US Presidential Polls: What Are Swing States? What Will Happen If Kamala Harris, Donald Trump Get Equal Votes?

US Polls 2024: A candidate needs 270 out of the 538 available Electoral votes to win.

US Presidential Election 2024: Voting for the presidential election will take place in the United States on Tuesday, November 5. However, discussions are swirling about who will take the seat of the world's most powerful leader.

Voting locations will open between 7:00 am and 9:00 am local time in various states, which translates to 4:30 pm to 9:30 pm Indian Standard Time (IST) due to the different US time zones, according to media reports.

Key Swing States

The competition is particularly fierce in key swing states that could influence the outcome, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin in the industrial Midwest; Nevada and Arizona in the West; and Georgia and North Carolina in the South.

In the final survey by The New York Times/Siena, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is leading or nearly tied with former Republican President Donald Trump in all swing states, except Arizona, where Trump holds a slight lead of a few percentage points.

Who Is Expected To Win?

Trump's team appears to be leading in all the surveys. Harris's campaign indicated over the weekend that late-deciding voters, particularly women, are favouring her by a double-digit margin. Among Democrats, there is a feeling that Harris's popularity is peaking as the campaign comes to a close.

A candidate needs 270 out of the 538 available Electoral votes to win.

What Happens If There's a Tie in the US Elections?

In a 269-269 tie or if no candidate gets 270 Electoral votes due to third-party candidates, a "contingent election" occurs.  In a contingent election, the winner is decided by the US House of Representatives. Each state's delegation casts one vote, and a majority of these state votes is needed to win.