Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump leads in three key battleground states over Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton as he tries to hold onto momentum heading into the first presidential debate on Monday night.
According to new Fox News polls of likely voters released Wednesday, Trump leads Clinton by 5 points in the key swing states of Ohio and North Carolina, and 3 points over the former secretary of state in Nevada, where Trump has made gains in recent weeks.
In Ohio, Trump leads with 42 percent support to Clinton’s 37 percent. Trump is backed by 45 percent of North Carolinians, with Clinton taking only 40 percent. Meanwhile, Trump takes 43 percent in Nevada as Clinton pulls 40 percent support. Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson takes 8 percent in Nevada as well as 6 percent in both Ohio and North Carolina. Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee, is backed by two percent in Ohio and does not register support in Nevada (where she is not on the ballot) or North Carolina.
The margin of error in each poll is 3.5 percent.
In all three states, Trump’s lead is buoyed by support amongst independent voters. At least 40 percent of independents back Trump in each state, while Clinton doesn’t reach 25 percent support among the group in any of the respective states. Johnson reaches double digits among independents in each state, registering as high as 21 percent in Nevada.
Additionally, all three Republican candidates for Senate, including two incumbents, are leading with less than 50 days to election day.
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman leads by 14 points over former Gov. Ted Strickland (51-37 percent), while North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr tops Deborah Ross by a 6-point margin. Meanwhile, Rep. Joe Heck leads Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto in the race to replace retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, taking 43 percent to Cortez Masto’s 36 percent.
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory also holds a slim lead over Democratic challenger Roy Cooper in his battle to win re-election to the governorship. McCrory has been under fire amid his continued support for the North Carolina bathroom law which says that individuals must use the bathroom that matches the sex on their birth certificate, leading businesses and entities to pull events from the state.
