Explainer Series
What is the impact of “swing states”
and Electoral College votes?
July 2024
Professor Gordon Flake
Chief Executive Officer, Perth USAsia Centre
Professor Gordon Flake has spent twenty-five years in the US foreign policy community focused on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia and now ten years in Australia’s Indian Ocean capital and is considered an expert on key strategic relationships in the broader Indo-Pacific. He has authored many scholarly and policy studies on security developments in the region, and their policy implications for the US and its regional partners. He is a Governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham) and serves on the board of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. Prior to joining the Centre, he was the Executive Director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, an Associate Director of the Program on Conflict Resolution at The Atlantic Council of the United States, and Director for Research and Academic Affairs at the Korea Economic Institute of America.
Watch the Explainer
Americans will head to the polls on November 5, 2024, to decide the next president of the United States. The highly anticipated rematch between Democratic Party candidate and incumbent President Joe Biden, and former President and Republican Party candidate Donald Trump will be watched closely worldwide. In this special edition explainer, Professor Gordon Flake breaks down the impact of “swing states” on the result and explains how the US’ Electoral College system works.
*The footage in this series was recorded prior to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on 13, July 2024.