A new slate of state polls shows Hillary Clinton’s advantage holding in key swing states this week, though the Democrat’s margins indicate a competitive race in some of the most vote-rich battlegrounds.
On Wednesday, a new poll from Marquette University had Clinton with a three-point edge over Trump in Wisconsin, including third-party candidates. Clinton took 41 percent of the state’s likely voters to Trump’s 38, and Libertarian party candidate Gary Johnson registered 11 percent. Green party nominee Jill Stein had the backing of two percent.
Those results didn’t move much from recent weeks, when another Marquette poll showed Clinton with the same 41-38 advantage, and a survey from Monmouth had Clinton ahead 43-38. In a two-way contest, Clinton’s lead in the latest Marquette poll was just two points, at 44 to 42 percent.
Elsewhere, a Monmouth survey of New Hampshire released Wednesday had Clinton ahead nine points in a four-way race, at 47 to 38 percent. And a weekend Morning Call survey of Pennsylvania, which Republicans have hoped to turn red, showed Clinton up 40 to 32 percent in a four-way field.
These states, worth a combined 34 electoral votes, are part of a firewall of blue states that would have to partially crack for Trump to have a shot at winning the White House. He has made progress in Ohio, where the Real Clear Politics average gives him a small lead, and in Florida, which appears to be a pure toss-up at this point. But Trump still has work to do in other purple states, like Colorado and Virginia, both of which lean toward Clinton by a few points.
Recent national polling has reflected a tightening race across the country, with Clinton up by just a point in the Real Clear Politics average.
