Because they have a better chance to get people to vote for them. The election is basically a math problem. The person who reaches 270 electoral votes wins. I live in California and the election is over before my 53 electoral votes are counted if the states add up correctly in the swing states.
they can potentially be won by either major-party candidate
Some states are more important than others in a presidential election due to their electoral vote counts and swing state status. States like California and Texas have a large number of electoral votes, making them critical for candidates aiming to reach the 270 needed for victory. Additionally, swing states, which can vote for either major party in an election, often receive more attention from candidates as they can be pivotal in determining the election outcome. This focus on key states influences campaign strategies and resource allocation.
Swing States
Swing states.
Undoubtedly, in the 2012 election, it was swing states that helped President Obama to gain the electoral votes he needed to win. Among the most important swing states that he won were Ohio and Florida, as well as a blue state that was supposed to be in play-- Pennsylvania.
Ohio is so important in the election season because it is a swing state. This means it is one of the few states in the Union that is not heavily Democratic or Republican and can vote either way. These states are often what decides the outcome of the election. Florida and Nevada are other swing states. Ohio has been a swing state in most Presidential elections, in large part because its population mirrors that of the US as a whole. No Republican candidate has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio's 18 electoral votes, the most of any swing state except Florida (27 votes), which has only really been competitive since the extremely close 2000 election.
Swing states are states where the level of support for the competing political parties is close, making them crucial in determining the outcome of an election. These states often have a history of voting for different parties in past elections, and their electoral votes can swing the overall outcome in favor of one party or another.
A swing vote. On a larger scale, the media sometimes refers to certain states as "swing states."
Typically during election times these are referred to as Battleground States. In some cases they are also known as Swing States.
It was a key swing state. It normally decides the winer of the election most years because of how close the rest of the country is. It is the biggest swing state. Democrats have an advantage in every election. Most "Blue states" have more Electoral votes than Red states
In United States presidential politics, a swing state (also, battleground state or purple state) is a state in which no single candidate or party has overwhelming support in securing that state's electoral college votes. Such states are targets of both major political parties in presidential elections, since winning these states is the best opportunity for a party to gain electoral votes. Non-swing states are sometimes called safe states, because one candidate has strong enough support that he or she can safely assume that he or she will win the state's votes.
Ohio is what is known as a "Swing" state. First of all, a little about the electoral system. When one votes for president in the US, one is really voting which way the "electors" of that state will vote for president in the Electoral College. In most states when the majority of the population votes for a certain candidate, all the electors of that state will vote for that candidate in the Electoral College. The number of electors in a state is equal to the number of representatives and senators that state has in Congress. Even though Ohio lost two representatives after the 2010 Census, it still has a fairly large number of electors and therefore an important state to win in a presidential election. Ohio is knows as a "Swing State". Unlike state like New York or California which will almost always lean one way in an election; and Indiana and Texas which will almost always lean the other way, Ohio can swing from one side to another from election to election. Since about 40 or 44 states generally always lean in a particular way, the swing states become the battleground for presidential candidates. Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Colorado and Virginia are major "Swing" or "battleground" states.