Question of the Day #36

Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are major swing states in the 2016 presidential election.

上記の文で、swing stateの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "swing state" mean?

答えは、コメントに書いてください。
Write your answer in the Comments.

明日、ここに答えを書きます。
I will add the answer and other remarks here tomorrow.

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解答

意味：（とくに、大統領選挙においての）激戦州、（大統領選挙または上院・下院の過半数の）行方を左右する可能性のある州
swingは、「ブランコ」または「揺れる」の意味で、結果がはっきりしないことから、接戦州をこのように呼ぶ。battleground stateとも言う。

Answer

According to the Oxford Living Dictionaries:


A US state where the two major political parties have similar levels of support among voters, viewed as important in determining the overall result of a presidential election.

Etymology/語源

English Language & Usageが探し出した最も古い使用例は、 Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1953内にあった下記英文だが、文の内容はこれ以前に使われていたことを示唆している。

According to English Language & Usage:

The earliest example I could find is from the Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of 1953 from which it appears that the term was already in usage:

Finally I would like to say that we are a swing state. We are a swing state perhaps historically because the Republican and Democratic parties in this state have for some years now begun to build local political clubs in order to perform the...

Examples

• ‘he can won the swing states by talking about education and other issues that poll well’
• And Texas was/is on its way to becoming a swing state by 2024 or so, so this could have an impact on that.
• Every four years the Republican mindset says Wisconsin will be a swing state.