US Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are fast moving towards their election contest on November 5, which is one of the closest contests in modern American history.
And in a handful of key states that could set up the 2024 race, there is very little daylight between the rivals barely a week before Election Day.
Under the US Constitution, America’s Founders established that each of the 50 states would cast one vote for the President.
Under the complex Electoral College system, each state has a fixed number of “electors” based on population. Most states have a winner-take-all system that awards all electors to whoever wins the popular vote.
Candidates need 270 of the 538 electoral votes to win, with elections decided in “swing states” with a history of alternating between Republican and Democratic candidates.
This year, there are seven such battlegrounds, and each one is a toss-up within the margin of error. Here’s a look:
– Pennsylvania (19 Electoral College votes) –
Pennsylvania was once reliably Democratic, but these days, they’re never stronger than in the Keystone State.
Republican Trump won the most populous battleground state, with 13 million residents, by 0.7 percentage points in 2016. Joe Biden made this claim by 1.2 percentage points in 2020.
Pennsylvania, known for its “Rust Belt” cities such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, has been troubled by the steady decline of its industrial manufacturing base for decades.
Trump and Harris have repeatedly campaigned in the eastern state, where the pair held their only presidential debate. Trump, who survived an assassination attempt at a July rally in Pennsylvania, is courting rural white populations and warning that immigrants are overwhelming small towns.
Harris is touting recent infrastructure wins, and in Pittsburgh she outlined a plan to invest $100 billion in manufacturing, a key issue for state residents.
– Georgia (16) –
This southeastern state was an election issue at the end of Trump’s first term, and the controversy grew.
Prosecutors in Georgia convicted Trump in an election interference case after he called state officials urging them to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s narrow 2020 victory.
But promoting Trump, the matter has been put on hold until after the elections.
Biden was the first Democrat to win the Peach State since 1992. The demographic shift is likely to benefit Harris, who has attracted minority voters across Georgia.
– North Carolina (16) –
The south-eastern state has voted Democratic only once since 1980, but Harris believes it is back in the game.
The population, now more than 10 million, is growing and becoming more diverse, giving Democrats an advantage.
A scandal involving the state’s Republican gubernatorial candidate has complicated matters for Trump, angering party officials who worry it could tip Trump into a close race.
Like neighboring Georgia, one wild card is that devastation from Hurricane Helene, which recently devastated cities in western North Carolina, could impact the vote.
– Michigan (15) –
Trump carried Michigan, a former Democratic stronghold, on his way to defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Buoyed by unionized workers and a large Black community, Biden made it back to the blue column in 2020.
But this time, Harris risks losing the support of the 200,000-strong Arab-American community, which has condemned Biden for his handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza — and its expansion.
– Arizona (11) –
The Grand Canyon State was one of the tightest races of 2020, with Biden emerging victorious by just 10,457 votes.
Trump hopes disappointment over the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policy will swing Arizona, which shares a border with Mexico, back into his favor.
Harris visited the Arizona border in September and promised to work on cracking down on migration and reviving last year’s bipartisan border bill, which she said Trump sidelined for political purposes.
– Wisconsin (10) –
Clinton lost Wisconsin after carrying the state extensively during the 2016 campaign.
Like Midwestern neighbor Michigan, it was a different story when Trump’s opponent was Biden, who turned a 23,000-vote deficit for the Democrat into a victory margin of 21,000.
Trump considers it winnable and his party held its summer national convention there.
While Trump has taken an early lead against Biden, Harris has made the state race a close contest.
– Nevada (6) –
The Silver State, population 3.1 million, has not voted Republican since 2004. Buoyed by Trump’s lead with Hispanic voters, conservatives are confident they can flip the script.
Trump has made a significant lead against Biden here.
But within weeks of becoming the Democratic nominee, Harris — who has been promoting her economic plans to help small businesses and tackle inflation — has erased that advantage in the western state, whose largest city is Las Vegas. It is dominated by the hospitality industry.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
