Both candidates moved across seven key swing states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada,North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – engaging voters who are unsure of their electoral intentions and communicating with them the issues that concern them and are urgent to them.
While voters in these battleground states share the same concerns as the rest of Americans, there are some issues that stand out as key to their residents:
Economy first
still Economy The most prominent factor in directing voters’ opinions due to the various dimensions associated with it such as growth rate, unemployment, consumer confidence, And inflation.
And when it comes to the economy, 44 percent of Americans say they are no better off than they were when President Joe Biden took office, equating to the most negative number on this question in the data since 1986, according to a recent ABC News poll. “Ipsos”.
Moreover, while inflation is down and employment is strong, those gains have not been reflected in most people’s lives, with 59 percent saying the economy is getting worse, more than double the number who say it is getting better (23 percent).
Among registered voters who say the economy is deteriorating, Trump leads Harris by a wide margin of 53 points, 74-21 percent.
A FiveThirtyEight538 analysis of exit polls found that nearly all swing states ranked the economy as a key issue for voters.
House prices, fracking, immigration
Home affordability is another major issue for voters in swing states like Nevada and North Carolina, where home prices have skyrocketed.
Median home prices in North Carolina grew from $193,200 in the 2017-2019 survey to $280,600 in the 2020-2022 survey, making it the seventh-largest increase in the country in terms of percentage, according to the American Community Survey.
And in NevadaThe home value index has increased by 34 percent since the beginning of the Biden presidency, which is slightly faster than the rate of increase nationwide.
Grocery, gas, and housing costs also resonate with voters across many swing states.
In Pennsylvania, hydraulic fracturing (a method of stimulating the extraction of gas from non-porous strata by fluid flowing between rocks underground) is a major local issue with relevance to both the economy and the environment.
And it counts Immigration Another major issue for many voters in swing states — especially those in the “Sun Belt” region (comprising Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas).
Arizona, as a border state, has been a regular campaign stop for Trump and Harris, who often discussed immigration while there.
It is also an important issue for voters in Nevada – a state where Latinos and Hispanics are the largest minority, making up 28 percent of the population.
And use Trump Immigration to attack Harris’ policies on the same issue, placing the blame entirely on her for the situation at the border and clinging to his inaccurate reference to her as a “border czar.”
Immigration is often linked to other key issues such as: CrimeThis is a strategy that Trump used in his campaign.
Even though American citizens commit crimes at higher rates than undocumented immigrants, Trump portrayed them as “criminals” who would “slit your throat” at a campaign stop in Wisconsin in September.
While in Tempe, Arizona, last week, he also criticized the Biden-Harris administration for its handling of the border, calling the United States a “trash can of the world.”
Miscarriage
Abortion is a major issue for voters after the Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion.
This election cycle, Democrats have taken advantage of this Supreme Court decision, in which Trump often boasts about his role, as the Harris campaign says that reproductive freedom remains one of the main issues among uncertain voters.
Abortion remains a central issue among Democrats, who were able to fend off a “red wave” during the 2022 elections by directing their messages around it.
Several states, including the swing states Arizona and Nevada, have measures on the ballot that would amend their state constitutions with specific language to protect or recognize the right to abortion for all citizens.
And it shows Opinion polls Abortion is a more important issue in Wisconsin than it is nationally, as the legal status of abortion was hotly debated in the state after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leading to a 15-month period in which no legal abortions were performed. In the state under an 1849 law that criminalized abortion.
