Quinnipiac Poll: Senate Races Tighten in Florida, North Carolina

Incumbent GOP Senators enjoy dominating leads in Ohio and Pennsylvania, but Florida and North Carolina are too close to call or tied, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.

Sen. Rob Portman has an insurmountable lead in Ohio, cruising to a 17-point lead over Gov. Ted Strickland in a state where Democrats have long pulled fundraising in support of Strickland.

The results from the other key swing states:

Pennsylvania:

• Sen. Pat Toomey: 50 percent;
• Katie McGinty: 42 percent.

Toomey owned just a 1-point lead a month ago. McGinty suffers from "underwhelming support from women and members of her own party," according to the survey.

Florida:

• Marco Rubio: 48 percent;
• Patrick Murphy: 44 percent.

Rubio led Murphy by 7 points back in September. While Rubio enjoys overwhelming support from men and Murphy solid support from women, it's the independents giving Rubio the edge, 52 percent to 41 percent.

North Carolina:

• Sen. Richard Burr: 46 percent;
• Deborah Ross: 46 percent.

Burr led Ross by 6 points one month ago in a state that could see a seismic shift up and down the ballot.

Republican incumbent Gov. Pat McCrory is in trouble, and an Elon University poll earlier this week had Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by 6 points in the Tar Heel State.

"North Carolina is a very evenly divided state. The presidential race, and the reelection battles of two Republican incumbents, Gov. Pat McCrory and Sen. Richard Burr, are all too close to call. This in a state that little more than a decade ago was strongly Republican," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

From Sept. 27 - Oct. 2, Quinnipiac University surveyed:

• 545 Florida likely voters with a margin of error of +/- 4.2 percentage points;
• 507 North Carolina likely voters with a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percentage points;
• 497 Ohio likely voters with a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percentage points;
• 535 Pennsylvania likely voters with a margin of error of +/- 4.2 percentage points.

• Monmouth Poll: Clinton Ups Pa. Lead to Double Digits
• Rasmussen Poll: Trump, Clinton in Virtual Tie Nationally