Poll: Clinton Extends Leads in 3 Battleground States

Hillary Clinton extended her leads in Colorado and Virginia to double digits over Donald Trump, while he cut into her Florida advantage, according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll.

The latest tally:

• Florida: Trump trimmed Clinton's lead to 44 percent to 39 percent, a two-point swing
• Colorado: Clinton leads Trump 46 percent to 32 percent; a six-point jump
• Virginia: Clinton leads Trump 46 percent to 33 percent
• North Carolina: Clinton leads Trump 48 percent to 38 percent

Florida is a battleground state badly needed by Trump, but its positive impact is predicated on Trump carrying every state that Mitt Romney won in 2012, North Carolina being one of those.

"These are supposed to be battleground states, but right now, they don't look that way," Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion told the WSJ. "Trump still needs to unify Republicans and better position himself among traditional GOP groups in order to make the contest competitive in these must-win states."


There's also down-ballot concern in North Carolina, according to the poll. Gov. Pat McCrory is facing a seven-point deficit to Democratic challenger Roy Cooper, up from a four-point delta just a month ago.

The latest poll also measured support from within Trump's and Clinton's own parties:

• Florida: Clinton backed by 92 percent of Demsocrats; Trump by 79 percent of Republicans
• North Carolina: Clinton backed by 89 percent of Dems; Trump 84 percent of GOP
• Colorado: Clinton backed by 91 percent; Trump by 79 percent of Republicans
•  Virginia: Clinton backed by 94 percent of Dems; Trump by 80 percent of GOP

The polling was done Aug. 4 through Aug. 10 and it surveyed less than 1,000 registered voters in each of the four states.

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