Swing (politics)

When people talk about elections, or votes, they use the term swing, to say how much a result changed, compared to the last vote or election. Very often, a swing is done based on the party, and not the candidate. The candidates of a party may change between elections. Usually, the results are published as graphics, to say so many voters that used to elect a candidate from one party now pick a candidate from another.

When electing an US president, there are states, that only have a few votes, but where these few votes often change the result. These are known as swing states.