[News Terms] The 'Swing State' That Decides the Outcome of the US Presidential Election

Six Battleground and Purple States Including Nevada, Michigan, and Wisconsin

'Swing states' refer to U.S. states where political leanings are not firmly established, resulting in an unstable voter base. Traditionally, these are states that are neither predominantly Republican nor Democratic, and their support tends to shift during elections. The term is used because the support for the Republican and Democratic parties swings back and forth like a swing.

In the U.S. presidential election, except for Maine and Nebraska, the other 48 states use a winner-takes-all system where the candidate who wins the state takes all the electoral votes from that state. Because of this, presidential candidates sometimes skip campaigning in states where their victory or defeat is already determined.

U.S. President Joe Biden arrived at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on the 4th (local time). President Biden attended a campaign event held in Las Vegas.
[Photo by Las Vegas AP/ Yonhap News]

On the other hand, because the outcome in swing states is crucial in deciding the election, both the Republican and Democratic parties pour about 70-80% of their campaign funds into these states and put in maximum effort. Maine and Nebraska do not use the winner-takes-all system; instead, they allocate electoral votes based on the voting results.

In contrast to swing states, states that overwhelmingly support a particular party are called 'safe states.' Generally, the electoral votes from safe states are considered already secured by the candidate of the dominant party in that state.

The Republican Party traditionally classifies conservative and religiously inclined states such as Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and Nebraska as safe states. The Democratic Party's safe states include liberal-leaning states like California, Vermont, Massachusetts, Oregon, Hawaii, Connecticut, Illinois, Rhode Island, and New York.

Since the opposing party has almost no chance of securing electoral votes in these states, presidential candidates focus more on swing states. The term 'battleground state' is also used to indicate fierce competition, and 'purple state'?referring to the mix of the Republican red and Democratic blue?is sometimes used instead of swing state.

Former President Donald Trump, who won two consecutive victories in the US Republican presidential primary, is giving a speech in Nashua, New Hampshire on the 24th of last month.
[Photo by Nashua AFP/ Yonhap News]

Some states opposing the winner-takes-all system have attempted to change the current presidential election system to a 'direct popular vote,' but since this requires a constitutional amendment with two-thirds approval from the U.S. Congress, these efforts have repeatedly amounted to little more than a 'tempest in a teapot.'

According to major U.S. media outlets such as The New York Times (NYT), President Joe Biden is reportedly pouring substantial campaign funds into Nevada ahead of the Democratic primary held there on the 6th (local time).

Nevada, along with Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, is one of the six key swing states that decided the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. In that election, President Biden secured 306 electoral votes, defeating then-President Trump, who had 232.

Biden's 74-vote margin of victory was because he won all six battleground states: Nevada (6 electoral votes), Georgia (16), Arizona (11), Michigan (16), Pennsylvania (20), and Wisconsin (10).