 "US elections: Trump wins 2 swing states; Kamala Harris cancels speech")
US elections latest news: While there are 50 states in the United States, the outcome of the presidential election boils down to the voting pattern in seven key battleground states, known as the ‘swing’ states. These states will decide whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris will win the race to the White House. According to the Associated Press, Trump has won two of the seven battleground states: North Carolina and Georgia. As early trends projected Trump's victory, his Democrat rival Kamala Harris has cancelled her election night speech at Howard University.
Which are seven swing states in the US?
While in other states, the support for Republicans or Democrats has largely remained consistent for decades, voters have shown unpredictable behaviour in seven states:
Michigan,
Wisconsin,
Pennsylvania,
Nevada,
Arizona,
North Carolina, and
Georgia. US Election 2024
How is the US President elected?
In the US, the popular votes alone don’t decide the fate of the presidential election. There is a system called electoral college votes, which are there in all 50 states based on their population. For instance, Texas has 40 of these votes, while California has 54 – the highest.
With all states combined, there are 538 such votes and 270 are needed to win the presidential election. Typically, all electoral votes of a state are awarded to the candidate, who secures the popular vote in that particular state, regardless of the win margin. So, since Trump has already won the popular vote in Texas, he has all 40 electoral votes. Similarly, Harris has all 26 electoral votes of New York.
Impact of seven swing states on presidential polls
The seven swing states have a combined electoral vote share of more than 90. Hence, the voting trend of these states has a decisive impact on the final outcome of elections. The concept of electoral votes is also the reason why despite securing a greater number of popular votes, a candidate may not win the polls.
According to the latest trends, Trump is projected to win 230 electoral votes while Harris could secure 200.
Trends (till 10.30 am IST) show that in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, Trump has a marginal lead over Harris. Data for Nevada was not available.