US election 2020-The 10 battleground states to watch on election night
Florida,Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona,Pennsylvania, North carolina and Ohio are crucial to clinch presidency
Florida —
29 electoral votes
This state
is among the tied up states. No candidate has a clear advantage. A very close
contest is going on in Florida. All eyes are on Florida, a swing state known
for razor-thin election tallies. It is a must win state for Trump.
If Trump doesn’t win Florida, he’s going to
have a rough time capturing enough states to stay in office. If Biden doesn’t
win the state, he still has other pathways to victory.
Don’t put
the state in either candidate’s win column too early. After the polls close,
Florida election officials are expected to announce the results of millions of
mail-in ballots cast early. If more Democrats voted in advance, it could make
it look like Biden is winning. It’s important to keep watching as ballots cast
on Election Day trickle in.
The
remaining votes might heavily favor Trump and allow him to eke out a win just
as he did in 2016. Moreover, polls close an hour later in Florida’s Panhandle,
which is a Republican stronghold.
Pennsylvania
— 20 electoral votes
Joe Biden
has a slight advantage in this crucial state. The election might be decided by
either Florida and Pennsylvania. Trump
won the long-running Democratic state of Pennsylvania in 2016 by a little more
than 1 percentage point. Biden has had a slight advantage in most polls, while
some suggest Trump remains positioned to capture the state again.
Trump’s
hopes of winning the state boosted after Biden, in a presidential debate,
called for phasing out fossil fuels. That created an opportunity for Trump in a
state with a robust natural gas industry.
Biden, who
was born in Scranton, claims some favorite-son status in the state, and he’s
traveled there a lot during the campaign from his home in nearby Delaware.
Trump glided
to victory in Ohio in 2016 by 8 percentage points, but recent polls show this
year’s presidential race tightening in the Buckeye State. Trump’s support in
key suburbs has eroded, and he has worked to keep a hold of the near-historic
margins he earned from voters in rural areas of the state in 2016.
As early
voting began in the state, Biden expanded his ad buys into every corner of
Ohio. Biden’s push into traditionally Republican areas signaled his campaign’s
hope that the state could be within his grasp. Biden also added a last minute
campaign stop Monday in Cleveland, which his campaign hopes will juice turnout
for him.
Georgia —
16 electoral votes
Georgia,
long a GOP stronghold, hasn’t gone for a Democratic presidential candidate
since the 1992 when Bill Clinton flipped this state, but parts of the state are
leaning Democratic. Trump easily won the state by 5 percentage points in 2016,
but Biden maintains he has a shot and made campaign stops in Georgia during the
final week of the campaign.
Michigan
— 16 electoral votes
Biden has
lead of 8 percentage points in this key battleground state. Michigan was long
considered a Democratic stronghold in presidential contests. But Trump won it
by less than 11,000 votes in 2016 with support from working-class voters and a
boost from Hillary Clinton’s poor showing with Black voters in Detroit.
Biden has
teamed up with former President Barack Obama to campaign in Flint and Detroit,
predominantly Black cities where strong turnout will be essential to putting the
state in Biden’s win column.
Trump isn’t
ceding Michigan to Biden. In his campaign visits, Trump argued that he has
promoted trade policies that have benefited Michigan’s auto industry, while
pillorying the state’s Democratic governor over restrictions she has
implemented to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Joe Biden
has an advantage in the opinion polls. Trump won it in 2016. Mecklenburg and
Wake counties are the most populous in the Tar Heel State and will play a
decisive role in the presidential race, a Senate race and the governor’s
contest.
Arizona —
11 electoral votes
Arizona has
a long political history of going Republican. It’s the home state of Barry
Goldwater, a five-term conservative senator who was the Republican nominee for
president in 1964. Trump won Arizona in 2016, but it is no longer an ironclad
GOP stalwart.
A
fast-growing Latino population — politically activated during the last decade
by anti-immigrant legislation — plus explosive growth among suburbanites
skeptical of Trump has energised Democrats.
Wisconsin
— 10 electoral votes
Biden has an
advantage in this state. Trump won Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes in
2016. To win it again, he needs to perform well outside the urban areas of
Milwaukee and Madison. His record on handling the coronavirus pandemic is at
the forefront in many voters' minds as cases of the virus spike in Wisconsin.
Biden is
expected to win urban areas, and recent polling suggests Trump is not doing as
well as he did in 2016 in GOP-leaning suburbs around Milwaukee. Those are key
areas for successful Republican campaigns in the state. It’s unclear whether
Trump can lure enough votes in the more rural areas to offset Biden strongholds
in Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay.
Iowa —
Six electoral votes
This is a
must win state for Trump. Trump won Iowa handily in 2016, yet the public health
and economic crises resulting from the coronavirus pandemic are part of why
Democrats think they have a chance. Iowa is not a must-win for Biden. A loss
for the president would significantly narrow his path to reelection.
Nevada —
Six electoral votes
Trump
narrowly lost Nevada in 2016 as the state has trended toward the Democrats in
the past decade, but the president thinks he can flip it.
Trump’s
campaign has invested heavily in the state and is relying on its ground game to
turn out voters. Democrats, by contrast, have largely relied on virtual
campaign efforts during the pandemic, save for the casino workers' Culinary
Union, which has sent workers door-to-door.
Khalid Bhatti
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