Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning. The Electoral College is how the president (and vice president) of the United States is elected. In the U.S., there are 538 electors who each get an electoral vote between all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

It's not the popular vote that decides who wins the presidency — it's the outcome of the Electoral College​. This map shows how many votes each state gets in 2024.

The seven swing states have a combined total of 93 Electoral College votes, or 17.3% of the total, with both candidates devoting huge amounts of time and money trying to win them.