Poll: Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump in Pennsylvania
Nearly two months out from the general election, Democrats are leading in the presidential and senate races in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, according to a Monmouth University poll released Tuesday.
Among Keystone State voters likely to cast ballots in November, 48 percent support Hillary Clinton while 40 percent back Donald Trump. This follows a Monday nationwide poll that showed Clinton winning the White House by seven points.
When it comes to the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania--which has historically accounted for more than 40 percent of statewide turnout--Clinton’s lead in the state nearly doubles that of her Republican rival by a margin of 38 percent to 29 percent, the poll showed.
“It looks like Clinton’s got a friend in Pennsylvania, particularly in the Philly suburbs,” said the director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, Patrick Murray. “A key factor boosting Clinton’s support there is that about half of white voters in this region have a college degree, compared to just over one-third in the rest of the state.”
But, the trend reverses in the less populated northeastern and central areas of the state. Here the billionaire GOP nominee leads Clinton by a margin of 58 to 28 percent.
The Monmouth poll also revealed that the former secretary of state maintains an 85 point lead over Trump among black, Hispanic and Asian voters--demographics that Trump struggles with nationwide. The massive racial gap, however, isn’t unprecedented. Four years ago, incumbent Barack Obama won minority voters by 71 points, while Mitt Romney took the white vote by 15 points.
The Senate race in Pennsylvania has been described as one of the state elections that will determine whether the GOP retains its majority in Congress. Tuesday’s poll indicated that Katie McGinty has a four-point lead over Republican incumbent Pat Toomey. But there’s still time for a comeback, since voters tend to approve rather than disapprove of Toomey’s job performance, the poll suggested.
The Monmouth University poll was conducted by telephone from August 26 to 29 with 402 Keystone state voters likely to participate in the general election.