(Seoul=Yonhap News) Hyunsil Ko, Reporter – On the day of the U.S. presidential election on the 5th, the electoral landscape remains unclear.
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump have been engaged in a close race within the margin of error in the battleground states.
Because of this situation, both candidates have focused their efforts on capturing the last-minute votes by traveling around the battleground states until the end of the election campaign.
The battleground states include Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin in the North, and Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada in the South. These are regions where support for a particular party is not distinctly clear, making it difficult for any candidate to confidently claim victory.
B.C. Kang, Yonhap News’ Washington correspondent, who has been closely covering the U.S. presidential election, said in a video interview on the 4th, the day before the election, that as the candidates mainly focus on campaigning in the battleground states, there are quite a few voters in non-battleground regions who feel neglected.
Correspondent Kang also mentioned, “Washington D.C. and nearby states like Maryland are strong Democratic regions,” adding, “since the election outcomes are virtually predetermined, some local voters express that they don’t see the need to vote.”
The U.S. presidential election operates as a sort of indirect election through the electoral college.
In this winner-takes-all system, the candidate who wins even one more vote in a particular state secures all the electoral votes assigned to that state.
The total number of electoral votes is 538, and the candidate who secures a majority of 270 wins the election.
Based on the results of the 2020 presidential election and state-by-state party support rates, it is analyzed that Vice President Harris and former President Trump have each secured around 220 electoral votes.
The 93 electoral votes from the seven battleground states are sufficient to determine the victory.
Despite a very close race shown in previous polls, there are observations that once the results are revealed, one candidate could win decisively.
Correspondent Kang pointed out, “From last month, former President Trump showed a rise in polls, but experts suggest that both candidates likely have hidden supporters not captured by polls,” emphasizing that the election could go either way without it being surprising.
Planning and Composition: Hyunsil Ko
Editing: Sunhong Kim
Video: AFP, Reuters
okko@yna.co.kr