US Election 2024 Results: Seven Key States That Hold The Key To Kamala Harris Or Donald Trump’s Win

Former US President Donald Trump and Vice-president Kamala Harris are locked in a fierce battle for the 2024 US Presidential Elections. In the early hours of the counting, Republican candidate Trump led in four of the seven key swing states. In contrast, his Democrat opponent Harris maintained a lead in two swing states. 

While Harris has the lead in Arizona and Michigan, Trump is gaining a majority in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina. The trends for Nevada were not in yet.

Swing states in US elections are states where either a Democrat or a Republican can win the race to the White House. These states do not generally favour the 'blue' Democrats or 'red' Republicans and are hence known as 'purple' states.

A president in the US is not elected solely by popular vote; they have to secure enough electoral college votes. Trump or Harris must win at least 270 out of the 538 electoral college votes to become the 47th President of the United States.

Each state in the US has a definite number of such electoral college votes, depending on their population. It follows a 'winner-takes-all' policy, which allows the candidate who passes a majority in a state to take all the electoral college votes.

This makes the 'purple' states important in US elections as candidates try to focus more on the voters who traditionally remain undecided till the polling date. 

Swing states, also known as background states, hold the key to victory in US elections. This year, the swing states include Pennsylvania, with 19 electoral college votes, Michigan with 10, Georgia (16), Wisconsin (10), North Carolina (16), Nevada (6) and Arizona (11).

These swing states make or break the elections, and have almost equal support for the Democratic and Republican parties.

As per the exit polls, the economy, abortion rights and the state of democracy were the key issues for voters when they reached the poll booths to choose the US’ next president. According to a CBS News poll, as many as six out of 10 people said the state of democracy was the number one issue this election year by abortion rights and the economy.