Last Wednesday on November 6th, I woke up to the news that the Republican party candidate Donald Trump had come out victorious in the 2024 presidential election against Democratic party candidate Kamala Harris. Although it is best not to disregard Green Party candidate Jill Stein, in a nation where the two-party political system dominates, Stein received a booming zero electoral votes.
Undeniably, the media is one of the biggest sectors for one’s political career and campaign. However, social media has entered a culture overwhelmingly saturated by strong opinions, so this article will cover a quick run-down of this year’s election:
The United States uses an electing system called the electoral college, where each state is given an amount of electoral votes based upon the state’s population, with minimal exceptions. There are 538 electoral votes in total, and a candidate needs to receive 270 in order to win the presidency. On the other hand, the popular vote refers to votes cast by each individual U.S. citizen for a candidate. The candidate who gains the most votes in a state receives the popular vote, based upon a winner-take-all system (excluding Maine and Nebraska). However, the popular vote does not directly dictate who will win the election: the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush of Texas and Al Gore illustrates this example. Even though Gore had won the popular vote, Bush still won the election by winning the electoral college. Again in the 2016 race between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, Trump had lost the popular vote, but continued to win the Electoral College and become president.
Kamala Harris won New Jersey by 51.8 percent in contrast to Donald Trump’s 46.3 percent making New Jersey a mostly blue state. Though specifically, Morris County is slightly red with 51 percent for Trump and 47 percent for Harris.
For any presidential candidate, swing states immensely dictate the race and play an important role in the election’s result. This year’s seven swing states were Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Now, let’s dive into each swing state and their decision:
Arizona holds 11 out of the 538 electoral college votes. During the 2020 election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Arizona had voted blue for the winner Biden by 10,000 votes. As Arizona closely borders Mexico, immigration policies were a first hand debate for the state’s people. Alongside the immigration debate was abortion; state Republicans had tried to reinstate a 160-year-old near-total ban on abortions, which ended unsuccessfully and received wide backlash. Although Trump had lost Arizona to Biden in 2020, Trump turned that around this year, gaining 11 electoral votes by a margin of 52.3 percent to 46.7 percent.
Wisconsin has 10 electoral votes, previously voting blue for Biden in the 2020 election by 21,000 votes. Trump had described Wisconsin as “really important,” important enough that “if [they] win Wisconsin, [they would] win the whole thing.” Indeed, Trump won over Wisconsin by an extremely close margin of 49.7 percent to Harris’ 48.8 percent.
Georgia accounts for 16 of the electoral college votes. Biden won Georgia by 13,000 votes in 2020. Georgia has one of the largest proportions of black citizens in the U.S. with a third of their citizens being African American—many lean for the Democratic candidate. However, over Biden’s term, support among black voters reportedly declined. The economy is a large determining factor for Georgia. Trump ultimately won Georgia’s electoral votes with 50.7 percent.
Michigan reports 15 of the electoral college votes. Michigan voted for Biden by 150,000 votes, more strongly backing Biden than other swing states in 2020. However, over Biden’s term, many Michigan voters were unhappy with Biden’s support for Israel in the Israel-Hamas War which is still going on. Michigan has the largest Arab American population in America, with a notable amount wanting to stop military aid that the U.S. was providing to Israel. Trump ended up winning Michigan with 49.7 percent (compared to Harris’s 48.3%), gaining the 15 electoral votes.
Nevada holds 6 electoral college votes, voting for Biden in the 2020 election with 34,000 votes. Historically, Nevada has voted blue for previous elections. Impacting Nevada’s results for this election cycle was the state’s unemployment rate: 5.8%, the highest percentage for any state in the country. The state was largely concerned with lowering the cost of living, especially regarding inflation and housing prices. Although the U.S. economy has shown growth under Biden’s presidency in the post-Covid economy, Nevada was one of the slowest states to reap the benefits. As a result, won Nevada’s electoral college votes with 50.6 percent.
Similar to Georgia, North Carolina accounts for 16 electoral votes. North Carolina previously voted for Trump in the 2020 election with 74,000 votes. North Carolina focused on the economy and inflation, followed by immigration. Although the state typically sways Republican, Democrats in the state showed excitement for Harris’ emergence as presidential candidate. Regardless, Trump gained North Carolina’s electoral votes again this year with 51.1 percent.
Pennsylvania accounts for 19 of the electoral college votes. The state had previously backed Biden in 2020 by 82,000 votes. Because of the 19 electoral votes Pennsylvania holds, the state is important for both candidates Harris and Trump to target. Cost of living and inflation was the main issue among Pennsylvanian citizens. According to Datasembly, grocery prices have risen fastest in this state. Trump ended up winning over Pennsylvania by 50.5 percent, gaining the valuable 19 electoral college votes.
Trump successfully won the electoral college votes of all seven battleground states, sweeping the swing states. Now, Trump has officially won the 2024 presidential election with 312 electoral votes over Harris’ 226 electoral college votes. U.S. citizens and the world stage will see how Trump handles his once again familiar role as president and deals with the future of America.