the and elections, but it flipped to the Republicans in North Carolina, which has 15 electoral votes, was been won by Republicans in every election since until , when then-senator Barack Obama flipped the state blue.

In , though, Republican candidate Sen. Mitt Romney was able to reclaim North Carolina for the Republicans. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania had voted for the Democratic candidate every year since , until the election when the state supported Trump. Hurl pointed to some southern states, namely Texas and Georgia, which are becoming more competitive for the Democrats, while some states in the middle lakes region — Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Michigan — are shifting toward the GOP.

But, if there is going to be a surprise on Nov. Other states are more varied in their political leanings. These states, known as swing states or battleground states, greatly influence the outcome of any presidential election. Elections are determined by the electoral vote, and the popular vote to an extent. Essentially, a candidate needs out of electoral votes in order to become president.

These states alone make up of the electoral votes needed for either Donald Trump or Joe Biden to secure the position. There are other states that will have highly contested results this election, but those six are expected to be most influential on the outcome of the election. Southern states vote for the democratic candidate. Roosevelt was campaigning in the West. Close presidential elections throughout American history have borne this out: Harry S. Truman defeated Thomas Dewey in by winning by less than one percent of the popular vote in then-swing states like Ohio, California, Indiana, Illinois and New York—a race so close that newspaper headlines mistakenly proclaimed Dewey the winner.

In the presidential election between Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy , 10 states were won by less than two percent of the vote. And in , the results of the election came down to who won Florida, which George W. Bush claimed by a margin of just votes.

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