Most political pundits and polling experts agree that seven swing states are of tantamount importance to the campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and disgraced former president Donald Trump: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
However, the election may be decided in just two of those seven states, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Democratic strategist and former Bill Clinton adviser Doug Sosnik told the Journal that Georgia and Pennsylvania are the two most important “pivot points” in the 2024 race for the White House.
“If Trump can win Pennsylvania or Harris can win Georgia, I think they are then overwhelming favorites to win the election,” Sosnik said. “It’s still possible for Trump to win without Georgia, it’s still possible for Harris to win without Pennsylvania, but it’s a lot more difficult.”
According to reports, strategists inside the Trump camp believe their best chance of victory is to focus on Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Winning those would secure 271 Electoral College votes, one more than the 270 needed to be named president. That would be the case even if Trump was unsuccessful in carrying Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin.
Democrats, however, are laser-focused on Georgia and Pennsylvania. If Harris wins them, she would then only need one of the following states — Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, and Wisconsin — to go her way for her to reach 270.
Based on recent polls, it would seem that Harris has the advantage over Trump in all of the battleground states, as she continues to see her numbers rise while the ex-president loses support, especially among self-identified independent voters and Republicans who vote for President Joe Biden in 2020.
Does the Harris campaign see things that way, too? According to Dan Kanninen, the Harris campaign’s director of battleground states, he expects the battleground states to be “really competitive again this time around,” adding, “We have a record of winning close races in these states—and in Pennsylvania and Georgia, our record is stronger than Team MAGA.”
