- The Washington Times - Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by 8 points in Pennsylvania, a state Republicans are intensely focused on turning red this year, according to a Monmouth University poll released Tuesday.

Mrs. Clinton was at 48 percent, Mr. Trump was at 40 percent, Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson was at 6 percent, and Green Party nominee Jill Stein was at 1 percent, with 4 percent undecided, according to the poll of likely voters taken from Friday through Monday.

“It looks like Clinton’s got a friend in Pennsylvania, particularly in the Philly suburbs,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute. “A key factor boosting Clinton’s support there is that about half of white voters in this region have a college degree, compared to just over one-third in the rest of the state.”

The Democratic nominee had a 62 percent to 29 percent lead in the seven congressional districts that include the city of Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs, according to the polling analysis. President Obama carried that region by a 62 percent to 37 percent margin four years ago en route to carrying the state over 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney by about 5 points.

Mr. Trump, meanwhile, outperformed Mr. Romney in the northeastern and central part of the state, and his 7-point advantage in the western part of the state was comparable to Mr. Romney’s 8-point margin there in 2012.

Mrs. Clinton attracted a greater share of Democrats (86 percent) than Mr. Trump did Republicans (81 percent), while Mr. Trump had a 3-point edge among independents.

The 8-point margin is in line with the latest Real Clear Politics average, which includes the Monmouth poll, though it’s a little less than the double-digit leads Mrs. Clinton held in some surveys taken right after the Democratic National Convention last month in Philadelphia.

Former President George H.W. Bush was the last Republican presidential candidate to carry the state, which he did in 1988.

In the state’s U.S. Senate race, Democrat Katie McGinty had a 4-point, 45 percent to 41 percent lead over incumbent GOP Sen. Pat Toomey in the poll.

• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.

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