COTW: The State of Play

The election will be a blow-out or NOT depending on which pundit is bloviating.  Granted there is a lot of special pleading going on. Here is the electoral map according to the WaPo.  US Person has already expressed his tuppence worth, writing that the election will be close as 'the Donald' makes a move on Hillary from behind. The recent presidential elections have been decided by the so-called "battleground states" that have large electoral counts and a split electorate. In this map they are colored tan, perhaps a cryptic nod to the emerging importance of the Latino vote.

Of interest is the 'Lone Star' State, Texas, that has recently become competitive in the polling. Clinton leads that state by only one point. States where the margin is greater than ten are considered safe and colored appropriately. States that are only leaning towards one candidate are colored a lighter shade. According to WaPo Trump is catching up in the Upper Midwest, but Clinton still holds leads in the usual big-vote battlegrounds giving her a large electoral college advantage.  Third-party candidates are on the ballot in over forty states, so their supporters may have a role in deciding the contest between the two 'mainstream' candidates.