Swing States in Election 2012

With the 2012 presidential election expected to be a close one, the swing states are getting a great deal of attention from both campaigns. Coined purple states on an episode of Today during the 2000 presidential election because of their mixture of Republican (red) and Democrat (blue) voters, these states are always bombarded with ads at election time, and visited by candidates numerous times.

According to Fox Business, this election year, polls show that purple states include: Nevada, Florida, Colorado, Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Michigan. Not surprisingly, both major parties are holding their conventions in purple states. Republicans will hold their convention in Florida. The Democrat convention will take place in North Carolina, now expected to go to Romney, after the unemployment rate rose from 9.4 to 9.6 in July.

Mitt Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan, is from the swing state of Wisconsin, which was comfortably won by Obama in 2008—but with Ryan on the ticket, will likely end up in the Republican column this time around.

As of August 17, polling suggests that Romney/Ryan is gaining momentum in several of the undecided states: Nevada, Florida, Colorado, Wisconsin, Ohio, Virginia and Iowa. One thing that all seven have in common is that unemployment rose in each of these states in July.

While—as reported by Politico—both Republican and Democrat critics say the choice of Ryan could cost Romney the key state of Florida, given Ryan's controversial healthcare plan, most analysts agree that the 2012 presidential election will be about jobs and the economy.

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