The campaign for the US presidential election is over and voters are heading to the polls. The race is very close since the two candidates are neck and neck, but this battle will be resolved in the swing states. America has blue, red and swing states. Blue states vote for Democrats while red states vote for Republicans, and then there are swing states that can swing one way or the other: they can vote for Democrats or Republicans.

There are seven swing states this time – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Nevada – and whoever wins them becomes president. So where do these swing states stand on Election Day?

Arizona

Since 1950, Arizona has voted mostly Republican, but the situation flipped twice – once in 1996 and then in 2020 – when Joe Biden won the state by less than half a point. But this time, Kamala Harris is behind here, and Donald Trump is ahead by almost 3 points. So Arizona doesn’t look great for Democrats.

Georgia

Since 1996, Republicans had held the state, but Biden flipped it in 2020, albeit by a fairly narrow margin of 0.2 percent. Trump has also taken the lead in this area. It was up 1.8 points. But on Sunday, a new poll restored confidence in Democrats. This gives Harris a one-point advantage.

Michigan

In 2016, Trump won the state by fewer than 11,000 votes. In 2020, Biden reversed it. Right now, Harris is in the lead here; she wins almost 2 points. But Trump could catch up.

Nevada

Next is Nevada, the smallest of the seven states, where people have been voting for Democrats since Barack Obama. Harris leads Nevada by three points. But Trump is gradually winning too.

North Carolina

Obama won the state in 2008. Since then, no Democrat has won it. So Harris has a daunting task. She wants to put it back to blue. Right now she leads the state by 3 points. Trump is also campaigning hard here.

Wisconsin

In 2016, he voted for Trump; in 2020, he voted for Joe Biden. Kamala Harris leads here by 2 points, but it’s a very close battle; If Harris loses Wisconsin, things could be tough for her.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has 19 electoral votes, and that’s where the battle comes down. Whoever wins Pennsylvania will have the best chance of winning this election. For now, the battle is tied here. Candidates have been campaigning here for days and have spent millions of dollars on rallies, political ads and canvassing.

Trump even survived an assassination attempt here. Will this give him an advantage? No one can predict it, but let’s look at the path to victory.

The United States has 538 electoral votes; contestants need 270 or higher to win. Let’s look at Donald Trump first, so the assumption is that he wins all the red states. That’s 219 votes. He needs 51 more for 270. What is his most direct path? His first choice is North Carolina. He won it in 2016 and 2020. So if he keeps it again, that’s 16 votes; if he flips Georgia, that’s 16 more votes; and then if he wins Pennsylvania, he will be comfortably at 270; it will not need any other battlefield states.

As for Kamala Harris, if she wins all the blue states, she will have 226 votes. So he needs 44 more. His best option is the Blue Wall: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Biden won them all in 2020. If Harris holds them, she will reach 270. Of course, that’s optimistic. Things are neck and neck in Pennsylvania, so there’s a good chance Harris could lose the state. So what is his way of doing things? His other two options are North Carolina and Nevada. Both will push it above 270 without Pennsylvania.

It’s a long way, so the path to 270 is difficult. But for both candidates, this involves these swing states. These states will choose who becomes the next American president.

The opinions expressed in the article above are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Firstpost.

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