A fresh set of polling out Friday showed Donald Trump continues to face a difficult path to winning the White House in key states — including being deadlocked in a reliably Republican Southern state.
Hillary Clinton and her Republican opponent are in a statistical dead heat in Georgia, according to a new Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll, and she has a double-digit lead in battleground Virginia, according to Christopher Newport University.
In Georgia, Trump leads Clinton 44%-42%, among likely voters, which is well within the poll’s 4.3 percentage point margin of error. Georgia has voted heavily Republican in every presidential election since 1992, when they last voted for a Democrat, former President Bill Clinton.
It’s just the latest state thought to be safely in Republican hands that has shown the possibility of flipping for Clinton. A poll earlier this week also showed her leading in Arizona, a traditionally red state. Changing demographics in the country and Trump’s missteps have been credited with putting more states in play for Democrats.
But Clinton could lose both Georgia and Arizona and still hold on to a commanding advantage in the electoral college, thanks in part to her leads in states like Virginia.
The CNU poll out Friday put Clinton up by 12 points, 45% to 33%. That’s in keeping with polling in the state that has consistently shown Clinton well ahead in the swing state.
Both polls reveal a gender gap that has been perceived nationwide, with Clinton winning among women by a sizable margin and Trump leading among men.
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson was at 9% in Georgia and 8% in Virginia.
Both polls had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points, though Georgia’s likely voter sample error margin was 4.3 points, and both surveys were conducted this week mostly before the final presidential debate. In Virginia, 834 likely voters were surveyed, and 839 likely voters were surveyed in Georgia.