Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are statistically tied in three key battleground states with heavy Hispanic populations, according to a round of Emerson College polls released Thursday.
Clinton has opened up a 2-point lead over Trump in Arizona, 44-42, though the Republican presidential hopeful remains within the poll’s 3.9 percent margin of error. Trump leads his Democratic opponent by a single percentage point in Florida, 45-44, and the two major party presidential nominees are tied in Nevada at 43 percent each.
Emerson College also polled voters in Rhode Island, a traditionally blue state where Clinton carries a 20-point lead over the New York billionaire.
The polls suggest that voters who supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary may be warming up to Clinton, who has enlisted the Vermont senator’s help as she looks to shore up support among millennials. Nearly eight in 10 Sanders supporters in Arizona now plan to vote for Clinton in November, compared to 50 percent who backed her in early September.
Meanwhile, Trump edges Clinton among independent voters by 11 points in Nevada, 47-36, and 6 points in Rhode Island, 42-36. In Florida and Arizona, Clinton leads among independents by 5 points or less.
Clinton continues to carry sizable leads among Hispanic voters in all three battleground states.
The former secretary of state is up 38 points over Trump among Hispanics in Nevada, 14 points in Arizona and 23 points in Florida. She also leads her Republican opponent by 59 points among black voters in Florida, the only state surveyed with a statewide African-American population greater than 10 percent.
The Emerson College surveys of 700 likely voters in Nevada and 600 in Florida, Arizona and Rhode Island were conducted between Oct. 2-4, just before Tuesday’s vice presidential debate. The margin of error varies from 3.6 percent in Nevada to 3.9 percent in Florida, Arizona and Rhode Island.
