In a surprising turn last july Joe Biden stepped away from re-election race leaving Kamala Harris to challenge Donald Trump in this months presidential contest
The election outcome depends heavily on swing states – places where both partyʼs have similar support levels (usually within few percentage points in polls). These game-changing territories include:
- Arizona
- Georgia
- Michigan
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- Wisconsin
- Pennsylvania
The electoral system makes these states crucial; most use winner-takes-all rules which means even tiny victories give all stateʼs electoral votes to the winner. Maine and Nebraska are different – they split their votes based on district results
Arizonaʼs voting history shows interesting shifts: the state picked democrats just once since mid-70s before choosing biden last time. Georgia made a big switch too – after 20 years of being red it went blue in previous election‚ which led to trumps legal troubles
The republicans strategy focuses on getting back former strongholds: Pennsylvania and Michigan are top targets (both voted democrat in most elections since early-90s). North Carolina – where trump won by small margin last time – needs stronger support this time
We have not seen a runaway re-election landslide like Reagan Nixon or Johnson had at all since 2000
Political experts think Harris might need different voter groups than biden did: while she wont face age-related criticism her appeal to white working-class voters in industrial midwest could be limited – though she might build new coalitions there