Hillary Clinton tied in Florida, up in Ohio, up big in Pennsylvania
Hillary Clinton is virtually tied with Donald Trump in Florida, but she leads in Ohio and has a double-digit lead in the other major swing state of Pennsylvania, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday.
The poll found that 46 percent of registered voters in Florida back Clinton for president and 45 percent support Trump. Independent voters in the state are divided between the two candidates.
In Ohio, Clinton leads Trump by 4 percentage points -- 49 percent to 45 percent. Trump, however, leads Clinton among independent voters in the state, 50 percent to 39 percent.
Clinton beats Trump handily in Pennsylvania, 52 percent to 42 percent, the poll found. She has a slight lead of 4 percentage points among independent voters.
The poll focused on those three swing states because no candidate since 1960 has won the presidential election without carrying at least two of the three states.
With third-party candidates taken into account, Clinton and Trump are still tied in Florida, Clinton would lead by just two percentage points in Ohio and she would lead Trump by nine percentage points in Pennsylvania.
Among all three swing states, Clinton leads Trump among women between 13 to 23 percentage points. Trump's lead among men in all three states ranges from 5 to 12 percentage points. In all three states, at least two-thirds of non-white voters support Clinton while Trump has the advantage among white voters. In Pennsylvania, however, he only leads with that demographic by 3 percentage points.
Favorability ratings for President Obama, former President Bill Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama in all three states registered at higher than 50 percent. The favorability rating, however, for Trump's wife, Melania, registered at about 30 percent in all three states.
This survey comes as Clinton has been leading Trump nationally by double-digits in several recent polls.
The Quinnipiac survey polled between 800 and 1,060 voters in each state between July 30 and August 7 with a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.
