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Widespread gains for President-elect Donald Trump helped him carry a number of key swing states that decided the 2024 race.

In Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – places President Biden won in 2020 that flipped back to Trump this year – turnout data from the Associated Press shows a marked shift to the right in nearly every county in each state. Victories in these three states put Trump over the needed 

Trump solidly held onto his margins in rural counties — despite attempts from Democrats to shave down those leads. Plus, compared to past elections, Republicans increased their vote count in the more liberal urban areas and competitive suburbs where Harris was banking on high turnout.

In Pennsylvania, tens of thousands more voters in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh cast their ballots for Trump compared to 2016, a striking shift in two Democratic strongholds. Trump also saw an increase in support throughout a number of large suburban counties that border Philadelphia.

In Georgia, Trump also received more votes compared to his performance in past elections in the state’s liberal-leaning cities and suburbs. Harris was counting on voters in the Atlanta metropolitan area to show up, as they did for Biden in historic numbers. But many of those Democratic shifts from 2020 in Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton and Gwinnett counties did not hold, and instead, Republicans gained votes.

Trends in Wisconsin appear similar, though Dane County seemed to buck the trend with a less “boomerang” shaped voting rate. However, though overall voter turnout was up in the county that encompasses the capital of Madison, Harris won proportionally less compared to the percentage of the vote Biden won four years ago. The state’s major urban area, Milwaukee, mirrored similar urban areas in other swing states: moving slightly to the right, towards Trump.

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Election 2024

Elena Moore

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Connie Hanzhang Jin

President-elect Donald Trump won the election by flipping Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin after President Biden won them in 2020. Looking at how Democratic counties voted explains how he did it.

These charts show how Trump's strategy to lose by less won the swing states

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