as the calendar turns to September the United States of America braces for an intense showdown in the 2024 presidential election us we choose something different the race has officially entered a critical stretch with vice president kamla Harris and former president Donald Trump set to face off at the first presidential debate in less than a [Applause] week in short voting will officially begin this week in America the first ballots go out in North Carolina a critical sunb belt swing state then in about 2 weeks in-person voting will begin in three states Minnesota South Dakota and Virginia the kamla Harris and Donald Trump will be watching a few States more closely than others these are called the swing States or the Battleground States these are the states where the race is expected to be the closest with candidates of both the Democratic and Republican parties having very similar levels of support stand to put it simply only these states are likely to decide the next president of the United States good evening whoever I vote for I want them to respect me US little people are the people you shove us out and what have we got once we've seen our bodily autonomy go what comes next America can do [Music] better up until now now experts have named seven spring states in the 2024 election race which hold the key to the White House Arizona Georgia Michigan Nevada North Carolina Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in American elections it doesn't matter if you have the most votes overall it all depends on electoral votes when Americans go to polls they won't technically be voting for Donald Trump or kamla Harris they will be voting for members of The Electoral College each of the 50 states has a certain number of elector all members based on the state's population this year there are 538 electors the winner needs 270 elector all votes for a simple majority now in Most states the candidate who wins the popular vote gets the support of all the electors this means the winner gets all the electoral votes even if the margin is very close it also means that a president may win the popular vote but still lose the presidency five American presidents were declared winners despite losing the popular [Music] vote this is the current allocation of electoral votes for 2024 and 2028 and this is the Electoral College of the Swing States most of these states have historically been unpredictable swinging from one party to another red blue the presidential candidates will be focusing on these states instead of their Nationwide campaign let's take the first one Arizona the Grand Canyon State which borders Mexico for hundreds of miles Arizona will be a focal point for this year's election especially with the fury immigration debate in 2020 Arizona narrowly pushed Joe Biden to Victory Georgia Trump faces one of his four criminal cases in the state and a third of Georgia's population is African American one of the country's largest proportions of black residents it is also believed that this demographic was instrumental in Biden winning in 2020 Michigan now this great lake state has picked the winning presidential candidate in the last two elections despite backing Biden in 2020 it is symbolic of a nationwide protest against America's support for Israel in its war on Gaza Nevada the silver state has the highest unemployment rate at 5.1% and shows signs of flipping red despite voting blue for the last several Elections North Carolina is by far the key state to win for both Harris and Trump although Trump carried North Carolina in 2020 kamla Harris's entry has tightened the race to a tossup Pennsylvania the Keystone State where Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt it was pivotal in 2020 for Biden but this year the state is struggling with Rising prices and food insecurity lastly Wisconsin a key decider in both 2016 and 2020 it had sizable support for Kennedy Jr and Trump has described the state as really important meanwhile vice president kamla haris formerly accepted her nomination in this city so get ready for an intense showdown in the 2024 US presidential election and of course keep a close eye on these seven states the deciders when America decides [Music]