Polls: Clinton leads Trump in key swing states

A handful of polls released Monday show that Hillary Clinton is leading Donald Trump in the key battleground state of Virginia, and has a slim lead in other key states, including Colorado, Florida, and Pennsylvania. The pair are neck-and-neck in Ohio, according to the slew of new polling.

Here’s a state-by-state look:

Virginia

Clinton holds a big 15-point lead over Trump in a state that just a few years ago was considered one of the more competitive battlegrounds, according to the Virginia poll released Monday by Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center.

Clinton leads Trump 44% to 29% in a five-way race among likely voters in Virginia. Libertarian Gary Johnson received 11% support, while independent candidate Evan McMullin garnered 3% and Green Party nominee Jill Stein received 2%.

By contrast, President Barack Obama carried Virginia over Mitt Romney by about 4 percentage points in 2012, and by about 6 percentage points against John McCain in 2008.

Growth in Clinton’s lead was driven largely by a collapse in support for Trump across a series of demographic categories, including Republicans, women, younger voters and military families. Clinton has also made gains with independent voters as Johnson lost ground, in the wake of several high-profile foreign policy gaffes.

The new CNU poll shows that Clinton’s lead over Trump expanded from a 7-percentage point lead she held in early October, when another poll found Clinton leading Trump 42% to 35% in the state at the time.

The CNU poll also broke down each candidate’s support by geographic region, and found Clinton with a large lead in vote-rich northern Virginia (55% to 21%), the tidewater region (42% to 25%) and the Richmond area (47% to 27%), while Trump maintains a heavy advantage in the state’s more rural southwest (48% to 27%).

The Christopher Newport University poll of Virginia was conducted between October 11-14 and surveyed 809 likely Virginia voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 points.

Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio

In a series of Quinnipiac University polls released Monday, a shift of independent voters to Clinton helped buoy her into a lead over Trump in Colorado, Florida and Pennsylvania, and into a tie with Trump in Ohio.

In Colorado, Clinton leads Trump 45% to 37% among likely voters, with Johnson at 10% and Stein with 3% support. The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

In Florida, Clinton leads Trump 48% to 44%, with Johnson at 4% and Stein at 1% support. This survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

In Pennsylvania, Clinton leads Trump 47% to 41%, with Johnson at 6% and Stein at 1% support. This survey has a margin of error plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

And in Ohio, Clinton and Trump are tied with 45% support, while Johnson has 6% and Stein has 1%. The margin of error for this survey is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

The Quinnipiac surveyed voters between October 10-16.

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