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With US Election a Week Away, Trump and Biden Campaign in Contested States

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - With one week until Election Day, Republican U.S.
   President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice
   President Joe Biden, headed Tuesday to political battleground states in
   a frantic push to shore up critical support to win a four-year term in
   the White House.

   Their travel plans reflect the state of the race, with polls showing
   Biden ahead of Trump by seven to nine percentage points nationally and
   about half that in contested states that are likely to determine the
   overall outcome.

   On Tuesday, Trump is on defense, headed to three midwestern states he
   won in his upset victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 --
   Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska -- and likely needs to capture again
   to win a second term.

   But polls show him trailing in Michigan and Wisconsin and, while he is
   ahead statewide in reliably Republican Nebraska, he trails in the race
   to win a single elector in an Omaha-based congressional district that
   could play a role in deciding next week's national winner.

   Meanwhile, the seemingly confident Biden is on offense, headed to two
   stops in the southern state of Georgia, which has not backed a Democrat
   for president since 1992. Pollsters show Biden and Trump locked in a
   tossup to win the state's 16 Electoral College votes.

   Typically, all of a state's Electoral College votes go to the candidate
   who receives the most popular votes in that state. Both Trump and Biden
   are looking to piece together state-by-state victories to get to a
   majority of 270 in the 538-member Electoral College, where the most
   populous states hold the most sway.

   Trump lost the national popular vote four years ago and is likely to
   again this time, but he retains a chance to win the presidency a second
   time in the Electoral College if he can claim wins in key battleground
   states he is visiting in the final days of the contentious campaign.
   Four years ago, Trump narrowly won three northern states --
   Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin -- that traditionally have voted
   for Democrats. He likely needs to capture at least Pennsylvania and its
   20 electoral votes, along with holding other key states he won in 2016,
   in order to remain the U.S. leader.

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