By Emma Wesel

When it comes down to it, the battleground states will determine today whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will be the next President. Also known as swing states, battleground states have a large impact on the presidential election because their state’s voting can go either Republican or Democrat.

The battleground states in the 2016 election include Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Of the thirteen highly contested swing states, the states that most consistently decide the election are Florida and Ohio, so you’d better believe both campaigns will be focusing their attention on these two in the upcoming week. Florida has 29 electoral votes and Ohio carries 18. Democrats have won both Florida and Ohio in the last two presidential elections, however Republicans won both states in 2000 and 2004, so it’s hard to predict how the states will vote in this election.

Florida is consistently a fought after state. In the 2000 race between George W. Bush and Al Gore, the winner was decided based on who won the state of Florida’s electoral votes.

Other notable battleground states include Nevada and North Carolina. Nevada carries 6 electoral votes while North Carolina has 15. Both candidates appear to be in a tight race in Nevada, partially due to Trump’s improvement with Hispanic voters.

A win in North Carolina would give Trump a nice push towards the required 270 votes to win the Electoral College. North Carolina has voted Republican in 8 of the last 10 elections, including most recently in 2012. It is frequently one of the most contested states behind Florida and Ohio, and 2012 was no exception. Mitt Romney beat Obama by 2%. Trump will be looking for the same Republican base to come out and vote.