A new poll out Tuesday morning shows that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are virtually tied in three key swing states — Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Clinton leads Trump in Florida 43-42, and leads him by the same margin in Pennsylvania. But Trump leads Clinton 43-39 in Ohio, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.
“Six months from Election Day, the presidential races between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the three most crucial states, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, are too close to call,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll. “At this juncture, Trump is doing better in Pennsylvania than the GOP nominees in 2008 and 2012. And the two candidates are about where their party predecessors were at this point in Ohio and Florida.”
Since 1960, no presidential candidate has won the general election without winning two of the three aforementioned states, Quinnipiac said.
In Florida, the difference in support for Clinton and Trump is based on gender, race and age.
Women in the Sunshine State back Clinton over Trump 48-35, while men favor Trump 49-36. White voters flock to Trump, 52-33, while Clinton scoops up a majority of the non-white vote, 63-20. Younger Florida voters aged 18 to 34 back Clinton over Trump by almost a 2-1 margin, 49-27, while voters older than 65 pick Trump 50-37.
Overall, both Clinton and Trump are viewed negatively in Florida: both are viewed 37 percent favorably and 57 percent unfavorably.
The gender and race gaps are similar in Ohio and Pennsylvania, as Trump wins men and white voters and Clinton wins women and non-white voters. The age gap is more narrow in both Ohio and Pennsylvania.
One of the biggest differences between the two candidates in all three states was that voters are muc more confident in Clinton’s temperament and personality to handle an international crisis.
For example, 54 percentof Clinton has the temperament to handle an international crisis, Florida voters say, 54 percent to 44 percent. Trump does not, 62 percent to 34 percent.
The telephone-based polled was conducted April 27-May 8. Specifically, it polled 1,051 Florida voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points; 1,042 Ohio voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points; and 1,077 Pennsylvania voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
