Revisit the 2020 election results map ahead of the 2024 vote

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are heading into Election Day pinch razor-thin margins separating them successful nan handful of states that will yet determine nan winner. 

The 2024 election representation bears immoderate similarities to nan scenery that Trump encountered successful 2020, erstwhile he was defending nan White House from a situation by Joe Biden. 

Trump is hoping to triumph backmost states that he captured successful 2016, erstwhile he punctured nan Democratic "blue wall" en way to nan presidency. Harris is hoping to clasp nan states that Mr. Biden won, which would springiness her a comfortable triumph successful nan Electoral College.

The 2020 Electoral College map

In 2020, Mr. Biden won 81,284,666 votes nationwide, compared to Trump's 74,224,319. 

But nan presidency is won successful the Electoral College, not nan celebrated vote. Mr. Biden bested Trump by that measure, too, winning 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232. A mostly successful nan Electoral College — 270 votes — is needed to triumph nan White House.

The Biden run built a conjugation that helped him recapture once-reliable bluish states that Trump had flipped successful 2016, returning Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to nan Democratic column. He besides picked up Arizona and Georgia to solidify his victory.

This representation shows nan states that Trump and Mr. Biden won successful 2020:

For 2024, CBS News considers 7 states to beryllium battleground states that will mostly determine nan race. Those states are:

• Arizona
• Georgia
• Michigan
• Nevada
• North Carolina
• Pennsylvania
• Wisconsin

Pennsylvania's 19 electoral votes make it nan biggest prize of nan nighttime — a triumph location makes winning nan basal 270 electoral votes overmuch easier for either candidate. 

How nan electoral representation has changed since 2020

The Electoral College votes are apportioned based connected each state's practice successful Congress. Every authorities gets astatine slightest 3 votes — 1 for each of their 2 senators, and 1 for each typical successful nan House. (This gives smaller states outsized power connected nan result, since a authorities for illustration Wyoming aliases Vermont is guaranteed much electoral votes than it would person if they were divided strictly by population.) The District of Columbia besides gets 3 votes, though residents person nary voting members successful Congress.

The electoral votes are reapportioned each 10 years arsenic states summation aliases suffer House seats based connected their fluctuating populations. Those determinations are made by nan results of nan U.S. Census. If a state's organization accrued comparative to different states, it mightiness summation a spot aliases two. If its organization decreased, a spot mightiness spell elsewhere. 

Six states gained electoral votes successful nan 2024 race: Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon gained 1 each, and Texas gained two. Conversely, 7 states mislaid a vote: California, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Here is simply a look astatine wherever states person gained and mislaid Electoral College votes since 2020:

In:
• United States Electoral College
• Joe Biden
• Donald Trump
• 2020 Census
• 2024 Elections