2008 Woodie Awards
Swing states have the ability to decide the election
Jen Ryan
Issue date: 10/31/04 Section: Feature-ELECTION 2004
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During the election, there are two colors for states-red for the Republicans and blue for the Democrats. Right? Wrong.
As this year's election date comes closer and closer, politicians and political analysts have created a new color state: purple states. These purple states cannot yet be called red Republican states or blue Democratic states because each party has equal support in the state. A recent Gallup poll defined purple state as one "where the margin of victory for either candidate in the 2000 U.S. presidential election was five percentage points or less."
These purple states have been around for quite awhile though under the more traditional names of swing states or battleground states. This year, these states will have a big part in deciding which candidate will become the next president.
How do swing states impact the presidential race?
While guaranteed to help the popular vote, swing states mainly impact the electoral vote. Zogby's Battleground State poll approximates that there are 16 swing states: New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. These states have a combined 177 electoral votes. A president only needs 270 electoral votes to win the election. Therefore, these 16 states have the ability to determine for the other 34 states the country's next president.
The importance of securing these electoral votes became clear in the 2000 Presidential race when the electoral votes from Florida made the difference between Al Gore taking office or George W. Bush taking office. Both Gore and Bush ended up splitting the swing states with each taking eight states. If voters vote the same way they did during the 2000 election, Bush would get 89 electoral votes and Kerry would get 88.
With fear of another close election expected this year, the presidential candidates have been campaigning for the swing state votes since mid-summer. Both Kerry and Bush are attempting to address the issues that particularly interest swing state votes. Like many American voters, the battleground states are worried about the issues of security at home, the war in Iraq, gay marriage, abortion, and the state of the economy.
As this year's election date comes closer and closer, politicians and political analysts have created a new color state: purple states. These purple states cannot yet be called red Republican states or blue Democratic states because each party has equal support in the state. A recent Gallup poll defined purple state as one "where the margin of victory for either candidate in the 2000 U.S. presidential election was five percentage points or less."
These purple states have been around for quite awhile though under the more traditional names of swing states or battleground states. This year, these states will have a big part in deciding which candidate will become the next president.
How do swing states impact the presidential race?
While guaranteed to help the popular vote, swing states mainly impact the electoral vote. Zogby's Battleground State poll approximates that there are 16 swing states: New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. These states have a combined 177 electoral votes. A president only needs 270 electoral votes to win the election. Therefore, these 16 states have the ability to determine for the other 34 states the country's next president.
The importance of securing these electoral votes became clear in the 2000 Presidential race when the electoral votes from Florida made the difference between Al Gore taking office or George W. Bush taking office. Both Gore and Bush ended up splitting the swing states with each taking eight states. If voters vote the same way they did during the 2000 election, Bush would get 89 electoral votes and Kerry would get 88.
With fear of another close election expected this year, the presidential candidates have been campaigning for the swing state votes since mid-summer. Both Kerry and Bush are attempting to address the issues that particularly interest swing state votes. Like many American voters, the battleground states are worried about the issues of security at home, the war in Iraq, gay marriage, abortion, and the state of the economy.