Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by a winning margin of just over 6M electoral college votes and in doing so, ensured he will inaugurated as the 46th US President on January 20th 2021. Arizona, one of the six swing states was won by Biden, with a margin of 10,457. Maricopa County can be found in the south-east quadrant of Arizona and was integral to Biden’s victory, due it boasting a large majority of the state — 4,573,310 to be precise. It also contains a wide arrange of urban and suburban areas, working-class and college educated individuals and a fine balance between white, Latino and other ethnicities.
Donald Trump, who refused to admit defeat after results were initially counted, citing election fraud, has this week recognised he is fighting a losing battle and conceded defeat to Joe Biden for the first time. Biden, who won Arizona, Virginia and Wisconsin, three of the six swing-states, would fundamentally not have dislodged Trump otherwise. A swing-state is the term given to a US State which has a similar number of Republican and Democratic voters, which makes winning these states essential, if a party wishes to win Presidency. The remaining three swing states are Ohio, Florida and Utah.
The largest winning percentage in Arizona came in 1936, where four-term president and Democrat, Franklin D. Roosevelt decimated Republican candidate, Alf Landon by a landslide 42.92%. The narrowest winning percentage came in 2020, with Joe Biden edging Donald Trump by 0.31%. Across the 28 US Elections since Arizona was admitted to statehood, the average winning percentage for candidates has been 6.05%, which demonstrates how difficult it is to win this state. Joe Biden winning Maricopa County, is not only an incredible achievement for Biden himself, but also a monumental victory for his political party, with the last win for the Democrats being back in 1996 with Bill Clinton.
