The manager of President Trump’s 2020 campaign said that Trump thinks he can win a few states that Hilary Clinton carried in 2016, while repeating his victories in the key states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The Democratic candidate will, of course, have to win some of the states that Clinton lost in order to win in 2020.
The problem is that both parties are continuing to fight for the same handful of states, with hardly a thought for the rest of the nation. While the states that are up for grabs may slowly change over time, the overall number of competitive states has decreased. This means that more and more of the country is left out of the presidential election conversation entirely. Presidential candidates rarely or never visit most states. Worse, they tailor their policy positions to the needs of swing states alone—with serious consequences.
Until every vote matters equally, the system will force candidates to spend almost all of their time and money on winning the votes of the small percentage of the country that live in big swing states like Florida and Pennsylvania, ignoring most of the small states. That is not the system that our founders envisioned, and is not one that is working today.