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American Government Lecture One (view source)
Revision as of 03:08, September 4, 2012
, 03:08, September 4, 2012→The Swing States: better
== The Swing States ==
== The Swing States ==
'''Swing states''' in a presidential election are [[state]]s in which neither the [[Republican]] nor [[Democratic]] candidate has a clear majority of the voters' support prior to a Presidential election, and a victory by either candidate in these states could swing the overall result in his favor. They are also known as "battleground states" because they are where the majority of the campaigning takes place for both parties.
States that consistently express a preference for the Democratic presidential nominee are known as "blue states"; states that consistently vote for the Republican presidential candidate are usually referred to as [[red state|red states]]. Swing states are sometimes called "purple states" because either side might win in a given year. Super PACs will likely spend millions of dollars in negative ads in these states. (A "negative ad" is a television advertisement that criticizes one candidate as a way of helping his opponent; often negative ads are most effective than positive ones.)
Here are the key swing states for the [[Presidential Election 2012]]: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia, for a total of 100 electoral votes.<ref>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/05/26/national/a080145D80.DTL#ixzz1w1roz7XG</ref>
== The Legislative Branch ==
== The Legislative Branch ==