According to new poll, Harris and Trump are tied in the most important swing state

According to a new Marist poll, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are tied in the key swing state of Pennsylvania, with both receiving 49 percent approval ratings.

Because 38 of the 50 states voted for the same political party from 2000 to 2016, the winner is almost always determined by a handful of “swing states,” also known as “purple states” or “swing states.” This year's election will likely hinge on seven of those states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada and North Carolina.

The Marist poll also included the swing states Wisconsin and Michigan.

In Michigan, Harris received 52 percent of support and Trump 47 percent. In Wisconsin, Harris was also narrowly ahead with 50 percent, one percentage point ahead of Trump, who received 49 percent.

Newsweek has emailed Harris and Trump's campaign teams outside of normal business hours for comment.

“Ultimately, this election will be decided by the results in some swing states (notably Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona),” said Andrew Wroe, a lecturer in American politics at the University of Kent in the US. Newsweek.

“So political junkies are very focused on the state-level polls. They see that the polls in the swing states show that the race is much closer than the national polls suggest.”

According to the latest estimates from poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight, the race is close in all seven swing states.

The candidates were tied in Arizona, while Trump narrowly led by 0.3 percentage points in Georgia. In North Carolina, Harris had a similarly narrow lead of 0.2 percentage points, and in Nevada, Harris had 47.3 percent support and Trump 46.3 percent.

According to the Pennsylvania poll compiled by FiveThirtyEight, Harris would receive 48.3 percent and Trump 46.4 percent.

In Wisconsin, Harris was ahead by 2.7 points with 48.7, and in Michigan, Harris had 48.2 points compared to 47.5 points for Trump.

Polls are seen as snapshots rather than forecasts. While they provide insight into voters' current mood toward the candidates, the race for the White House is far from being decided.

Polls measure the popular vote. A presidential candidate can win the popular vote and still lose the election if he or she does not receive 270 of the 538 Electoral College votes. This number is based on each state's delegates to the Senate and House of Representatives. It should be noted that polls have a margin of error, often at least a few percentage points.

Polls have also underestimated support for Trump in the past, but pollsters now believe that this is being better taken into account.

“Many pollsters today use past election results [history] to correct Trump’s undercount,” Cliff Young, president of Ipsos Polling, said earlier Newsweek.

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