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Kinda Home State Advantage

Home States can often favour the candidate that comes from there, but what happens when your home state is already a safe state?

This is the case with both Joe Biden and Donald Trump, who as you may have guessed from the headline, are battling it out for their 'kinda' home state.

Both of these candidates are from safe Blue States (Democrats), and because of this they have both decided to adopt a different home state for the purpose of the Presidential Election.

Last year Donald Trump, a lifelong New Yorker, moved his official primary address to Florida, a notorious swing state that he needs to win in order to retain the presidency.

Joe Biden is slightly different however, as the home state that he has adopted, is actually his home state. Biden was born and raised in Pennsylvania, but later went to college in Delaware, where he remained and represented as a Senator for over forty years.

New York and Delaware have consistently voted for the Democratic Party's candidate in recent elections, and are all but guaranteed to remain that way in November.

However these 'kinda' home states are very important to each candidate's respective campaign, and it looks like home advantage could prevail come election night. Though Pennsylvania should go with Biden by a decent margin, Florida could narrowly remain as a Red State. 

Narrow enough for a repeat of the 2000 election between George W Bush and Al Gore ? That's not outside the realm of possibilities. 

This home state theory that both presidential candidates have clearly adopted, may make Kamala Harris a poor VP choice for Biden, as California is a safe Blue State by at least 10%, even on a bad day. While Trump's VP Mike Pence should keep his home state of Indiana relatively safe come November.

While Geography often isn't rated as a major issue for political campaigns, it is not irrelevant, and if home state matters, then there is certainly a deficiency in the Democrat's geographic spread, and it is a battle that the Republicans will have a good chance of winning.

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