A new poll has Hillary Clinton in a virtual tie with Donald Trump in Missouri, which could spell trouble for Trump given that Missouri voted for Mitt Romney in 2012 and John McCain in 2008.
Clinton leads Trump by 1 point among registered Missouri voters, 41-40, according to a new St. Louis Post-Dispatch/Mason-Dixon Polling & Research poll released Friday. Another 9 percent say they are undecided.
Missouri is no longer a bellwether state, one that accurately predicts presidential election. It went for the last two Republican candidates, both of whom lost to President Obama.
Before that, Missouri had gone to the eventual general election winner in 12 consecutive presidential elections.
Both candidates were viewed unfavorably by about half of the survey’s respondents. Forty-five percent said they viewed the former secretary of state unfavorably, and 51 percent said the same for Trump. Clinton did better than Trump in terms of favorability, as 42 percent viewed her in a positive light, compared to just 33 percent for the billionaire businessman.
The poll was conducted July 23-24, after the Republican National Convention finished and before the Democratic Party’s convention began. By telephone, it surveyed 625 registered Missouri voters who said they are likely to vote in November, and it carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
