Now that Election day It’s finally here, there are some counties that experts are watching closely as their results could indicate who will be the next president.

known as “leading counties” These swing counties, with a few exceptions, have consistently sided with the winning candidate for decades.

Matthew Bergbower, a political science professor at Indiana State University, described a leading county as a “microcosm of the nation” in terms of political preferences.

Although his county, Vigo County in Indiana, went astray by voting for Donald Trump in 2020, it has chosen the winning candidate in every election since 1952.

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Voters cast their ballots during the final day of early voting in Gwinnett County, Georgia, on November 1, 2024. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Clallam County in Washington State stands out as the only county to have voted for the winning presidential candidate in every election since 1980. The people of Clallam County are proud of its history as the “last leading county” in the United States. Joined.

This year, the county appears as divided as ever.

Pam Blakeman, chairwoman of the Clallam County Republicans, told Fox News Digital that she thinks the election “will be close in our county, but I see them leaning toward Trump.”

She bases this on good Republican turnout and a ground game that she says “is the most active I’ve ever seen.”

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SBA Pro-Life America says its voter contact program has knocked on 4 million doors in swing states. (SBA Pro-Life America)

However, Ben Anderstone, a progressive political consultant based in Washington, told Fox News Digital that “a Trump victory in Clallam County would be a little surprising at this point.”

“This year, it seems likely that Clallam County will be on the left of the country,” he said. “In our August primary, Clallam County was very Democratic, about 57% to 43%. The lower turnout voters in Clallam County are much more Republican, so we expect the presidential election to be much closer Still, our model suggests that Clallam only fits the Democratic 53%-47%.”

Like Clallam County, the presidential election could easily go either way. However, with former President Trump, the Republican candidate, and Vice President Harris, the Democratic candidate, facing razor-thin margins, three counties – Bucks, Erie and Northampton in Pennsylvania – stand out as particularly important.

Pennsylvania, which has 19 electoral votes, is the largest oscillating state and therefore the biggest target for both Trump and Harris. During this election cycle, Trump and Harris have had a significant presence in the state and in these three counties.

Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, leads a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on November 4, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)

The last day before the elections, Trump campaigned in both eastern and western Pennsylvania. and Harris spent the entire day making stops across the state.. Vice presidential candidates Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have also been making stops in Pennsylvania throughout the campaign.

“Both campaigns see the path to the White House passing through Pennsylvania,” said Berwood Yost, director of the national polling group Center for Opinion Research. Similarly, he said the path to victory in Pennsylvania runs through Bucks, Erie and Northampton counties.

Bucks is a primarily suburban county just north of Philadelphia. Erie, which is located in the northwest corner of Pennsylvania on Lake Erie, is primarily rural and significantly smaller in terms of population. Finally, Northampton, in eastern Pennsylvania, is a suburb and is home to Lehigh University, a private research school.

According to Yost, all three reflect many of the key demographics, such as racial makeup, educational attainment and population density, that make Pennsylvania so competitive.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appears at a campaign rally on October 29, 2024 in Allentown, Pennsylvania (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images).

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President Biden won Pennsylvania by a narrow margin of 1.17 percent in 2020. The margins in Bucks (4.37), Erie (1.03), and Northampton (0.72) were similarly narrow.

Yost said that like the rest of the country, people in these counties are “generally dissatisfied” with the economy and want to see some type of change, something that is a positive indicator for Trump. However, he said that “the closeness of the race makes it seem like they haven’t been able to take advantage of that.”

“I think part of the reason the race is so close is that that message hasn’t been consistently articulated by the front runners,” he said. “Those distractions have raised some concerns among some voters.”

Yost said the race will come down to what independents and traditional Republicans who are not enthusiastic about Trump decide at the polls.

“For me, that will really be the turning point of this election,” he said. “If they flounder and think it’s the economy, that’s a plus for Trump. If they go to the voting booth and think about something else, that’s a negative for the Trump campaign.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 election campaign, exclusive interviews and more in our Fox News Digital Election Center.