During the month of August, the jobless rate actually increased in half of the ten swing states, which are states that are considered the most common battlegrounds for the United States during the presidential elections. With the elections steadily approaching, the fact that the jobless rate has increased in these states could have a major effect on the outcome of the poll. Unemployment numbers rose in several states, including Wisconsin, Iowa, North Carolina, and Nevada. The information on the increase in unemployment for these states was provided from Labor Department figures. The unemployment rate did drop in Colorado and New Mexico while staying the same in several other states, including Florida and Ohio. The number of jobless individuals in more than half of these states is currently below the national average, which stands at 8.1 percent.

The changes in the unemployment rates for several of these swing states could have a huge influence on the decisions that voters make, especially when deciding whether or not the current President, Barack Obama, will be able to continue to help these unemployment numbers decline and whether or not the policies he has set are actually helping to improve the economy or not. Some may feel as though his policies have not done much good for Americans and that Americans may be off worse than they were several years ago, prior to Barack Obama being elected as President.

One political scientist for the University of Texas, Bruce Buchanan, has said, “In the last six months or so, the trends have never been negative from Obama’s point of view — the growth has been slow, but it’s been steady.” He also said, “And that has gradually defanged the economic issue as a promising one for Romney.”

A number of employees have made cuts to the amount of jobs available in several of the electoral swing states. A report from the Labor Department, which was available earlier on in the month, showed that the unemployment rate for the United States as a whole had dropped from 8.3 percent during the month of July to 8.1 percent during the month of August. However, there were increases from state to state. In fact, the state of Wisconsin saw an increase from 7.3 percent during the month of July to 7.5 percent during the month of August. There were also slight increases in New Hampshire and Iowa. The jobless rate during the month of August for the state of Ohio was at 7.2 percent while the jobless rate stayed at 8.8 percent for the state of Florida during the month of August. These two states are considered two of the most important states for the elections.