A new poll of North Carolina voters shows Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump tied in the battleground state less than two months from the general election.
The Republican presidential nominee’s slight 44-43 percent lead over his Democratic rival for the Oval Office is within the plus or minus 3.86 point margin of error for the survey, according to an Elon University Poll report released Tuesday.
Six percent of voters support Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. The survey of 799 registered voters was conducted Sept. 12-16, but 644 of those identified themselves as likely voters in the November election.
“This election is so tight right now, that small swings of a few points should be expected between now and November,” said Jason Husser, assistant professor of political science at Elon and director of the Elon University Poll in a statement. “North Carolina has been extremely important over the last several election cycles with very tight election outcomes. These numbers suggest that will continue to be the case, and both campaigns would do well to continue to focus on the Old North State.”
North Carolina has mostly voted red since about 1980, but voters supported Barack Obama in 2008 before Republican candidate Mitt Romney narrowly won the state in 2012.
Most voters polled thought Trump would be better for wealthy people, whites and men, while most believed Clinton would protect the interests of the poor, women and minorities. When asked how the two compared to previous presidential candidates, 62 percent said Trump is a worse Republican nominee than normal and 51 percent said Clinton was worse than past Democratic nominees.
The poll reveals strong divides along racial lines, with 98 percent of black voters planning on voting for Clinton and a mere 2 percent for Trump despite his recent efforts to make inroads with minorities. Sixty-five percent of white voters said they would support Trump on Election Day, while 35 percent said they would be for Hillary. The Republican is attracting 55 percent of male voters, while the first female presidential nominee of a major party maintains her lead among women by a 53-47 margin.
When asked whether they were more or less likely to vote for Clinton because she would be the first female president, 87 percent said the historical novelty made no difference to them.
