▲ From left, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, and Republican candidate Donald Trump (Source: Yonhap News TV)

Just two months before the U.S. presidential election in November, Taylor Swift, a famous American pop singer, declared on the 10th (local time) that she supports Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. Within 24 hours, 400,000 people accessed the voter registration site through a virtual link Swift posted on social media. While there is a difference in approval ratings between former Republican President Trump, who is running for re-election, this move is expected to have a significant impact on the election results.

Unlike Korea, the United States uses an indirect election method in which 538 electors selected from each state choose the president on behalf of the voters. When voters cast their ballots on Election Day, the electors gather a month later to select the president and vice president according to the results of the voters' vote. It can be seen as a winner-takes-all system, in that a candidate with many votes in a state, occupies all the electors in that state. The magic number 270 because it is necessary to win 270 electors, which is more than a majority of the total number of electors, to become the president.

Just as the political characteristics vary between each region in Korea, the U.S. also has its own unique political color by state. There are blue states that support Democrats, red states that support Republicans, and swing states that change their dominant parties with each election. The conservative red states are traditionally cited as states located in the central and southern parts of the U.S., such as Iowa, Kansas, and Mississippi, along with Alaska in the far north. In comparison, about 20 states, including Washington, Minnesota, Oregon, California, and New York, which are located in the western and northeastern coastal regions of the U.S., are known as progressive blue states. Since the blue and red states are classified as fixed supporters, candidates from each party compete fiercely to win over voters in competing states.

The regions that are attracting attention as contending states in the 2024 U.S. presidential election are the Rust Belt and Sun Belt of the United States. In the past, the Rust Belt was a manufacturing center and representative industrial zone in the United States. These include West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin in the Midwest and Central North of the United States. Traditionally, there were many Democratic supporters as a large number of manufacturing workers were distributed. However, declines due to globalization and changes in industrial structure and the economic difficulties made political orientation change accordingly. In the 2016 presidential election, Republican candidate Trump won with the support of the region.

The Sun Belt refers to the sunny southern states of the United States, where the climate is milder and more pleasant than in the north, so many factories, companies, and people flowed in during the 1970s. As a result, it became a center of high-tech industries where more than 40% of the U.S. population currently resides. These include Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Georgia. Traditionally, many Christians lived in these states, showing a conservative tendency, and the Republican Party had a strong position. It is also an area that voted for Republican Trump in the 2016 presidential election. However, Arizona and Georgia sided with Biden in the 2020 presidential election for the first time in decades, as more people migrated to find work in California and New York, where Democratic support is strong.

There are a total of 44 electors in the three states of the Rust Belt and a total of 49 electors in the Sun Belt. As the battle between the two candidates for the presidential election is fierce, it is observed that the Republican former President Donald Trump, needs to win Pennsylvania and Vice President Kamala Harris needs to win the South's Sun Belt. The results of the U.S. presidential election have had a great influence on Korea's cultural and economic aspects for generations. It is time for attentiveness and attention to the U.S. election, which is two months away.

By Kim So-ha, reporter  lucky.river16@gmai.com

<저작권자 © The Campus Journal, 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지>