Poll Dancing: Here’s the Current Scorecard For the 11 States That Will Decide the Presidential Election

Every election cycle we hear the phrase “battleground states” on constant loop from political pundits and prognosticators alike. For 2016, there are (more or less) eleven hot contests on paper that will determine our next president, a spattering of states with a wide variety of voters and often a high electoral vote count that will be necessary to claim victory. Sure, votes in all states matter, but like in Animal Farm, some votes matter more than others, and these eleven states are the keys to victory for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

We still have 82 days until the general election; a lot can change between now and then, and the candidates still have three head-to-head debates to duke it out in what may be more closely watched TV than the time B.J. scrawled the word “GOODBYE” in stones on the helipad in 1983.

But as of today — August 17th, 2016 — here are the head-to-head polling numbers between the two primary party candidates for the Big 11 according to Real Clear Politics:

NEVADA

– 6 electoral votes – Clinton +2.3COLORADO – 9 electoral votes – Clinton +11.0WISCONSIN – 10 electoral votes – Clinton +9.4MICHIGAN – 16 electoral votes – Clinton +7.3OHIO – 18 electoral votes – Clinton +2.6IOWA – 6 electoral votes – Clinton +0.4PENNSYLVANIA – 20 electoral votes – Clinton +9.2NEW HAMPSHIRE – 4 electoral votes – Clinton +8.2VIRGINIA – 13 electoral votes – Clinton +10.0NORTH CAROLINA – 15 electoral votes – Clinton +2.0FLORIDA – 29 electoral votes – Clinton +4.5

And nationally, the former Secretary of State leads the real estate titan +6.0.

And of course… the game is 270 to win.

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[image via POLITICO]