Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by seven points in Michigan, a battleground state both presidential candidates are eager to win in order to clinch 270 college electoral votes and the White House in November.
A Suffolk University poll released Thursday shows Clinton is ahead of Trump in the Great Lake State by a 44% to 37% margin. Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson appears to have less appeal among likely voters compared to others in states around the country, with only 5% of respondents saying they would back him. Jill Stein, the Green Party’s nominee, only garnered support from 3% of those surveyed. Ten percent told researchers they were still undecided.
This latest poll solidifies Michigan’s support for Clinton after Bernie Sanders won the Democratic primary with 49.7% of the vote March 8.
The numbers are a positive sign for Clinton in a state that handily elected President Barack Obama in 2008 with 57% of the vote before returning him to the White House by 54% in 2012.
But the poll also found the Clinton campaign still had work to do to improve their principal’s favorability ratings, with just 28% of respondents saying they thought Clinton was honest and trustworthy in contrast to 63% who did not. Trump engendered similarly negative responses, with a 35% trustworthy to 53% untrustworthy breakdown.
The key issue on the minds of those polled were jobs and the economy (21%), followed closely by terrorism and national security (20%) and potential Supreme Court nominees (11%).
Interestingly, when asked about their feelings towards the upcoming presidential election, 61% of respondents said they were alarmed by the state of the race. Eleven percent said they were “bored,” while only 20% felt excited about casting a ballot on November 8.
The Suffolk University poll surveyed 500 likely voters in Michigan over the telephone between August 22 and 24. Its findings have a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.