Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is leading GOP nominee Donald Trump by 7 points in a four-way race for Pennsylvania, despite the state being heavily populated by the white working-class voters who are considered Trump's key path to the White House, according to a New York Times Upshot/Siena College poll released Thursday.
According to the poll of 824 likely voters, questioned on Oct. 23-25:
- Clinton: 46 percent;
- Trump: 39 percent;
- Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson: 6 percent;
- Green Party nominee Jill Stein: 3 percent.
"Both major candidates have net negative favorability ratings," Siena College Poll Director Don Levy said. "Clinton is viewed favorably by 44 percent and unfavorably by a majority, 53 percent. Trump's favorable rating is 38 percent and his unfavorable number is 59 percent, and most voters told us that they will be very upset if they wake up on Nov. 9 and the candidate that they oppose is president.
"Of those not supporting Clinton, 61 percent would be very upset if she wins while among those not supporting Trump, 65 percent would be very upset should he win."
Democrats have won in Pennsylvania in the past six presidential elections, The Times notes, but by often-slim margins, and the state is key for Trump while other traditionally Republican states such as Virginia and Colorado are leaning Democrat.
According to the poll, Trump has the support of 76 percent of the Republicans polled, while he is trailing Clinton among white voters with a college degree by 47 percent to 38 percent. He leads Clinton among white voters without a college degree by 51 to 34 percent.
Clinton is leading by several points in Philadelphia, where Trump has claimed the election may be "rigged." She holds a 77-9 percent lead over Trump in the city, where President Barack Obama won in 2012 by a 85-14 percent margin.
The Democratic nominee also holds a 90-1 percent lead among the state's black voters, and no black respondents in Philadelphia itself supported Trump in the poll.
She also carried an 18-point lead in the poll with voters who did not cast a ballot in the 2012 election, and a 16-point lead with newly registered voters in Pennsylvania.
The poll carried a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points. For complete methodology and questions, click here.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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