Pennsylvania

A key state with 20 electoral votes, Pennsylvania has swung from being a Republican-leaning state during much of the 20th century to being a battleground state in present-day politics.


From 1992 to 2012, the state had backed the Democratic candidate in six straight

elections

. However, it was won by Republican candidate Donald Trump in 2016.



Trump won the Rust Belt state by just 45,000 votes in the previous presidential elections, promising to bring blue-collar jobs back to the economically depressed region.

The president typically polls well on his handling of the economy, but overall he is trailing Biden in recent opinion polls in Pennsylvania by several percentage points.

Trump has attacked the former vice president for his prior support of liberalizing trade deals that facilitated the offshoring of jobs.

Biden has chosen the state where he was born to deliver some of his most forceful speeches of the campaign, including a late August address in which he condemned Trump for fomenting violence at nationwide protests over racial equality.