With less than three months to go before the election, Harris and Trump continue to compete closely in many of the key battleground states that will determine the Electoral College vote. Both candidates have leads in some of these states, though they vary from poll to poll. In many cases, the margin is within the margin of error, and a significant amount of ground work will be required to close that gap.
In the meantime, a number of political events have taken place that will shape the race. The Democrats’ top challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, dropped out of the race in June 2024 after a poor performance in a televised debate with Trump. Biden endorsed Harris soon after, and she became the Democratic party’s nominee in early August.
Across the country, voters have also been voicing strong opinions on a range of issues that will be a focus in the coming months. Those include the economy, foreign policy, and health care. The issue of the economy continues to rank as the most important factor in the presidential race. More than four in 10 voters say the candidates’ positions on this issue will influence their choice of candidate.
In the United States, 538 electoral votes are awarded based on each state’s population. Each state gets two votes for its senators and one vote for its members of the House of Representatives. All states except Maine and Nebraska use a winner-takes-all system, which means that a candidate must win a majority of electoral votes to be elected president.