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All eyes might be on the important thing swing states as votes are counted within the match-up between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Each candidates have crisscrossed the seven key swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — and labored to enchantment to their undecided voters and join with them over the difficulty that resonate most with them.
Whereas voters in these battleground states share the identical considerations as the remainder of Individuals, there are some points that stand out as high considerations for his or her residents — with the economic system reigning supreme as a key voter concern with simply days left till Election Day.
It is the economic system
“The No. 1 concern is similar because it at all times is, which is, it is the economic system. And naturally, the economic system has a number of dimensions to it. We now have the expansion charge, we’ve unemployment, we’ve client confidence, and, in fact, inflation,” stated Todd Belt, director of George Washington College’s Political Administration program.
Relating to the economic system, 44% % of Individuals say they are not as nicely off now as they have been when President Joe Biden took workplace, tying essentially the most damaging quantity on this query in information since 1986, in response to a current ABC Information/Ipsos ballot.
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Vice President Kamala Harris in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Aug. 20, 2024, and former U.S. President Donald Trump in Bedminster, New Jersey, Aug. 15, 2024.
Marco Bello/Reuters
Additional, whereas inflation has eased and employment is powerful, these good points have not hit dwelling for most individuals: 59% say the economic system is getting worse, greater than twice as many as say it is getting higher (23%). And amongst registered voters who say the economic system’s worsening, Trump leads Harris by a sweeping 53 factors, 74-21%.
A 538 evaluation of polls discovered that just about all the swing states have ranked the economic system as a high voter concern — some for various causes. Nonetheless, Belt stated the economic system is “the No. 1 concern all over the place you go.”
In Nevada, its economic system, to a novel diploma, will depend on the hospitality business — making the economic system a high concern for voters in that state. Clark County, which incorporates Las Vegas, makes up about 75% of the state’s inhabitants — and a major variety of hospitality employees. Probably due to these components, Nevada voters ranked the economic system as a very powerful concern dealing with their state, in response to ballot evaluation from 538.
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Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks throughout a marketing campaign occasion in Janesville, Wis., Nov. 1, 2024.
Charles Rex Arbogast/AP
House costs, fracking, immigration
Housing affordability is one other high concern for voters in swing states akin to Nevada and North Carolina, the place dwelling costs have surged.
The median dwelling value in North Carolina grew from $193,200 within the 2017-19 survey to $280,600 within the 2020-22 survey, the seventh-largest enhance within the nation in proportion phrases, in response to the American Group Survey. And in Nevada, the House Worth Index has grown 34 % for the reason that begin of the Biden presidency, barely sooner than the speed of enhance nationwide, in response to Zillow.
The price of groceries, gasoline and housing resonates with voters throughout a number of swing states, Belt added.
“The difficulty of the economic system, in fact, has to do with the affordability of dwelling. That is what we name, you recognize, our kitchen desk, pocketbook concern,” Belt stated. “It has to do take care of groceries, with gasoline. And, in fact, what’s been folks commenting about most of all is housing prices as nicely.”
In battleground Pennsylvania, fracking is a giant native concern and has ties to each the economic system and the surroundings.
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Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump makes a marketing campaign cease on the Nice Commoner restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan, Nov. 1, 2024.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
Immigration is one other key concern for a lot of swing-state voters — particularly these within the Solar Belt. Arizona, a border state, has been a daily marketing campaign cease for Trump and Harris, who’ve typically mentioned immigration whereas there. It is also high of thoughts for voters in Nevada — a state the place Hispanic and Latinos are the most important minority group with 28% of its inhabitants.
“Folks do have [immigration] on their minds as a result of it has been pushed as a giant concern within the media,” Belt stated.
Trump has used immigration to hit Harris’ immigration insurance policies, placing the blame squarely on her for the state of affairs on the border as he latches on to his inaccurate reference to her because the “border czar.”
Immigration is commonly tied to different key points akin to crime, Belt famous — a tactic Trump has employed on the marketing campaign path.
Even if U.S. residents commit crimes at increased charges than undocumented immigrants, Trump painted them as “criminals” who will “lower your throat” at a marketing campaign cease in Wisconsin in September. Additionally, whereas in Tempe, Arizona, final week, Trump criticized the Biden-Harris administration for its dealing with of the border, calling the US a “rubbish can for the world.”
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Former President and Republican Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump speaks throughout a marketing campaign occasion, in Henderson, Nevada, Oct. 31, 2024.
Allison Dinner/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Abortion
Abortion is a key voter concern after the Supreme Courtroom in 2022 overruled Roe vs. Wade, which secured the constitutional proper to abortion. The Supreme Courtroom determination, which Trump typically brags about his position in, is a matter that Democrats have seized on this cycle.
“The Democrats consider that that is the kryptonite for the Republicans within the final couple of elections,” Belt stated.
Abortion stays a rallying concern amongst Democrats who have been capable of stave off a “purple wave” through the 2022 midterms by centering their messages round it. Harris’ marketing campaign claims reproductive freedom continues to be one of many high points amongst undecided voters.
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Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, greets supporters throughout a marketing campaign rally, Oct. 31, 2024, in Reno, Nevada.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Photographs
A number of states, together with battlegrounds Arizona and Nevada, have poll measures that may amend their state constitutions with particular language to guard or acknowledge the precise to an abortion for all constituents.
Polls present abortion is a extra essential concern in Wisconsin than it’s nationally, in response to ballot evaluation by 538. The authorized standing of abortion was hotly contested within the state after the Supreme Courtroom overruled Roe v. Wade, resulting in a 15-month interval through which no authorized abortions have been carried out within the state beneath an 1849 legislation that criminalized abortion.
Even with different points on swing states’ radar, Belt famous that each Harris and Trump work to tie messaging again to the economic system.
“You may see candidates like Donald Trump discuss how immigration is impacting the economic system and jobs,” he stated. “And so there are these auxiliary points that they are attempting to push, however additionally they tie them to the economic system, as a result of they know that is what voters care about essentially the most.”