Donald Trump vs Joe Biden: Swing states and their role in US Election 2020
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The United States has a total of 50 states out of which few hold more importance than the rest. These states are called "swing states" — also known as "battlegrounds" informally. In the elections this year, these states comprise of 15 major states
With a week left for the US elections, the two leaders — the current Republican candidate and President Donald Trump and his Democrat rival and former Vice President Joe Biden — have started the last eg of election campaigning and are also covering the states which hold a minority of their party support.
The American voters have created history with more than 70 million voters casting ballot a week before the November 03 elections — a number that could lead to the highest voter turnout in percentage terms in more than a century. As of now, the opinion polls are showing Joe Biden to be the frontrunner, but realistically speaking both the leaders have a fair chance of winning.
The United States has a total of 50 states out of which few hold more importance than the rest. These states are called "swing states" — also known as "battlegrounds" informally. In the elections this year, these states comprise of 15 major states. These result for these states cannot be determined as of now as the states work in a balance and can lead to either Trump or Biden winning the claim on the White House for the next four years.
The rest of the states are ones which have, in a way, already established their winner. Places such as New York and California are the areas where Trump cannot secure a win, while he can be crowned as undefeated in the Republican majority states such as Alabama or Oklahoma.
A swing states thi year is Arizona. The state has only voted for one Democrat — Bill Clinton (in 1996) — since 1952. In 2016, Donald Trump won this state with a margin of four percent. However, the state has seen a radical shift in its political atmosphere since 2016, and thus Biden also has a chance of winning the state this year.
Colarodo and Florida are the next two swing states with Colarodo having elected three Republican candidates and three Democrats in the past six years. Last time in 2016, Hillary Clinton has won the state in opposition to the ultimate winner, Donald Trump. Florida, too, has been one of the most unpredictable states in the history of the US elections. Trump, in 2016, won the election by 1.19 per cent and Barack Obama by 0.88 per cent in 2012.
Georgia is another state which has usually favoured Republicans but has also helped Bill Clinton back in 1992. The recet political scenario is taking a shift which can change the results in the upcoming elections.
States such as Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina have supported Biden in the past and will be critical in the upcoming elections as the voters have been tad bit undecided this year. Texas has been a Trump supporter for the last four years. However, Biden has been putting in extra efforts to woo the Texas voters. However, Trump supporters have been vocal in upporting him this year too.
Each candidate's aim is to secure 270 electoral votes, and each state's victory will put them a step closer to the swearing ceremony due in January 2021 at the White House.
The sudden shifts and the undecisive nature of the voters has been majorly due to the mail-in voting that has been adopted majorly by a lot of states this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The results of this year's elections can be delayed — a warning often highlighted by Trump.