US polls: Securing the ‘Blue Wall’

Washington: Both US Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump campaigned in Wisconsin, which is a ‘Blue Wall’ state, that the former needs to hold to win the race while the latter is trying to breach to secure his own victory.

The ‘Blue Wall’ is a phrase used for 18 states and the District of Columbia that were securely Democratic in presidential elections until 2016 when former Trump breached it by winning three of them - Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

President Joe Biden flipped them back in 2020 to secure the ‘Blue Wall’ and win the presidency. Nowadays, the phrase ‘Blue Wall’ refers mostly to Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The 15 other states comprising the ‘Blue Wall’ are California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Washington state, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Rhode Island, Delaware and Vermont.

All 18 of them along with DC, account for 238 of the 538 electoral college votes. Harris would need to hold the ‘Blue Wall’ and get 32 more electoral college votes to win — the winner needs 270 or more to win the race.

The two nominees held rallies in Milwaukee in Wisconsin and at about the same time in different parts of the city. Trump returned for his rally to the venue of the Republican National Convention earlier in the year. Wisconsin has 10 electoral college votes and Harris and Trump are currently at 48.2 per cent and 47.4 per cent respectively in the weighted average of polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight.

The battle for Michigan’s 16 electoral college votes is equally close with Harris at 48 per cent and Trump at 47 per cent in the FiveThirtyEight weighted average.

Trump was in Michigan also on Friday and met Arab American voters in a bid to secure their support, tapping into their anger with the Biden administration for its support for the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

Arab Americans have been a key part of the Democratic coalition, but not this election. Harris and her surrogates have reached out to them to bring them back in the fold. Harris herself will be campaigning in Michigan on Sunday.

Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral college voters are locked in a tie with Harris at 48 per cent and Trump at 47 per cent in the FiveThirtyEight weighted average.

Harris is trying to win all three states and is also eyeing the four Sun Belt states North Carolina (16 electoral college votes), Georgia (16), Nevada (5) and Arizona (11), that were once solidly Republican.

Biden won Georgia, Arizona and Nevada in 2020. The Harris campaign is hoping to repeat that performance and add North Carolina to the tally.

The Vice President and the former president are tied at 47.3 per cent and 47.7 per cent in the FiveThirtyEight average in Nevada, but Harris trails Trump 47.1 per cent to 48.4 per cent in North Carolina; 47.1 per cent to 49.5 per cent in Georgia; and 46.7 per cent to 48.8 per cent in Arizona. (IANS)

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