HOUSTON, United States
US Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are running neck-and-neck in the 2024 presidential election in key swing states, according to the latest polls released Wednesday by CNN.
As both candidates make a final push to persuade Americans for their votes in the Nov. 5 election, Harris and Trump are hyper-focused on the six crucial battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Harris leads Trump by a margin of 50% to 44% in Wisconsin and holds the lead in Michigan with 48% versus Trump's 43%.
Trump has the advantage in Arizona with 49% of the vote among likely voters compared to 44% for Harris.
But the numbers are a toss-up in the three other swing states.
In Georgia and Nevada, Harris leads Trump by a razor-thin margin with the vice president tallying 48% of the vote to Trump's 47%. Both candidates are in a dead heat in Pennsylvania where they are tied at 47%.
Add to the mix that nearly 15% of likely voters said they have not yet decided on either candidate and that leaves all six swing states literally up for grabs with just nine weeks before Election Day.
The polls were conducted after the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and the results suggest that the path to victory for the candidates runs through Pennsylvania and Georgia.
According to the polling data, 16% of voters in Pennsylvania said they have not yet decided on a candidate or they might change their minds come Election Day. That number is 12% in Georgia, which means both states are a toss-up with such large numbers of undecided voters.
Winning all six swing states, however, is nearly imperative for both candidates, if the 2020 election serves as a blueprint for taking the White House.
President Joe Biden defeated Trump in the last election by sweeping the six battleground states. Reinforcing the philosophy that every vote counts, Biden narrowly edged Trump in Georgia by just under 12,000 votes and held onto Arizona by a little more than 10,000 votes.
The keys to victory for Harris, according to CNN, would be to hold Biden's 2020 wins outside of the six swing states and carry Wisconsin and Michigan, win in Pennsylvania and garner a single electoral vote from anywhere else.
On the other side, if Trump wins in Georgia and Pennsylvania and is victorious in North Carolina -- a state he carried in 2020 but is now considered to be a battleground state in 2024 -- the former president would have enough electoral votes to retake the White House for a second term regardless of what happens in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin.
As Harris and Trump begin stumping in key swing states, they will have to tackle topics Americans have deemed most important.
According to the polls, 39% of voters said the economy was their top issue, while 25% said protecting democracy was the next topic of importance. Abortion and immigration are also key issues voters want the candidates to address.
